Roundup: Egypt gears up to unveil mysteries of Pyramids

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities launched on Sunday the "Scan Pyramids" project in a bid to uncover more secrets about the architecture and the internal design of those gigantic stone monuments.

"Just because a mystery is 4500 years old doesn't mean it can't be solved," said Egypt's antiquities minister Mamdouh Eldamaty.

The goal of the project, which will start in early November, is to probe the heart of the largest pyramids of Egypt, without drilling the slightest opening, Eldamaty told at an international press conference.

Using the new techniques of scanning might result hopefully in exploring new rooms, corridors, cavities or hallways which will answer many questions about the construction of the Pyramids, Eldamaty added.

The survey is a joint venture between Japan and Egypt in collaboration with a consortium from the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University, as well as the Heritage Innovation and Preservation Institute in France.

Radiographic muons, aka cosmic particles, infrared thermography, photogrammetry, scanner and 3D reconstruction will be the most innovative technologies that will be used by the researchers.

Four millennia after their construction, these ancient giants are far from yielding their secrets.

The first mystery concerns their construction, especially Khufu, the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing: it is still impossible to describe with certainly how this stone monument, the largest ever built by humans, was erected.

With a base of more than five hectares, its original height of almost 150 meters and a mass of five million tons, how was it possible to construct such a wonder in only 25 years?

Another mystery is the internal structure of the pyramids.

Various explorations conducted in the past, with less sophisticated means than today, have caught images that could correspond to hidden chambers, said Hany Helal, professor in engineering at Cairo University and general coordinator for the project.

The scientific mission "Scan Pyramids" is an unprecedented, large-scale project with its focus on four masterpieces of the Fouth Dynasty (2575-2465 BC) on the site of Dahshur, about 15 km south of Saqqara.

The mission will study the South pyramid, called the Bent, and the North pyramid, called the Red, both built by Senefru (2575-2551 BC.)

On the Giza plateau at bout 20 km from Cairo, the mission will study the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre, built by the son and grandson of Snefru.

"Many hypothetical theories have been proposed, either explaining their construction or their structural anomalies, but we are physicists and engineers, not archaeologists," said Helah adding "our goal is to use techniques to get concrete results, then the Egyptologists will interpret them."

Non-destructive technologies will be implemented, Kunihiro Morishima, from Nagoya University, said.

Two infrared thermography missions will establish a thermal map of the pyramids to reveal differences in density, with goals to identify if there are any voids behind the faces of the pyramids. Two other missions using muons radiography or the cosmic rays will aim to verify and accurately visualize the presence of unknown structures within the monuments, Morishima added.

The cosmic rays are immensely high-energy radiation, mainly originating outside the solar system, and are also used by the Japanese for early detection of volcanoes and earthquakes, added Morishima.

Mehdi Tayoubi, professor with French Heritage, Innovation and Preservation Institute said, "Our desire is to form a team of international experts, then discuss and confront the theoretical and technological approached to the archaeological ground reality."

"The key is to move forward by implementing new approaches," said Tayoubi who explained that many previous missions have attempted to unveil the mysteries of the pyramids, and even if they were unsuccessful, they were helping advance knowledge.

He insisted that "our goal is to make our contribution and to prepare, in humility, the path for future scientific research missions."

The mission should last until the end of 2016.

Egyptian minister of antiquities, Eldamaty, named the year of 2016 as the "Pyramids Year."

He added the techniques of the new mission will be used also in scanning the Tutankhamun tomb to make sure if there are more rooms existed behind it. Endit