Issue No. 609
Heritage
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24 - 30 October 2002 Issue No. 609 Heritage |
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The enigma of the Great Pyramid
Many people misunderstood the meaning of the title of the recent National Geographic Television programme, Secret Chamber Revealed. I realised this only after the show had been enjoyed by millions of people around the world, and some Egyptians expressed disappointment that we did not discover treasures, like those of King Tutankhamun. I promptly returned to the original script of the show and found that the film outlined some of the ideas suggested by people throughout the world about the Great Pyramid, and set out to answer some of the questions they posed.
During my recent lectures, people have asked me about the "door" that was found inside the southern "air shaft" of the pyramid. At a distance of 64 metres into the shaft, the pyramid probe robot found its path blocked by a slab of limestone, which some people have speculated was actually a door.
What lay behind the so-called door became an issue of considerable interest. And, I must admit, I myself have not been immune to speculation -- although, let me hasten to add, that we Egyptologists never expected to find any golden treasures within the shaft. In fact, even if we discover no more than an empty space inside the pyramid that, in itself, could be important. To date the pyramid remains an enigma and we are working towards solving the mystery of one of the most important monuments in the world.
As for National Geographic's involvement in the investigation, when this very respected institution designed the robot to explore the shaft, we agreed that it should be carried out under my direction; the team was working for the benefit of archaeology and it followed my lead.
During our research, I advised my friend Tim Kelly, the director of National Geographic's film and television division, that with a live broadcast we would reach a wide audience, allowing it to discover the mysteries of the shaft as we discovered them and thereby, hopefully, putting a halt to wild speculation.
So many people have crazy ideas. For example, one day a Californian came to visit me in my office at Giza. He said he wanted to see my bathroom. I did not understand why, but obligingly led him to it. When he came back he asked me if he could photograph it. "Why?" I asked, and he replied, "Everyone says that at noon, you leave your office and go through a tunnel from your bathroom to the Great Pyramid. There you hide things that prove that the pyramids are linked to a lost civilisation." "Did you identify any tunnels in my bathroom?" I asked. "No!" he responded. "So what are you planning to do with the photos of my private bathroom?" And to my astonishment he said he would publish them on the Internet. This is not a joke! It is a true story. It is one of the reasons why I created a Web site to publicise an up-to- date picture of everything discovered in the Great Pyramid.
During a lecture I gave in Seattle, Washington, a few months ago, a member of the audience stood up and asked, "Why haven't you opened that door? It was found in 1993 and no one has done anything about it." I responded that the year 2002 might be the year that the mystery would be solved. I told them that everyone has a theory. For example, we know that Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid, wrote a book -- it was mentioned by Manetho, an Egyptian priest who lived during the reign of Ptolemy II and who divided Egyptian history into 30 dynasties. I mentioned also that the German archaeologist Rainer Stadelman regards the "door" as no more that a stone blocking the shaft, while the late IES Edwards ventured that we may well discover a papyrus roll that will tell us about the building of the pyramid. I am interested to see what is behind the stone -- if anything!
That was why I talked to National Geographic and have found enthusiastic cooperation from my friends there, Terry Garcia and Tim Kelly.
They said: "Zahi, we will do it!"
To be continued
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