The Khafre Project Researchers Claim To Have Found Massive Structures Beneath the Pyramids at Giza

A controversial claim that previously-hidden structures both within and underneath the pyramids at Giza has been made by a research group calling themselves the Khafre Project, using custom computer software that they say teases images of the structures from anomalies that appear in radar satellite data. The proposed structures—some of which extend downward for nearly half a mile beneath the Giza Plateau—have proved to be contentious, with commentators appearing to be split between those that accept the proposed finds with little question, and others that appear to dismiss the data out of hand.

Although the paper outlining the discovery, made using what the team calls “synthetic aperture radar Doppler tomography”, was published in 2022, the study’s authors, Filippo Biondi from Scotland’s University of Strathclyde and Corrado Malanga from Italy’s University of Pisa, presented their findings at a March 15, 2025 press conference in Bologna, Italy.

Titled the “Khafre Project”, the press conference offered computer-generated images that illustrated the proposed network of chambers, passages and smaller conduits permeating the Great Pyramid, as well as five undiscovered chambers within the Pyramid of Khafre that resemble the famous King’s Chamber located in the Great Pyramid.

Perhaps more sensational is the claim that there are eight enormous cylindrical shafts below the Pyramid of Khafre that extend to a depth of 648 meters (2,126 feet); orbited by passages that spiral down their length, these massive structures are said to terminate in equally-massive 80-meter (262.5-foot) cubes that lay below the plateau’s water table.

Below those colossal columns are what the team claims are a labyrinth of “artificial structures” that extend to a depth of two kilometers (1.24 miles), although these could simply be an extension of the network of caves that are known to exist below the Giza Plateau.

But what method did the researchers use to produce the scans their claims are based on; and more importantly, does this new technique work? Although many commentators are describing the method used as synthetic aperture radar technology (SAR) scans, this is only part of the story, and this oversimplification has been used to dismiss the Khafre Project’s claims, as the radar systems being used cannot penetrate the ground in any meaningful way.

SAR is a technique that employs an ordinary radar array that is mounted on a mobile platform, such as an aircraft or satellite; the radar makes continuous scans of its target while the platform is in motion, and assembles the scans made along the path into a single 2D or 3D image, with the vehicle’s path essentially acting as a large radar antenna—the ‘synthetic aperture’ of the system—that allows the generation of data far more detailed than what the radar array would have been capable of if it were merely stationary.

Using SAR data of the Giza Plateau gathered by Italy’s COSMO-SkyMed satellites, custom software was used to analyze the scans for what the researchers refer to as “micro-movements” of the surface of the pyramids and the surrounding landscape, supposedly generated by the vibration of sub-surface structures that are resonating from the sound energy generated by seismic activity.

However, the SAR data gathered by the SAR satellites only have a resolution of about one meter (3.3 feet), so the team used custom software to look for anomalies in the scans that show up as minute Doppler shifts in the radar beam, tiny fluctuations in the scan frequency caused by the proposed micro-movements interfering with what the satellite expects to see from the relative motion between itself and the target on the ground.

The researchers found that the software generated images that they interpret to represent the previously-undiscovered structures presented in their study and press release, but it bears pointing out that while it is well established that objects display vibrational resonance and SAR itself is a trusted technology, there is the question of whether or not this new technique of combining the two actually works, and if it does, are the Khafre Project’s researchers interpreting their data properly?

In an analysis of the images on his The Land of Chem YouTube channel, Geoffrey Drumm points out that while some of the artifacts in the images appear to correspond to structures in the pyramids that are known to exist, some of them are absent, and others make no sense whatsoever.

For instance, while the King’s Chamber in the Great Pyramid seems to appear in some scans, both that and the Queen’s Chamber are absent in other images, as is the only known chamber in the adjacent Pyramid of Khafre. Some imaging artifacts are also left unexplained, appearing to be strong indicators of a hidden structure, but instead extend past the outer surface of the pyramid and into the open air.

Additionally, the recently-discovered “Big Void” above the Grand Gallery does appear, but only in a shape and position that does not match its appearance in the muon scans made by the ScanPyramids project in 2017—later verified in 2023 by independent infrared scans. There is also the question of why previous scans of the Great Pyramid that used well-established muon imaging techniques did not reveal the structures claimed to exist by Khafre Project researchers. These omissions also leave the researchers’ interpretation of the massive cylindrical structures underneath the central pyramid in question, extrapolated from scans that also fail to show well-explored structures.

Although Drumm does point out that he feels that the Khafre Project’s new SAR tomography imaging technique may be a useful imaging tool, it remains to be seen if the interpretation of the data—and indeed the data itself—holds up to further investigation. Regardless of whether or not these claims pan out, it would be absurd to assume that the ancient megaliths of the Giza Plateau hold no further secrets for us to uncover.