ScanPyramids
The ScanPyramids mission is an international project designed and led by Cairo University and the French HIP Institute. This project aims at scanning Old Kingdom Egyptian Pyramids to detect the presence of unknown internal voids and structures.
The project, launched in October 2015, combines several non-invasive and non-destructive techniques which may help to get a better understanding of their structure and their construction processes and techniques. The team was using Infrared thermography, muon tomography, 3D simulation and reconstruction techniques.
ScanPyramids is an interdisciplinary project mixing art, science and technology. On November 2, 2017, the ScanPyramids team announced, through a publication in Nature, its third discovery in the Great Pyramid, a "plane-sized" previously unknown void named the "ScanPyramids Big Void".
Discoveries
2016
On October 15, 2016, ScanPyramids confirmed their first unknown void discoveries thanks to muon tomography in the Great Pyramid. A previously unknown cavity was confirmed on the North-Eastern Edge, roughly at high with similar void volume characteristics as a known "cave" located at on the same edge.A second void was discovered behind the chevrons area of Khufu's North Face above the Descending Corridor. This area was investigated after thermal anomalies observation that led the team to position muon emulsion plates in the Descending Corridor. This void was further investigated during 2017 to provide more information about its shape, size, and exact position.
2017
In 2017 more muon-sensitive emulsion plates were positioned in the descending corridor and in Al-Mamun's tunnel. The void behind the chevrons could be confirmed through different points of view and its characteristics refined. Named "ScanPyramids North-Face Corridor", this void is located between from the Great Pyramid's ground level, between from the North Face. It could be horizontal or sloping upwards and it has a corridor-like shape.ScanPyramids Big Void (SP-BV)
On November 2, 2017, the ScanPyramids team published its third discovery in Nature, which was named "ScanPyramids Big Void", or "SP-BV" for short. It describes a newly discovered huge void in a circumscribed area above the Grand Gallery. It is estimated to have a length of at least and a similar cross-section as the Grand Gallery. The ScanPyramids Big Void has been observed by three teams of physicists from different points of view.Three scientific institutions specializing in particle physics have worked independently and each one used a different and complementary muography technique:
- Nagoya University, Japan: Nuclear emulsion plates in the Queen's Chamber under the leadership of Professor Morishima Kunihiro
- High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Japan: Scintillator hodoscope in the Queen's Chamber
- Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, France: Muon telescopes with gas detectors positioned outside in front of the Great Pyramid's North Face.
As long the exact layout and function of the void is still unknown, the scientists have been cautious about using architectural nomenclature.
North Facing Corridor (SP-NFC)
In March 2023, the team published its finding of the North Facing Corridor behind the original entrance; the void is called "SP-NFC" in the paper.Reactions
Egyptologists
On November 2, 2017, the Egyptologist Zahi Hawass told the New York Times: "They found nothing...This paper offers nothing to Egyptology. Zero." Later, once the North Face Corridor was inspected with an Endoscope, Hawass conversely commented that ScanPyramids's work had provided a "major discovery" that would "enter houses and homes of people all over the world for the first time".On November 3, 2017, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities released a statement, asserting, "The existence of several void spaces inside the pyramid is not a new thing. Egyptologists and scholars knew about it several years ago," adding, "the ministry sees that the ScanPyramid team should not have rushed to publish their findings in media at that stage of their research because it requires more research and it is too early to say that there was a new discovery." The next day, on November 4, Khaled El-Enany, the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, said during a press conference that the void space found inside the Pyramid of Khufu by the ScanPyramids project was a new revelation that had brought the world's attention to Egypt. El-Enany added, "What was discovered is new and larger than the known cavities, and we'll continue in our scientific steps".
Yukinori Kawae told National Geographic, "This is definitely the discovery of the century... There have been many hypotheses about the pyramid, but no one even imagined that such a big void is located above the Grand Gallery."
Peter der Manuelian of Harvard University said, "This is an exciting new discovery, and potentially a major contribution to our knowledge about the Great Pyramid."