Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza—one of the wonders of the ancient world, and a dazzling feat of architectural genius—contains a hidden void at least a hundred feet long, scientists announced on Thursday.
The space’s dimensions resemble those of the pyramid’s Grand Gallery, the 153-foot-long, 26-foot-tall corridor that leads to the burial chamber of Khufu, the pharaoh for whom the pyramid was built.
However, it remains unclear what lies within the space, what purpose it served, or if it’s one or multiple spaces.
The void is the first large inner structure discovered within the 4,500-year-old pyramid since the 1800s—a find made possible by recent advances in high-energy particle physics. The results were published in the journal Nature.
“This is definitely the discovery of the century,” says archaeologist and Egyptologist Yukinori Kawae, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer. “There have been many hypotheses about the pyramid, but no one even imagined that such a big void is located above the Grand Gallery.”
The Great Pyramid of Giza—also known as the Pyramid of Cheops—has been studied for centuries. The colossal scale of the monument has inspired innumerable theories about the methods used in the carving of the blocks, their movement and their final placement. Today it is known that the granite used in parts of the interior came from a quarry in Aswan, more than 800 kilometres away, and that it was transported by ships on the Nile, while the limestone blocks that make up most of the structure, as well as the former casing stones, were extracted from quarries near the site.
MOST PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT WEST OF THE NILE.
Ancient Egyptian culture is full of symbolism and superstitions that guided decision making. So it should come as no surprise that even the location of the ancient pyramids were guided by mythology.
Most were built on the west bank of the Nile, and for a distinct reason. As the pyramids were the final resting places of pharaohs, it only makes sense they should reside where their souls can begin their journey into the afterlife. For ancient Egyptians, the afterlife and the sun were closely intertwined. Osiris, an Egyptian god closely connect with the afterlife, represented the strength of new life. Over time, he also became associated with the cycle of the sun and how it brought new growth from dormant seeds.
Thanks to this association, the setting sun came to symbolize death and the sun “died” in the west each night. The souls of the pharaohs were meant to connect with the setting sun before rising again in the morning, a symbol of eternal life. By placing pyramids to the west of the Nile, they lived right in the area that metaphorically signified death.
The Great Pyramid of Giza is not only the most recognized of Egypt’s pyramids, it’s also the only of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that’s still standing. The Great Pyramid is impressive for many reasons, but one of the most interesting characteristics of this celebrated monument is that it can also tell time. The structure actually acts as an enormous sundial, with its shadow telling the hour by falling on marks made in the stone.
Of course, being the Great Pyramid, it couldn’t be just any old sundial. Its level of sophistication meant that it not only told time, but was able to signal solstices and equinoxes and therefore helped the Egyptians define the solar year.
Egyptology is a highly active field, with researchers moving away from reading inscriptions, but continuing to excavate and use technology to answer the many mysteries still left to be revealed. For instance, the recent discovery of a 4,500-year-old ramp north of Luxor is giving scholars clues into how the ancient Egyptians may have hauled masonry long distances.
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