Japanese physicists have discovered a giant cavity in the Cheops pyramid using muon scanning. They talked about the discovery in the magazine Nature .
The Pyramid of Cheops was built about 4,500 years ago and is the largest of the Egyptian pyramids. Its height is 139 m. Unlike most pyramids of that time, which were built over tombs, the Cheops pyramid contains several rooms. The Pharaoh's Chambers, the Queen's Chambers and the Great Gallery were discovered in the 9th century and studied in detail in the 19th century.
However, the question of whether there are other rooms in the pyramid and whether the tomb of the pharaoh is located in one of them still occupies scientists and enthusiasts.
Nature/nature.com
The scan was carried out as part of the project ScanPyramids, launched in October 2015. The goal of the scientists was to discover rooms inside the pyramids of Cheops and Khafre in Giza, as well as the Bent and Pink pyramids in Dahshur. The project uses infrared thermography, muon radiography and 3D reconstruction.
Cosmic rays coming from the Sun and beyond solar system, are mostly made up of protons. When a high-energy particle enters the Earth's atmosphere, it produces a flurry of particles, mostly pions and muons, which themselves produce other particles. Negatively charged muons appear for millionths of a second, moving at almost the speed of light and causing no harm to objects on the surface of the Earth.
So, according to statistics, several hundred muons fly through a person’s head per minute.
However, when flying through dense objects, muons lose part of their energy, so with the help of special sensors, physicists have already learned to find secret voids behind stone walls, inside volcanoes, in the pyramids of the Mayans and Egyptians.
“If you're looking for voids, you need to look for an excess of muons in a certain direction,” explains Arturo Menhaza-Roja, a physicist at the National Autonomous University in Mexico City who uses the method to study the Mexican pyramids. -
"Tracking muons allows us to localize and estimate the shape of cavities."
“The beautiful thing is that muons lose enough energy to be detected, but not so much that they are completely absorbed by the target. “This is truly a fabulous gift from nature,” adds particle physicist Roy Schwitters of the University of Austin, who was not involved in the project. “Scientists really have found a gold mine.”
Japanese physicists from Nagoya University placed muon detectors in the Queen's chambers - the stone absorbs these particles, and if there is a cavity near the sensor, it will pick up large quantity muons. Two more groups of researchers joined in checking the data obtained.
All three teams agreed that the results indicated the presence of a large room above the Grand Gallery.
ScanPyramids
The length of the discovered cavity is 30 meters. It can be located either parallel to the ground or at an angle, the researchers note. It may actually be divided into several smaller rooms. The purpose of the room is not yet known, but its size indicates that it clearly played a significant role in the tomb of the pharaoh.
“The chances of discovering a secret tomb are zero,”
- says Egyptologist Aidan Dodson. However, experts hope that the find will allow us to learn much more about how the pyramid was built.
Perhaps, Dodson suggests, the ancient Egyptian builders wanted to reduce the load of masonry on the ceiling of the Great Gallery with the help of the room. Similar solutions were used, for example, in the pyramid of Pharaoh Snefru, the father of Cheops.
But geologist and engineer Colin Reeder believes that new room was too far from the Grand Gallery to have such a purpose.
According to his assumption, it can lead to another room, just as the Great Gallery leads to the chambers of the Pharaoh.
A third theory is put forward by Egyptologist Bob Brier. He had previously suggested that the Great Gallery was part of the counterweight system used by the pyramid builders to move granite blocks when building the Pharaoh's chambers. It is quite possible that the new premises had a similar purpose, he believes.
Researchers discovered two previously unknown voids in the Cheops pyramid. One of them is located in the northern part of the pyramid, the other in the northeast. Both resemble corridors. It is not yet possible to say whether they are related.
MOSCOW, November 3 – RIA Novosti. Physicists have found a previously unknown void area in the Cheops pyramid that may be a secret tomb or a passage into it, according to a paper published in the journal Nature.
“When we saw this area of emptiness, we realized that we had come across something very interesting and big, we abandoned all other projects and concentrated on studying this area, located directly above the corridor to the tomb of Cheops. Now we are sure that it really exists, and this "This is the first discovery of its kind in the Cheops pyramid since the Middle Ages, when it was opened by Caliph Al-Mamun in the 9th century," said Mehdi Tayoubi from the HIP Institute in Paris (France).
The Pyramid of Cheops, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was built in the middle of the third millennium BC, during the time of Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops), a representative of the fourth dynasty of the Old Kingdom, at the same time as all the “great pyramids” Ancient Egypt. This structure, 145 meters high and 230 meters wide and long, remains one of the tallest and largest buildings ever created by mankind.
Every second in upper layers The Earth's atmosphere produces millions of muons - charged particles resulting from the collision of cosmic rays with gas molecules in the air. These collisions accelerate muons to near-light speeds, thanks to which they penetrate tens and hundreds of meters deep into the surface of the planet. Scientists' measurements show that every square meter of the Earth's surface absorbs about 10 thousand of these particles.
French archaeologists and physicists, together with Japanese scientists, have adapted telescopes that can “see” muons to search for voids and hidden rooms in ancient architectural monuments.
At the end of October, it reported that archaeologists and physicists had discovered inside the Cheops pyramid two, as they put it, “previously unknown voids,” which could be secret rooms where the remains of Pharaoh Khufu rest.
“Having successfully tested the muon scanner on the Sneferu pyramid, we used it to check two suspicious zigzag masonry on the slopes of the Cheops pyramid. In June 2016, we installed plates with photographic emulsion in the corridor under these “chevrons” and 67 days later we sent them for analysis to Nagoya University ", say archaeologists.
Both suspicious structures in the Cheops pyramid, as shown by analysis of photographic plates, contain significant voids that are clearly visible in muon “photographs”, and there is no doubt about their existence. One of these "previously unknown voids" is located on the northern wall of the pyramid, and it, according to archaeologists, may be a corridor that goes deeper into the pyramid. The second, smaller void is located in the northeastern part of the pyramid.
Egyptologists from the AERA collaboration previously found out how the passages in the Cheops pyramid were arranged and restored the security system that protected the pharaoh's tomb from tomb robbers, Live Science reported in July.
According to scientists, the tomb of Cheops was protected from robbers by two levels of protection. The first of them was located at the entrance to the pharaoh’s tomb itself - it was closed by three monolithic stone slabs, which were raised above its entrance using systems of grooves and blocks, and were probably held in place by some kind of supports.
The second obstacle for thieves was installed in the so-called inner sanctuary, inside which was the entrance to the tomb of Cheops. The entrance to it was closed in a similar way, using stone slabs that were lowered down through grooves and channels in the walls of the pyramid.
Egyptian archaeologists in early October began clearing the entrance to a previously unknown tomb, which was discovered on the west bank of the Nile near the city of Luxor, the Youm 7 news portal reported, citing the words of the head of the department of antiquities of Luxor, Talaat Abdel Aziz.
“The front door has been damaged by time and work is underway to clear the entrance to get into the tomb to determine its age and the name of the person for whom it was built,” he said.
Some time ago, scientists discovered in the same area the tomb of an ancient Egyptian gold merchant, which is about 3.5 thousand years old, as well as a mass grave of the poor from the era of Ancient Egypt.
Scientists at the end of August discovered a huge monastic complex near the city of El Minya; the find dates back to the 5th century AD, reports Ahram Online.
Archaeologists have found many burial chambers, total area of which there are 3500 square meters. In addition, scientists have excavated the remains of monastic houses made of clay.
“This fact suggests that the archaeological site next to the (monastic) necropolis of Al-Nassar was a complex of monks,” said Gamal El-Semestwy, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Authority.
It is believed that Christian monasticism appeared in Egypt around the beginning of the 4th century AD. The Church recognizes him as the ancestor of St. Anthony the Great.
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Date of publication: November 24, 2017
There are many theories about what could be in the pyramids: from objects of worship to treasures or scrolls of ancient knowledge.
The controversy escalated after, in the 90s, a robot lowered into one of the mines stumbled upon mysterious “doors”. Did the ancient Egyptians want to hide something from us?
Already for the ancient Greeks and Romans, the pyramids - especially from Giza - seemed to be something very old and commanding respect because of the skill of the builders. Plato (5th-4th century BC) in the dialogue “Timaeus”, in which he, among other things, talks about Atlantis, puts the following words into the mouth of the priest Sonhis Sais:
Greek civilization, against the backdrop of much more ancient and more developed cultures, the knowledge of which was kept by the Egyptian priests, seems like a child.
For centuries, the Egyptian pyramids have captivated minds and aroused great curiosity about what they hid. This riddle especially attracted the attention of the Arabs, who, when the land above the Nile came under their power, literally began to “demolish” the pyramids.
In the first decades of the 9th century, Caliph Al-Mamun (d. 883), who, according to legend, believed that records containing the knowledge of the ancients would be found inside the Cheops pyramid, mobilized people to make a hole in it. It took a lot of effort, but in the end we managed to find an ascending corridor.
Photo: pravda-tv.ru Medieval Arab historians and chroniclers (such as Al-Masudi or Al-Idrisi) wrote about the miracles, gold and mummies that the caliph probably found in the pyramid. Today, Egyptologists cast doubt on the legend of the curious Al-Mamun, who, according to available data, himself was supposed to explore the dark and stuffy interior of the pyramids. It is difficult to imagine Arab masons working “blindly”.
It has probably been known for a long time that in the monument, in addition to the system of lower corridors, there is another unique system of cameras and passages located above.
An expert on Ancient Egypt, archaeologist Mark Lenner added that the Great Pyramid was broken into much earlier. Already during the Sais dynasty (7th-6th century BC), priests had to restore the damage caused by thieves who were looking for gold rather than scrolls of wisdom.
Traces of solution after various repair work were probably recognizable, and hundreds of years later the caliph cleared the existing tunnel, which - interestingly - lay just below the original entrance to the structure, hidden and sealed by its creators.
The Pyramid of Mikerinus has a “split” in the middle, which at first glance looks like a giant keyhole. This is a trace of the idea of the 12th century Egyptian caliph Al-Aziz Uthman (son of Saladin), who decided that the pyramids, as relics of the pagan past, should be destroyed, and at the same time check what was hidden inside.
Photo: galleryhip.com Al-Aziz Utman began demolition with the smallest pyramid in Giza, but the dismantling work was soon stopped.
His team worked for several months, after which it was decided that “dismantling” was not worth the effort because the structure was too strong.
The discovery of the German engineer Rudolf Gantenbrink also caused controversy. In 1992-1993, he launched into the narrow shafts of the Great Pyramid, considered ventilation ducts, a robot he designed. During the last test, he covered 65 meters of the southern channel, after which his cameras registered a stone “door” with two copper handles.
Photo: Rudolf Gantenbrink The discovery has sparked the imagination of millions of people and raised questions about what lies behind the stone barrier. The further stages of research into the “Gantenbrink doors” were less public. In 2002, a robot was launched into the canal and managed to overcome the “barrier”, behind which, as it turned out, there was another very similar one.
It was only in 2011 that the robot Jedi, designed by Robert Richardson of the University of Leeds, managed to detect a small space covered with lines and hieroglyphs, which were drawn in red paint, with its small endoscope-like camera.
Photo: .ice-nut.ru Zaki Hawass, then Minister of Antiquities, himself said that such discoveries indicate that the pyramids may hide unknown chambers.
It is worth noting that the Jedi robot also had its drawbacks, so work to improve the robot was continued. And in 2015, a new improved version of the robot began working in the monuments, an interesting story about new version Jedi was filmed by NTD TV.
Video: NTDRussian
In recent decades, attempts have been made to determine whether other non-open spaces exist within the pyramids or in their vicinity. It is worth noting that some studies have led to the addition of new cavities to the pyramid diagram, so assumptions about the presence of other cavities in the pyramids may be quite reasonable.
Explored cavities on the diagram of the Cheops pyramid | Scientists have discovered a giant cavity in the Cheops pyramid using muon scanning. They reported on the discovery in the journal Nature, RIA Novosti reports.
“When we saw this area of emptiness, we realized that we had come across something very interesting and big, we abandoned all other projects and concentrated on studying this area, located directly above the corridor to the tomb of Cheops. Now we are sure that it really exists, and this "This is the first discovery of its kind in the Cheops pyramid since the Middle Ages, when it was opened by Caliph Al-Mamun in the ninth century," said Mehdi Tayoubi from the HIP Institute in Paris.
The 30-meter-long room is located above a large gallery. The purpose of the room remains a mystery, but scientists suggest that it could be the secret tomb of the pharaoh or the passage into it.
The scan was part of the ScanPyramids project, launched in October 2015. The project uses infrared thermography, muon radiography and 3D reconstruction. Cosmic rays are mostly made up of protons. When a high-energy particle enters the Earth's atmosphere, it produces a flurry of particles, mostly pions and muons, which also produce other particles. Negatively charged muons appear for millionths of a second, moving at almost the speed of light and causing no harm to objects on the surface of the Earth.
However, when flying through dense objects, muons lose part of their energy, so with the help of special sensors, physicists have learned to find secret voids behind stone walls.
“Our measurements absolutely rule out that this void area could have arisen due to differences in the properties of the stones or due to errors in construction. Voids of this size and configuration could not have appeared accidentally between the blocks, neither from an engineering nor from any other point of view "The Egyptians were too good builders to screw up the pyramid, leave a hole in it and create a room or corridor somewhere else," said Hani Elal of Cairo University.
The Pyramid of Cheops was built about 4,500 years ago and is the largest of the Egyptian pyramids. Over the past two centuries, scientists have discovered three rooms in the pyramid, in one of which the pharaoh himself was supposedly buried, in the other his wife, and the third was considered a bait or trap for robbers. Unusual channels and structures were found in the walls of the corridors that lead to Khufu's tomb, which scientists consider to be elements of a "security system."
The mummies of the pharaoh and his wife were never discovered, which is why many archaeologists believe that in fact their tombs are still hidden in the thickness of the pyramid.
