Scientists have discovered a hidden passage in Egypt’s Great Pyramid, authorities announced Thursday, as part of a seven-year international research project.
The passage is nine meters (30 feet) long and more than two meters wide, the antiquities ministry said in a statement.
‘expensive corridor’
Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Issa told reporters at the ancient site in Giza also known as Khufu, or Cheops, pyramid, that a “gabled corridor” with a triangular ceiling “was found on the north side of the Great Pyramid of King Khufu.”.
The discovery is part of the ScanPyramids project, launched in 2015 as a collaboration between major universities in France, Germany, Canada and Japan and a group of Egyptian experts.
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Archaeologist Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s former minister of antiquities, heads the committee overseeing the project, which uses advanced technology to visualize hidden parts of the pyramid’s interior without having to dig it out.
The technology is a mix of infrared thermography, muon radiography imaging and 3D reconstruction – all of which the researchers say are non-invasive and non-destructive techniques.
Great Pyramid of Giza room
The Great Pyramid is the largest in Giza, 146 meters high, and the only remaining structure of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Built about 4,500 years ago, it has three known chambers, and like other pyramids in Egypt it was intended as a pharaoh’s tomb.
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Hawass told reporters at the pyramid on Thursday that “there is a big possibility … the tunnel protects something. In my opinion, it protects the burial chamber of King Khufu.
In 2017, ScanPyramids announced the discovery of a cavity the size of a passenger plane, the first major structure to be found in the Great Pyramid since the 19th century.