A project to scan the pyramids in Egypt with thermal imaging has revealed thermal anomalies in Khufu’s Pyramid, also known as the Great Pyramid of Giza. Higher temperatures were detected in stones at the base of the Great Pyramid, which, officials said, could be due to the presence of voids behind the stones or internal air currents.
The Operation Scan Pyramids project, which began on 25 October, is being run by a team of scientists from Egypt, France, Canada and Japan. The pyramids are surveyed with thermal cameras at sunrise and sunset to monitor the limestone blocks as they heat up and cool down.
A statement from the Egyptian antiquities ministry read: ‘The teams have concluded the existence of several thermal anomalies that were observed on all monuments during the heating up or the cooling down phases.
‘To explain such anomalies a lot of hypothesis and possibilities could be drawn up: presence of voids behind the surface, internal air currents.’
The Great Pyramid of Giza was built around 2,560 BC as a tomb for the fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu. The thermal anomalies suggest the possibility of a hidden burial chamber in the pyramid.
Operation Scan Pyramids will continue into 2016.
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