NEWS: New Discovery of a Large Hidden Room in the Great Pyramid

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/11/great-pyramid-giza-void-discovered-khufu-archaeology-science/

Scientists using a new technology that allows them to scan the Great Pyramid at Giza for voids have detected a room or series of rooms over 100 feet in length (see cutaway above).  The discovery opens up a number of possibilities about what might be inside the open space or what the void might reveal in how the Great Pyramid was constructed. 

Completed in about 2,550 BC as a tomb for King Khufu, the Great Pyramid stood 481 feet constructed out of over 2 million 5,000 lb. blocks.  The builders included three rooms, an underground burial chamber, a larger chamber one third of the way up (the Queen’s Chamber) and a larger final room called the King’s Chamber where Khufu’s body is believed to have been interred, though his body has never been recovered. 

The discovery of new rooms opens the possibility that Khufu’s body and treasures may still be hidden in the pyramid.  Such a discovery could be incredibly significant.  To date of the approximately 170 pharaohs and kings of Ancient Egypt, only Tutankhamun’s was discovered intact.  Grave robbers emptied every other known tomb long ago.  So far researchers do not seem optimistic that there is still an intact tomb in the Great Pyramid.

That said, the unexplored caverns may reveal an almost equally fascinating discovery.  Even today, no one knows how the Egyptians managed to construct such an enormous building to exacting standards in less than thirty years.  Egyptologists hope the void may some day reveal clues on how the Great Pyramid was constructed.  Over the years several theories have been proposed.  When the Greek historian Herodotus visited Egypt circa 430 BC, he reported Egyptians used levers to raise the blocks level by level.  Later, two prominent theories have emerged.  The first is a ramp built alongside the pyramid.  The second involves a ram that wrapped around the pyramid. 

Recently a French architect named Jean Pierre Houdin quit his job and dedicated his life to figuring out how the Egyptians built the Great Pyramid.  Houdin determined that a single large ramp was impractical as it would require as much building material as the pyramid itself.  A ramp that wrapped around the pyramid would block sight lines architects needed to ensure the edges of the pyramid met at the top.  Houdin claimed the Egyptians used a side ramp for the first half of the pyramid and then constructed an interior ramp. 

There is a lot more to the theory.  National Geographic filmed a documentary on Houdin’s theory including computer reconstructions which also describes the difficulties and background.  If you are interested, I have linked the video below.  It is 45 minutes but well worth your time.   

In conclusion, there is no known way to access the void and it seems unlikely Egypt will allow archaeologists to go tunneling when the outcome is unknown.  What is in the void will remain a tantalizing mystery for the time being.