Despite having been a popular subject for archaeologists and historians to scrutinise for decades, ancient Egypt is still filled with mysteries people have yet to uncover. This year alone is a milestone for important finds. The Daily News Egypt recently reported on the discovery of two relics in Alexandria and Saggara. The former is a large Ptolemaic tomb with a black granite sarcophagus inside, while the latter is a bronze statue of the god Osiris discovered on the side of the King Djoser step pyramid.
Recently, one of the most iconic structures in Egypt has attracted the attention of scientists as well. A team of physicists from St. Petersburg’s ITMO University discovered the possibility of electromagnetic waves being influenced by the Great Pyramid of Giza. The research detailed that the popular landmark’s shape could focus radio waves within its internal chambers and its base.
To test their theory, researchers created a model of the pyramid. Because they lacked the information of the structure’s actual physical properties, they had to rely on guess work. Senior researcher Andrey Evlyukhin said, “We assumed that there are no cavities inside, and the building material with the properties of an ordinary limestone is evenly distributed in and out of the pyramid.” Through these assumptions, the physicists were able to uncover the fascinating electromagnetic results.
The researchers pointed out the significance of their study, stating that it can open up investigations for modern and practical applications. People experience electromagnetic energy in different forms every day. Aside from sunlight, regular household devices like microwave ovens and radios also use electromagnetic energy. Even internet connections use electromagnetic radiation.
The findings, however, do not suggest that the Ancient Egyptians purposefully designed the Pyramid with that in mind. However, other recent research may have uncovered the secret to the Pyramid’s near perfect structural alignment. Engineer Glen Dash thinks that ancient Egyptians actually based their construction theories on the fall equinox. The gist of his experiment was that Ancient Egyptian engineers used the shadows created by the equinox. These shadows run in straight lines that point directly towards east and west, and their degree of error is slightly counter clockwise. This may explain why the Pyramid of Giza and the other pyramids surrounding it are all rotated slightly counter clockwise from the cardinal points.
The Pyramid of Giza is the oldest monument of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and interestingly, is also the only structure among them standing today. It’s no wonder professionals from different industries find great interest in it. Aside from archaeologists, physicists, and engineers, even modern game developers are fascinated by Egypt’s most famous structure. Online gaming platform Slingo, for one, has a variety of Egyptian-themed flash games that heavily feature the pyramids. Titles like Cleopatra’s Riches, Golden Egypt, and Legend of the Pharaohs, all have pyramids as their central visual elements. Plus, they have similar themes where players have to discover the riches and other interesting ancient artifacts within these pyramids. It’s obvious that even after thousands of years, Egypt’s pyramids still draw worldwide attention to them, be it from a historical aspect, architectural, scientific, or even fictional, as displayed in games and other entertainment mediums.
What other mysteries do the Giza pyramids hold? Perhaps it will be another thousand years before we make any new discoveries. Or if we’re lucky, perhaps there will be more significant findings before the year ends.
