Pyramid of Cheops: cosmic rays have revealed a secret corridor

Will we ever find out all the mysteries from the Pyramid of Cheops? Maybe not, but we can’t say we aren’t trying. And sometimes the effort pays off. It is these hours the news that the international collaboration that is studying the last of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing, the pyramid of the pharaoh Cheops (or Khufu), has confirmed the existence of a “secret” corridor which is located a few meters above the tourist entrance to the monument, on the north wall. Scientists have managed to map itthanks to a technique called muography or muon tomography, and they even peeked into it with an endoscope. What it was used for is still unclear: for experts it could have a structural role for unloading weight or hiding the entrance to aother room not yet discovered. The study is posted on Nature Communications.

The technique used

Evidence of other voids beyond those already explored within the Great Pyramid emerged as early as 2016 (in 2017 we told you here of the “Great Void” that scientists were beginning to describe). In recent years, various groups of researchers have carried out measurements by exploiting the properties of muonsparticles that form when cosmic rays come into contact with the gases of our atmosphere, to make a sort of x-ray at the monument. Muons, in fact, are physical particles that move at speeds close to that of light and are very penetrating, but their speed and trajectory are modified by the characteristics of the material they pass through. The denser the material, the more the muons are blocked, drawing a “shadow”.

Placing a series of sensors around the Great Pyramid and three detector telescopes and muon counters outside, scientists have confirmed the corridor’s presence and estimated it to be about 9 meters long with a cross section of 2 x 2 metresprobably iinclined upwards. Not only that: radar and ultrasound tests were also carried out, and finally, given its proximity to the surface, it was also possible to insert a endoscopic camera non-invasive and see the inside.