Disappeared Into The Void

Built almost 4,500 years ago during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, the Great Pyramid of Giza is possibly the most well-known man-made structure in the world. Consisting of an estimated 2.3 million blocks, 5.5 million tonnes of limestone, 8,000 tonnes of granite and 500,000 tonnes of mortar, she was a pretty big job for the 30,000 slaves that were said to build it. Reported to be erected as the burial place for Khufu, the second pharaoh of the Old Kingdom, it still stands proud as the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. To see the Great Pyramid in real life is breathtaking. Extensive research and work has been done by archeologists, historians and scientists in looking at every room—whether it be the three burial chambers, the Robbers Tunnel, the King’s Chamber or the Grand Gallery—to see what makes it really tick.

Amongst those rooms, however, is a recently discovered void. Created by Cairo University and the French Heritage Innovation Preservation Institute, the very-originally-named, ScanPyramids, allows the teams of historians to look deeper into the pyramid using muon tomography. Also known as muography, it is a technique that uses cosmic ray muons (a fundamental subatomic particle) to collide with atmospheric atoms at around 10,000 square meters a minute to create 3D cavities. Sorta like X-rays on steroids. Upon looking closer at the results they got from the Pyramid of Giza, they found the first major inner structure found in the Great Pyramid since the nineteenth century. Perhaps, they thought, this was the actual burial place of Khufu?