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You may think we know the pyramids of Giza. Three giant pyramids, one massive sphinx, and endless desert around them. And then researchers go and find something totally unexpected. Another sphinx buried under the sand. A team of Italian scientists believe this structure could be hidden beneath the Giza Plateau. And they also think the entire area may have a huge underground complex stretching beneath the pyramids themselves. This discovery started with radar scans and satellite images. Researchers studied the layout of the Giza plateau very carefully. The Great Pyramid, the pyramid of Cafre and the Pyramid of Manare and the famous Sphinx. That's
when they noticed something strange. The lines connecting the pyramids and the Sphinx seemed to point toward another raised area nearby. That mound is huge, around 108 ft tall. That's the height of a 10-story building. It seems to be made mostly of hardened sand. And it's important because carving a giant structure into bedrock would be much harder. There's another detail making this theory even more interesting. The famous dream stellle, a giant stone slab in front of the great sphinx, shows not one sphinx, but two. For a long time, people thought that was just symbolic artwork. But what if it shows something real? The idea is that ancient builders created two giant guardian statues, but
one of them later disappeared under layers of sand. Researchers say that the geometry of the site makes this theory difficult to ignore. The alignment between the pyramids, the visible sphinx, and the hidden mound appears unusually precise. The patterns just line up too well to look random. Even if there's no second sphinx, it could point to hidden chambers, tunnels, or even an underground citadel. Right now though, this is still a theory. No one has excavated the site yet, and many archaeologists remain skeptical. But the scans, the shapes underground, and the strange alignment patterns make people consider this idea
seriously. Besides, the story gets even stranger. Ancient carvings near the great sphinx describe a bizarre moment from the life of Prince Tutmos IV. According to the inscriptions, the young prince fell asleep in the shadow of the Sphinx while it was still buried in sand. Then in a dream, the giant statue supposedly spoke to him and promised him the throne of Egypt. But only if he cleared the sand away and uncovered it. That story was carved into stone thousands of years ago. Could it contain clues we've missed for centuries? To get more data, the team scanned the ground beneath the Great Sphinx, the nearby pyramids, and the area that connects the Sphinx to the pyramid of Kafre, the second largest pyramid at
Giza. And according to the scans, strange structures may exist deep underground. vertical shafts, long horizontal tunnels, and branching passageways. Researchers think that some of these formations connect into a massive underground network stretching below the pyramids and the Sphinx. The coolest thing is that the underground patterns seem to be symmetrical. The hidden structures beneath the area mirror each other almost perfectly. That symmetry is one of the main reasons the researchers think this isn't some random geology.
The theory itself didn't appear out of nowhere either. More than 10 years ago, Egyptologist Basam El Shama also suggested that once a second sphinx could have existed. He based this idea on ancient Egyptian records and myths describing lightning striking the Sphinx. He thought that those stories could actually refer to a real monument that no longer existed. It could vanish because of time, weather, or even ancient beliefs. Most Egyptologists don't accept this idea, and only a small group of people support it. After all, no excavations have confirmed the existence of a hidden sphinx or underground city. But the radar scans, the underground patterns
and ancient carvings, and the strange symmetry beneath Giza might mean that we still have no idea what's really buried under the pyramids. At this point, researchers are still waiting for permission from Egyptian authorities to study the mysterious mound more closely. At least, we know much more about the Great Sphinx of Giza, one of the oldest and most mysterious monuments on Earth. The statue is gigantic. From its front paws to its tail, it's about 240 ft long, almost the length of a football field. It rises around 66 ft, about as tall as a six-story building. And at its widest point, the body reaches over 60
ft across. To construct it, ancient builders didn't move giant blocks into place like they did with the pyramids. They actually cut the sphinx straight out of the rock beneath the desert surface. Over the centuries, wind, sand, and humidity slowly damaged the monument. Large parts of the sphinx had to be repaired again and again. Workers added layers of limestone blocks around the base to stop the structure from crumbling. And then there's the missing nose. Probably the most famous mystery. A lot of people believe Napoleon soldiers blasted it off with cannons during the French campaign in Egypt, but that story isn't true. Drawings from before Napoleon even arrived already show the Sphinx without its nose.
Interestingly, researchers who studied the face found marks suggesting someone deliberately broke the nose off with the help of such tools as rods or chisels, but nobody knows exactly who did it or why. Now, most people call the statue the Sphinx, but technically that's not even correct. The creature from Greek mythology had the body of a lion, the head of a woman, and wings. But the one in Egypt looks different. It has a lion's body, a human head, and no wings at all. So, technically, it belongs to a totally different category. Even its name changed over time. Ancient Egyptians didn't originally call it the Great Sphinx. Thousands of years ago, people linked it to powerful deities
connected to the sun and the horizon. Later civilizations gave it completely different names, so the monument kept changing identities with time. Nobody truly knows who built it. A lot of experts believe Pharaoh Tooffrey ordered its construction around 2500 B.CE because his pyramid and temples are nearby. Plus, the face of the Sphinx looks similar to the statues of him. But there's a problem. No inscription directly says he built it. So, other researchers think someone else created it. Plus, archaeologists have found something else that makes the story even stranger. Near the Sphinx, they've uncovered abandoned tools, stone blocks, and even unfinished meals left behind by workers.
It looked like people suddenly stopped working and walked away in a hurry. The workers themselves weren't starving slaves like many people imagined. Excavations showed they ate highquality meat, beef, sheep, and goat. That kind of food was expensive in ancient Egypt, so the workers were likely skilled laborers with an important status. The Sphinx also looked completely different back then. Today, it has this faded sandy color, but thousands of years ago, it may have been covered in bright paint. Researchers found traces of red on its face and hints of blue and yellow on its headdress. Sadly, even restoration works may cause damage.
During repairs in the early 20th century, parts of the Sphinx's headdress broke off. Later restoration attempts used materials that actually harmed the soft limestone underneath. At one point, a huge chunk crashed off the statue's shoulder. The Sphinx also once had a beard, and today pieces of that beard are kept in museums in London and Cairo. But even here, researchers argue. Some experts believe the beard belonged to the original statue. Others think people added it centuries later during restoration projects. Despite its terrifying appearance, the Egyptian version of the Sphinx was actually seen as a protector. The evil dangerous version most people know comes mainly from Greek mythology. Ancient Egyptians
viewed their sphinx very differently. To them, it represented power, protection, and divine authority. There are countless doors all over the world that haven't been opened for decades and even centuries. The question is why? It seems that nowadays you can open any door you want. The truth is that some doors were sealed for a grave reason. And so far, nobody has found out what treasures and mysteries they hide. Here are four doors that keep their secrets all too well. The Taj Mahal. First up, we've got the Taj Mahal in India, one of the most romantic places in the world. Shajahan commissioned it in 1631 and dedicated it to his third wife, who he loved like
crazy. They were married for 19 years and had a whopping 14 kids together. But unfortunately, she passed away while giving birth to their last baby. Shah Jahan was heartbroken and decided to build an epic tomb to remember her by. The construction took a whopping 20 years to finish. The building has quite an interesting layout. The design is super unusual with these four massive 130 ft tall minouretes that stand on the corners of a huge platform. They're not just there for looks. Back in the 17th century, architects were having some serious issues with buildings collapsing under their own weight. So, the chief architect of the Taj Mahal made sure to place those minouetses as far away from
the tomb as possible. And he even tilted them in a way so that if they did fall, they wouldn't wreck the rest of the Taj Mahal. Talk about planning ahead. The Taj Mahal is hiding some crazy secrets. There are sealed rooms all over the place that nobody is allowed to enter. And if you check out photos of the building from the riverside, you can spot two basements. But guess what? They're sealed up, too. Nobody knows what's inside or why they've been locked up since the time of Shajahan. Apparently, there's a good reason why those rooms are off limits. Some researchers think that they were built using marble, which turns into a
different substance called calcium carbonate if it's exposed to carbon dioxide. And when that happens, little bits of marble start chipping off like crazy. To make matters worse, there's no air flowing into these rooms. That means that if too much CO2 builds up in the basement, the four minoretses could collapse. But wait, there's more. Some people think that the body of Shajahan's wife can be found in one of these sealed up rooms in pristine condition. Why not? Who knows what the mysterious rooms might keep? The Great Sphinx of Giza. The Great Sphinx of Giza is shrouded in mystery. It's not just the largest monolith statue in the world, but it's also a hybrid creature with a woman's head and a lion's body that originates
from Egyptian and Greek mythology. It's also very ancient. It's estimated to be around 4,500 years old. The construction of this marvel took about 3 years and required 100 workers who were not slaves and were treated with delicacies like sheep and goat meat. It is also thought that it used to be much more massive than it is now. Archaeologists found huge stone blocks and abandoned tool kits near the site. However, the real secrets of the Sphinx lie underground near its paws. A group of scientists used a seismograph to detect two hidden chambers beneath the Sphinx's paws. Some people think that these rooms might be the legendary Hall of Records, which holds ancient scrolls revealing the
secrets of the universe. I mean, that's way cooler than any library I've ever been to. Rumor has it that the Egyptians even had info on Atlantis stashed down there, which is like a super old version of a conspiracy theory. Unfortunately, we can't go on an adventure to check it out just yet. The chambers presumably have two entrances, but both remain sealed. The researchers haven't yet received the green light to check out their theory. Let's hope they won't keep us in suspense forever. Sri Padmanabaswami Temple. This temple is located in the beautiful state of Kerala in India. This temple is famous for more than just its breathtaking beauty.
Underneath the temple, there are six vaults creatively named A, B, C, D, E, and F. The enormous iron doors to these chambers add to the mystery of what's behind them. A few years back, the authorities decided to open these vaults to the world. But it wasn't an easy task. You can't just open the doors and enter the vaults. It required a lot of work. It took them a while, but finally in 2011, they opened five of the six chambers. And guess what? They found tons of treasure, bags of gold, precious gemstones, and priceless diamond jewelry. The estimated worth of everything found in the vaults is a whopping $1 trillion. It's like the temple was the real life inspiration for Aladdin's Cave of Wonders. But wait, I
said five of the six. What happened to the last one? Vault B has remained closed, but not for lack of trying. They simply didn't manage to open it. There is even a belief that it's fatally cursed. Legend says that only a saint or sage can break the curse by chanting a specific mantra, but no one has been able to do this yet, presumably because we don't have saints or sages at our disposal. There is also rumor that in the 30s some temple invaders tried to enter Vault B to do some good old looting, but they never reached their target. Apparently, terrible snakes materialized out of nowhere and chased the gang away. But of
course, this is just an urban legend, and there is not proof of that. However, it is said that the auditor general dealing with the temple claimed that Vault B had been opened at least seven times since 1990, and nothing bad happened to anyone who entered. Who knows? Maybe we should send Indiana Jones to check it out. The First Emperor's Tomb. Deep under a hill, completely undisturbed and surrounded by dangerous traps, lies an ancient 2,000-year-old tomb. It belongs to Chin Sher Huang, the first emperor of China. He was born in the Chin state and became king when he was just a boy. But when he grew up and gained full power, he united the waring states ancient China was divided into by conquering them. After that, he created
the Qin dynasty. When he died in 210 B.CE, they buried him deep underground in a massive tomb. And when I say massive, I mean massive. Back in 1974, some farmers in Shian, China, stumbled upon something strange while digging a well. A huge terracotta soldier. This discovery led to an extensive archaeological dig that has continued for over 40 years, revealing a collection of thousands of clay soldiers. The unique thing about these soldiers is that each one has its own unique features, from hairstyles to facial expressions. It's believed that there could be up to 8,000 of these soldiers, but only 2,000 have been found so far. Interestingly, the central tomb, which is believed to be the resting place of the emperor, is still untouched.
In ancient records, there are references to a vast underground city that the emperor built, complete with scenic towers, palaces, and whatnot. Siman, a Han Dynasty historian, wrote that the tomb was adorned with treasures and had space for hundreds of officials, but the lack of technology to properly examine the site is what's holding things up. Chin Sher Huang was surrounded by liquid mercury in his tomb with two of the streams representing the major rivers of China, Yellow River and Yangty. The ancient Chinese believed that mercury could provide immortality, but it could have also caused the emperor's death since he regularly took mercury pills to prolong his life. The dangerous levels
of mercury contamination in the soil near the tomb are the main reason why scientists are reluctant to explore it. It could be very dangerous both for people and for the environment. Now, if I had to choose which door to open, I'd probably go for the one that doesn't lead to a tomb surrounded by poisonous mercury. Call me crazy, but I'd like to avoid any potential health hazards. Hey, I bet you didn't know that trees used to grow in the middle of Egypt's barren, sunroed Sinai desert. It's true. If you can't picture it, I don't blame you. But archaeologists have recently stumbled upon a treeline boulevard. Yep,
an actual green avenue leading to a massive ancient fortress. No, this isn't some mirage or an overactive imagination, although I do have one. But it's turning our ideas of ancient Egyptian desert life upside down. Let's rewind a bit. The site in question is called Telibu Ciphi, located in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula. For a long time, it was known as a dusty archaeological footnote. The home of ruins from the TMIC and Roman periods. You know, the era after Alexander the Great swaggered through Egypt and the Roman Empire called Dibs. But recently, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities decided to give it a fresh dig. And what they found out turned to
be more than just a forgotten outpost. We're talking about a full-on military fortress with defensive trenches, paved roads, lime kils, barracks for soldiers, and even room for their families. A whole bunch of living quarters right in the middle of a desert doesn't feel very homey until you remember our star, the unexpected Green Avenue. This road was over 300 ft long and 36 ft wide, as long as an American football field, paved with limestone slabs and lined with more than 500 clay planting pits. These weren't for show. They held actual trees, creating a shaded treeline entrance straight to the fortress.
Imagine walking through that, the sun blazing overhead, and suddenly blessed shade. Ooh, now that's not just a grand entrance. That's an ancient red carpet, or maybe a green one. But this wasn't about curb appeal. The existence of hundreds of trees in a desert landscape over 2,000 years ago tells us something big. You see, the tomic Egyptians weren't simply good at building monuments. They were also masters of water management. In a place where rainfall is rarer than a selfie with a pharaoh, they somehow found a way to grow rows of trees. Now, let that sink in. To irrigate that many trees in a desert, they must have had a sophisticated irrigation or water transport system. Something capable of moving and distributing water
efficiently in this harsh climate. Maybe they channeled groundwater. Or maybe they captured seasonal rain. Or maybe ancient sprinkler systems. Okay, maybe not that fancy. But still, it's clear they were ahead of their time. Here's the thing. We already know the Egyptians mastered water control. They harnessed the Nile with ditches and canals to feed distant fields. So irrigation wasn't exactly a mystery to them. They had the skills and the knowledge. And sure, scientists still debate what the Sinai climate was like 2,000 years ago. But many believe it may have once been greener. After all, take one look at those dramatic mountains and rocky landscapes shaped and sculpted as if by
brute force of ancient rivers. And it's hard not to think that water once played a bigger role out there. Plus, archaeologists have found tons of evidence showing that tomic Egyptians cultivated fruits, vines, and trees on a large scale. In other words, growing a forest in a desert might feel wild to us, but to them it was just another Tuesday. And now this green avenue is making archaeologists wonder what if similar irrigation systems were used elsewhere say for transporting the enormous stones used to build the pyramids. There's already a theory that ancient rivers or humanmade canals help move those stones and the Talibu scipy discovery. Well, it might just be the missing puzzle piece. This isn't just a
dream. Back then, rivers were like highways, power grids, and cargo trains of the ancient world all rolled into one. Egyptians used them for everything. Irrigating crops, trading goods, powering industry, and even mobilizing for war. If you were doing something important, odds are it involved a river. But wait, it gets even better. Excavations revealed deep defensive trenches, like ancient moes, dug more than 6 ft deep around the fortress. Those weren't just muddy ditches. They were part of an elaborate defense system designed to be filled or bridged to
control access. Think of it as ancient Egypt's version of a retractable security gate, minus the hydraulics. And while the trenches were keeping intruders out, life inside the fortress was bustling. Remember how we said archaeologists had found military housing units? It turns out soldiers might have lived there with their families. So, this wasn't just a barracks. It was a thriving community with meals, routines, kids playing, and probably a whole lot of ancient gossip flying around the dinner table. In addition to all the military stuff, researchers found four massive lime kils used to produce quick lime, an essential ingredient for making construction mortar. These kils are a big deal because they suggest that during the
later Roman period, Talibu Ciphi turned into an industrial hub. It was like the Home Depot of ancient Egypt, churning out materials to build and repair buildings. But here's where the plot thickens. Underneath all of this, beneath the roads, the trenches, the kils, archaeologists found the corners of an even older structure, a mystery building. Could it be the remains of a third much older fortress? Or an ancient cemetery or lost city? Nobody knows yet. But one thing's clear, this story isn't over. Honestly, this might be the coolest archaeological cliffhanger of the decade. So, what does this all mean? Well, for starters, it challenges everything we assumed about desert life in ancient Egypt. For the longest time,
deserts were thought of as natural barriers, dry, deadly, and empty. But this find suggests that the desert might have once been green and full of life. Not because the climate was dramatically different, but because the Egyptians were incredibly good at bending the environment to their will. They didn't just survive in the desert, they transformed it. It also adds fuel to the fire and the age-old debate about ancient Egyptian tech. If they could build a fortress with treelined roads, moes, irrigation, and industry in the middle of the cyani, is it really such a stretch to imagine they could engineer water channels to move pyramid stones?
Forget the ancient aliens TV show. Sure, it's entertaining. I'll give you that. But it makes us forget something crucial. Those people were brilliant. A lot of what we call modern technology is recycled ancient ingenuity. And who knows how much knowledge we've lost over time. Meanwhile, the dig continues. Scientists are now mapping the entire Taliboo siphite, trying to piece together how all the structures connect. Some want to analyze soil samples to find traces of old tree roots and maybe even figure out what kinds of trees once grew there. Imagine if they were date palms. We might be looking at the world's oldest snack lane.
You already know that the implications of the discoveries don't stop with history books, right? This kind of discovery has modern relevance, too. Our world is going through a lot of change with crazy weather and huge heat waves. So, maybe we should be asking, what can we learn from ancient civilizations that once made the desert bloom? If nothing else, Talibu Ciph reminds us that the ancient Egyptians were more than just pharaohs, pyramids, and mummies. They were visionary planners, ecoarchchitects, and straight up problem solvers. They didn't wait for nature to hand them what they needed. They engineered it. And thanks to discoveries like this, we're getting a clearer picture of just how advanced and frankly
how cool ancient Egyptian civilization really was. So, next time someone tells you deserts are just empty wastelands, you can hit them with this fun fact. Over 2,000 years ago, in the heart of the Cyani Desert, there was a fortress with a treelined avenue, moes, military housing, an industrial center, and even a secret underground structure. Take that, sand dunes. Who knows what else is still buried out there waiting to rewrite history. Not many civilizations are as mysterious as ancient Egypt, a powerful empire that lasted over 3,000 years. It gave us pyramids that still stand and myths that still inspire. It's one of the most
explored places on Earth. Yet somehow, we still find exciting stuff. In Abidos, archaeologists just uncovered a 3,600-year-old royal tomb. It's huge. It has golden hieroglyphs of deities covering the entrance. But the pharaoh's name, it's not there. It's missing. Who was this ruler? And what new chapter could this open in Egypt's story? If there's one place in Egypt where the line between life and demise feels thinner, it's Abidos. To the ancient Egyptians, this was sacred ground. They believed it was the burial place of Osiris, the god who literally passed away, had his remains separated, and came back to life to rule the underworld. Because of that, Abidos became Egypt's spiritual gathering place. Pharaohs built amazing temples
here like the temple of Seti, famous for its king's list, a wall that has the names of 76 pharaohs carved in it. Pilgrims came from across Egypt, leaving offerings and participating in Osiris festivals where his demise and rebirth were ritually reenacted. It wasn't just symbolic worship. It was Egypt's version of Comic-Con. But instead of cosplaying superheroes, people reenacted gods coming back to life. Obviously, pharaohs competed to be buried as close to Osiris as possible. Abidos became part cemetery, part holy city, part afterlife insurance policy. Fast forward thousands of years, and we still uncover remarkable stuff around Abidos. That's the case with the recently discovered tomb. In early 2025,
a joint team of researchers from the US and Egypt decided to dig beneath a rocky rise ominously called Anubis Mountain. You remember Anubis, the jackal-headed deity who guarded cemeteries. The uncovered royal burial was hidden 23 ft below the surface. Sadly, even though it eluded archaeologists for so long, robbers had already taken away with treasures ages ago. They could definitely tell this was a tomb of someone super important. Similar to how you can walk around a mansion with no furniture, but still deduce that someone rich must have lived there. The chamber had mud brick vaults rising over
16 ft. That's taller than a female giraffe standing upright. For something built 36 centuries ago, it still felt enormous. However, when you remember that Egyptians were masters of architecture, nothing seems surprising. So, no treasures, no golden mask, and sadly, no name. The cartou that should have spelled the king's identity was unreadable. Egyptian tombs usually bragged about who was inside. In ancient Egypt, a cartou was basically a big oval name tag for kings wrapped in hieroglyphs. Think of them as VIP passes that worked in both this life and the next. Without it, your soul couldn't check into the afterlife hotel. That's because to the Egyptians, your name, your ren, wasn't just so your teacher could distinguish
you from kids with the same haircut. It was a core part of who you were. As long as your ren survived, so did you. To have your name forgotten was considered a fate worse than passing away. A soul cannot journey without a name. That's why you'd see cartes all over the place on temples, obelisks, jewelry, statues, and tomb walls. It wasn't there just for the marketing. It kept the pharaoh's presence front and center everywhere you looked. Imagine building a massive tomb only for 3,600 years later to walk in and go, "Uh, who is this guy again?" Not cool at all. That's why it's fair to imagine our nameless pharaoh haunting the robbers for all eternity. So yeah, cartou was considered very
significant. One of the most famous and mind-blowing examples comes from the tomb of Tutmos III. His burial chamber and sarcophagus were literally shaped like a cartou. In other words, the entire room was a living architectural symbol of his name. Thankfully, in the recently discovered tomb, not everything was erased. Painted in golden hues at the entrance were two familiar guardians, deities Isis and Nepus. Isis was the magician who stitched Osiris back together and breathed life into him. Nepathus, her sister, was the eternal mourner and protector of the mummy. Together, they promised that whoever rested here would not face the afterlife alone. And it's one additional proof of the importance of the
mysterious pharaoh. So, who could this be? To answer that, we need to go down history lane. This tomb dates back to Egypt's messy chapter called the second intermediate period. Instead of one ruler in charge, the country had many rival kingdoms, each with its own little power base, like a real life Egyptian version of Game of Thrones. And right in the middle of that chaos was Abbidos. For a while, it was home to its own line of kings, the so-called Abbidos dynasty. Those weren't the pyramid builders everyone knows, and that's why they're so mysterious. They left behind almost nothing. No great monuments, no sprawling cities, just
fragments of names on broken blocks. For centuries, many scholars even doubted they existed at all. That sort of changed in 2014 when archaeologists uncovered the tomb of Cenip, one of those shadowy kings. Now everything we know about Cenip points to him having quite a story to tell. His bones revealed 18 deep wounds, the kind you get in battle. He had blows to his skull, back, and hands, and likely lost his life fighting, making him one of the few pharaohs we know who sadly fell in combat. His tomb was modest with reused artifacts from earlier kings, but it delivered one priceless thing, proof. Until Cenip, the Abbados dynasty was just a theory. With him, it became real. And that's why the new discovery could
be a big deal. The newly uncovered royal tomb at Abidos shares the same layout and style as Senuks. It has limestone chambers, mudbrick vaults, and protective deities. although it's much bigger, which again raises the possibility that we're looking at an even earlier, more powerful ruler of Abidos. Whoever he was, he wanted to be remembered alongside the greats, which is ironic cuz it seems that history tried erasing him. Perhaps additional findings alongside his tomb could tell us more. Yes, there's more, and it's actually pretty cool. Not far from Abbidos in the village of Vanowit, archaeologists uncovered a Roman era pottery workshop. Yeah, you heard that right. A pottery factory close to a pharaoh's burial ground. The
site had huge clay kils, storage rooms, and even broken shards called Osta. They were basically ancient sticky notes, except instead of shopping lists, those had receipts scratched onto them in Greek and deodic Egyptian. Little records of everyday transactions. The kind of thing you'd never expect to find near a lost dynasty king. Honestly, the potters missed a chance. Forget boring receipts. They should have been selling Osiris's mugs and Anubis figurines to pilgrims and tourists. But that's not all. It seems that centuries later during the medieval period, the same ground became a cemetery.
Archaeologists found mud brick graves with skeletal remains. This could mean that Abbidos kept its aura of significance for hundreds of years after the age of pharaohs. So why this hill again and again? Is this place really a getaway to the afterlife? It is after all the very place where Osiris is said to rest. That belief lingered like a shadow for thousands of years, strong enough to pull in pharaohs and later medieval families. Different rituals, same sacred ground. Although to be fair, the Romans weren't here for Osiris. They came to make pots. The story of Abidos is not over. The excavations will continue, and who knows what else could be discovered in the future. Today, archaeologists are
armed with tools that are basically X-ray glasses for the desert. Every scan could reveal a hidden chamber, or if we're lucky, finally give our nameless pharaoh his ren back to him. In fact, I became strangely invested in finding out who he was. So, let's hope for some news soon. It's only a matter of time. Do you have your own theories? Let me know. In 1850, French scientist August Marriott went to Egypt looking for manuscripts, but accidentally found a head of a sphinx sticking out of the dunes. He cleared the sand and figured out the sphinx was guiding the entrance to some underground construction.
Several months later, he finally entered the sarapium of Sakara. Inside, he found an enormous granite sarcophagi with remnants of 64 bulls. Scientists are still amazed by the tech that the ancient Egyptians used to transport those enormous boxes. The Sarapium was built around the year 3000 before the common era. It was an underground tomb built to honor the sacred ais bulls of ancient Egypt. It had a long hallway almost 500 ft long with giant stone rooms on both sides. Some of the sarcophagi weighed as much as 50 average cars and all of them were made with super precision with exact 90° angles. These sarcophagi were beautifully decorated with hieroglyphs and carvings that told stories about the
lives and importance of the Apis bulls. Now there are 24 sarcophagi left in ancient Egypt. Apis bulls were very special animals connected to the deity Puta. They thought the bulls carried Puta's spirit and wisdom helped the pharaoh and protected the Egyptians. Priests looked for special markings on young bulls to find a bulls. It could be a white triangle on its forehead which symbolized divine light, a shape on its back like a vulture's wing, and a scarab shape under its tongue which stood for rebirth. If a bull had these signs, they believed it was chosen by Puta and treated it like royalty. The chosen bulls lived in a special temple in Memphis, the city where they worshiped Pata. They received the best care and
offerings from visitors who wanted their blessings. When an Apis bull passed away, it was treated with great honor and mummified. When Marott entered the Serapia, he noticed traces of rollers on the gallery's floor and found two wooden horizontal winches. Each had eight levers. Later, other explorers saw double rails. The burial chambers were lower than the hallway floor. To get the boxes into place, workers filled the chambers with sand so the sarcophagi could be rolled in straight. Then, they slowly removed the sand to gently lower the boxes into perfectly cut spaces in the bedrock. A carved stone sign found in the sarapium said it took 28 days to move just one sarcophagus and its lid
into its spot during the time of Tammy II. The extreme precision of the sarcophagi with 90° angles also has an explanation. Ancient Egyptians wrote texts or rather papyrus on geometry a long time ago. It shows that they knew the approximate number pi and could calculate the volume of a pyramid with its top cut off. If they could figure out complicated math like that back then, it makes sense that they could also carve perfectly flat surfaces 500 years later. All this sounds pretty legit, but some people think certain things don't add up here. The size of boxes is way larger
than the size of bulls. Yet they buried pharaohs in tiny coffins that barely fit their bodies. The sarcophagi are made out of granite with crazy precision, and they could have just used limestone, which would have made things way easier. The transportation of the boxes seems pretty simple, but only in theory. If one person could pull about 440 lb, then at least 250 people would be needed to pull just one box. The tunnels in the sarapium are really narrow, only about 2 ft wider than the boxes themselves. There's no way hundreds of people could have squeezed into those tight spaces to pull the boxes. And even if they did, how would they turn the box in the cramped corridor, lower it into its
niche, and place it perfectly in the middle? Somehow, they did this 24 times, and every box is centered perfectly. Plus, the chambers were dusty and there were no signs of soot from lamps. This means they must have worked in almost complete darkness. The real use of the boxes could also be different. A long time ago, even before the Egyptian pharaohs ruled, the local people already knew how to use fermentation. It happens when tiny organisms called yeast eat certain ingredients like starch and turn them into gas and ethanol. So, someone in ancient Egypt probably put food like barley, bread, and even meat inside a giant stone box,
then closed it tight with a heavy lid. These stone boxes carved from granite were so precisely made that they were almost completely sealed, so nothing could escape from it. As the yeast inside the box started working, it created more and more CO2 gas. It built up pressure inside the box. The granite boxes were incredibly strong. They could handle more pressure than a car tire can hold. When granite was squeezed under such pressure, its crystals produced a tiny electric charge. This effect was possible because granite contains quartz, a material that reacts to pressure this way. The process also needed meat or animal parts, possibly to help the yeast grow better. Meat contains something called olic acid
which yeast needs to keep growing and to survive the bad effects of the ethanol it produces. As the pressure inside the box kept growing, the combination of gases and electricity made these boxes not just ancient fridges but powerful energy systems. Over time, the pressure inside got so strong that it could push the lid open and the gas would escape with a pop. But when people rediscovered the serapium in 1850, they found old drawings that showed piles of stones stacked on top of some of the box lids. So someone long ago probably tried to make the lids even heavier by adding extra weight to make it harder for the gas pressure to push them open. This extra weight also meant the quartz crystals in the granite could
keep creating more electricity under all that pressure. If someone opened one of these stone boxes thousands of years later, they would only find bones from bulls that were placed in the box. And that's exactly what Marriott discovered in the 1850s. They opened the sarapium for visitors soon after the first excavations in the second half of the 19th century. Prince of Wales even had a lunchon with his guests in one of the sarcophagi. Sands and earthquakes made the site inaccessible for a while, but now you can visit it again and try to solve the mystery yourself. With new tech, we could have answers to many other historical mysteries soon. A team of scientists at Chicago's Field Museum of
Natural History recently used a special CT scanner to learn more about ancient Egyptian mummies without unwrapping them. They gently rolled 26 mm on custom carts out to the parking lot where the scanner was waiting. It took thousands of detailed X-ray pictures of each mummy and their coffins. When all the pictures were put together, they created 3D images that showed what was inside the skeletons and some artifacts. The scientists hope these images will help them understand ancient Egyptian burial practices from over 3,000 years ago. Even though the scanning process only took 4 days, it might take 3 years to study all the data. But scientists
were able to learn some personal details about the mummies. One of the most popular mummified individuals at the museum. Lady Chenetta was a woman who lived in ancient Egypt about 3,000 years ago. It looks like she passed away in her late 30s or early 40s. To make sure her body looked complete for the afterlife, inbombers put stuffing in her neck to keep it from collapsing. They also placed artificial eyes in her sockets so she would have eyes in the next world. She was wrapped in fancy linen and placed in a beautifully decorated coffin. The scans revealed that it had been carefully crafted with a slit at the back which in bombers used to fit the body. There were also some
artistic details on the surface like markings for her knees. It looks like her burial was on the scale of a high-end luxury car. Seek cosine tangent sign 3.14159. Yeah, that was the cheer we heard coming from the trigonometry club back in the day. For the rest of us in math class, terms such as sign, tangent, and pi were just bewildering. Who invented these and why? was their only purpose to make it harder for students. Well, not quite. Trigonometry was invented by the ancient Egyptians. They needed this knowledge to construct pyramids. And they did a pretty good job, too. The Great Pyramid
in Giza still stands today, some 4,500 years after it was built. No recalls either. So, let's get out of that classroom and on a journey through time to reveal the secrets behind the ancient Egyptians precision. Here you are standing on the Great Pyramids construction site some 9 miles from Cairo. Well, the city still isn't there as you're surrounded only by the desert and teams of construction workers. They're transporting large stone blocks weighing 2 and 1/2 tons each. They're inside a wooden sled that sits on large rollers. A crew of eight men roll these blocks along the ground. You immediately think of the rollers on a supermarket
cash register. The principle is exactly the same, but the scale is greater, much greater. Scientists estimate that the Egyptians used 2.3 million such blocks in the Great Pyramid alone. And the block in front of you is one of the lighter ones. The heaviest of them weighed up to 15 tons. But where did all these blocks come from? Most of them originated from quaries around Giza. It's not that impressive, you think. But wait until you hear how ancient engineers transported the granite used in construction over 500 m to the pyramid. There were no railways or highways back then, but the mighty Nile was always there. Researchers even
believe that the Egyptians dug a canal to connect the Nile directly to the pyramids construction site. All they had to do then was to wait for the flood season to begin and voila, the rising water levels floated the heavy stone blocks for them. But how did they lift the enormous stones on dry land to stack them up to the top? Did they use oversized cranes? Well, ancient Egyptians worked around this problem, literally speaking. One of the workers is now pointing to the giant ramp going around the pyramid they're building. This is how a mountain road zigzags its way to the top. If the ramp went directly to the top of the pyramid, then workers couldn't pull the stone blocks
along it. It would be too steep. Scientists have calculated that 8% could be the maximum incline. So, ancient Egyptians just extended the ramp around the pyramid. Again, these are all theories as the ramp could have been inside the pyramid as some researchers suggest. The exact building method is still a mystery. Guarded by the Sphinx. That's its real name, right? Wrong. As the Great Sphinx is just the statue's alias. You know, the name writers take when they want to hide their true identity or a singer stage name. The Sphinx's real name, translated from Egyptian, means Horus in the Horizon. That was the name for the Egyptian deity of the sky. The trail of mystery doesn't end there. As a man walks past you with
a bucket of paint, he's going to add a touch of color to the great sphinx. Researchers found specks of this red color next to its ear. That was some strong paint as it survived for thousands of years. You are now standing straight in front of the sphinx. You look up. It's very tall, right? 66 ft to be precise. Now, resist the urge to take a selfie. You can do it. Now, you notice something else. It looks like the sphinx is in the center of a giant triangle in the back. That's one side of the Great Pyramid. And no, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. The sphinx really does sit in the center of the pyramid's lateral face. Here's where math comes in handy. A pyramid has four sides called lateral faces. There's also a fifth
face, the base, but that's not visible. It's, wait for it, face down. The Sphinx has one last mystery to reveal, its age. Scientists agree that Pharaoh Koffer built the Sphinx. He ruled after his father who had built a great pyramid nearby. So, both structures were finished around the same time. Let's talk about numbers again. You've heard of Cleopatra, the Egyptian princess described as a woman of great beauty. Hello. She saw the pyramids, but she lived closer to the time of the first iPhone than the time of the people who built the pyramids. Fascinating, right?
You can see thousands of people around you. They're working hard to build the pharaoh's tomb. But how many of them are there exactly? One Greek philosopher estimated there were as many as 100,000 workers. Seems like an okay number for such an enormous structure, but it can't be true. Science simply can't back up this number. Egyptologists put the total number of workers at 30,000. And yes, Indiana Jones was one of them, at least on the big screen. But he showed up late. Egyptologists know a lot about the pyramids, but not everything. Not because they don't want to, but because they haven't yet dug up enough evidence.
They can only guess how the building process went. First, engineers would arrive to choose the right spot and do the necessary measurements. That's why they needed all that complicated math. Then, it's time for sourcing the material, the large stone blocks I mentioned earlier. When boats deliver them to the side of the future pyramid, workers can finally do their thing. They operated in smaller groups, but there were at least 2,000 of them chiseling and carving away at any given time. Sounds like a typical construction site today. Well, that's because it is. Just thousands of years ago. It's amazing what ancient Egyptians were able to achieve with just copper and stone tools. The pyramid is now complete in
front of you. But is it the same pyramid we see today? Why is this structure shining bright in the desert sun? Isn't it supposed to be a dusty yellow color? Well, no. Human activity and the elements have completely stripped the outer layer of stones over time. Expert crafts people polished these blocks using nothing but stone and sand. The end result was a smooth and shiny rock. On the day it was completed, the Great Pyramid of Giza was a perfect triangle of light. Its polished sides acted like giant mirrors reflecting the powerful Egyptian sun. This is the point where you should put your glasses on. And that
shiny thing you see at the pyramid's very top is actually gold. The capstone at the top of the pyramid is called a pyramidian. It was covered in sheets of gold. As you can guess, these were the first stones to disappear. Let's make another stop before we get you back to your classroom. We travel to the British Isles. And no, Stonehenge isn't our destination. It is New Graange in County Me. Scientists estimate that the ancient peoples of Ireland built this stone monument around the year 3,200 B.CE. This makes it older than both Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid in Giza. The function of the circular mount in New Graange is the same as the one of the Great Pyramid and equally mysterious.
The estimated amount of loose stone present in the valley is over 220,000 tons. and is not just randomly thrown on a pile. The order in which the stones are set makes the structure water resistant. That would explain how New Graange had survived for so long. Kind of makes you want to splash out the cash for that waterproof phone case, huh? Well, you're back in your school desk, but today's math lecture is the last thing on your mind. You're thinking about how great the Egyptian pyramids are and if we have something similar today. It turns out modern engineers are just as impressed with the great pyramid as you are. There's a glass pyramid sitting in the main courtyard of the
famous Louv Museum in Paris. The panorama of San Francisco wouldn't be complete without the 48story Transame pyramid. But Las Vegas went the furthest. There we find the Luxor Hotel. It's so big that it's the third largest pyramid on the planet. And guess what's in front of it? Yep, a replica of the Spinx. It's 110 ft tall, two stories higher than the one in Giza. Yeah, everything's bigger in Vegas. That's it for today. So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends. Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright
