The scientist said that he was inside a secret room in the Cheops pyramid. Scientists have found a secret room inside the Cheops pyramid. The mystery of the “Big Empty”
In the Cheops pyramid, experts discovered a previously unknown room, which may turn out to be a secret treasure storage or tomb. The room is located next to the tomb of the pharaoh and the main corridor of the pyramid.
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, the archaeologists said.
Over the past 200 years, scientists have been able to discover only three rooms in the great 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.
But the mummies were never found, giving archaeologists hope that the remains might be hidden in hidden chambers of the pyramid. Scientists have been searching for these premises for a long time, and two years ago they were joined by physicists from the universities of Nagoya, Paris and Cairo.
© ScanPyramids missionExperts studied the structure of the pyramid using non-standard methods, namely space telescopes as part of the ScanPyramids project. Archaeologists have adapted telescopes to find voids and hidden rooms in ancient architectural monuments.
The operating principle of such a detector is very simple: it looks for flows of muons (charged particles) and determines the size of the space in which they are located. It is believed that millions of muons are formed every second in the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere. They arise 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.
Thus, the flux of muons decreases in empty space much more slowly than when passing through rock or earth. Using a telescope like this, you can determine where empty rooms are in an object.
Last October, a detector found several voids inside the Cheops pyramid that could be hidden rooms.
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, as Zahi Hawass claims. Voids of this size and configuration could not have accidentally appeared between the blocks, either from an engineering or any other point of view. The Egyptians were too good builders to make a mistake when building a pyramid, leaving a “hole” in it and creating a room or corridor somewhere else, said Hani Elal from Cairo University.
But this discovery caused a lot of suspicion and mistrust, so it was decided to continue the observations. Repeated research confirmed the scientists' guesses that above the main corridor of the pyramid there is a void zone 30 meters long, 8 meters high and approximately 2 meters wide.
© ScanPyramids missionHowever, experts are not yet sure what kind of space this is, since it could be either a corridor or a series of rooms. A team of Egyptologists is now being formed to further study the Pyramid of Cheops and other structures of Giza.
A new way of studying buildings using a telescope has inspired scientists, as it can provide more information about the structure of ancient pyramids.
This year, the Cheops pyramid is revealing more and more mysteries. Thus, the secret of the construction of the Great Pyramid recently became known. Scientists learned about this thanks to the papyrus they found: its text was written by an Egyptian overseer of 40 slaves who were constructing the building.
Having deciphered the text, archaeologists learned that the Egyptians diverted water from the Nile and laid artificial canals across the Giza plateau, along which boats loaded with blocks moved.
This is the largest of the Egyptian pyramids
An international group of scientists, which included specialists from Egypt, France and Japan, discovered the existence of a cavity in the Cheops pyramid, the purpose of which remains unknown. The room, the existence of which was proven using muon radiography, reaches 30 meters in cross section.
The Pyramid of Cheops is the largest pyramid in Egypt (its height reaches 139 meters) and the only one of the “Seven Wonders of the World” that has survived to this day. The structure is estimated to be approximately 4,500 years old and is believed to have long been the tallest man-made structure on Earth.
Last year, experts already reported that they had discovered two previously unknown empty areas in the Cheops pyramid, but then many of their colleagues were quite wary of this statement. A new study allows us to assume with even greater confidence that people have not yet explored all the rooms inside the famous pyramid.
The muon radiography method is a method of probing materials, which consists of recording the process of scattering or absorption of a muon beam as it passes through the substance of the object being studied. A muon is an unstable elementary particle with a negative electric charge. On Earth, muons are detected in cosmic rays - they are created when particles of cosmic radiation interact with the earth's atmosphere. Three independent experiments showed that there is indeed a hidden camera in the pyramid. As noted, the probability that the result obtained is not true is less than one percent.
The “secret room” is comparable in size to the Great Gallery - an inclined tunnel leading to the Pharaoh's Chamber.
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Geometric definition of a pyramid, history of Egyptian pyramids, their geometric proportions. Definition
Geometric properties of the Egyptian pyramids
Geometric properties of the Egyptian pyramids
Geometric definition of a pyramid, history of Egyptian pyramids, their geometric proportions. Definition of the “golden” triangle, its description in the language of proportions. Consideration of the proportions of some pyramids, pyramidology and Herodotus’s thoughts on the Cheops pyramid.
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Geometric power of the Egyptian pyramids
Scientific research work
Kerivnik: Skok Olga Ivanivna
1. What is a pyramid?
2. Geometric proportions of the Egyptian pyramids
3. Mathematics of pyramids
3.2 Herodotus on the Pyramid of Cheops
When choosing the direction of this course work, I considered many options and decided to choose mathematics. Mathematics is a very broad and interesting science, covering all aspects of human life: from cooking to riding a bicycle; from building houses to recording music.
Specifically in this work, I will tell you about the geometry and architectural components of the Egyptian pyramids, covering the history and facts about them.
Starting with the very concept of a pyramid and ending with complex mathematical calculations, we will plunge back thousands of years, trying to understand the idea and purpose of the construction of these majestic works of art.
At work I tried
Explore the geometric properties of the Egyptian pyramids.
Prove that the proportions and sizes of the pyramids were not chosen randomly by the Egyptians.
During my work, I adhered to the theory that the Egyptian pyramids were built by the ancient Egyptians, and not by aliens from outer space.
1. WHAT IS A PYRAMID?
1.1 Geometric definition of a pyramid
geometric egyptian pyramid proportion
A pyramid is a polyhedron whose base is a polygon and the remaining faces are triangles that have a common vertex. Based on the number of corners of the base, pyramids are distinguished as triangular, quadrangular, etc. A pyramid is a special case of a cone.
To better understand, imagine that in a certain plane (we will consider it horizontal) there is a certain polygon, denoted by the letter M, and above this plane a certain point A is taken. Consider a segment, one end of which is a certain point of the figure M, and the second - point A. All possible such segments, taken together, form a polyhedron called a pyramid with a base M and vertex A. The surface of the pyramid, in addition to the base, contains a number of side faces. Each of them is a triangle, the base of which is one of the sides of the polygon M, and the vertex is point A. Thus, the pyramid contains one face - the base, which can be a polygon with any number of sides, and all other faces (called lateral) represent They are triangles with one common side as their base, and all side faces have one common vertex. This description of the pyramid can be taken as its definition. For example, milk cartons are often made in the shape of a triangular pyramid, i.e. a pyramid with a triangular base
The geometry of the pyramid began in Ancient Egypt and Babylon, but was actively developed in Ancient Greece. The first to establish the volume of the pyramid was Democritus, and Eudoxus of Cnidus proved it. The ancient Greek mathematician Euclid systematized knowledge about the pyramid in the XII volume of his “Elements”, and also derived the first definition of a pyramid: a solid figure bounded by planes that converge from one plane to one point.
1.2 History of the Egyptian pyramids
Now that we have figured out what a pyramid is, let's take a short excursion into history and find out why this geometric figure gained such fame.
The Egyptian pyramids are the greatest architectural monuments of Ancient Egypt, including one of the “seven wonders of the world” - the Pyramid of Cheops and an honorary candidate for the “new seven wonders of the world” - the Pyramids of Giza. Pyramids are huge pyramid-shaped stone structures that were used as tombs for the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. The word "pyramid" is Greek and means polyhedron. According to some researchers, a large pile of wheat became the prototype of the pyramid. According to other scientists, this word comes from the name of a pyramid-shaped funeral cake. A total of 118 pyramids have been discovered in Egypt.
When mentioning the Egyptian pyramids, they usually mean the Great Pyramids located in Giza, near Cairo. But they are not the only pyramids in Egypt. Many other pyramids are much less well preserved and now resemble hills or piles of stones.
During the period of the first dynasties, special “houses after life” appeared - mastabas - funeral buildings, consisting of an underground burial chamber and a stone structure above the surface of the earth. The term itself dates back to Arab times and is due to the fact that the shape of these tombs, similar in section to a trapezoid, reminded the Arabs of large benches called “mastaba”.
The first pharaohs also built mastabas for themselves. The most ancient royal mastabas, dating back to the First Dynasty, were built from adobes - unfired bricks made of clay and/or river silt. They were built in Nagadei Abydos in Upper Egypt, as well as in Saqqara, where the main necropolis of Memphis, the capital of the rulers of the first dynasties, was located. In the above-ground part of these buildings there were chapels and rooms with burial goods, and in the underground part there were the burial chambers themselves.
1.3 Some remarkable pyramids
This is the first step-type pyramid. The construction dates back to approximately 2670 BC. Imhotep, the architect of the pyramid, developed a method of masonry from cut stone. Subsequently, the Egyptians deeply revered the architect of the first pyramid, and even deified him. He was considered the son of the god Ptah, patron of arts and crafts.
The Pyramid of Djoser is located in Saqqara, northeast of ancient Memphis, 15 km from Giza. Its height is 62 m.
The pyramid is located in Zawiyet el-Erian. Its architect is considered to be Khaba, the penultimate pharaoh of the III dynasty. The Khaba pyramid is larger than the pyramid of Sekhemkhet, the pharaoh of the 1st Dynasty, and unlike the latter, it is a little better preserved.
In the central part of the pyramid in Zawiet el-Erian, the structure of the masonry is clearly visible - the layers of stone are slightly inclined towards the center and seem to rest on it (for this reason it is sometimes also called “Layer”). The construction material is small rough-hewn stone and clay mortar. The technology used to build the pyramid at Zawiyet el-Erian is similar to that used to build the pyramid of Sekhemkhet and the Step Pyramid at Saqqara.
Northern pyramid of Pharaoh Snofru in Dahshur, at the time of its construction in the 26th century. BC e. which was the tallest structure on Earth. In size it is second only to the two Egyptian pyramids at Giza - Khufu and Khafre.
The historical significance of the Pink Pyramid is that it is the first royal tomb with a regular pyramidal shape. Although the “pink” tomb is considered the first “true” pyramid, it is characterized by an extremely low slope of the walls (only 43°36"; base 218.5 x 221.5 m with a height of 104.4 m).
The name is due to the fact that the limestone blocks that make up the pyramid take on a pink color in the rays of the setting sun. Entrance through a sloping passage on the north side descends into three adjacent chambers accessible to the public. This pyramid is attributed to Snefru because his name is inscribed in red paint on several blocks of the casing.
2. GEOMETRIC PROPORTIONS OF THE EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS
2.1 Geometric definition of the "golden" triangle
The shape of a right triangle is determined by the ratio of its legs. The choice of this form is led by the problem of choosing the relationship between the span of the base a and the height h during the construction of pyramids (Fig. 1). A pyramid is a sacred structure, and therefore it should not have some randomly selected edge angle, but the best of all possible angles.
To a modern reader, such a formulation of the question may seem strange, if not meaningless. In fact, can one triangle be better than another? But in ancient times people thought differently, and for them one figure could really be better, more perfect than another. The most perfect figure is a circle: this idea was common throughout the philosophy of mathematics from antiquity to the Renaissance.
A right angle is more perfect than an acute and an obtuse one, a square is more perfect than a rectangle, and a rectangle, in turn, is more perfect than a trapezoid. The same is true for numbers: it is no coincidence that numbers equal to the sum of their divisors were called perfect in ancient times. And in the list of paired principles of the Pythagoreans, which Aristotle gives in Metaphysics (986a20-26), such principles as limit, straight, motionless, square correspond to the good, and their pairs, the infinite, crooked, moving, oblong, accompany the bad.
The general principle of this opposition was discussed by A.V. Rodin (2003). We will look at it using the example of three types of angles. There is only one right angle, and within the limits of its type it cannot be larger or smaller. But an acute angle as such is not defined, and within the limits of its type, any acute angle can become larger or smaller. The same goes for an obtuse angle. Therefore, a right angle is the most perfect, because within the boundaries of its type it is always equal to itself. And other angles can be either greater or less than a right angle. And their definitions depend on the definition of a right angle - “an acute angle is an angle that is less than a right angle, and an obtuse angle is an angle that is greater than a right angle.” The right angle is the “golden mean” (aureamediocrita) between excess and deficiency, to use the expression used by Horace in Ode II, 3. In the same way, there is one definite straight line among an infinite number of curves, one square among an infinite number of oblong rectangles, and so on. And everything that is definite - that which cannot change without losing its specific quality - is perfect.
Now we return to the original question of how the basic dimensions of the pyramid should “best” relate to each other. It is clear that the answers to this question can be very different. One person may say that the most perfect among triangles is an equilateral triangle, and therefore the cross-section of a pyramid should look like such a triangle. Another is that the most perfect among quadrilaterals is a square, and therefore the cross-section of a pyramid should be half a square. In this case, both frontal and diagonal sections can be considered. The solution in which the side faces of the pyramid are equilateral triangles looks quite elegant. These are the proportions of the pyramid in Lisht, built by Amenemhet I, the founder of the XII dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. However, the pyramids at Giza, belonging to the pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, were built according to different proportions.
Among the possible answers to the question posed above, the following can be proposed. Consider an arbitrary right triangle standing on one of the legs. In this triangle, let us drop a perpendicular from the vertex of the right angle to the hypotenuse. It will divide the triangle into two - upper and lower. In the upper triangle, we again lower the perpendicular from the vertex of the right angle to the hypotenuse. She will again divide this triangle into two parts. All resulting triangles are similar to each other. We will compare the lowest and highest triangles with each other. Depending on the slope of the hypotenuse, there are possible cases when the upper triangle will be less than, equal to, or greater than the lower triangle (Fig. 2). We will declare the middle case of equality the most perfect, “golden”.
2.2 Description of the golden triangle in the language of proportions
Our “golden” triangle is once again depicted in Fig. 3. On the one hand, we see that the hypotenuse AC is divided by point D into two segments s = a + b. On the other hand, from the similarity of right triangles ABC and AED we obtain the continuous proportion s: a = a: b. Thus, in the “golden” triangle, the hypotenuse s is related to the smaller side a, as this side is related to its complement b to the hypotenuse.
Thus, the hypotenuse AC is divided by point D in the so-called “mean and extreme ratio”. This terminology was adopted in the Elements of EUCLID, and now this ratio is also commonly called the “golden ratio”.
The resulting proportion by multiplying “crosswise” is reduced to the form a2 = sb. This gives another definition of the golden ratio: “A segment is divided in relation to the golden ratio if the rectangle enclosed between the whole segment and one of its parts is equal to the square on the remaining part.”
From the similarity of right triangles ABC and ADB we obtain another continuous proportion s: h = h: a. Thus, the larger leg h of the “golden” triangle is the average proportional between its hypotenuse s and the smaller leg a. The presence of such a proportion between the sides can serve as another definition of the “golden” triangle, called in the pyramidological literature “Kepler’s triangle” or “Price’s triangle”.
The last proportion by multiplying “crosswise” is reduced to the form h2 = sa. When this relationship is fulfilled, the area of the pyramid's face obviously turns out to be equal to the square of its height. Below we will see that it is precisely by this equality of areas that Herodotus determines the proportions of the Cheops pyramid.
2.3 Tomb in the Cheops pyramid
The true purpose of the pyramid is the eternal preservation of the ruler's body after his death. After death, the carefully embalmed body of the deceased was placed in the burial chamber of the pyramid. The internal organs of the deceased were placed in special hermetic vessels, the so-called canopies, which were placed next to the sarcophagus in the burial chamber. So, the mortal remains of the pharaoh found their last earthly refuge in the pyramid, and the “ka” of the deceased left the tomb. “Ka,” according to Egyptian ideas, was considered something like a person’s double, his “second self,” which left the body at the moment of death and could move freely between the earthly and the afterlife. Having left the burial chamber, the “ka” rushed to the top of the pyramid along its outer lining, which was so smooth that no mortal could move on it. The father of the pharaohs, the sun god Ra, was already there in his solar boat, in which the deceased pharaoh began his journey to immortality.
Recently, some scientists have expressed doubt that the Great Pyramid was really the tomb of Pharaoh Cheops. They put forward three arguments in favor of this assumption:
1. The burial chamber, contrary to the customs of that time, does not have any decorations.
2. The sarcophagus in which the body of the deceased pharaoh was supposed to rest was only roughly hewn, that is, it was not completely ready; the cover is missing.
3. And, finally, two narrow passages through which air from outside penetrates into the burial chamber through small holes in the body of the pyramid. But the dead do not need air - here is another weighty argument in favor of the fact that the Cheops pyramid was not a burial place.
For more than 3,500 years, the inside of the Great Pyramid was not disturbed by anyone: all the entrances to it were carefully walled up, and the tomb itself was guarded by spirits, ready to kill anyone who tried to enter.
2.4 Construction cord of 420 inches as a basic unit of length
We will proceed from that G about the fact that one construction cord consists of 20 · 21 = 420 inches. The number 420 is notable for its decomposition into all prime factors from 2 to 7: 420 = 22 3 5 7. This decomposition gives rise to 24 different measures of length, obtained by dividing the cord into different parts:
Cord: 2 = 210 inches (5.23 m)
Cord: 210 = 2 inches (5.00 cm)
Cord: 3 = 140 inches (3.49 m)
Cord: 140 = 3 inches (7.48 cm, palm)
Cord: 4 = 105 inches (2.61 m, fathom I)
Cord: 105 = 4 inches (10.0 cm)
Cord: 5 = 84 inches (2.09 m, fathom II)
Cord: 84 = 5 inches (12.5 cm)
Cord: 6 = 70 inches (1.75 m)
Cord: 70 = 6 inches (15.0 cm)
Cord: 7 = 60 inches (1.50 m, double pitch)
Cord: 60 = 7 inches (17.4 cm, span)
Cord: 10 = 42 inches (1.05 m)
Cord: 42 = 10 inches (24.9 cm)
Cord: 12 = 35 inches (87.3 cm)
Cord: 35 = 12 inches (29.9 cm, ft)
Cord: 14 = 30 inches (74.8 cm pitch)
Cord: 30 = 14 inches (34.9 cm)
Cord: 15 = 28 inches (69.8 cm)
Cord: 28 = 15 inches (37.4 cm)
Cord: 20 = 21 inches (52.4 cm, elbow)
Cord: 21 = 20 inches (49.9 cm)
We find confirmation that in ancient times there really were systems of measures based on numbers with a large number of divisors in Plato's Laws. Let us present the relevant passages in their entirety, especially emphasizing the phrase that is most directly related to our hypothesis. Plato believes that the number of inhabitants of an ideal state should be equal to 2 3 4 5 6 7 = 5040; Moreover, after dividing this entire number into 12 parts, each such part contains 5040: 12 = 420 people.
“Let there be five thousand and forty future citizens. This is a suitable number, so farmers will be able to repel the enemy from their plots. The land and dwellings will be divided into the same number of parts; the person and the plot received by lot will form the basis of the allotment. The entire indicated number can first of all be divided into two parts, then into three. By its nature, it is divisible by four and five, and so on up to ten. As for numbers, every legislator must be aware of which number and which properties of the number are most convenient for any state. We recognize the most convenient number as the one that has the largest number of consecutive divisors. Of course, every number has its various divisions; the number five thousand and forty has as many as fifty-nine divisions, and successive divisions from one to ten.
The country must be divided into twelve parts. Citizens must also be divided into twelve parts. After this, these twelve plots must be divided among the twelve gods and each part determined by lot should be dedicated to one or another god, calling him by his name. This part will be called phyla. In turn, the city must be divided into twelve parts, just as the rest of the country is divided.
Now we must carefully consider what is the meaning of this division into twelve parts that we have adopted. For within these twelve parts there are many divisions, as well as others that follow from these latter as their natural origin. So we will get to the number five thousand and forty. These units will be: phratries, demes, comas, combat and marching detachments; There will also be such divisions as money, weights, dry and liquid bodies. The law must establish the proportionality and mutual consistency of all this.
We need to remember the number five thousand and forty: into how many convenient parts was it divided - and even divided - both in general and by phylum? Each phylum constitutes, as we put it, one twelfth of this number and is formed most correctly by multiplying the number twenty-one by twenty. Our total number is divided into twelve parts, and the number that makes up the phylum is divided in the same way. You should think about the fact that each such part is a sacred gift from God: it corresponds to the months and the revolution of the universe.”
2.5 Proportions of the red pyramid at Jahur
Pharaoh Snorf, founder of the 6th Dynasty, is credited with building not one, but three pyramids. First, he completed the pyramid at Meidum, turning it from a step pyramid into a real one. Then he erected two more pyramids in Jahur: “red” (named for the color of the sandstone from which it was built) and “broken” (named for its unusual shape). These two pyramids are inferior in size only to the later pyramids of Cheops and Khafre.
The angle of inclination of the face of the “red” pyramid is approximately 43.5°. In books about pyramids it is stated that this pyramid is built with a height to span ratio of. It is not difficult to understand that this relation cannot be extracted from measurements as such. Consider two pyramids with relationships. Reducing the bases to a common multiple of 20 21, we get two heights 20 20 = 400 and 19 21 = 399, differing by one. Thus, to reliably distinguish the proportions of these two pyramids, the height should be measured with a relative error of several times
less. Therefore, with a pyramid height of 100 meters, this height must be measured with an error of less than 10 cm. It is clear that this requirement is practically impossible to fulfill.
Nevertheless, the statement that the “red” pyramid is built in relation is easily extracted from additional metrology data. The fact is that its height is approximately equal to 105 m, and the base span is 110 m. But 105 m is, of course, ten times the length of the construction cord of 10.47 m. And the difference in height and span of 5 m is exactly half the length of the cord. From this it is concluded that the “red” pyramid was intended to be 20 half-cords high and 21 half-cords wide.
A right triangle with legs 20 and 21 is notable for the fact that its hypotenuse has an integer length of 29. And it can be assumed that obtaining the integer length of all three sides of the formative triangle was the intention of the creators of the “red” pyramid.
2.6 Proportions of the broken pyramid at Jahur
Snorfu's second pyramid in Jahur is called "broken" for its unusual shape. The edges of the “broken” pyramid first rise steeply upward at an inclination of 7:5, but then, having risen by approximately a third of the height possible with this inclination, they make a break, becoming more gentle, and rising at approximately the same inclination as the edges of the “red” pyramid. » pyramids.
According to the generally accepted hypothesis, the builders first planned to give this pyramid the correct shape, and the decision to reduce the slope of the edges in the upper part of the pyramid was made during the course of construction - either because the pyramid “did not have time to complete it on time,” or because that cracks began to appear in the internal galleries and chambers of the pyramid.
However, this hypothesis ignores the remarkable fact that both pyramids in Jahur, erected by Snorfu, have the same height of 105 meters = 10 cords, and the same angle of inclination of the faces in the upper part. The span of the “red” pyramid is 110 meters = cords, and the span of the “broken” pyramid is:
94 meters = 9 cords (Fig. 4).
The further logic of the proportions of the “broken” pyramid is not very clear. If the slope of the upper part is really 20: 21, then for each vertical cubit the divergence of the edges of the “broken” and “red” pyramids is horizontal
and thus a total horizontal divergence of one and a half cords = 30 cubits is acquired at a height of
Other reference data on the "broken" pyramid:
Angle of inclination of the top face =,
Angle of inclination of the bottom edge =,
Let's calculate the height of the break for a slope of the upper part of 17: 18. The divergence per elbow of the vertical is equal to
hence the height of the break is equal to
As you can see, the pyramid measurement data does not agree with each other. Apparently, it is still easier to measure the height of the fracture with an accuracy of up to a meter than the angle of inclination of the upper face with an accuracy of several minutes. So let's try to determine the angle of inclination based on the height of the break.
(2) 30: 93,6 = 0,3205.
This result is not particularly meaningful; Apparently, the accuracy of the measurement data does not allow us to reveal the design of the proportions of the “broken” pyramid.
3. MATHEMATICS OF PYRAMIDS
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 from outside the 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 Mayan and Egyptian pyramids.
“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 more 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 the new room was too far from the Great 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.
Illustration copyright AFP Image caption Scientists have to understand whether the find is of scientific value
Scientists continue to unravel the mysteries of the Egyptian pyramids: this time they discovered a previously unknown room inside the largest and oldest pyramid of Cheops.
The room (in the picture below - Big Void) about 30 meters long and about two meters high is located in the very center of the pyramid. Its purpose is still unclear; it is also unclear what is inside and whether there is anything valuable there, since there is no access to the premises.
It was found thanks to muon radiography technology, which allows you to scan rock and find empty cavities in it using highly sensitive radar, so-called cosmic rays.
Also, using radar, scientists were able to detect a small room near one of the sides of the pyramid.
The study, the results of which were published in the journal Nature, involved a group of archaeologists and scientists from Egypt, France, Canada and Japan. It took about two years to discover the find.
This is the first discovery of this scale since the beginning of the 19th century.
The age of the Cheops Pyramid (Great Pyramid of Giza) is estimated at 4.5 thousand years old, it was built between 2509 and 2483 BC.
It is the largest structure of the archaeological complex of the Giza Pyramids, located on the west bank of the Nile River near Cairo.
Next to the pyramid of Cheops are the pyramids of Khafre and Mikerin. All of them bear the names of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt.
It is known that the Cheops pyramid has three large rooms and many passages, shafts and tunnels. The largest of the rooms - the Great Gallery - is located exactly in the middle. This is a narrow, almost vertical shaft about 8 meters high and 47 meters long.
The void discovered by scientists is located directly above this gallery and has similar dimensions.
“We don’t know whether this room is horizontal or tilted, whether it consists of one room or several,” explained Mehdi Tayobi from the Paris-based HIP Institute, an organization that studies pyramids. “But we are sure that it is there. This impressive, because no theory suggested this, as far as I know."
Illustration copyright SCANPYRAMIDS Image caption The space found is located directly above the Great GalleryThe team behind the ScanPyramids project, which brings together scientists studying the pyramids at Giza, is wary of attempts to call the find a “room.”
The Cheops pyramid has special compartments that were designed to avoid rock collapse due to high pressure from above (the total weight of the pyramid is about 4 million tons).
Above the King's Room, which is located above the Great Gallery, there are five such voids.
Illustration copyright Getty ImagesThe famous American archaeologist Mark Lenner is on the commission that evaluates the work of the ScanPyramids team. He says muon radiography can be trusted, but he's not yet sure the find is significant.
"This may be the space that the builders left to protect the very narrow roof of the great gallery from the weight of the pyramid," he told the BBC's Science in Action programme.
"This is very important; this is an anomaly. We need to concentrate on this, especially in an age when we can no longer blow up the walls of a pyramid, as [British] Egyptologist Howard Weiss did in the early 1800s."
Illustration copyright SCANPYRAMIDS Image caption Muon telescopes reveal voids in natural materialsOne of the team's leaders, Hani Helal of Cairo University, believes the cavity is too large for pressure distribution alone, but admits that experts will still debate this.
"We are trying to understand the internal structure of the pyramids and understand how they were built," he told reporters. "Famous Egyptologists, archaeologists and architects - they have several hypotheses. We give them data, and they will tell us whether it is possible or not."
Non-penetration void testing technology has evolved over the past 50 years to probe the internal structure of various natural components, from volcanoes to glaciers. It was also used to investigate the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident.
Muon radiography uses streams of charged particles created after cosmic rays collide with gas molecules in the air. This collision produces various new particles, including muons.
These particles move at speeds close to the speed of light. And they, in turn, are absorbed by the surface of the planet at different speeds. By the rate of this absorption, voids in the structure of the material can be determined.
Illustration copyright SCANPYRAMIDS Image caption So far it is known for sure that the room in the pyramid exists, and it is impressive in sizeThe ScanPyramids team used three types of muon telescopes, and all three showed the same data on the position and size of the void.
Sebastian Procurer from the University of Paris emphasized that only large spaces can be seen with this method, and scientists did not take into account the usual porosity of the pyramid structure.
“You can measure the integral density using muons,” he explains. “It would remain the same if there were a lot of small voids. We would see an average value. But if you see an excess of muons, then it is a larger void.”
"It's not Swiss cheese," he says.
The question of how to explore the discovered premises is now being discussed.
Jean-Baptiste Muret from the French National Institute of Informatics and Applied Mathematics said they have an idea on how to do this, but it must first be approved by Egyptian authorities.
"Our idea is to drill a very small hole. We want to put a robot in there that can fit through a three-centimeter hole," he said.