Secret Hidden Corridor Revealed within Egypt's Great Pyramid

Video footage from an endoscope revealed a roughly hewn, empty corridor measuring 9 metres (30 feet) long and 2.1 metres (7 feet) wide. The existence of the corridor was first detected in 2016 using muography, a non-invasive imaging technique that analyses how muons, by-products of cosmic rays, are absorbed by stone.

The corridor is located behind the northern face of the pyramid, about 7 metres above the main entrance, in an area where there is a stone chevron structure. The corridor could have been created to redistribute the weight of the pyramid around the entrance or could lead to an as-yet-undiscovered chamber. The Great Pyramid was built on the Giza plateau during the fourth dynasty by the pharaoh Khufu, or Cheops, who reigned from around 2609BC to 2584BC.

Further tests were carried out using radar and ultrasound before the endoscope, with a diameter of just 6mm (0.24in), was fed through a tiny joint between the stones that make up the chevrons. The footage from the camera was unveiled at a news conference beside the pyramid. Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that they would continue scanning the area to discover what lay beneath the corridor or at the end of it.

The discovery of the corridor was described as a "major discovery" by Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass. He suggested that the space below the corridor could contain something important and speculated that it could even help reveal whether the burial chamber of King Khufu still existed inside the pyramid. Hawass added that he was sure they would know in a few months whether his speculation was correct or not.

This is not the first void discovered inside the Great Pyramid. A second, larger void was detected using muography in 2017. It is estimated to be 30 metres long and several metres in height and is located directly above the Grand Gallery. Despite being one of the oldest and largest monuments on Earth, there is no consensus on how the Great Pyramid was built. The discovery of the hidden corridor could provide valuable insights into the structure and function of this ancient wonder.

News source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-64825526

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