Results of 1st stage of scanning Bent Pyramid in Dahshur announced

The working team of the project titled "Exploring the Pyramids and their secrets" announced on Tuesday the results of the first stage of the project, which includes scanning the Bent Pyramid of ancient Egyptian King Snefru in Giza's Dahshur using non-invasive Muon particles.

This came at a scientific meeting that was attended by Antiquities Minister Khalid Anani, former antiquities minister Mamdouh el Damaty and members of the Permanent Committee for Egyptian Antiquities.

The team of Japan's Nagoya University started its work in December 2015 by installing several Muon detector films inside the lower chamber at the Bent Pyramid in Dahshur on an area of nearly 3,5 square meters. 

The films were left for 40 days at the same place to give them the opportunity to receive an appropriate number of Muon particles, they added.

The team then developed the films at a laboratory that was established at the Grand Egyptian Museum in the Pyramids' area.

These emulsion films allowed the detection of more than 10 million Muons that are naturally penetrating the Pyramid, the team said. 

By studying particle accumulations, archaeologists may learn more about the construction of the pyramid that was built by King Snefru and is distinguished by the bent slope of its sides.

Muon radiography is non-invasive as Muon particles come naturally from the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere and are created from collisions of cosmic rays with the nuclei of atoms in the atmosphere.