A mysterious chamber of considerable size has been found beneath the Great Pyramid in Egypt using cosmic rays technology.
Using the long-lived subatomic particles known as "muons," generated by cosmic rays impacting the atmosphere, researchers at Nagoya University in Japan lead by Kunihiro Morishima, have searched beneath the Great Pyramid of Giza and discovered an additional subterranean chamber.
The entire procedure requested no stone to be moved, due to the muons' special rock-penetration ability that generates clear images of cavities whenever these particles are absorbed into rock. The researched team used muon detectors spread across the perimeter of the pyramid to determine the amount of material the particles were passing through.
Hidden openings were revealed after considering the percentage of muons which made it to different locations within the pyramid, and the angle at which they transited. These rooms were then mapped and the international team of researchers could see what was hiding below the Great Pyramid without having to move a pebble.
Besides the three already known chambers of the Queen, the King, and the underground chamber together with the connecting corridors, they came across a different cavity of considerable proportions sitting just above the grand gallery that bridges the chamber of the King and Queen.
The newly-discovered space has about the same capacity as the Grand Gallery, and first suspicions of the investigative team hint at a bulky tunnel spanning approximately 30 meters.
"It's marvelous," says Christopher Morris at Los Alamos National Laboratory. "What they've seen is fairly definitive, although it will take drilling and cameras to determine if the cavity is a structural chamber, or a void created by a long-forgotten collapse."
Three muon detectors were used for this exploration to succeed. together with a nuclear emulsion film placed inside the Queen's chamber. The emulsion interact with muons and keeps track of their path, similar to how photos are made after exposing the photographic film to light.
"I'd love to be there when they first stick a camera through a drill hole," Morris expressed his excitement. "It's not every day we discover a chamber in a pyramid."
Muon radiography was first tested in 1970 by a team of scientists coordinated by Luis Alvares. They tried to detect and map the various rooms inside pyramids, both visible and invisible, but failed to do so.
Current technological advancement has opened this door which remained in perfect seclusion underground for ages. If the cavity is confirmed, it will mark the first discovery at the Great Pyramid of Giza in over a century.
We can only speculate for now about the content of this mysterious chamber, but there's a slim chance they'll unearth an essential piece of the puzzle that will clear some things up in riddle of the Great Pyramid of Egypt.
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