Scientists Map an Unexplored Corridor of Egypt's Great Pyramid Using Cosmic Rays Thanks to cosmic rays, secrets of the last remaining Wonder of the Ancient World are being revealed.

CNet ^ | March 2, 2023 4:01 a.m. PT | Jackson Ryan

[Red Badger]

Thanks to cosmic rays, secrets of the last remaining Wonder of the Ancient World are being revealed.

The Great Pyramid of Giza, the largest of Egypt's famous landmarks, has stood tall for around 4,500 years. But the 2 million blocks that make up the tomb and fortress have not been impenetrable. Looters robbed the structure of its ancient treasures thousands of years ago and scientists have probed its interiors either by studying its corridors or with more advanced measuring techniques like thermal scanners.

The structure still holds many secrets, but since 2015 an international team of scientists, the ScanPyramids team, has been using subatomic particles to probe the unknowns of the monument. In 2017, they revealed a huge void -- creatively dubbed the Big Void -- situated above the pyramid's gallery, though the purpose of this void remains unknown.

On Thursday, in a study published in the journal Nature Communications, the team characterizes the structure of this corridor by taking advantage of the cosmic rays that constantly smash into the Earth.

Cosmic ray muons, a subatomic particle considered one of the most basic building blocks of the universe, pass through Earth's atmosphere and sometimes collide with solid matter on the ground. A given object's density and thickness determine how the muon is absorbed by the object -- and that's measurable.

Two teams installed seven detectors inside two corridors of the pyramid over a period of three years, from 2016 to 2019, that were able to capture these muons. The direction in which these muons smash into the detector is useful to determine what matter they passed through before they were detected. This is how the team was able to first discover the North Face Corridor and then characterize its features.

Their measurements show that the North Face Corridor sits about 2.6 feet behind the North Face Chevron, an interesting structure just above the modern-day public entrance to the pyramid with a currently unknown role. The corridor itself is likely 27 feet in length and pipe-shaped and runs horizontal to the ground. It also appears to have a larger cross-section than other corridors within the Great Pyramid and, at least from this measurement, it appears unlikely to connect to the Big Void previously detected by the ScanPyramids team.

It's a particularly intriguing find because the North Face Chevron was once hidden behind the outer layer of casing stones on the pyramid. Why hide these chevrons? What were they for? Why is there a corridor behind them?

It seems every time scientists probe the Great Pyramid's hidden pathways and seemingly empty spaces, they find more questions.

[PIF]

Was Geraldo there?

—
His great times 30 grandfather may have been.

[PIF]

Original source:
Precise characterization of a corridor-shaped structure in Khufu’s Pyramid by observation of cosmic-ray muons
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36351-0


a Subterranean chamber,
b queen’s chamber,
c grand gallery,
d king’s chamber,
e descending corridor,
f ascending corridor,
g al-Ma’mun corridor,
h north face Chevron area,
i ScanPyramids Big Void with horizontal hypothesis (red hatching) and inclined hypothesis (green hatching) as published in November 2017.

All these images were obtained from a 3D modelization using dedicated laser surveys and photogrammetry data.

Much more at original source.

[PIF]

Note: Original source is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction

[Vaduz]

Jerry Rivers finds Al Capone’s other cave.

[Freedom4US]

No, they were mostly ancient arab texts and “lore”. They were translated as “lights that had been burning for hundreds of years”. Also descriptions of devices that sound like what we would call robots today.

No, I don’t necessarily believe any of that. But I don’t believe the great pyramid was empty. It was looted long ago, and the actual purpose has been lost.

There are some constants across time, and one thing about construction or engineering, people don’t waste a lot of time on high precision, or specific materials, if they are not necessary for a reason, unless they are for a specific purpose. I don’t believe it was for “power generation” or “water pump” and all that, either. I’ve no idea. They sure went to a lot of trouble though.

The whole area is riddled with tunnels. I bet there are all sorts of really amazing things buried in the sand still yet today. It must have really humbled earlier travelers too. The great pyramid was the tallest man made structure through out human history - until the Eiffel Tower in 1888 or whatever. That’s crazy if you stop and think about it.

[TalBlack]

I think they should disassemble one of the pyramids, see what’s what. They can always reassemble it.

[Conan the Librarian]

the current theory is they were looted shortly after they were sealed, by the guys who built it.

It’s as good as any.

[PIF]

You should read Dunn - he’s a respected machinist who took engineering tools to measure as much as he could inside the Great Pyramid and found that something happened - traces of two chemical compounds were found in two of the shafts which went mixed in conjunction with - something to do with the subterranean chamber - I forgot all of the specifics at the moment - generates current.

All of that is as scientific as it gets with measurement and chemical analysis, so its not a matter of belief, but perhaps an interpretation of the data.

There is absolutely no evidence that the Great Pyramid was looted - that’s conjecture by modern Egyptologists, who are tied up with consensus thinking and protecting the myth begun by Herodotus, maintaining Egypt’s largest source of revenue - tourism.

[fruser1]

The more holes, the fewer blocks to cut.

But you can charge the pharoh as if you cut them.

[PapaBear3625]

Reminds me of the wonderful last scene in “Land of the Pharaohs” (1955) with Joan Collins.

“The tomb is being sealed, Your Majesty.”

I remember watching it on TV many decades ago

Here’s the scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1E-nSNjzlY

[PIF]

the current theory is they were looted shortly after they were sealed, by the guys who built it.
—
Its a theory with no proof. And like all the other Pyramids are undecorated - just blank walls. What was in there to steal? All found royal tombs are richly decorated, even if looted. It would be disrespectful to put riches on an undecorated space.

[PIF]

“lights that had been burning for hundreds of years”. Also descriptions of devices that sound like what we would call robots today.
—

Are you sure you cannot provide any sources for that? I would be most appreciative.

[Boogieman]

“Looters robbed the structure of its ancient treasures thousands of years ago...”

Well, we know looters broke in at latest during the Arab era, a few centuries ago. However, we don’t actually know that there were any “ancient treasures” stored in the Great Pyramid, much less that it was ever looted in ancient times.

[Boogieman]

“the North Face Chevron, an interesting structure just above the modern-day public entrance to the pyramid with a currently unknown role”

Well, it’s form is that of a load-bearing vault, just like the vaulted ceiling in the Queen’s chamber or the Grand Gallery. The “mystery” about it is that where it is situated, there is not enough “pyramid” above the tunnel to require such a large vault to support it. So it would appear to be decorative more than functional. Unless, perhaps, there are more tunnels/hollow spaces below the entrance tunnel.

[Boogieman]

Yes, but that was about a secret tunnel under the Pyramid, while this is about tunnels inside the main body of the Pyramid. There is a tunnel under the pyramid down into the bedrock, but it’s been known about since forever.

[Boogieman]

"when Arabs muslims tunneled into it to loot it, but found nothing"

Well, let's be accurate. They said that they found nothing. We don't exactly have independent witnesses to verify that it was actually empty. There are at least a couple sketchy points to that story which may leave room to doubt it is 100% truthful or complete.

[Boogieman]

“Nobody was precisely sure where the actual entrance was.”

No, not precisely, though the general area of the entrance was well known since antiquity, even if it hadn’t been entered in centuries.

“When it was closed, it was invisible or impossible to detect from the outside. That’s amazing when you stop and think about it. Why did they do that?”

It is an interesting question, especially because the entrance was not really well hidden, all things considered. It is just about exactly where one would expect the entrance to be if you survey other pyramids that had already been opened and looted in antiquity. What good is a hidden door if you put it in the same spot everyone would expect the door to be?

[Boogieman]

“people don’t waste a lot of time on high precision, or specific materials, if they are not necessary for a reason, unless they are for a specific purpose”

This is very much true of the ancient Egyptian monuments as well. Many parts of the pyramids feature spectacular precision, and just as many parts (the ones not meant to be seen usually) are sloppy, unfinished, backfilled with rubble, etc.

[Boogieman]

“There is absolutely no evidence that the Great Pyramid was looted”

I suppose if you ignore the evidence that someone pried open the “sarcophagus” in the King’s chamber, breaking off a whole corner of it. And of course the lid, which would have weighed tons, is missing. Oh, and also that tunnel that was found dug behind the niche in the Queen’s chamber that was not dug by any modern explorers, and goes back what, more than 100 feet?

We may not know if there was ever any “loot” to be looted from the Great Pyramid. But there is certainly evidence that people entered it to look for some.

[Licensed-To-Carry]

Jack Hawkins did not play the architect but he was the Pharaoh and Joan Collins was the queen. The architect was a captive from an unnamed country who designed and built the pyramid.