The Great Pyramid in Giza: Secret Chambers

Investigation of the Giza pyramids by modern means
1968: Dr. Luis Alvarez (Nobel Prize winner in physics) of the University of Berkeley, California, examined the Khafre pyramid for the purpose of discovering hidden chambers. The project grew out of the thesis that Pharaoh Khafre had been able to protect his pyramid so successfully against looting over the millennia because he had built chambers that were not accessible through a system of passages. Alvarez used muon detectors for his investigations already at that time. So-called spark chambers were used to measure the number of impacts of muons from cosmic rays, which varied depending on the thickness of the pyramid rock. An electronic device registered the coordinates of the sparks produced by the muon hits. An IBM system calculated from the approximately 3 million tracks stored on 80 magnetic tapes whether more muons had hit the detectors from a particular direction than would have been expected given the thickness of the rock being traversed. If one should find, this meant that between the detectors and the outer wall of the pyramid, a cavity must exist.
Unfortunately, the measurements yielded contradictory results, which is not surprising – after all, the technology for the examination of stones was still in its infancy at the end of the sixties.
1974: Scientists from the Stanford Research Institute, together with a team from Cairo’s Ain Shams University, scanned the Great Pyramid. High-frequency electromagnetic waves were used. The measurements were positive, but no results were published. The reasons for this remain obscure to this day.
1986: The architects Gilles Dormion and Jean-Patrice Goidin, together with engineers and physicists of the French state-owned power company Electricité de France, carried out various investigations on and in the Great Pyramid. Gravity measurements (gravimetry) and time-of-flight measurements with radar waves (echoscopy) were used. The French recorded anomalies indicating several cavities, which accounted for about 15-20% of the total pyramid structure. As the investigation continued, the two Frenchmen also explored the original entrance to the pyramid, hypothesizing that there might be another entrance to the pyramid behind the massive capstones. After presenting their previous research results, Dormion and Goidin received permission from the Egyptian Antiquities Authority to drill several small holes in the corridor leading to the so-called Queen’s Chamber. In the process, the French actually came across a cavity about 3 meters deep behind the west wall of the corridor, which, to everyone’s surprise, was filled with fine quartz sand. Zahi Hawass, then chief inspector at the Giza pyramids, was in the USA at the time. Although the French supported the views of official Egyptology, they were denied permission for a more detailed investigation after Hawass’ return.
1987: Professor Sakuji Yoshimura and a team of Japanese scientists from Waseda University in Tokyo, also carried out measurements in the Great Pyramid. Two different radar systems were used: one to measure underground reflections and one to search for cavities using radar transmissions. The Japanese also made discoveries. Among other things, they discovered a 30-meter-long passage or narrow cavity that could belong to a previously unknown labyrinth, as well as another cavity near the Great Gallery.
So the current measurements of ‘ScanPyramids’ only confirm the 30 year old results of the Japanese. Now, however, it becomes quite curious: Like the French before, the Egyptian authorities also forbade Sakuji Yoshimura and his team any further investigation in the pyramid. But that’s not all: shortly after the Japanese left, the Great Pyramid was closed to visitors for several months. According to eyewitnesses, intensive work was carried out in the pyramid during this time. What was being searched for? What was found? Nobody knows.
1992: Professor Jean Kérisel investigated the descending corridor of the Great Pyramid. Ground penetrating radar was used. Thirty meters below the pyramid plateau, where the corridor opens into the unfinished rock chamber, the measuring instruments located an elongated structure. Kérisel suspected that this could be another, even deeper passage that crosses the corridor to the rock chamber at an angle of 45° and continues in the direction of the Sphinx.
2000: Gilles Dormion returned to Egypt. With his new partner and financier Jean-Yves Verd’hurt, he was allowed to carry out further radar measurements in the Great Pyramid. The measurements again confirmed the existence of hidden chambers. One chamber is said to be located slightly shifted to the west below the so-called Queen’s Chamber. It is located at the intersection of the diagonals and thus in the center of the pyramid. According to the French, it could be the actual, previously undiscovered tomb of Pharaoh Cheops. Based on the unambiguous measurement results, Dormion and Verd’hurt requested a permit for an exploratory drilling, but Hawass refused, stating, “We can’t permit drilling in the pyramid based on hypotheses alone.” In 2015, however, Hawass then had no qualms about using the Frenchman’s testimony: “We know that there must still be cavities in the pyramid, and I really believe that the burial chamber of Cheops is still hidden inside!”

My own research
In 1988, I came into contact with the Great Pyramid for the first time. I was young and impetuous. After spending a night alone in the structure, I also climbed to the top at dawn for a daring experiment. My venture did not go unnoticed and brought me face to face with an old tomb raider.
Through a mysterious tip from the tomb raider, I made an incredible discovery in the pyramid.
The experiences of that time have never let me go, and so I have been regularly visiting the pyramid for 30 years now. To this day, I also pursue the question of whether there are still undiscovered secret chambers in the monument.

The original entrance
Tourists nowadays enter the pyramid via a tunnel that is said to have been cut out of the masonry by the caliph and tomb robber Al-Ma’mun in 832 AD because he allegedly could not find the original entrance. I had several opportunities to explore the area near the original entrance. This is seven meters above the grave robbers’ gallery and 14 meters above the level of the plateau. From below, however, all that can be seen is the massive, double-layered gable roof structure (called chevrons) that towers over the entrance. Already during my first exploration in 1988 I had the feeling: Something is wrong here!