Scientists reveal a hidden corridor in the Great Pyramid of Giza

CAIRO, March 2 (Reuters) – A hidden corridor nine meters (30 feet) long has been discovered near the main entrance of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza, and this could lead to further discoveries, Egyptian antiquities officials said on Thursday.

The discovery of the pyramid, the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing, was made during the Scan Pyramids project which, since 2015, has used non-invasive technology including infrared thermography, 3D simulations and cosmic-ray imaging to see inside the structure.

A paper published in the journal Nature on Thursday said the find could contribute to knowledge about the construction of the pyramid and the purpose of a gable-shaped limestone structure that sits in front of the corridor.

The Great Pyramid was constructed as a monumental tomb around 2560 BC. during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu, or Cheops. Built to a height of 146 meters (479 ft), it now stands at 139 meters and was the tallest man-made structure until the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1889.

The unfinished corridor was probably created to redistribute the pyramid’s weight around either the main entrance now used by tourists, nearly seven meters away, or around another as yet undiscovered chamber or room, said Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

“We’re going to continue our scan, so we’ll see what we can do … to find out what we can find out under it, or just at the end of this corridor,” he told reporters after a press conference ahead. of the pyramid.

Five rooms on top of the king’s burial chamber in another part of the pyramid are also believed to have been built to redistribute the weight of the massive structure. It was possible the pharaoh had more than one burial chamber, Waziri added.

Scientists discovered the corridor through cosmic-ray muon radiography, before taking images of it by feeding a 6mm-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 100 feet (30 m) deep inside the Great Pyramid, the first major internal structure found since the 19th century.

Reporting by Aidan Lewis; editing by Mark Heinrich

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