Scientists Reveal Hidden Corridor At Egypt's Great Giza Pyramid

The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. (Wikimedia Commons/Morhaf Kamal Aljanee)

JAKARTA - A nine-meter (30 ft) hidden corridor has been found near the main entrance of the 4.500-year-old Great Pyramid Giza, which is expected to lead to further discoveries, Egyptian antique authority said on Thursday.

The discovery inside the pyramid, which is one of the Ancient Seven Wonders of the World that is still standing, was carried out under the Scan Pyramids project which since 2015 has used non-invasive technology, including infrared thermography, 3D simulations and cosmic ray imaging to peer into the structure.

An article published in the journal Nature on Thursday said the discovery could contribute to the knowledge of pyramid building and the purpose of the pointed limestone structure in front of the corridor.

The Grand Pyramid was built as a monumental tomb around 2560 BC during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu, or Cheops. Built as high as 146 meters (479 feet), now it is 139 meters high and is the tallest building made by humans, before the Eiffel Tower was finally built in Paris in 1889.

The unfinished Corridor is likely made to distribute the weight of the pyramid around the main entrance now used by tourists, which is nearly seven meters away, or around rooms or other rooms that have not been found, said Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt's Ancient Highest Council.

"We will continue our scans so we will see what we can do... to find out what we can find below, or at the end of this corridor," he told reporters after a news conference in front of the pyramid.

Five rooms above the king's burial room on the other side of the pyramid are also expected to be built to redistribute the burden of the massive structure. It is possible that the firaun has more than one burial room, Waziri added.

It is known, scientists detected the corridor via cosmic ray muon radiography, before taking its image by inserting an endoscopy of 6 mm thick from Japan via a small connection on the pyramid stone.

Earlier, Scan Pyramids researchers announced the discovery of 30 meters of vacant space inside the Grand Pyramids in 2017, the first inner structure discovered since the 19th century.