Is There a Secret Tunnel in the Great Pyramid?

Hello everybody and welcome to Ancient Architects. Please subscribe to the channel for regular content on ancient architecture as well as all the latest news from the world of archaeology. A few months ago, History for Granite published a video titled News Secret Passage in the Great Pyramid Revealed, where it convincingly showed viewers how the North Face Corridor behind the Great Pyramid Chevrons could be accessed, a small entrance that was closed by what looks like this stone. Looking at a plan view of the floor of the corridor and it looks as though this floor block has been cut specifically to allow this small block to drop down and be pushed northward to close the space. So with that in mind, maybe all we need to do is push this block back and lever it up. This was a very exciting revelation because if all the observations are correct, we can now see a non-destructive way inside the corridor. And now all we need is permission to carefully pry loose the stone because, based on the diagrams and images we have of the North Face Corridor, the method of gaining access does seem feasible in theory. For the viewers less knowledgeable about the North Face Corridor, this was a new discovery using Muon technology in 2016, a full year prior to me starting the Ancient Architects channel. It was known then as the Small Void, with the Big Void being the one above the Grand Gallery that got all the headlines the following year. In 2023, six years after its discovery, other non-intrusive exploration techniques confirmed what the Muon scans were showing, that there was indeed a small corridor behind the chevrons and using an endoscopic camera we finally got to see inside. The corridor is not a finely finished internal space, it doesn't have the kind of finish we would expect with a Great Pyramid passage and you could argue that this limits its function. If a king's mummified body was to pass through here, if royalty, priests and worshippers were to walk through the corridor, well, at the very least you wouldn't expect the finish of the limestone to be neat. But we can still see the cut marks in the stone where the wooden logs supported the vault ceiling and the uneven floor and chiselled walls are hardly fit for a king. But does this mean the corridor was simply unfinished, which wouldn't be all that uncommon in old kingdom building projects. Or maybe the space was purely functional and no fine finish was necessary. Maybe an access corridor that was used in the pyramid's construction. If so, no fine finish was needed. Unlike many pyramid passages, this corridor is wide and tall, measuring around 2m by 2m and this means it was a If the outer chevrons were removed, you could even manoeuvre materials into the pyramid, but of course the only problem with that is that the corridor is just 9m long. What use is a 9m long corridor? History for Granite has done a few fantastic videos on the North Face Corridor and in true Granite fashion, he makes key observations and also offers his own unique hypothesis that explains it. It's his belief, using what he admits is limited knowledge at the present moment, that the space was a way for the pyramid builders to test the new architecture design of a vaulted ceiling. Of course, with the images available, any analysis can only be so detailed. There is dust all over the floor, it's hard to identify individual stones and towards the back of the small corridor at least one floor block is raised, meaning we can't see the floor beyond it. And the back wall? Are we looking at the core masonry of the pyramid, aka the corridor is a dead end, or could these be yet more blocking stones? As we can see on these diagrams, the muon scans did not show the corridor extending very far. But if once upon a time the corridor was longer and was subsequently backfilled with stone and rubble, there would be no void for the muon scans to pick up. All we know right now is the corridor is 9m long and we need to go inside to investigate the back wall because, as it stands with the information available, History for Granite offers the only viable explanation. But what I'm going to do for the rest of this video is look at what it would mean if the corridor did once continue on, that it has been backfilled and blocked, because in my opinion it would actually make a lot of sense. If you extend the corridor southwards into the pyramid, you would end up at the north wall of the grand gallery, meaning that a long north face corridor would be a perfect access passage to reach the heart of the pyramid, instead of always going down the narrow descending passageway and then up the ascending passageway, spaces that limit what can be brought in from the outside and also what you can take out. Long before the muon scans of 2016, a number of people had already suspected a horizontal passage hidden by the chevron blocks, including Bruchet, Dormian, Goyden and Houdan. And whilst Zahi Hawass thinks the short corridor is just a small weight relieving device, and History for Granite believes it could be a space to test a vaulted ceiling, researcher Keith Hamilton says the following. The north face corridor looks to be quite a utilitarian space, something more in keeping with what we see inside the 5th dynasty pyramid of Neferikire at Abusir. And what's inside this Abusir pyramid? We have a very similar horizontal corridor leading into the heart of the pyramid, a utilitarian corridor consisting of pairs of chevrons along its length. Hamilton says that inside this construction chamber, the fine masonry which makes up the walls and flat ceiling of the horizontal passage below would be brought in and assembled. Inside the Neferikire pyramid, below this constructional corridor was the main finely finished horizontal passage. The rough looking gabled space above a. acted as a weight relieving space so there was less pressure on the main horizontal passage below and b. was a place that people could work inside when creating and finishing the interior. So if you extended it, it looks as though the north face corridor would terminate at the bottom or towards the bottom of the Grand Gallery's northern wall, which is the perfect height for a tunnel, giving easy access for people and materials to reach the Queen's Chamber, Grand Gallery and King's Chamber. Because when the roof was added to the King's Chamber, there was no other way into the Great Pyramid other than the descending passageway. And what if something went wrong? What if the builders had to replace a block? How did they get the scaffolding inside to dress the blocks of the tall Grand Gallery? I would assume the block faces in the chambers and corridors would have been dressed, i.e. nicely finished after they were constructed, to not risk any damage in the process. So did all the workers and all the removed stone go down the ascending passage, up the descending passageway and then out the pyramid? Wasn't that a bit clunky? And wasn't it a bit risky? Because you're putting those passages in danger. If the ancient Egyptians were clever enough to build this pyramid, surely they'd have had access corridors into the pyramid throughout its construction. Straight, wide and tall passageways, just like what we see with the North Face Corridor. But of course, as we see it today, the North Face Corridor is just 9 metres long. But it does make sense that any access corridor into the heart of the pyramid did eventually get backfilled after its use, for security, so robbers couldn't enter the pyramid this way. It's possible the last 9 metres were just left, maybe due to time constraints, or because the chevrons were covering the corridor, maybe the work was just deemed unnecessary, the corridor was blocked enough. So, if the corridor did once extend all the way into the pyramid, where on the north wall of the Grand Gallery would it open up? Well, as showed by Gilles Dormian, and as Keith Hamilton recorded in his guide, the lowest corbel is not developed on the north wall and also blocks 3 and 4 are notably different. There's something going on here. So it's possible the opening into the Grand Gallery, the end of a possible corridor was in this region right here. In terms of researching the North Face Corridor, of course it's early days, and so right now nothing is off the table. And in his interview with Matt Bell, Zahi Hawass and the Scanned Pyramids team are looking to enter and investigate further. But if there was a longer corridor that was completely backfilled apart from the last 9 metres, why did it have this small access point? Well, for all we know, the long corridor could still be accessible. We can't really see behind this raised floor block. We can't really see what's going on at the back. Maybe you just need a few workers to enter this corridor and they can leave it a couple of blocks at the end and the longer passageway leading to the heart of the pyramid could be filled up with just rubble and sand. And so if there was a major architectural problem, it could be opened up again with minimal fuss. It isn't a bad idea to keep a secret access into a corridor, even if it's never to be used ever again. A way inside that's obscured to the common people but known about by those who need to know. Therefore, maybe this small blocking stone was added as a contingency. An access point in case the passage needed to be reopened. For all we know, it could even link up with the big void above the grand gallery. Or maybe a small part of the big corridor was left open so one person could get inside. Of course I'm speculating but right now we just don't know. The next few years do look to be an exciting time in Great Pyramid exploration. Right now there are two teams of experts working to unveil its secrets. And as I often say, I really can't wait. Thank you very much for watching this episode of Ancient Architects. If you enjoyed the video, please subscribe to the channel, please like the video and please leave a comment below.