The Great Pyramid or Khufu’s Pyramid was built on the Giza Plateau (Egypt) during the IVth dynasty by the pharaoh Khufu (Cheops), who reigned from 2509 to 2483 BC1. Despite being one of the oldest and largest monuments on Earth, there is no consensus about how it was built2,3.
To better understand its internal structure, we imaged the pyramid
using muons, which are by-products of cosmic rays that are only
partially absorbed by stone4–6. The resulting cosmic-ray muon
radiography allows us to visualize the known and potentially unknown
voids in the pyramid in a non-invasive way. Here we report the discovery
of a large void (with a cross section similar to the Grand Gallery and a
length of 30 m minimum) above the Grand Gallery, which constitutes the
first major inner structure found in the Great Pyramid since the 19th century 1. This void, named ScanPyramids Big Void, was first observed with nuclear emulsion films7–9 installed in the Queen’s chamber (Nagoya University), then confirmed with scintillator hodoscopes10,11 set up in the same chamber (KEK) and re-confirmed with gas detectors12
outside of the pyramid (CEA). This large void has therefore been
detected with a high confidence by three different muon detection
technologies and three independent analyses. These results constitute a
breakthrough for the understanding of Khufu’s Pyramid and its internal
structure. While there is currently no information about the role of
this void, these findings show how modern particle physics can shed new
light on the world’s archaeological heritage.
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