New Secrets of the Great Pyramid of Giza

For the first time, a mysterious secret corridor has been spotted, buried deep inside the Great Egyptian Pyramid at Giza.

Scientists discovered the passage in 2016, but didn’t want to damage the 4,500-year-old monument to gain access, so they embarked on a multi-year excavation.

Using an endoscopic camera and a technique called cosmic ray muon x-rays, experts were able to map the corridor for the first time and confirm that it is 9 meters long and 2.1 meters wide.

Scientists said that the corridor was created, probably in order to help redistribute the weight of the pyramid around the entrance or another, not yet discovered chamber.

The pyramid is 146 meters high and was built as royal burial chambers around 2560 BC. e., is the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world that has survived to this day.

Until the construction of the Eiffel Tower in 1889, it was also the tallest man-made structure ever built.

Officially, the discovery was announced quite recently and stated that the unfinished corridor, which is located behind the main entrance, can contribute to gaining knowledge about the progress of the construction of the pyramid.

According to Mostafa Waziri, head of the Egyptian High Council of Antiquities, it was probably built to reduce the weight of the pyramid, either around the main entrance, located at a depth of 7 meters, or in another as yet undiscovered chamber or space: “We are going continue our scan to see what we can do… to find out what we can find under it or just at the end of this corridor.”

It is believed that the five rooms at the top of the royal burial chamber in another part of the pyramid were also built to redistribute the weight of the massive structure.

The pharaoh may have had multiple burial chambers, Waziri added.

The scientists discovered the corridor using cosmic ray muon x-rays before taking images of it by passing a 6mm-thick endoscope through a tiny joint in the pyramid’s stones.

Cosmic ray muon radiography, developed by experts at Nagoya University, Japan, tracked the level of radiation passing through the walls of the pyramid.

Once the technology gave the researchers a clear map of the corridor, they decided to use a small camera like those used for medical purposes: “We realized that it was so close to the surface that endoscopy was possible. I’m also glad the cavity was empty. I would not like to participate in the opening of the tomb,” said Sebastien Procurer from the University of Paris-Saclay in France.

The discovery was made as part of the Scan Pyramids project, which over the past seven years has used non-invasive technology, including infrared thermography, 3D modeling and endoscopes, to look inside the structure.

More information was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Christina DENISYUK.

Source: dailymail.co.uk