Discover the inner structure of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, one of the Pyramids of Giza
Discover the inner structure of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, one of the Pyramids of Giza
Learn more about what is—and is not—inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu, near Giza, Egypt.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER: When people think of the pyramids, their brains usually go straight to mummies and treasures.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
They may think of a certain infamous golden sarcophagus or maybe of hieroglyphics coating the insides of big triangular walls. At about 450 feet tall, the Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest pyramid in Egypt. So it must have a lot of cool stuff inside, right? Not exactly.
Most pyramids consist almost entirely of solid stone, and the Great Pyramid is no exception. But what it lacks in quantity, it sort of makes up in mystery. Like most Egyptian pyramids, the three pyramids of Giza are royal tombs.
The Great Pyramid, or Pyramid of Khufu, is the final resting place of the pharaoh Khufu, ruled in the 25th century BCE. It is the oldest and tallest of the three pyramids. It's made up of about 2.3 million blocks of limestone, and not much else. There's actually very little open space inside the Great Pyramid.
This diagram shows what we know to be in there. From the entrance, there's a passage with ascending and descending branches. The descending branch leads to an underground chamber, which is usually where pharaohs were laid to rest. However, this one appears to be unfinished.
Khufu's sarcophagus is in another chamber known as the King's Chamber, up the other passage and through the long, tall slanting Grand Gallery. The King's Chamber is lined with huge blocks of granite. All that's there now is a huge granite sarcophagus, which once housed the pharaoh's mummy. Sorry, hieroglyphics fans-- the walls are bare.
Above the King's Chamber are five compartments separated by huge slabs of granite. They probably help support the ceiling of the burial chamber. Below the King's Chamber and the Grand Gallery is a room known as the Queen's Chamber.
This room probably didn't hold any queens though. A pyramid was usually a tomb for a single person, Khufu's whose wives may have been entombed in small pyramids nearby. The Queen's Chamber is empty now, but that doesn't mean it's boring. There are tunnels leading from the north and south ends of the chamber, and nobody is quite sure what they're for.
Scientists and explorers started sending robots into the tunnels in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, a robot with a small, flexible camera brought back photos of a chamber with red hieroglyphs, somewhere around here. They haven't been deciphered yet.
As for treasures, whatever was inside the Great Pyramid was stolen long ago. But it still might have some mysteries for us to uncover. Scientists continue to map and explore the pyramid using various technologies, including infrared scanners, lasers, and cosmic ray detectors.
In 2017 it was reported that scientists using cosmic ray detectors had found a hidden chamber above the Grand Gallery. Nobody knows yet why it's there, but it's unlikely to hold any secret treasure. With the Great Pyramid, what you see-- namely rocks with a hardy dash of history and mystery-- seems to be what you get.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
They may think of a certain infamous golden sarcophagus or maybe of hieroglyphics coating the insides of big triangular walls. At about 450 feet tall, the Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest pyramid in Egypt. So it must have a lot of cool stuff inside, right? Not exactly.
Most pyramids consist almost entirely of solid stone, and the Great Pyramid is no exception. But what it lacks in quantity, it sort of makes up in mystery. Like most Egyptian pyramids, the three pyramids of Giza are royal tombs.
The Great Pyramid, or Pyramid of Khufu, is the final resting place of the pharaoh Khufu, ruled in the 25th century BCE. It is the oldest and tallest of the three pyramids. It's made up of about 2.3 million blocks of limestone, and not much else. There's actually very little open space inside the Great Pyramid.
This diagram shows what we know to be in there. From the entrance, there's a passage with ascending and descending branches. The descending branch leads to an underground chamber, which is usually where pharaohs were laid to rest. However, this one appears to be unfinished.
Khufu's sarcophagus is in another chamber known as the King's Chamber, up the other passage and through the long, tall slanting Grand Gallery. The King's Chamber is lined with huge blocks of granite. All that's there now is a huge granite sarcophagus, which once housed the pharaoh's mummy. Sorry, hieroglyphics fans-- the walls are bare.
Above the King's Chamber are five compartments separated by huge slabs of granite. They probably help support the ceiling of the burial chamber. Below the King's Chamber and the Grand Gallery is a room known as the Queen's Chamber.
This room probably didn't hold any queens though. A pyramid was usually a tomb for a single person, Khufu's whose wives may have been entombed in small pyramids nearby. The Queen's Chamber is empty now, but that doesn't mean it's boring. There are tunnels leading from the north and south ends of the chamber, and nobody is quite sure what they're for.
Scientists and explorers started sending robots into the tunnels in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, a robot with a small, flexible camera brought back photos of a chamber with red hieroglyphs, somewhere around here. They haven't been deciphered yet.
As for treasures, whatever was inside the Great Pyramid was stolen long ago. But it still might have some mysteries for us to uncover. Scientists continue to map and explore the pyramid using various technologies, including infrared scanners, lasers, and cosmic ray detectors.
In 2017 it was reported that scientists using cosmic ray detectors had found a hidden chamber above the Grand Gallery. Nobody knows yet why it's there, but it's unlikely to hold any secret treasure. With the Great Pyramid, what you see-- namely rocks with a hardy dash of history and mystery-- seems to be what you get.