00:00Wow! Scientists have found a lost city beneath Egypt's pyramids.
00:05And it's incredibly large, bigger than the biggest target you can imagine.
00:09Underground chambers, passageways, and vertical structures.
00:13Scientists have no idea what purposes they serve.
00:16But let's start from the very beginning.
00:19Italian and Scottish scientists studying the Pyramid of Khafre
00:22discovered something that looked like secret tunnels under three pyramids.
00:26This find might change what we know about ancient Egypt.
00:30The expedition, called the Khafre Project,
00:32was led by Corundo Malunga from Pisa, Italy,
00:35and Filippo Biondi from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland.
00:39Their mission was to focus on exploring Khafre's pyramid,
00:43the second largest on the Giza Plateau.
00:46Scientists uncovered a massive structure beneath the Pyramid of Khafre.
00:50Could it be an ancient Egyptian underground city?
00:53The experts analyzed the data they had and came to the conclusion
00:57that eight large, vertical structures could be hiding beneath, possibly wells or shafts.
01:03They extend a staggering 6,500 feet across.
01:08Imagine placing two and a half Burj Khalifa's on the ground,
01:11one after another, and you get the sheer size of this find.
01:15These shafts also plunge nearly 2,000 feet underground.
01:18Some of the deepest underground stations in the world
01:21are located at a mere 380 feet underground or so.
01:25These cylindrical shafts are surrounded by spiral paths.
01:29Picture some old Gothic castle.
01:31They're connected to two giant, weirdly-shaped chambers.
01:34Are those cubes?
01:35Or possibly bowls?
01:37Each of these chambers is likely more than 260 feet across.
01:41Now, even though we know about the structures now,
01:44no one has figured out their original purpose yet.
01:47Want to hear something even more shocking?
01:49Okay, then.
01:50The team is almost sure that similar access points
01:54can be found under all three pyramids.
01:56In other words, all of them might be linked
01:59by a hidden system of underground tunnels, chambers, and passages.
02:03Even deeper, about 4,000 feet under the surface,
02:06there might be more unknown structures.
02:08And doesn't it add to the mystery?
02:11But the coolest news is that, according to some team members,
02:14these hidden structures near Giza pyramids
02:16could align with the legendary Halls of Amenti.
02:20In ancient Egyptian mythology,
02:22it's a place where people are believed to arrive
02:24when they're close to the end of their days.
02:26There, they are said to take a three-day-long trial,
02:30facing their biggest fears.
02:32Now, how did scientists even discover these hidden spaces?
02:35To uncover them, researchers used two satellites
02:39positioned 420 miles above Earth.
02:41They sent radar signals to the Giza Plateau,
02:44and these signals generated detailed images,
02:47which were later compiled into a 3D model
02:49of the underground layout,
02:51including the newly detected shafts.
02:54Then, using synthetic aperture radar, or SAR technology,
02:58which is a type of radar that can penetrate through stone,
03:00the team also spotted five small room-like structures
03:04hidden deep within the pyramid.
03:07One of these chambers contained a sarcophagus,
03:10which was once thought to be the tomb of Pharaoh Khafre.
03:13But now, scientists believe this was a mistake.
03:16The true burial site is likely to be elsewhere.
03:19In any case, these five hidden rooms
03:21were completely unknown before the scans.
03:24They seem to be arranged in the center of the pyramid
03:26and are linked to underground pathways
03:29leading somewhere below the structure.
03:31There's an opinion that these tunnels
03:33could lead to more hidden chambers and wells.
03:36Some of them might be around 4,500 years old.
03:39Wow, what if they help us solve
03:41ancient civilization mysteries?
03:43Preliminary data suggests that all this underground space
03:46can be much more than a few empty chambers.
03:50There might be many more hidden structures
03:52near the Giza pyramids.
03:54How come?
03:54Well, the thing is,
03:56the structure appears to include hollowed-out sections
03:59with spiral pathways leading even deeper underground.
04:03Refining the images hinting at this
04:05could reveal an extensive subterranean network.
04:09It might be a whole city hidden under the surface.
04:12Now, despite the excitement surrounding these findings,
04:15there are also a lot of people
04:17who don't believe in the existence of the underground city.
04:20They're skeptical about the archaeological discovery in Egypt
04:23due to the lack of peer-reviewed verification.
04:26That's why several archaeologists and radar experts
04:29have challenged the validity of the claims.
04:32They've explained that the technology used to make the discovery
04:35may not be advanced enough
04:37to produce such detailed underground imagery.
04:41According to them,
04:42the five smaller chambers found near the surface
04:44could be natural formations,
04:46since the area had had sacred significance
04:49long before the construction of the pyramids.
04:52Some experts have even dismissed the use of radar methods
04:55in this context altogether.
04:57They call these methods scientifically unproven
05:00and question their accuracy.
05:02The discovery has also reignited discussions
05:05about ancient Egyptian myths
05:07and the possibility of hidden texts
05:09lying somewhere beneath the Giza pyramids.
05:11The layout of the newly detected underground chambers
05:15shares similarities with mythological accounts
05:18of the Hall of Records,
05:19a rumored chamber that could preserve early Egyptian wisdom.
05:23If confirmed,
05:24these findings could significantly reshape
05:27the understanding of Egypt's sacred topography.
05:30Plus, this lost city beneath Egypt's pyramid
05:33could become physical evidence
05:35of previously unknown underground structures.
05:38That's why the Khafra project is super eager
05:41to begin excavating to confirm their findings.
05:44But getting approval from Egyptian authorities
05:47is a challenging process.
05:49The discoveries still need to undergo peer review
05:52before they are accepted by the academic community.
05:56By the way,
05:57this recent archaeological discovery in Egypt
05:59comes on the heels of another discovery
06:02involving a weird structure
06:04beneath the Royal Giza Cemetery,
06:05which researchers believe is unnatural in origin.
06:11Archaeologists use remote sensing techniques
06:13and uncovered a mysterious L-shaped structure
06:16underground in the Western Cemetery of Giza.
06:19This area is known to house burials
06:21of royal family members and high-ranking officials.
06:25Many of the tombs in the cemetery
06:26have above-ground mastibos,
06:29rectangular stone or mud-brick structures
06:31with flat roofs.
06:32But there is an area in the center of the cemetery
06:35where there are no above-ground structures.
06:38To investigate this unexplored region,
06:40the team used electrical resistive tomography
06:43and ground-penetrating radar.
06:46ERT works by sending electrical currents into the ground
06:49and measuring the resistance to detect remains.
06:52As for GPR,
06:54it sends radar into the ground
06:55and maps the structures based on the radar's return.
06:59The team found an anomaly
07:01about 6.5 feet beneath the surface.
07:03It appeared to be an L-shaped structure
07:06measuring at least 33 feet in length.
07:09The reading suggested that the structure
07:11had been backfilled with sand after its construction.
07:14This made the team hypothesize
07:16that it could be a mix of sand and gravel
07:19or possibly an air void.
07:21This anomaly was classified
07:23as a highly resistive structure,
07:25which meant it didn't occur naturally.
07:28Motoyuki Sato,
07:29the study's lead author
07:30and professor at Tohoku University in Japan,
07:33claims that the structure
07:35is not a natural formation
07:36due to its sharp shape.
07:39Another weird thing
07:40about ancient Egyptian pyramids
07:42is that historians have long believed
07:44that they were built primarily
07:45for royals and high-status individuals,
07:48who had the wealth and power
07:49to create such massive structures.
07:52However,
07:53new research from the archaeological side of Tombos
07:56in modern-day Sudan
07:57challenges this assumption.
08:00The thing is,
08:01Tombos' pyramid
08:02may have served as burial sites
08:04for low-status workers
08:05as well as elites.
08:07The hard-working members
08:08of ancient communities
08:09may have found
08:10their last resting place
08:11in some of the most visible monuments,
08:14including the pyramids.
08:16Located along the Nile River
08:17in the ancient region of Nubia,
08:19Tombos became part of Egypt
08:21after its conquest of the area
08:23around 1400 BCE.
08:25That's when Egypt established the site
08:28to strengthen its colonial control.
08:30Workers at Tombos built pyramids,
08:33but those were much more modest
08:34than the famous pyramids of Giza.
08:36The research team reanalyzed
08:38110 human skeletons from Tombos,
08:41originally studied in 2012.
08:44In particular,
08:45they examined the emphases,
08:47the areas where tendons and ligaments
08:49attach to bones.
08:50Such an analysis can give us insights
08:52into the amount of physical labor
08:54a person performed.
08:56When someone does hard labor,
08:58their bones often develop
08:59distinct crests and ridges
09:01at these attachment points
09:02due to the stress
09:03on the tendons and ligaments.
09:05And while some skeletons
09:06showed little change
09:08in their emphases,
09:09suggesting they belong
09:10to individuals from the upper classes,
09:13others showed more serious changes.
09:15It means they belong
09:17to lower-class workers.
09:18This finding can totally challenge
09:20our earlier understanding
09:22of pyramid burials,
09:23especially the idea
09:24that only elites
09:25were buried in the pyramids,
09:27because the pyramids themselves
09:29were designed for the elite.
09:30This recent research
09:32may prove that lower-class workers
09:34may have found
09:34their final resting place
09:36in these monumental structures too.
09:38That's it for today.
09:39So hey,
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