Lost Tomb Found?But We’ll Never See It

The mummy of King Cheops (also known as Khufu) is supposedto be inside the Great Pyramid, but it’s never been foundand it’s been assumed it was stolen by grave robbers, alongwith the gold and jewels entombed with it. But now, 4,500years after the pyramid was completed, Khufu’s burialchamber may have been found?but we’ll probably never get tosee it.

Laura Spinney writes in The Guardian that usingarchitectural analysis and ground-penetrating radar, amateurFrench Egyptologists Gilles Dormion and Jean-Yves Verd’hurthave discovered a previously unknown corridor inside thepyramid that they think leads to Khufu’s burial chamber. Ifthis room exists, it hasn’t been opened since the mummy wasplaced there, meaning everything Khufu was buried withremains intact.

Verd’hurt says, “?One would simply have to pass a fiberoptic cable down through existing holes in the stone, to seeif there are portcullis blocks in the corridor below. Thenit will be necessary to enter the front part of the corridorand penetrate the room, taking all precautions to ensurethat it is not contaminated.” Portcullis blocks are largegranite slabs that were lowered into the corridor by cordsat the time of the burial, sealing off the chamber.

Egyptologist, Jean-Pierre Corteggiani says the room would be”at the cross-section of the diagonals and the absoluteheart of the pyramid,” a symbolic location.

But we may never see any of it because the researchers havebeen refused permission to look for the room by the EgyptianSupreme Council of Antiquities. Verd’hurt feels “absolutefrustration” at this refusal to allow them to investigate,for which they were given no explanation. However, thecouncil has refused many similar requests in the past, sincethey like tocontrol all archeological investigations themselves?not onlyso that all valuables end up in Egyptian museums but also tomake sure that the accepted history of the Egyptian peopleremains intact and nothing is discovered that would changeour view of the past.

Changingour view of the past is what Dreamland’s all about!

Photo credits: http://www.freeimages.co.uk/

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