Mysterious ‘anomaly' that may reveal ‘hidden portal' buried for millennia is uncovered just beneath Pharaoh's tombs
Researchers studying the area surrounding the famous Pyramids of Giza in Egypt detected the anomaly after using advanced geophysical techniques to examine the area near the Western Cemetery, where the royal and elite members of ancient Egyptian society were buried.
2
2
The team, made up of Japanese and Egyptian archaeologists, discovered an L-Shaped structure buried beneath the surface, whilst using using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT).
These non-invasive methods are a way for researchers to examine underground structures without the need for evacuation.
GPR works by sending radar pulses into the ground and measuring how long it takes them to return, thus helping to create images of subsurface structures.
ERT uses electrical resistance to map underground materials, and together, both of these techniques are great for providing a detailed view on the underground and detecting anomalies.
The L-shaped structure is 6.5 feet underground, and has sharp, defined angles, suggesting it was man-made.
Researchers say that the shape is not recognisable as any known architectural feature from Giza, leading them to believe it could be an entrance to a deeper structure or chamber.
Below the L-shaped structure, a 'highly electrically resistive,' anomaly has been detected meaning it doesn't conduct electricity in the same way as the materials surrounding it.
Anomalies like this can indicate the presence of substances such as sand, gravel, or voids in the earth, which could mean there is a hidden passage or chamber below the surface.
Further investigation will have to be carried out to determine what exactly the anomaly is.
If it is found that there is a hidden chamber or passageway, this will deepen our understanding of Egyptian burial practices, and construction techniques used by the ancient society.
Ancient Tomb Discovery Reveals Stunning Tang Dynasty Murals
'Ice mummy'
This comes as the intricate tattoos of a 2,500-year-old Siberian "ice mummy" have finally been revealed through high-tech imaging.
The designs reveal leopards, tigers, a stag, a rooster and even some long-lost mythical creatures.
They are so detailed that even a modern tattooist would struggle to reproduce them, according to the researchers behind the discovery.
The tattoos belong to a woman who was about 50-years-old when she died.
A brief history of Ancient Egypt
Here's everything you need to know...
The Ancient Egyptians were an advanced civilisation who at one point ruled over a huge portion of the globe
The civilisation was founded about 5,000 years ago when ancient people set up villages along the River Nile
It lasted for about 3,000 years and saw the building of complex cities centuries ahead of their time – as well as the famous Great Pyramids
The Ancient Egyptians were experts at farming and construction
They invented a solar calendar, and one of the world's earliest writing systems: The hieroglyph
The Egyptians were ruled by kings and queens called pharaohs
Religion and the afterlife were a huge part of Ancient Egyptian culture. They had over 2,000 gods
Pharaohs built huge elaborate tombs to be buried in, some of which were pyramids – at the time among the largest structures in the world
The Egyptians believed in life after death, and important people's corpses were mummified to preserve their bodies for the afterlife
The Ancient Egyptian empire fell in 30BC due to a mix of factors, including wars with other empires and a 100-year period of drought and starvation
She is thought to have belonged to the nomadic horse-riding Pazyryk culture, which roamed the lands between China and Europe.
The scans exposed "intricate, crisp and uniform" tattooing that could not be seen with the naked eye.
Over the two millennia, the ink has become all but invisible on the body as the skin darkens with time.
"The insights really drive home to me the point of how sophisticated these people were," lead author Dr Gino Caspari from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Bern, told BBC News.
Archaeologists worked with researcher Daniel Riday, a tattooist who reproduces ancient ink on his own body to understand how they were made.
Tattooing was likely widespread during prehistory, but few remains from that era are preserved well enough to investigate.
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Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Great Pyramid timeline shattered as new clues point to older origins
A growing body of controversial evidence is challenging the long-accepted timeline of the Great Pyramid, and raising new questions about who may have built it. British author Graham Hancock recently appeared on the American Alchemy podcast, where he claimed geological and astronomical clues suggest the monument was not built 4,500 years ago by Pharaoh Khufu, but by a lost civilization 12,500 years ago. 'There's no doubt that parts of the Great Pyramid were completed and finished by the ancient Egyptians,' Hancock told podcast host Jesse Michels. 'I don't seek to take it away from them, but I think they were inheriting a very ancient tradition and completing a monument that already stood in basic form on the Giza Plateau.' One of Hancock's central arguments centers on the erosion patterns of the nearby Great Sphinx , saying that only heavy rainfall over thousands of years could have caused such deep weathering. 'No such rains were on the Giza Plateau 4,500 years ago, but they certainly were at the end of the last Ice Age,' he said. However, renowned Egyptologist Dr Zahi Hawass has disputed these claims . He told the Daily Mail he had discovered workers' tombs dating to the 13th century BC and dismissed the erosion theory, attributing the Sphinx's damage to millennia of wind, not rain. 'If someone built this pyramid 12,000 years ago, aren't you going to leave any evidence at the site to prove that?' said Dr Hawass. 'Me and my colleague, Mark Lehner, have excavated Giza for the last 50 years. All that we discovered until now has to do with the Fourth Dynasty.' The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid, and was constructed by Pharaoh Khufu, who ruled during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. It is one of three within the Giza plateau, the other two include the Pyramid of Khafre and the Pyramid of Menkaure, as well as the Great Sphinx. All shrouded in mystery due to their unclear construction methods, precise astronomical alignment and still-debated purpose. Dr Hawass shared further insights during a July appearance on the Matt Beall Limitless podcast, including details about a planned excavation inside the Great Pyramid to search for Khufu's lost tomb. Hancock, however, remains unconvinced that any burial ever took place inside. 'It's well known that no burial of any Pharaoh was ever found in the Great Pyramid or, for that matter, in any of the 100 pyramids in Egypt,' said Hancock, who is known for his controversial theories about ancient civilizations. 'It's well known that no burial of any Pharaoh was ever found in the Great Pyramid or, for that matter, in any of the 100 pyramids in Egypt,' said hancock. 'Some of that can be attributed to tomb robbery, but in the case of the Great Pyramid, it was completely closed and sealed until Arab raiders under Khalif Ma'mun broke in. 'They were expecting to find enormous treasures and wealth, but instead, they found a completely empty building with nothing inside.' Hancock also rejected the mainstream view that the Great Pyramid was built in just 23 years during Khufu's reign, calling that idea 'absurd.' Instead, he proposed that the structure may have taken hundreds, even thousands, of years to complete. Adding to his theory, Hancock pointed to the massive bedrock foundations beneath the three pyramids at Giza, naturally existing formations that were leveled before construction. While most archaeologists believe the foundations are natural, Hancock believes the platforms themselves are much older. He linked the structures to a lost epoch known in Egyptian lore as Zep Tepi, or 'The First Time,' citing astronomical alignments between the pyramid platforms and Orion's Belt as it appeared 12,500 years ago. 'At 4,500 years ago, the stars of Orion's Belt didn't match up,' he said. 'The Great Sphinx was looking at the sun rising against the background of Taurus. But in 12,500 BC, it aligned perfectly with Leo.' Dr Hawass, however, dismissed Hancock's claims as unfounded, emphasizing that the ancient Egyptians left behind detailed records of the Great Pyramid's construction. 'The Wadi El-Jarf Papyri is a diary from an overseer named Merer,' he said. 'He wrote, 'I am from the Delta. I was hired by Khufu and held the title of inspector, with 40 workmen under me.' The papyri also describe how Merer led crews to the Tura quarries to cut fine white limestone, which was then transported on wooden sledges to cargo boats. These vessels docked at harbors built in front of each pyramid. 'Egyptian history has no gaps that would justify dating the pyramids to 12,000 or 20,000 years ago,' Hawass added. 'That era, known as the Epipaleolithic period, marked the earliest stages of civilization, far too primitive for monuments of this scale.'
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Great Pyramid timeline shattered as new 'evidence' reveals who really built them
A growing body of controversial evidence is challenging the long-accepted timeline of the Great Pyramid, and raising new questions about who may have built it. British author Graham Hancock recently appeared on the American Alchemy podcast, where he claimed geological and astronomical clues suggest the monument was not built 4,500 years ago by Pharaoh Khufu, but by a lost civilization 12,500 years ago. 'There's no doubt that parts of the Great Pyramid were completed and finished by the ancient Egyptians,' Hancock told podcast host Jesse Michels. 'I don't seek to take it away from them, but I think they were inheriting a very ancient tradition and completing a monument that already stood in basic form on the Giza Plateau.' One of Hancock's central arguments centers on the erosion patterns of the nearby Great Sphinx, saying that only heavy rainfall over thousands of years could have caused such deep weathering. 'No such rains were on the Giza Plateau 4,500 years ago, but they certainly were at the end of the last Ice Age,' he said. However, renowned Egyptologist Dr Zahi Hawass has disputed these claims. He told the Daily Mail he had discovered workers' tombs dating to the 13th century BC and dismissed the erosion theory, attributing the Sphinx's damage to millennia of wind, not rain. 'If someone built this pyramid 12,000 years ago, aren't you going to leave any evidence at the site to prove that?' said Dr Hawass. 'Me and my colleague, Mark Lehner, have excavated Giza for the last 50 years. All that we discovered until now has to do with the Fourth Dynasty.' The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid, and was constructed by Pharaoh Khufu, who ruled during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. It is one of three within the Giza plateau, the other two include the Pyramid of Khafre and the Pyramid of Menkaure, as well as the Great Sphinx. All shrouded in mystery due to their unclear construction methods, precise astronomical alignment and still-debated purpose. Dr Hawass shared further insights during a July appearance on the Matt Beall Limitless podcast, including details about a planned excavation inside the Great Pyramid to search for Khufu's lost tomb. Hancock, however, remains unconvinced that any burial ever took place inside. 'It's well known that no burial of any Pharaoh was ever found in the Great Pyramid or, for that matter, in any of the 100 pyramids in Egypt,' said Hancock, who is known for his controversial theories about ancient civilizations. 'It's well known that no burial of any Pharaoh was ever found in the Great Pyramid or, for that matter, in any of the 100 pyramids in Egypt,' said Hna 'Some of that can be attributed to tomb robbery, but in the case of the Great Pyramid, it was completely closed and sealed until Arab raiders under Khalif Ma'mun broke in. 'They were expecting to find enormous treasures and wealth, but instead, they found a completely empty building with nothing inside.' Hancock also rejected the mainstream view that the Great Pyramid was built in just 23 years during Khufu's reign, calling that idea 'absurd.' Instead, he proposed that the structure may have taken hundreds, even thousands, of years to complete. Adding to his theory, Hancock pointed to the massive bedrock foundations beneath the three pyramids at Giza, naturally existing formations that were leveled before construction. While most archaeologists believe the foundations are natural, Hancock believes the platforms themselves are much older. He linked the structures to a lost epoch known in Egyptian lore as Zep Tepi, or 'The First Time,' citing astronomical alignments between the pyramid platforms and Orion's Belt as it appeared 12,500 years ago. 'At 4,500 years ago, the stars of Orion's Belt didn't match up,' he said. 'The Great Sphinx was looking at the sun rising against the background of Taurus. But in 12,500 BC, it aligned perfectly with Leo.' Dr Hawass, however, dismissed Hancock's claims as unfounded, emphasizing that the ancient Egyptians left behind detailed records of the Great Pyramid's construction. 'The Wadi El-Jarf Papyri is a diary from an overseer named Merer,' he said. 'He wrote, 'I am from the Delta. I was hired by Khufu and held the title of inspector, with 40 workmen under me.' The papyri also describe how Merer led crews to the Tura quarries to cut fine white limestone, which was then transported on wooden sledges to cargo boats. These vessels docked at harbors built in front of each pyramid. 'Egyptian history has no gaps that would justify dating the pyramids to 12,000 or 20,000 years ago,' Hawass added. 'That era, known as the Epipaleolithic period, marked the earliest stages of civilization, far too primitive for monuments of this scale.'
The Sun
6 days ago
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Mysterious ‘anomaly' that may reveal ‘hidden portal' buried for millennia is uncovered just beneath Pharaoh's tombs
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have uncovered an "anomaly" which could reveal a secret portal underneath the tombs of Pharaohs. Researchers studying the area surrounding the famous Pyramids of Giza in Egypt detected the anomaly after using advanced geophysical techniques to examine the area near the Western Cemetery, where the royal and elite members of ancient Egyptian society were buried. 2 2 The team, made up of Japanese and Egyptian archaeologists, discovered an L-Shaped structure buried beneath the surface, whilst using using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). These non-invasive methods are a way for researchers to examine underground structures without the need for evacuation. GPR works by sending radar pulses into the ground and measuring how long it takes them to return, thus helping to create images of subsurface structures. ERT uses electrical resistance to map underground materials, and together, both of these techniques are great for providing a detailed view on the underground and detecting anomalies. The L-shaped structure is 6.5 feet underground, and has sharp, defined angles, suggesting it was man-made. Researchers say that the shape is not recognisable as any known architectural feature from Giza, leading them to believe it could be an entrance to a deeper structure or chamber. Below the L-shaped structure, a 'highly electrically resistive,' anomaly has been detected meaning it doesn't conduct electricity in the same way as the materials surrounding it. Anomalies like this can indicate the presence of substances such as sand, gravel, or voids in the earth, which could mean there is a hidden passage or chamber below the surface. Further investigation will have to be carried out to determine what exactly the anomaly is. If it is found that there is a hidden chamber or passageway, this will deepen our understanding of Egyptian burial practices, and construction techniques used by the ancient society. Ancient Tomb Discovery Reveals Stunning Tang Dynasty Murals 'Ice mummy' This comes as the intricate tattoos of a 2,500-year-old Siberian "ice mummy" have finally been revealed through high-tech imaging. The designs reveal leopards, tigers, a stag, a rooster and even some long-lost mythical creatures. They are so detailed that even a modern tattooist would struggle to reproduce them, according to the researchers behind the discovery. The tattoos belong to a woman who was about 50-years-old when she died. A brief history of Ancient Egypt Here's everything you need to know... The Ancient Egyptians were an advanced civilisation who at one point ruled over a huge portion of the globe The civilisation was founded about 5,000 years ago when ancient people set up villages along the River Nile It lasted for about 3,000 years and saw the building of complex cities centuries ahead of their time – as well as the famous Great Pyramids The Ancient Egyptians were experts at farming and construction They invented a solar calendar, and one of the world's earliest writing systems: The hieroglyph The Egyptians were ruled by kings and queens called pharaohs Religion and the afterlife were a huge part of Ancient Egyptian culture. They had over 2,000 gods Pharaohs built huge elaborate tombs to be buried in, some of which were pyramids – at the time among the largest structures in the world The Egyptians believed in life after death, and important people's corpses were mummified to preserve their bodies for the afterlife The Ancient Egyptian empire fell in 30BC due to a mix of factors, including wars with other empires and a 100-year period of drought and starvation She is thought to have belonged to the nomadic horse-riding Pazyryk culture, which roamed the lands between China and Europe. The scans exposed "intricate, crisp and uniform" tattooing that could not be seen with the naked eye. Over the two millennia, the ink has become all but invisible on the body as the skin darkens with time. "The insights really drive home to me the point of how sophisticated these people were," lead author Dr Gino Caspari from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Bern, told BBC News. Archaeologists worked with researcher Daniel Riday, a tattooist who reproduces ancient ink on his own body to understand how they were made. Tattooing was likely widespread during prehistory, but few remains from that era are preserved well enough to investigate.
