New room found in the Pyramid of Cheops at Giza

An international research team has discovered a previously unknown chamber in the famous Egyptian pyramid of Cheops in Giza. For years, measurements pointed to a hidden cavity.

The existence of an astonishingly large chamber has now been confirmed through an endoscope passed through a narrow gap between stones, said the Technical University of Munich (TUM), which was involved in the work with a team.

Last but not least, the find is particularly important because the Egyptian pyramid is considered one of the best studied structures in the world, the TUM scientists explained on Thursday.

According to the first estimates, the new corridor above the actual entrance to the pyramid even exceeds the initially assumed length of at least five meters.

Discovering a cavity in a pyramid is something special — especially on this scale, said Christian Grosse of the chair of nondestructive testing at TUM, according to the announcement. The Munich-based company has been part of the international research team ScanPyramids since 2019, which has been investigating Egyptian pyramids using various means and technologies since 2015.

Measurements with muon tomography, an imaging method for three-dimensional imaging of large-volume objects, had suggested the existence of a cavity. The TUM team around Grosse used methods such as radar and ultrasound for closer examination. That contributed significantly to the discovery, it said. (aeg/sda/dpa)