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The Great Pyramid’s New Mystery
Could the Great Pyramid of giza be hiding a great secret? Scientists recently discovered what appears to be a huge empty space within the ancient structure—and it may hold clues about how the pyramid was built.
The Great Pyramid—one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—was built in Egypt about 4,500 years ago by the pharaoh Khufu. Ancient Egypt’s kings often built pyramids as tombs and monuments to themselves. (The Great Pyramid contains both a king’s burial chamber and a queen’s, though no mummies have ever been found there.)
At 455 feet tall and comprising 2.3 million stone blocks, the pyramid is the largest ever erected. Scientists don’t know how it was built, but the new space may provide answers.
Using a type of scientific imaging, scientists were able to determine that an area near the top of the pyramid is hollow. They believe the area might have been used as a ramp for carrying stone blocks—which weighed an average of 2.5 tons to 15 tons each—to the top of the structure. Experts plan to send tiny robots into the space through cracks in the pyramid’s walls to investigate further.