/data/photo/2023/03/04/6402ac45d1099.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "Undetected for Hundreds of Years, The Hidden Corridor of the Pyramids of Giza Has Finally Been Found")
KOMPAS.com – The Egyptian antiquities authority confirmed the discovery of a hidden internal passage or corridor above the main entrance of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Reported from Fox Newsthe discovery was revealed by the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt, Ahmed Issa in a press event on Thursday (2/3/2023).
He said the room was estimated to be about 4,500 years old and nearly 30 feet long by about 6 feet wide.
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Undetected by archaeologists for hundreds of years
Issa said the area had gone undetected by archaeologists for hundreds of years and was discovered only now thanks to modern scanning equipment.
Issa credited the international Scan Pyramid Project (SPP) for the discovery. However, experts do not yet have an explanation as to why the corridor was created.
Christian Grosse, professor of non-destructive testing at the Technical University of Munich and a leading member of the SPP, said they hoped the corridor would lead to further discoveries.
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The latest discovery from the ScanPyramids project
Quoted from The National NewsThe hidden corridor is the latest discovery from the ScanPyramids project, a mission made up of heritage experts from the University of Cairo and the French Institute for the Preservation of Innovation Heritage (HIP).
The ScanPyramids project began work on the Giza Pyramids in 2015 and made discoveries through the use of muon tomography, a technique that produces accurate 3D imaging.
The robots were placed in the pyramids and controlled externally by the specialists who made the discoveries, said Zahi Hawass, an Egyptian archaeologist.
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Archaeologists want to know the contents of the hidden passage
Quoted from Reutersin his brief speech, Dr Mostafa Waziri general secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt said that the passage was most likely built to lighten the burden of the pyramid either in the main entrance hall or in a chamber that has yet to be discovered.
The Great Pyramid was built as a monumental tomb around 2560 BC during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu, or Cheops.
The Pyramids of Giza at 146 meters (now standing 139 meters) were the tallest man-made structure until the Eiffel Tower in Paris was completed in 1889.
The unfinished corridor was likely created to redistribute the pyramid’s weight around the main entrance now used by tourists.
“We will continue the scan so we will see what can be done, to find out what we can find under it, or at the end of this corridor,” Waziri told reporters.
In addition, the five chambers above the king’s burial chamber in other parts of the pyramid are also thought to have been built to redistribute the weight of the massive structure.
It is possible that the Pharaoh had more than one burial chamber, added Waziri.
The scientists detected the corridor via cosmic-ray muon radiography, before imaging it by inserting a 6mm-thick endoscope from Japan through a small attachment in the pyramid’s rock.
Meanwhile, in 2017, Scan Pyramids researchers announced the discovery of an empty hole at least 30 meters long inside the Great Pyramid, the first major internal structure discovered since the 19th century.
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