The Second Door

http://www.algomhuria.net.eg/gazette/5/

Article on today's edition of the Egyptian Gazette website by Zahi Hawass about investigations of the "air shafts" in the Great Pyramid - nothing new here, but I have added it in case it is of interest. It is copied in its entirety because it will cease to be displayed very quickly, and there is no archive on the site - or at least, not that I've managed to find: "It was an important day in my life when we looked behind the secret door inside the Great Pyramid. This was inside the southern "airshaft" in the Queen's Chamber. The function of these airshafts was a mystery. Those leading from the King's Chamber to the outside of the pyramid might have been magical tunnels so that the soul of Khufu could travel to join the imperishable stars. But the shafts in the Queen's Chamber did not go to the outside, and now we had found this enigmatic door, or slab, blocking the southern shaft. There was great interest from all over the world. I had been in Hong Kong the month before, and everyone there was fascinated, and could not wait to see the investigation. They set up big screens everywhere so that people could see the National Geographic show at 8 am. We sent the robot into the shaft and it drilled a hole about 1.1 cm in diameter. But we did not put the camera in. We told the world that this great moment would be live, for everyone to see. I never thought that we would find evidence for Atlantis or aliens, but I truly did not know what to expect. My best guess was that there would be nothing there but empty space. This would be important, however, because even empty space inside the Great Pyramid could be very interesting for archaeologists. We made the TV programme live at 3 am Cairo time, which was 8 pm in the States and 8 am in China. We began by talking about the development of the pyramids, from the tombs of the Early Dynastic Period to the first pyramid, the Step Pyramid of King Djoser, to the first true pyramid, built by Khufu's father Sneferu. So we put the Great Pyramid into context, and showed that there were other pyramids before and after Khufu's.We sent the camera into the hole that had been drilled through the first door at 4:50 am Cairo time. Twenty-one centimeters behind this door was another limestone slab, this time without any handles. This was a very important discovery, and a big surprise to me."

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