Pyramid Reveals Secret Chambers After 200-Year Prophecy
Science Alert reports that a pyramid that was erected some time around 2400 BCE has a number of secret chambers that were suspected of existing nearly 200 years ago, but never confirmed. Back in 1836, an Egyptologist named John Shae Perring made the claim about these hidden rooms while excavating the pyramid, but could never get past the passageway, which was at the time covered with an immense amount of debris.
Two centuries ago, an Egyptologist theorized about hidden rooms in one of Egypt’s ancient pyramids, but the chambers were only recently discovered to truly exist.
Though we’d love to think that these now uncovered secret passageways led to some sort of mysterious burial chamber full of mummies, the current theory is that they were actually storage rooms, but it’s still an exciting find nonetheless.
Oddly enough, we could have unearthed this pyramid’s secret chambers in the 19th century, but another Egyptologist named Ludwig Borchardt ignored Perring’s initial claims, and never looked close enough to confirm his suspicions. Though this pyramid has been excavated a number of times over the centuries, the secret chambers have only been very recently discovered.
By using advanced 3D mapping, the team has confirmed that the pyramid’s secret chambers were, in fact, storage rooms that were probably meant to hold objects that belonged to royal rulers.
In other words, if Borchardt ran with Perring’s theory, we could have been much further along in our explorations of this particular ancient burial ground.
Through a joint Egyptian-German effort, a team is working on restoring the pyramid while also mapping out the secret interior passages and chambers. By using advanced 3D mapping, the team has confirmed that the pyramid’s secret chambers were, in fact, storage rooms that were probably meant to hold objects that belonged to royal rulers. The ancient ruler whom this pyramid was erected for was Sahure, a pharaoh who ruled during the Fifth Dynasty, but held no royal lineage of his own.
The pyramid in question is currently falling apart due to how it was constructed back in 2400 BCE. While the ancients were able to save on costs and construction time by using materials like limestone, pottery, and sand, the pyramid and its secret chambers are currently in a state of disrepair. But efforts are being made to restore the structure to a point where the public can eventually go inside and marvel at the ancient architecture.
At the present time, conservation efforts like adding modern retaining walls are being utilized to preserve what’s left of the pyramid.
But just imagine how much further along we’d be in the process if Perring’s initial claims about the pyramid’s secret chambers were taken a little more seriously. Ancient pyramids have always provided an alarming amount of insight into what pharaohs valued, as well as what they believed about the afterlife.
It’s probably for the better that we waited this long, however, because modern excavation methods will allow researchers to more meticulously study the pyramid without running the risk of collapsing the secret chambers entirely.
But efforts are being made to restore the structure to a point where the public can eventually go inside and marvel at the ancient architecture.
Hopefully the public will be able to actually go inside this pyramid and check out its secret chambers in person if restoration efforts prove to be successful. We’re now living in a time where we can experience such ancient feats of engineering outside of our history books, and truly gasp the monolithic amount of effort that it took to construct ancient pyramids.
But we’re also asking ourselves how many other times researchers been ignored in the past, which makes us wonder how many other pyramids that have been discovered have secret chambers of their own that have yet to be unearthed.
