Thursday 26 May 2011

Robot probes Great Pyramid: First images released

More sensational news from Egypt. This time it is the Great Pyramid giving up more of its secrets.

A robot has sent back the first images of markings – ancient graffiti tags – on the wall of a tiny chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt that have not been seen for 4,500 years. It has also helped settle the controversy about the only metal known to exist in the pyramid, and shows a "door" that could lead to another hidden chamber, reports the New Scientist.

Images sent back by the camera have revealed hieroglyphs written in red paint and lines in the stone that could be marks left by stone masons when the chamber was being carved (Annales Du Service des Antiquités De L'Égypte, vol 84, ISBN: 978-977-704-184-3). "If these hieroglyphs could be deciphered they could help Egyptologists work out why these mysterious shafts were built," says engineer Rob Richardson from the University of Leeds, UK, who designed the robot called Djedi.

Daily Mail: Unseen for 4,500 years: Pyramid finally reveals its hidden secrets as robot captures images of ancient markings

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