We may finally get definitive clues as to how the Pyramids of Giza were built, thanks to cosmic particles known as muons.
According to the Associated Press, an international team of researchers has been collecting data on these particles in the 4,600-year-old Snefru Pyramid, and will soon begin analyzing the data in hopes of discovering new information on how the pyramid was built and how it’s structured.
“For the construction of the pyramids, there is no single theory that is 100 percent proven or checked,” explained Hany Helal, the vice president of the Heritage Innovation Preservation Institute, to the AP. “They are all theories and hypotheses.
“What we are trying to do with the new technology, we would like to either confirm or change or upgrade or modify the hypotheses that we have on how the pyramids were constructed.”
In hopes of doing just that, the team planted special plates inside the pyramid last month, and have been collecting data on muons since, Mehdi Tayoubi, president of the Institute, told the AP.
So what the heck is a muon?
Muons are elementary particles—as in, they aren’t believed to be composed of any simpler particles. They are similar to electrons, but weigh roughly 200 times more, and originate from the collisions of cosmic rays (like protons given off by stars). And while they exist for only two microseconds, they rain down quickly from the atmosphere, passing freely through open space and are either deflected or absorbed by harder surfaces.
Which means that, by studying how the particles accumulate across the Snefru Pyramid, scientists may be able to figure out details about its structure and construction that no previous methods were able to detect.
The Snefru Pyramid, meanwhile, which was built by the eponymous pharaoh, is also known as the Bent Pyramid for the angled slope of its sides. Found right outside Cairo, it’s thought to have been the first Egyptian attempt to build a smooth-sided pyramid—as its planar sides were originally covered in smooth limestone, in sharp contrast to the step pyramids prior.
A step pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
What the future holds
The Scans Pyramid Project is coupling thermal technology with muon analysis to learn more about the pyramids—and already has detected a few thermal anomalies in the largest pyramid at Giza, the 4,500-year-old Khufu Pyramid. Preparations for muon testing in this pyramid is slated to being within a month.
But even if no huge discoveries are made in the Khufu and Snefru pyramids, every little bit matters.
“Even if we find one square meter void somewhere, it will bring new questions and hypotheses and maybe it will help solve the definitive questions,” said Tayoubi.
—–
Feature Image: Thinkstock
Comments