Gang ontdekt in de Grote Piramide infographic
Graphic shows cutaway of the Great Pyramid and of the section where the corridor has been found.
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ARCHAEOLOGIE

Gang ontdekt in de Grote Piramide van Gize

By Jordi Bou

March 3, 2023 - A hidden passage has been discovered close to the main entrance of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

The passage is nine metres in length and more than two metres in width, the antiquities ministry said in a statement.

The discovery was part of the ScanPyramids project, launched in 2015 as a collaboration between major universities in France, Germany, Canada and Japan and a group of Egyptian experts.

Archaeologist Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s former antiquities minister, heads the committee supervising the project, which uses advanced technology to visualise hidden parts of the pyramid’s interior without having to excavate it.

The passage was detected using cosmic-ray muon radiography. Images of the corridor with a vaulted ceiling were captured by an endoscope camera inserted between small gaps in the stones of the pyramid.

Built some 4,500 years ago, it has three known chambers, and like other pyramids in Egypt was intended as a pharaoh’s tomb.

Hawass told reporters that “there is a great possibility... the tunnel is protecting something. In my opinion, it is protecting the actual burial chamber of King Khufu.”

In 2017, ScanPyramids announced the discovery of a passenger plane-sized cavity, the first major structure found inside the Great Pyramid since the 19th century.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 03/03/2023; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, Newscom, Olaf Tausch
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