Scientists have discovered a “vast underground city” running beneath the famed Egyptian pyramids in Giza. Using radar equipment, they created high-resolution photos of thousands of feet below the surface to find the legendary “Halls of Amenti,” according to a study. But several archaeological experts have denied the claims, calling them “fake news.”
Filippo Biondi of the University of Strathclyde in Scotland and Corrado Malanga of the University of Pisa in Italy led the expedition, finding the second-largest pyramid on the Giza Plateau, which was aptly titled the Khafre Project.
The scientists believe the “groundbreaking study has redefined the boundaries of satellite data analysis and archaeological exploration.”
The research has discovered eight distinct vertical cylinder-shaped artefacts that span more than 2,100 feet beneath the pyramids. It has also discovered various other unidentified structures 4,000 feet down, GB News reported.
Scientists claimed to have used Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology to detect five small, room-like structures inside the pyramid. The team further revealed that a sarcophagus in one building was incorrectly believed to be the Pharaoh’s Tomb, The New York Post reported.
The 4,500-year-old wonder is believed to have hidden rooms and wells beneath it, and the recently found buildings are connected to underground corridors. Researchers claimed that the five structures were discovered in the centre of the pyramid.
The Great Pyramid, the Pyramid of Menkaure, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Great Sphinx are all part of the Giza pyramid complex. Every pyramid was constructed and named for an ancient civilization’s ruler.
The Halls of Amenti feature the legendary Hall of Records, a secret chamber believed to be located beneath the Great Sphynx or the pyramid complex that holds data about the local ancient population.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuL3Fv-x3so
But Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s former minister of antiquities and a leading expert on the pyramids, flatly denied these discoveries. The techniques used were “neither scientifically approved nor validated”, Mr Hawass said, calling all claims “completely wrong” and “fake news.”
He emphasised the lack of evidence for such massive subterranean structures after decades of research using gravimetry, muon tomography, and traditional radar. “The claim of using radar inside the pyramid is false,” Mr Hawass told The National.
Radar specialist Professor Lawrence Conyers labelled the findings “a huge exaggeration” and explained that such equipment could not possibly produce photos of structures thousands of feet below the surface.
He did, however, add that since the location was once “special to ancient people,” it was possible that smaller constructions, like chambers, were constructed before the pyramids.
Ms Conyers emphasised the entrances of caves or caverns had “ceremonial meaning” to “Mayans and other people in ancient Mesoamerica” and often built pyramids on top of the entrances.
The results of the study still need to be examined by a team of independent professionals and scholars.