Something is resisting electric flow under mystery structure at the Giza pyramids

Scientists studying the Giza pyramid complex believe a massive, unexcavated 4,500-year-old tomb structure lies under another construction that a paper detailed in 2024. Using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), researchers scanned the Western Cemetery, a burial zone where the elite were buried. They came across an L-shaped structure near the surface and detected something larger below it. However, this deeper surface remains a mystery. Led by Tohoku University’s Motoyuki Sato, the team detailed the dimensions of the upper body in a research paper published in the journal Archaeological Prospection. Notably, these findings are different from the mammoth structure claims made by Italian scientists under the Pyramid of Khafre.

“The Western Cemetery at Giza is known as an important burial place of members of the royal family and high-class officers,” the researchers state in the paper. The L-shaped structure sits roughly 6.5 feet deep, and measures 33 feet in length and may have been backfilled with sand after construction. Since it is geometric in shape, scientists confirmed it cannot be a natural geological formation. “In the initial survey by GPR and ERT, we found an anomaly in the north of the survey site. The area of the anomaly could be established approximately, but the structure and the location were unclear," the researchers said. Also Read: Giza pyramid hiding pockets with nothing but air hints at a secret entrance

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The bigger anomaly under a previous mystery

The main anomaly lies 16 to 33 feet deep below the ground, which scientists say is “highly electrically resistive.” They present two possible explanations for this much larger, deeper structure. It could either be a mixture of sand and gravel or sparse spacing with air voids. It is surrounded by mastabas, the flat-roofed tombs used for elite burials at Giza. Since there is no visible surface architecture in this location, archaeologists have largely given it a miss. Sato and his team believe the L-shaped structure "may have been an entrance to the deeper structure." Also Read: Scientist offers more proof to bolster claim colossal structures lie under Egyptian pyramids

The scans have failed to reveal this mystery structure below the initial anomaly. Scientists are not claiming that it is a tomb, saying that the survey alone cannot tell what material is causing the anomaly. "But it may be a large subsurface archaeological structure," they wrote in the study. They suggest excavation is the way to understand the nature of this anomaly. For now, they know that there is something deeper underground, which will remain a mystery until more work is done.