Archaeology & History

Great Pyramid's hidden chamber set for re-scan

By T.K. Randall
January 14, 2020

Image: Camel near Khafre's Pyramid, Egypt
Credit: Myousry6666 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) Rising 146 meters in to the sky, this last surviving wonder of the ancient world, which has stood in the Egyptian desert for 3,800 years, remains just as steeped in mystery today as when ancient travelers first gazed up at its time-worn stonework and wondered what secrets might lie inside.

In more recent years, rumors have circulated suggesting that there could be a large hidden chamber situated within the pyramid - a room that has remained unopened since ancient times.

In 2017, scans of the structure by an international team of researchers from Nagoya University and the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization seemed to confirm that this was the case, however a great deal of skepticism has always surrounded these findings.

Now in a renewed bid to determine once and for all if there really is a hidden chamber in the Great Pyramid, the Egyptian government has enlisted the help of Sakuji Yoshimura - president of Higashi Nippon International University in Iwaki, Japan - to verify the previous findings.To this end, a team of researchers will soon be heading to Egypt to conduct new scans of the structure using muon radiography - a technique that is a bit like x-ray imaging.

The team's newly developed muon detector will operate for one month inside the Queen's Chamber to build up a picture of what lies behind the pyramid's walls.

"The previously discovered cavity is way too large from an archaeological perspective," said Yoshimura. "We are very keen to verify the findings."

The project will end in the summer and the results are expected in the autumn.

Source: Asahi.com

Tags: Pyramid, Egypt