Uncovering the secrets of the Great Pyramid of Qiza

1. For thousands of years, people have sought to unlock the secrets of the Great Pyramid. Constructed more than four millennia ago on the plains of Giza, near present-day Cairo, the Great Pyramid remains shrouded in mystery. Many theories have been proposed to explain its origin. Many believe it was simply a tomb or monument for an ancient pharaoh, others suggest it was an astronomical observatory, a huge sundial, or even a vast communication device to connect with other worlds.

2. The earliest existing description of the pyramids was written by the Greek historian Herodotus. After visiting Egypt in the fifth century RC, Herodotus described the four faces of the Great Pyramid as being covered with highly-polished limestone, with joints so fine that they were almost invisible. Four centuries later, the geographer Strabo wrote of a perfectly concealed, hinged stone located on the north face of the pyramid. The stone could be raised to form an entrance, but when closed was indistinguishable from the surrounding stone. The hidden entrance apparently gave access to a narrow passage that descended more than 350 feet into a damp, vermin-infested pit carved out of the bedrock directly beneath the base of the pyramid. However, by the century, the whereabouts of this door had been lost.

3. In 820, Abdullah al-Ma'mun, the son of the Caliph of Baghdad, made the first major attempt to unlock the secrets of the Great Pyramid. After spending years fruitlessly searching for a secret entrance, al-Ma'mun finally ordered his team of workers to use battering rams to knock a hole directly through the pyramid's outer casing. The workmen then burrowed their way more than 100 feet into the core of the monument in the hope of finding a passage that would lead them to the pyramid's interior. With no passage in sight, the workmen were on the point of giving up, when they suddenly heard the sound of a falling rock to the east of the tunnel. After digging their way toward the source of the noise, they emerged into a dark descending passageway.

4. Al-Ma’mun’s fortunate discovery was a long, 3-foot wide passage that descended into the base of the pyramid at an angle of 26c. Working their way up the passageway, al-Ma’mun’s workmen found the secret entrance to the pyramid that they had missed before, about 90 feet to the north and nearly 50 feet above the pyramid's base, much higher than al-Ma'mun had guessed. Further down the descending passage, the workers located the entrance to another ascending passageway which was blocked by three granite rocks. After cutting around the blocks, the workers climbed the passage until they came to the entrance of a high-roofed ascending corridor, known subsequently as the Grand Gallery. A low horizontal passage from the gallery's entrance led to an empty room now-called the Queen's Chamber. At the top of the gallery, the workmen finally arrived at the King's Chamber with its five-storey vaulted ceiling. Despite searching everywhere for treasure, the only discovery was a large open coffin made of polished granite. The coffin lid -and the King's body - had long since been removed.

5. The first major study of the Great Pyramid w as conducted in 1638 by John Greaves, an Oxford professor of astronomy and mathematics. Greaves noticed that near the lower entrance of the Grand Gallery was a narrow shaft, hidden in the wall, which had been dug straight down into the depths of the pyramid. This was the entrance to the so-called ‘Well Shaft’ which links the Grand Gallery with the descending passage. Using notches carved into the shaft's sides for support, Greaves was able to lower himself down to a small chamber about 60 feet beneath. The purpose of the shaft was a mystery to Greaves, although archaeologists have since suggested it was used as an exit route for the Pharaoh's workers, once the granite blocks had been put in place.

6. In 1837, Colonel Howard Vyse, an English army officer, re-opened the original forced entryway that had been made by al-Ma'mun a thousand years earlier. Despite some destructive techniques (he used dynamite to blast his way through the pyramid), Vyse was able to make a number of significant discoveries, including air shafts leading from the King's Chamber to the outside of the pyramid which allow the chamber to remain at a constant 20C. Vysc's greatest find, though, was a small piece of graffiti that gives the only clue to the pyramid's builder, the 4.1 Dynasty Pharaoh Khufu.

7. Research into the Great Pyramid took a new direction in 1864 when the Scottish astronomer Robert Menzies proposed that the monument is actually a chronological map of the world's history - past, present and future. According to

Menzies, every inch of the pyramid represents one year, with major historical and biblical events represented by key locations within the pyramid’s structure. Menzies also contended that the secret of this divinely-given storehouse of wisdom would remain sealed until a time when it would be most needed.

8. Inspired by Menzies and his followers, various other pyramidologists have proposed theories that attribute divine or alien guidance to the Great Pyramid's construction, despite the scepticism of the majority of archaeologists, engineers, and architects who instead attribute the pyramid's construction to human ingenuity. Today, the use of robotics and other advanced technology offers the prospect of being able to explore the pyramid's most remote spaces, making both groups of researchers hopeful that someday soon the Great Pyramid's secrets may finally be revealed.