There Cheops pyramid During the 4th Dynasty by the pharaoh Khufu or Cheops, who reigned from about 2609 B.C. Despite being one of the oldest and most impressive monuments on earth, it is still unclear how it was possible to build it. Its internal structure still hides many unknowns and mysteries. And after 8 years of research, the international team of ScanPyramids researchers and archaeologists has announced the discovery of a previously unknown tunnel, 9 meters long and 2.10 wide, located behind the main entrance on the north side. The discovery was announced by Egyptian archaeologists Zahi Hawass on the sidelines of a press conference Cairo to illustrate the results of the ScanPyramids project.
© Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities
“We believe that something is hidden under this area,” Hawass continued, speculating that “the tomb of Cheops may be under this tunnel.” In fact, the pharaoh’s sarcophagus has not yet been found. However, experts believe that it could be located in an underground space that has not yet been discovered. The tunnel was probed by a video camera inserted into the corridor thanks to a gap of a few millimeters. Extending horizontally from the ground, the tunnel has a chevron shape, an inverted “v” and, according to experts, was not completed. An aspect that, according to Hawass, will lead to the unveiling of further secrets inside the Cheops pyramid.
© Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities
The evolution of research
The search began in 2015. In 2016, scientific teams discovered some thermal anomalies in the chevron area on the north face of the Pyramid of Cheops. Project researchers therefore installed muon emulsion films in the descending corridor under the Chevron, discovered the presence of a previously unknown void and renamed it Scanpyramid’s North Face Corridor (Sp-Nfc). As explained in the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, the team explained that they used the technique from Muon radiography with cosmic rays, subatomic particles that are only partially absorbed by the stone. The researchers therefore decided to install seven detectors in two corridors of the pyramid for a period of three years, from 2016 to 2019, to try to capture these muons, provide information about the type of matter they passed through and detailed To take measurements of the size, shape and location of the North Wall Corridor without entering it.
© Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities
The new discovery is a particularly intriguing detail as the North Face chevron was once hidden behind the outer layer of stone covering the face of the pyramid. And the researchers’ questions multiply: Why are these chevrons hidden? what were they for Were they used to build the structure? Among the hypotheses of the experts is that similar tunnels could have been corridors to redistribute the weight of the structure, just as any burial chambers could have been. Nothing is certain and the questions multiply. Questions that are unanswered at the moment, but which open up new questions and new avenues of historical, scientific and archaeological research.
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