Astroparticles help uncover a hidden corridor in the Great Pyramid of Giza

Prof. H. Helal, the project coordinator of the Scan Pyramid project.

Imagine taking a sort of X-ray in the Pyramid of Kufu, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. By using this technique, you’ll discover hidden rooms.

This is realty since 2015 thanks to the Scan Pyramid project, a non-invasive technique that uses infrared thermography, 3D simulations and cosmic rays or astroparticles to scan inside the archeologist site, without removing anything.

The Great Pyramid, constructed as a monumental tomb around 2560 BC during the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu, or Cheops, has five rooms atop the king’s burial chamber. They were probably built to redistribute the weight of the massive structure, just like the “unfinished corridor” now used by tourists.

According to archeologists, it was possible the pharaoh had more than one burial chamber, but how investigate such a large area?

The idea is to use cosmic rays coming from space, to explore inside the Pyramid, like muons on the Earth raining down everywhere and anytime — a flux of about 10,000 particles per square meter.