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https://gizmodo.com/stunned-scientists-detect-suspected-hidden-chamber-with-1820054009

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Though they were constructed nearly 5,000 years ago, the Great Pyramids of Egypt are still packed with secrets. Using a technique that leverages the power of cosmic rays, scientists have confirmed the presence of a large empty space within Khufu's pyramid-a void that's signaling the presence of a possible hidden chamber.

It's tempting to think that all the great archaeological discoveries from ancient Egypt have already been made, but new research published today in Nature shows there's still plenty for us to uncover.

An investigation into the internal structure of Khufu's pyramid-the largest pyramid in Giza-has revealed the presence of a large and inaccessible "void" within the structure. The researchers who led the study, Mehdi Tayoubi from the HIP Institute in France and Kunihiro Morishima from Nagoya University in Japan, won't go so far as to say the cavity is a hidden chamber, but they're reasonably convinced the internal feature is a deliberate architectural feature of the pyramid. As to what's inside is anyone's guess, but the presence of artifacts and funeral items are not out of the question, according to Egyptologists.

The discovery was made possible through the unlikely intersection of archaeology and particle physics. By making meticulous measurements of muons-elementary particles that rain down on Earth from deep space and are capable of traveling through solid objects-researchers were able to characterize the densities within the pyramid, revealing the presence of an empty space that measures at least 100 feet (30 meters) in length.

The Structures Within

That Khufu's pyramid may still hold a chamber waiting to be found is within the realm of possibility.

This massive structure was built on the Giza Plateau during the Egyptian Fourth Dynasty (c. 2613 to 2494 BC) by the Pharaoh Khufu (sometimes referred to as Cheops), who reigned from 2509 to 2483 BC. The pyramid initially measured 481 feet (146 meters) in height, and was the tallest structure in the world for more than 3,800 years.

There are three known rooms inside the monument: the King's Chamber, the Queen's Chamber, and an unfinished room cut into the bedrock upon which the pyramid was built. There's also the Grand Gallery, a sloped hallway-like structure measuring 28 feet (8.6 meters) high, 153 feet (46.7 meters) long, and about 6 feet (2 meters) wide. The original entrance leading to these internal structures, known as the "descending corridor," is located at the North Face, but today, tourists are allowed to enter the pyramid through a tunnel attributed to Caliph al-Ma'mun (around AD 820).

Archaeologists don't have the original blueprints to Khufu's pyramid, and there's no consensus on how the structure was created or what hidden features may still lie inside. The only known documents, written on papyri, only describe the logistics of the construction, such as how the stones were transported (fun fact: the Great Pyramid contains an estimated 2.3 million blocks).

Finding a New Way With Cosmic Rays

Detecting hidden chambers or corridors is not easy for archaeologists, who mustn't damage ancient structures in any way. Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities is very strict about what can and cannot be done to these historic monuments, requiring scientists to come up with innovative new ways of exploring the pyramids.

Back in the 1960s, archaeologist Luis Alvarez came up with the idea of using muons-a type of elementary particle that's capable of penetrating dense materials-to peer inside Khafre's pyramid (the second largest of the Giza Pyramids). Unfortunately, his team lacked the technological and scientific know-how to pull it off, but Alvarez's idea has proven its worth. Today, the technique, known as muography, has been used by archaeologists to analyze ancient Roman structures and Mexican pyramids, and by geologists to explore features such as volcanoes. Muography has also been used to assess damage at the beleaguered Fukushima nuclear power plant, and by the US military to find hidden caves and tunnels in Afghanistan.

In terms of the physics involved, muon particles originate from the interactions of cosmic rays with the atoms in the upper atmosphere. They pepper the Earth at nearly the speed of light (they're harmless to humans and other animal life), and researchers can visualize the presence and trajectory of these particles using various muon detection schemes. Muons are only partially absorbed by solid objects, and can thus penetrate stone. But by mapping the positions and trajectories if these particles, researchers can visualize the internal composition of solid structures-revealing things such as stone formations or open-air cavities.

"Similar to X-rays which can penetrate the body and allow bone imaging, these elementary particles can keep a quasi-linear trajectory while going through hundreds of meters of stone before decaying or being absorbed," write the researchers in the new study.

Last year, the ScanPyramids project-the same team of researchers involved in this latest discovery-used muography and infrared thermography (which measures temperature) to uncover a corridor directly above the Great Pyramid's original entrance. Using the same idea, the researchers have now discovered the large void located directly above the Grand Gallery.

To validate the presence of the void, the researchers recruited specialists from three different institutions. Each team employed their own unique muon detection technique, and stationed their scanners both within and outside the pyramid.

Researchers from Nagoya University used nuclear emulsion films to track the muons in three dimensions, a team from France's Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) used scintillator hodoscopes (scintillating materials emit light when particles pass through it), and researchers from KEK High Energy Accelerator Research Organization did it using gas-based detectors. Because only one percent of muons reach the detectors, data must be meticulously accumulated over the course of several months (the exposures began in December 2015).

Explaining the Void

All three teams reached the same conclusion-there's a large, open cavity directly above the Great Gallery, and it's about the same size and shape. The void is about 70 feet (21 meters) above ground level, and is at least 100 feet (30 meters) long, but the researchers aren't sure of its inclination.

So what is it?

During a press conference held yesterday, the researchers stubbornly refused to speculate. "We're avoiding the word 'chamber,'" said Mehdi Tayoubi. "We know that it's a big void, but we're not calling it a chamber." The ScanPyramids scientists admitted they're not experts in this area, and that specialists in Egyptian architecture should use this discovery as an invitation to join in and help explain the mysterious cavity.

"There are still many architectural hypotheses to consider; in particular, the big void could be made of one or several adjacent structures, and it could be inclined or horizontal," write the researchers in the study. "The detailed structure of the void should be further studied...more interdisciplinary collaborations [will be required to help understand] the pyramid and its construction process."

Importantly, the researchers were able to rule out "non-void" possibilities. Because small gaps or crevices cannot be detected using the muon technique (it can only detect wide open spaces), there's virtually no way the space is a "swiss cheese" of stone, as some scientists have speculated. It's also unlikely, the researchers say, that it's just a sign of interior wear-and-tear, some kind of collapse or construction flaw in the design, or the juxtaposition of small and large stones. Importantly, the area in question produced the same muon data patterns as scans made of the Grand Gallery-a known "void" within the structure.

Kathlyn M. Cooney, an Associate Professor of Ancient Egyptian Art & Architecture at the University of California Los Angeles, says it's too early to speculate about the true nature of the void, but a hidden chamber is not an impossibility. Cooney, who wasn't involved in the new study, said Khufu and his father Sneferu, unlike their Third Dynasty predecessors, began to "float" chambers within their pyramids.

"To construct these internal structures they had to build from the bottom up," she told Gizmodo, "They had to create the chambers and passages as they built upwards." To make these interior structures inaccessible (which seems to be the intent), Cooney says the ancient Egyptians refrained from making adjoining corridors, and case the pyramid from the outside to prevent access. "It was brilliant," she said, "but it was a short-lived phenomenon, and it didn't happen very often after these two kings."

Like the ScanPyramids archaeologists, Cooney doesn't know what's inside the void, but she said "it would be extraordinary to find potential materials [such as] funerary items and treasures that are almost 5,000 years old."

Potential Paths Forward

The obvious question at this stage is to ask what archaeologists plan on doing to find out more about this mysterious structure. During the press conference, the researchers said they'd like to perform more long term muon scans of the structure, and from different positions. This should allow them to create a more accurate picture of the space, and possibly find more hidden features.

More radically, INRIA researcher Jean-Baptiste Mouret, a member of the ScanPyramids team, is currently designing an innovative robot that will be capable of squirming through a very small hole, and possibly fly like an aerial drone once it's within the cavity (welcome to archaeology in the 21st century).

Unfortunately, the void is located in a very difficult place to access, and some drilling may be required. This prospect could be minimized should the researchers discover hidden adjoining corridors. Take the recently discovered corridor above the original entrance; this passageway could contain a tunnel all the way to the void in a mirror image of the structures below it.

"If an exploration has to be imagined, a good starting place would be from the suspected corridor at the North Face," explained the researchers at yesterday's presser. "But for the moment there is no discussion about that-this is not our responsibility. But because we are engineers, and because we love innovation, we asked Jean-Baptiste to join our team...and we're currently in the thinking and design process."

But as Cooney explained to Gizmodo, the researchers will still have to get past the Egyptian antiquities ministry.

"When you claim something like this, and even when you've got great science behind you, the Egyptians still have control over their national patrimony," she said. "Ultimately, it'll be up to them as to how they'll want [the pyramid] investigated and analyzed as the archaeologists move forward." She also says that outside researchers (which is the case here) will have to work with an Egyptian team, and work within the convoluted Egyptian political process.

Lastly, Cooney made a plea to both the press and the public to remain patient.

"We need to stop rushing archaeological discoveries that don't need to be rushed and push scientists to make declarations about discoveries that aren't yet proven," she told Gizmodo, "It's important to remember the old adage, 'archaeology is destructive,' and realize that the next generation will be able to do it better."

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Stunned Scientists Detect Suspected Hidden Chamber Within Great Pyramid of Giza

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Though they were constructed nearly 5,000 years ago, the Great Pyramids of Egypt are still packed with secrets. Using a technique that leverages the power of cosmic rays, scientists have confirmed the presence of a large empty space within Khufu's pyramid-a void that's signaling the presence of a possible hidden chamber.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/science/great-pyramid-giza-possible-undiscovered-tomb.html

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While the anomalies on the other pyramids ranged from 0.1 to 0.5 degrees, the team found that some stones on the Great Pyramid were six degrees warmer or cooler than the stones next to them.

"There is something here," Hany Helal, a professor at Cairo University involved in the project, told CNN. "Something is not normal with respect to the other parts of the Pyramid."

The Ministry of Antiquities said the temperature differences could be caused by the "presence of voids beneath the surface" or the movement of "internal air currents" beneath the stone blocks. It said the team's findings would face further analysis in the coming weeks.

Mehdi Tayoubi, the president of the Heritage Innovation Preservation Institute, which is coordinating the project along with Cairo University, tweeted an image of a watercolor painting that he said showed the specific location on the Great Pyramid where the thermal anomaly was detected.

Zone de l'anomalie thermique vue aujourdhui par François Schuiten.Thermal anomaly zone by François Schuiten.@HIP_i_ pic.twitter.com/enPJB9Iyrr
- Mehdi Tayoubi (@MehdiTayoubi) Nov. 9, 2015

The Great Pyramid, also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops, is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one that has survived to the present day. As such, it has been studied for hundreds of years.

The announcement on Monday came just two weeks into the "Scan Pyramids" project, a long-term effort being conducted by researchers from Cairo University, the University of Laval in Quebec and Nagoya University in Japan that is scheduled to continue until the end of 2016.

The goal is to use "non-invasive visualization techniques" like infrared scanners, lasers and drones to get a comprehensive picture of the monuments' internal structure "without drilling the slightest opening," according to the project's website.

The ministry said that the team's next project would be to build a 3-D model of the Giza Plateau in an effort to better understand the construction of the Pyramids.

Last week, the team said in a statement that it would use methods similar to those employed at the Great Pyramid to study the walls of the tomb of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, outside the city of Luxor. In September, the anitquities minister told reporters that researchers had found evidence that could point to the existence of two previously undiscovered rooms there, too, according to National Geographic.

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Researchers Say There May Be Undiscovered Tomb at Great Pyramid of Giza

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While the anomalies on the other pyramids ranged from 0.1 to 0.5 degrees, the team found that some stones on the Great Pyramid were six degrees warmer or cooler than the stones next to them. "There is something here," Hany Helal, a professor at Cairo University involved in the project, told CNN.

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https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2017/Nov-04/425168-archaeologist-criticises-pyramid-void-discovery.ashx

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An Egyptian archaeologist overseeing a project to scan a pyramid for voids on Saturday criticised the announcement of a discovery of a passenger plane-sized cavity in the Great Pyramid.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/science/pyramids-giza-void.html

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The Great Pyramid of Giza has towered over Egypt for more than 4,500 years. Built during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu, the monument was a testament to the ruler's architectural prowess and is thought to have been a home for his mummified remains.

For centuries, archaeologists have ventured into the Pyramid of Khufu, as it is also known, and marveled at the King's chamber, the Queen's chamber and the Grand Gallery. Now, using a technique from the field of particle physics, an international team of researchers has harnessed cosmic-ray collisions to peek inside and uncover a hidden "void" within the pyramid's stones that is roughly 100 feet long, similar to the Statue of Liberty from her heel to her head.

"We don't know if it's a chamber, a tunnel, a big gallery or things like that," said Mehdi Tayoubi, co-director of the ScanPyramids project, which published the finding Thursday in the journal Nature. "We have chosen the word 'void' and nothing else because we don't know what this void is."

Many archaeologists questioned whether the study offered any new information about the ancient Egyptians, and were quick to note that the team had most likely not found a hidden room filled with the pharaoh's riches. They said the so-called void was probably empty space designed by the pyramid's architects to lessen the weight on its chambers and prevent them from collapsing, an example of features that were already documented in the construction of the ancient monuments.

However, the study may suggest that advances in technology can offer a richer understanding of wonders of the ancient world that have long fascinated the human imagination.

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A rendering by the researchers at ScanPyramids show the "Big Void" relative to known structures in the Great Pyramid of Giza. Credit ScanPyramids mission

Khufu, also known by his Greek name Cheops, is thought to have ruled from 2509 B.C. to 2483 B.C., during Egypt's fourth dynasty. Though he constructed the largest pyramid Egypt has ever seen, the only intact three-dimensional figure of him that archaeologists have found measures a mere three inches tall. Very little is known about him, so his pyramid offers one of the few looks into his life and reign. The site at Giza where his pyramid was built also contains two other major pyramids and the Sphinx.

Since 2015, Dr. Tayoubi and his colleagues, now consisting of three separate teams of physicists and engineers, have investigated the pyramid using a particle physics technique known as muon tomography to see through to its core.

"We tried to do for the pyramid what a doctor can do with X-rays," Dr. Tayoubi said.

Instead of X-rays, the team used muons, the heavy cousins of electrons that form when cosmic rays from outer space collide with particles in Earth's atmosphere. The fallout from the collisions creates a constant bombardment of harmless particles that can penetrate deep into the planet. As the muons pass through matter they lose energy and decay, so if the team detected a small number of muons, that means they were passing through matter. But if they detected more muons, it suggests the particles were passing through empty space or less dense material.

The technology was previously used by Luis Alvarez, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, to investigate whether there were hidden chambers in the Pyramid of Khafre in the 1960s. As muon detector resolution has greatly improved over the decades, it has since been used to see the inner structures of volcanoes as well as the irradiated Fukushima nuclear reactor.

In 2016, Dr. Tayoubi's colleagues stood in the Queen's chamber and used muon detectors capable of making improved measurements to study particles as they passed through the pyramid. When they analyzed their data from a region above the Grand Gallery, a long inclined passageway that leads to the King's Chamber, they found something strange: an unexpected excess of muons.

Researchers using a muon detector inside the Queen's chamber of the Great Pyramid. Credit ScanPyramids mission

They found a void.

The first measurements were made by researchers from Nagoya University in Japan who were a part of the project. Then two more teams associated with ScanPyramids, one from France and another from Japan, also confirmed the anomaly with muon tomography, even from outside the pyramid. The discovery comes on the footsteps of the team's previous work, which detected a small void behind the north face of the pyramid in 2016.

Christopher Morris, a physicist who conducts research using muon tomography at Los Alamos National Laboratory and was not involved in the study, called the findings "pretty amazing," adding that all the team needed to do was set up their muon detectors and reap the rewards.

"All the other physicists who could have done it, and didn't, are jealous," he said.

Arturo Menchaca-Rocha, a physicist from the National Autonomous University of Mexico who has used muon detection to investigate the Pyramid of the Sun in Mexico, echoed Dr. Morris's sentiments and said the project's physics supported its claims.

But archaeologists were more critical of the work.

Mark Lehner, an Egyptologist from Ancient Egypt Research Associates, said that previous work had shown that the ancient Egyptians most likely constructed gaps in their pyramids and that the voids the team found are nothing special, or new.

"The great pyramid of Khufu is more Swiss cheese than cheddar," he said. He added that the steep incline of the void also casts doubts on whether it was some sort of room. "At that angle, it doesn't make much sense for it to be a chamber that would contain artifacts, burials and objects and that sort of thing."

Zahi Hawass, an Egyptologist, former Egyptian government minister and head of the scientific committee appointed by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities to review the work, was more critical of the finding.

"They found nothing," said Dr. Hawass, noting that such construction gaps had been known of for at least two decades. "This paper offers nothing to Egyptology. Zero."

Both Dr. Lehner and Dr. Hawass agreed that the scanning work should continue in hopes that the teams can retrieve higher resolution data about the inner workings of the pyramid, specifically the shape and size of the anomaly.

Hany Helal, who is also a co-director of the ScanPyramids project, responded to the criticism, saying that from an engineering perspective, it would not make sense to have such a big void above the Gallery if its purpose was to relieve pressure.

He said the next steps are to have an international discussion with archaeologists to figure out the structure's purpose. In the future, he added that scientists may use drones to explore the void once they have more information about it.

"We are sure there is a void," he said. "Now let us continue our research."

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Physicists Find a 'Void' Inside the Great Pyramid. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

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Inside Giza's Great Pyramid, Scientists Discover a Void

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The Great Pyramid of Giza has towered over Egypt for more than 4,500 years. Built during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu, the monument was a testament to the ruler's architectural prowess and is thought to have been a home for his mummified remains.

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Careful! One of these links is not reliable!

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Careful! One of these links is not reliable!

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http://newsthump.com/2017/11/02/big-void-at-centre-of-pyramid-revealed-to-be-a-starbucks/

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Scientists made the discovery yesterday, after drones they had deployed returned from the inside of the pyramid with a pumpkin spice latte, a mocha frappe and a danish pastry.

"We're a bit surprised, but then Starbucks are bloody everywhere," confirmed Dr Elizabeth King, of the expedition.

"They've got the red festive cups in, which is a surprise, you'd expect a more remote outlet like this to lag behind.

"We're still not quite sure how the coffee has been made...it's either a robot, a mummy, or the unluckiest barista in the world."

Unluckiest barista in the world, Simon Williams, said, "Please help me.

"I've been here making coffee since the reign of Rameses II. Those three items I just sent out represent the busiest period I've had in nearly 800 years.

"I don't know why the aliens that built this thing bothered with a Starbucks. There's a pop-up Starbucks in the visitor centre anyway."

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Big void at centre of Pyramid revealed to be a Starbucks

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Scientists made the discovery yesterday, after drones they had deployed returned from the inside of the pyramid with a pumpkin spice latte, a mocha frappe and a danish pastry. "We're a bit surprised, but then Starbucks are bloody everywhere," confirmed Dr Elizabeth King, of the expedition.