The existence of a hidden inner corridor at the main entrance to the Great Pyramid of Giza was discovered by representatives of the Department of Antiquities of Egypt.

The video from the endoscopic camera shows the interior of the corridor nine meters long and 2.1 meters wide.

The creation of the corridor may have served to redistribute the pyramid’s weight at the entry point or some other chamber yet to be discovered, officials said.

The corridor was first detected in 2016 using a muography technique similar to X-ray imaging, but instead using the powerful penetrating power of high-energy muons.

A nine-metre-long hidden corridor has been discovered near the main entrance to the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza, and it could lead to further finds, Egyptian antiquities said https://t.co/F3JM25JwGc 1/4. pic.twitter.com/IXeZpbSmxE

— Reuters (@Reuters) March 2, 2023

A team of scientists from the ScanPyramids project was able to detect changes in density inside the pyramid by analyzing how muons penetrate it.

A non-invasive method has mapped an empty spot behind the northern wall of the Great Pyramid, about seven meters below the main entrance.

Further analyzes were done with radar and ultrasound before an endoscope was inserted through the tiny joint between the stones.

Camera footage shown at a press conference next to the pyramid today shows an empty corridor lined with rough stone block walls and a vaulted stone ceiling.

The unfinished corridor was likely created to redistribute the pyramid’s weight either around the main entrance, located almost 7 meters away, or to another chamber or space not yet open, said Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s 3/4 Supreme Council of Antiquities. pic.twitter.com/Wkoe0dShUg

— Reuters (@Reuters) March 2, 2023

“We will continue to scan to see what we can do … to see what we can find down there or at the end of this corridor,” said Mustafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s High Council of Antiquities.

The Great Pyramid, 146 meters high, was built on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of the city of Cairo, during the Fourth Dynasty by Pharaoh Cheops, who ruled between 2609 and 2584 BC.

Although it is one of the largest and oldest monuments in the world, how exactly it was built remains a mystery.

The corridor is “a great discovery that hits the homes of people around the world for the first time,” said Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass, adding that the find could help determine whether King Cheops’ burial chamber still existed inside the pyramid.

He suggests that there may be “something important” in the space below the corridor, emphasizing his belief that “in a few months we will be able to see if what I say is confirmed or not.”

The Giza Necropolis includes, among other things, the Pyramid of Cheops, the slightly smaller Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Mycerene, the great Sphinx, as well as mortuary temples and tombs of officials.

Source: BBC