Archaeologists have discovered mysterious structures hidden beneath the surface near the Great Pyramid of Egypt that could be an unknown tomb built 4,500 years ago.
The team used ground-penetrating radar at Giza’s Western Cemetery and discovered an L-shaped anomaly that appeared to be an entranceway to a room below.
The cemetery contains the remains of King Khufu, who commissioned the iconic pyramid, his relatives and high-ranking officials, suggesting that another elite could be hiding beneath the sand.
The L-shaped structure is located up to 6 feet below the surface and is filled with sand, which researchers speculate was done on purpose after it was built to block the entrance to the ‘room’ almost 30 feet below .
Archaeologists have discovered mysterious structures hidden beneath the surface near the Great Pyramid of Egypt that could be an unknown tomb built 4,500 years ago
“The structure causing the anomalies could be vertical limestone walls or shafts leading to a burial structure,” the researchers shared in the study. study.
However, they noted that further research will be needed to determine its true identity.
In addition to radar, the team also used a technique called electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), which maps geological variations.
The structures were discovered in a ‘void area’ with no visible structures and largely flat ground with compacted sand on the surface.
Using the scanners, the team determined that the L-shaped object is about 10 meters long and about 14 meters wide.
And the second structure measures 10 meters all around, which could be a mix of sand and gravel or even an open void.
Researchers have speculated that the structure could be a mastaba, an underground rectangular tomb with a flat roof usually constructed of limestone or mud bricks.
“It has a vertical axis connected to an underground chamber,” the study reads.
The structures were discovered in a ‘void area’ with no visible structures and largely flat ground with compacted sand on the surface
Using the scanners, the team determined that the L-shaped object is about 10 meters long and about 14 meters wide
‘Most such sites are buried under overburden of sand, and it is not easy to determine their exact positions from the surface.
‘Under such conditions, their positions can be identified by shallow geophysical exploration methods.’
Study first author Motoyuki Sato, a professor at the Center for Northeast Asian Studies at Tohoku University in Japan, said Living Science that he and his team are certain that the structures are not a natural phenomenon because the ‘shape is too sharp’.
The Great Pyramid is over 140 meters high and the length of each side of the base is approximately 230 meters, making it the largest man-made structure on Earth.
The two smaller pyramids were built later: one built for Khafre, the fourth of the eight kings of the 4th Dynasty, and the other for Menkaure, the fifth king of the 4th Dynasty.
Khufu was the second king of the 4th dynasty.
And the ancient Egyptian pyramids continue to reveal new secrets.
In March 2023, scientists discovered a hidden passageway deep within the Great Pyramid using an endoscopic camera and a technique called cosmic ray muon radiography.
The cemetery contains the remains of King Khufu, who commissioned the iconic pyramid, his relatives and high-ranking officials, suggesting that another elite could be hiding beneath the sand.
The team mapped the opening and confirmed that it was 9 meters long and 2.5 meters wide.
According to Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, it was located downstairs or in another undiscovered room or space.
It is believed that five chambers on top of the king’s burial chamber in another part of the pyramid were also built to redistribute the weight of the massive structure.
It was possible that the pharaoh had more than one burial chamber, Waziri added.