Emily Chan
Near the Giza pyramid complex, archaeologists have stumbled upon previously unknown underground structures at the site of an ancient Egyptian cemetery.
With the help of techniques such as ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), they were able to detect the structures before conducting excavations.
Researchers from the Higashi Nippon International University and Tohoku University in Japan, as well as the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics in Egypt, were involved in surveying the area.
“Most such sites are buried under sand, and it is not easy to locate their exact positions from the surface. Under such conditions, their positions can be identified by the geophysical exploration methods,” wrote the researchers.
The surveys were restricted to the Western Cemetery in Giza, which served as an important burial ground for high-ranking officers and ancient Egyptian royalty.
The cemetery is filled with a type of underground tomb called “mastabas.” According to the researchers, mastabas have a flat roof and a rectangular structure made out of limestone or mud bricks. In addition, it has “a vertical shaft connected to a subsurface chamber.”
However, the underground structures they came across in the Western Cemetery were not mastabas.
The team explored a flat, vacant space without any above-ground constructions, where no archaeological work has ever taken place. That was where they discovered the “subsurface anomaly.” They believe that the find was of a shallow structure connected to a deeper structure.
The shallow structure was located about 6.5 feet below ground. It was L-shaped and measured around 33 feet by 49 feet. It was also filled with sand, indicating that it was buried sometime after its construction.
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