It is being investigated by a multi-institutional team of archaeological researchers from Japan and Egypt. What have they discovered? They describe it as an underground anomaly. It is close to the iconic pyramid complex of Giza. The anomaly in an Egyptian cemetery is a mystery to be solved.
The study of the cemetery has focused above all on the mastabas. They are rectangular tombs made of limestone or mud, with flat roofs. But there is a part of the western cemetery that has remained almost unexplored. It is a flat and empty area, without structures.
There is something underneath
For this new study, the team investigated whether there was anything buried in this area. To find out, they carried out terrain surveys with ground-penetrating radar. They used electrical resistivity tomography.
The data showed that there is something beneath the surface. Researchers describe it as an anomaly because its density is different from that of the surrounding terrain. The data also showed that due to the shape of the anomaly it was almost certainly man-made. In the discovery you could also see what appeared to be two underground structures, one superficial and the other deep.
“It could be part of artificial objects, because the L shape cannot be created in natural geological structures. “We expected to find something, but we didn’t expect to find it there.” This is stated by the member of the joint Japanese-Egyptian research team that made the discovery, Motoyuki Sato.
royal tombs
The team identified the anomaly in a seemingly empty “blank area” in the Western Cemetery in Giza. There members of the royal family and high-level officials were buried in tombs called mastabas—rectangular funerary chapels. It was where the ancient Egyptians made offerings to the dead. They included shafts leading to underground burial chambers.
Until now, no significant discoveries had been made in this large empty space, measuring about 80 by 110 meters. And this, despite being surrounded by ancient mastaba tombs and located next to the pyramids of kings Khufu and Jafre, built 4,500 years ago. The anomaly in an Egyptian cemetery may lead to another big discovery.
