Egyptian antiquities officials said a hidden nine-meter passage has been discovered near the main entrance to the 4,500-year-old pyramid of Giza, and that could lead to more discoveries. Thursday.
The discovery inside the pyramid, the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing, was made as part of the Scan Pyramids project which since 2015 has been using non-invasive technology including infrared thermography, 3D simulation and cosmic ray imaging to peer inside the structure.
An article has been published Writing in the journal Nature on Thursday, he said the discovery could contribute to knowledge about the construction of the pyramid and the purpose of the gabled limestone structure that sits in front of the passage.
The Great Pyramid was built as a massive tomb around 2560 BC during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu or Khufu. Built at a height of 146 meters (479 ft), it now stands at 139 meters high and was the tallest building made by humans until the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1889.
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[1/4] A hidden passage inside the Great Pyramid of Giza discovered through research from the Pyramids Survey Project by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Giza, Egypt, March 2, 2023. Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities/Handout via REUTERS
Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the unfinished corridor was likely created to redistribute the pyramid’s weight around the main entrance now used by tourists, about seven meters away, or around a room or other space that has yet to be discovered.
“We’re going to keep scanning until we see what we can do…to see what we can discover underneath, or just by the end of this corridor,” he told reporters after a news conference at the front. pyramid.
It is also believed that five chambers above the king’s burial chamber in another part of the pyramid were built to redistribute the weight of the massive structure. Waziri added that it is possible that the pharaoh had more than one burial chamber.
Scientists detected the passage through cosmic ray muon x-ray imaging, before recovering images of it by feeding a 6-millimeter-thick endoscope from Japan through a small joint in the pyramid’s stones.
In 2017, Scan Pyramids researchers announced the discovery of a void at least 30 meters deep inside the Great Pyramid, the first major internal structure to be found since the 19th century.
Reporting by Aidan Lewis. Editing by Mark Heinrich
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