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Precise characterization of a corridor-shaped structure in Khufu’s Pyramid by observation of cosmic-ray muons

2023; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 14; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/s41467-023-36351-0

2041-1723

S. Procureur, Kunihiro Morishima, Mitsuaki Kuno, Yuta Manabe, Nobuko Kitagawa, Akira Nishio, H. Gómez, D. Attié, Ami Sakakibara, Kotaro Hikata, Masaki Moto, I. Mandjavidze, Patrick Magnier, M. Lehuraux, T. Benoit, D. Calvet, X. Coppolani, M. Kebbiri, P. Mas, H. M. Helal, Mehdi Tayoubi, Benoit Marini, Nicolas Serikoff, Hamada Anwar, Vincent Steiger, Fumihiko Takasaki, Hirofumi Fujii, K. Satoh, Hideyo Kodama, Kohei Hayashi, Pierre Gable, Emmanuel Guerriero, Jean-Baptiste Mouret, Tamer Elnady, Yasser El-Shayeb, Mohamed Elkarmoty,

Muon and positron interactions and applications

Khufu's Pyramid is one of the largest archaeological monument all over the world, which still holds many mysteries. In 2016 and 2017, the ScanPyramids team reported on several discoveries of previously unknown voids by cosmic-ray muon radiography that is a non-destructive technique ideal for the investigation of large-scale structures. Among these discoveries, a corridor-shaped structure has been observed behind the so-called Chevron zone on the North face, with a length of at least 5 meters. A dedicated study of this structure was thus necessary to better understand its function in relation with the enigmatic architectural role of this Chevron. Here we report on new measurements of excellent sensitivity obtained with nuclear emulsion films from Nagoya University and gaseous detectors from CEA, revealing a structure of about 9 m length with a transverse section of about 2.0 m by 2.0 m.