Scientists rubbish claims of 'giant structures' underneath Egyptian pyramids
"What they found was something amazing, five large structures near the base of the pyramid, connected by geometric paths," reads a Malay-language Facebook post published March 23, 2025.
"Each contains 5 horizontal levels and a sloping roof. Below this are 8 vertical cylindrical wells, hollow and surrounded by a spiral descent dropping 648 meters into the earth."
The claims spread on social media after three researchers -- Corrado Malanga, Armando Mei and Filippo Biondi -- held a press conference March 22 and 23 on YouTube.
The trio claimed "synthetic aperture radar" revealed "a colossal underground complex" under the Pyramid of Khafre, the second of the ancient pyramids of Giza.
Similar posts spread elsewhere on Facebook in various languages, including German, Arabic and Turkish. British tabloid the Daily Mail also picked up the claim.
Experts, however, told AFP the trio's research does not hold water.
"The pyramids are monumental stone structures, built on a flat plateau," said Jean-Guillaume Olette-Pelletier, doctor of Egyptology at the University of Paris-Sorbonne (archived link). "They were then excavated or converted to include burial and funerary chambers, but there is no evidence of underground networks as deep as those mentioned."
Despite the criticism, Biondi told AFP the researchers stand by their findings.
'The term impossible does not apply when objective evidence emerges," he said in an April 22 email. 'Our satellite data indicate the presence of large artificial structures beneath the Giza Plateau, structures that appear to belong to an unknown civilization referenced in ancient myths worldwide.'
Archaeology uses techniques such as magnetometry, which can analyse soils up to three to five meters deep, depending on their nature (archived link).
However, the researchers' claims are not based on "any scientifically valid data," Olette-Pelletier said.
Zahi Hawass, an archaeologist and former Egyptian minister of antiquities, also refuted the allegations in a March 26 statement (archived links here and here).
"The rumors suggesting the presence of columns beneath the Pyramid of Khafre are nothing but fabrications propagated by individuals with no expertise in ancient Egyptian civilization or the history of the pyramids," he said.
Hawass added that no researchers have used radar devices inside the pyramid.
"There is no scientific evidence to support these assertions, and no archaeological missions are currently working inside the Pyramid of Khafre."
NASA uses the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology mentioned by the Italian trio to map the Earth's surface, but Lawrence Conyers from the University of Denver said it is not designed to detect structures located several hundred metres underground (archived link).
"Radar waves gradually attenuate in the ground. It is impossible to reach such a depth with this technique," the radar specialist said.
NASA itself confirms that SAR "allows detailed images of the Earth's relief to be obtained" but "is not designed to probe extreme depths" (archived link).
The three Italian researchers behind the findings have no background in Egyptology or archaeology, and their work was not published in any credible scientific journals.
Malanga is a researcher affiliated with the University of Pisa in Italy, but his area of specialisation is organic chemistry and ufology -- the study of UFOs.
Biondi, described as a researcher at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, is no longer part of that institution. He now runs the private radar imaging company Harmonicsar, according to his LinkedIn posts.
Mei studied political science and identifies himself as an independent archaeological researcher and journalist, according to his LinkedIn account.
He is the author of several books defending pseudo-archaeological theories, including one claiming the Visoko Hills in Bosnia and Herzegovina are not natural formations, but ancient pyramids built by humans. The scientific and archaeological community has refuted that theory (archived link).
AFP has previously fact-checked misinformation about the pyramids here and here.
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