pyramid (Page 4)

A robot video camera sent to investigate a mysterious, blocked door in Egypt?s Great Pyramid of Giza has found yet another door. With audiences in the U.K. watching on live television, the miniature robot crawled 71 yards up a narrow tunnel to explore a mysterious shaft blocked by a limestone door. It drilled a hole in the door and inserted a fiber optic camera. But the robot discovered that the chamber is blocked by yet another door?one that hasn’t been seen for more than 4,000 years.

Tim Kelly, of National Geographic’s television and film division, says, “I enjoyed the moment of discovery. We were not disappointed… we were successful in our mission.” It took National Geographic and the Boston firm iRobot a year to plan.
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After 4,000 years, the pyramids at Giza are melting away. A new study by the University of California and the University of Sohag in Egypt confirms that water damage, caused by nearby farming, urbanization and housing, has caused the water table underneath the pyramids to rise. When groundwater comes close to the foundations of the pyramids, the salt in the water weakens the stone and causes structural damage. Dr. Ayman Ahmed, of Sohag University, says, “Probably the most dangerous factors affecting the pharonic monuments are urbanization and agricultural development.”
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Archaeologists have discovered the base of a small, 4,500-year-old pyramid believed to have been built for a Pharaonic queen in the desert outside Cairo. This is the 110th pyramid to be discovered in Egypt. The pyramid, made of stone blocks, is thought to have been built for the wife of Djedefre, the daughter of the Pharaoh Cheops. It was discovered by a Swiss-Egyptian expedition excavating near the pyramid of Djedefre, who was the son of Cheops.

Djedefre is believed to have usurped the throne in Egypt by murdering his older half-brother 4,500 years ago to become the third king of the fourth Pharaonic dynasty. He reigned for eight years. Archaeologists found the name Khufu, or Cheops, inscribed in hieroglyphics inside.
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