Archaeologists have discovered mysterious structures hidden beneath the surface near the Great Pyramid of Egypt that could be an unknown tomb built 4,500 years ago.
The team used ground-penetrating radar in Giza’s western cemetery, discovering an L-shaped anomaly that looked like an entrance to a chamber below.
The cemetery contains the remains of King Cheops, who commissioned the iconic pyramid, his relatives and high-ranking officials, suggesting that another elite could be hidden beneath the sands.
The L-shaped structure is up to six feet below the surface and is filled with sand, which researchers speculated was done intentionally after it was built to block the entrance to the “chamber” nearly 30 feet below.
Archaeologists have discovered mysterious structures hidden beneath the surface near the Great Pyramid of Egypt that could be an unknown tomb built 4,500 years ago.
“The structure causing the anomalies could be vertical limestone walls or shafts leading to a tomb structure,” the researchers shared in the study.
However, they noted that further investigation will be necessary to determine his true identity.
In addition to radar, the team also used a technique called electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) that maps geological variations.
The structures were discovered in a “blank area” with no visible structures and on mostly flat terrain with compacted sand on the surface.
Using the scanners, the team determined that the L-shaped feature measures about 32 feet long and about 49 feet wide.
And the second structure measures 32 feet around it, which could be a mix of sand and gravel or even an open void.
Researchers have speculated that the structure could be a mastaba, a rectangular underground tomb with a flat roof typically built of limestone or adobe.
“It has a vertical well connected to an underground chamber,” the study reads.
The structures were discovered in a “blank area” with no visible structures and on mostly flat terrain with compacted sand on the surface.
Using the scanners, the team determined that the L-shaped feature measures about 32 feet long and about 49 feet wide.
«Most of these places are buried under sand and it is not easy to locate their exact positions from the surface.
“Under such conditions, their positions can be identified by shallow geophysical exploration methods.”
The study’s first author, Motoyuki Sato, a professor at the Center for Northeast Asian Studies at Tohoku University in Japan, said Living science that he and his team are sure that the structures are not a natural phenomenon because “the shape is too sharp.”
The Great Pyramid is over 480 feet tall and the length of each side of the base measures approximately 755 feet, making it the largest man-made structure on Earth.
The two smaller pyramids were built later: one for Khafre, the fourth of the eight kings of the 4th dynasty, and the other for Menkaure, the fifth king of the 4th dynasty.
Cheops was the second king of the IV dynasty.
And the ancient Egyptian pyramids continue to reveal new secrets.
In March 2023, scientists discovered a hidden corridor buried deep in the Great Pyramid using an endoscopic camera and a technique called cosmic ray muon radiography.
The cemetery houses the remains of King Cheops, who commissioned the construction of the iconic pyramid, members of his family and high-ranking officials, suggesting that another elite could be hidden beneath the sands.
The team mapped the opening and confirmed it was 30 feet long and seven feet wide.
It was underneath, or in another chamber or space not yet discovered, according to Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.
It is also believed that five rooms were built above the king’s burial chamber in another part of the pyramid to redistribute the weight of the massive structure.
It was possible that the pharaoh had more than one burial chamber, Waziri added.