In 2015, the ScanPyramids project was launched to help unlock the secrets of Egypt's pyramids. Today, a team of French scientists is testing a new telescope that can scan the ancient structures for untold secrets.
Developed by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), the new telescope utilizes muon particles, which are quite similar to cosmic rays.
The French team's goal is to use the new scanning device to locate and visualize the pyramids' hidden chambers as well as other undiscovered structures inside the pyramids.
"We're trying to discover the Pyramids of Giza and other pyramids as well, and whether or not there lies anything behind them, or any secrets we do not know about," said Yasser Elshayeb, who is part of the French team.
The plan is to focus first on the pyramids' known areas. After covering the known bases, the French team will sweep the pyramids' unknown sections. The team is scheduled to present their findings by early July.
"It's running right now, and if it manages to detect one of the three chambers we already know exist inside, then we will continue the scans," said famous archaeologist Zahi Hawass, who is also the former antiquities minister of Egypt.
In November 2015, thermal scans discovered major anomalies in the ancient structures. They found three adjacent stones whose temperatures are higher than the others.
In the past, Hawass downplayed the effectiveness of these new scanners on ancient structures. His stance even led to his public clash with Nicolas Reeves, a British Egyptologist who theorized that secret chambers could be located just behind King Tutankhamun's tomb walls.
The secret chamber theory behind King Tut's tomb wall was prompted using the scanning devices.
Just last month, Polytechnic University of Milan's Daniela Comelli published a research detailing a rare iron dagger that was found inside King Tut's tomb.
The team utilized an X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, which is a portable scanner that enabled them to analyze that the dagger was most likely fashioned from an iron meteorite.
Comelli added that analyzing more pre-Iron Age artifacts could lead to important discoveries about the metal work technologies that existed in ancient Egypt.
