Egypt reveals hidden corridor in Pyramid of Giza

CAIRO – Scientists have uncovered a hidden passage in Egypt’s Great Pyramid as part of a seven-year international research project, authorities said on Thursday.

The passage is nine meters long and more than two meters wide, the Antiquities Ministry said in a statement.

Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Issa, told reporters at the ancient site in Giza, also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or Cheops, that the “pedimented corridor” with a triangular ceiling “was found on the north face of the Great Pyramid of King Khufu.” .

The discovery was 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.

Archaeologist Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s former Minister of Antiquities, heads the committee overseeing the project, which will use advanced technology to reveal hidden parts of the pyramid’s interior without having to excavate it.

The technology is a hybrid of infrared thermography, muon radiography imaging and 3D reconstruction – all of which are non-invasive and non-destructive techniques, according to the researchers.

At 146 meters high, the Great Pyramid is the tallest in Giza and the only surviving structure of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

It was built about 4,500 years ago, has three known chambers and, like other pyramids in Egypt, was intended as a burial place for a pharaoh.

Hawass told reporters at the pyramid on Thursday that “there is a strong possibility… that the tunnel is protecting something. In my opinion, it protects the actual burial chamber of King Khufu.”

In 2017, ScanPyramids announced the discovery of a passenger plane-sized cavity, the first major structure found inside the Great Pyramid since the 19th century.