I was in attendance at a lecture yesterday where Zahi Hawass made the following news, at times with gasps from the audience that included film producers and donors along with lay people and Egyptologists:
1) Shafts:
There will be a live broadcast of the Lower Chamber shaft exploration. From the context of what he said, I took away a remote sensing experiment through the terminal slab on the north side. It sounded like this broadcast is a couple of months away.
The debris along with ticket, and black disc have been removed. Sibson's Window, by the way, is just a blind space. No conduit joins where that shadow is.
2) Lower Chamber:
A void has been found under the floor of the Queen Chamber using a remote sensing experiment,
3) Relieving Chambers:
New quarry marks have been discovered that include two new gang names and more than one regnal year (of Khufu?). I asked about this and he said year 13 and 10. I specifically asked about cattle count versus regnal year. His answers were not clear to me, but on balance it sounded like regnal years. Given that the highest known year is 26 or 27, 10 and 13 made more sense, but, taking him at face value, I was astonished that the pyramid had advanced to the RC's by year 10 and 13.
At the beginning of the talk he mentioned that new hieroglyphic writing was discovered inside G1, but I am not sure whether he meant it was in the shafts, the Small Void, or the RC's, i.e. the new marks I just mentioned, or other ones.
4) Small Void:
A robotic snake will be used to explore it. Hawass showed Infrared scans of the Chevrons that had alerted his team of the Small Void, corroborating the Muon data. He showed the endoscope images.
5) Khafre Pyramid:
on the south side, Hawass thinks there is a void behind two core blocks in line with the T-shaped entry into the Nebenpyramide. This is about to be probed.
6) Menkaure Pyramid:
The remote sensing team has identified a void behind a uniquely shaped trapezoid granite casing block on the, confirming with my own photos, the east side of Menkaure's Pyramid facing the pyramid temple. I think this may be the actual reason why the re-casing project was stopped.
7) Ghisr Mudir:
He has found a missing wall of a pyramid he thinks belongs to Huni, but has not yet entered the substructure. This discovery was made after filming of The Lost Pyramid.
He spoke about the Amenhotep III's Golden City, new items found there.
Hatchepsut's Valley Temple has been discovered.
He spoke about repatriating the Rosetta Stone from the B.M. , Nefertiti's bust from Berlin.
He said that some new finds are still under wraps because there is talk with a production company about a new film, whose executives were in attendance. He mentioned publications to come.
No photos or film were allowed so I am reporting this based on memory during a fast-paced presentation. He seemed very upbeat. Anyways, it sounds like this forum is about to be tanked up with plenty of new fuel.
Add.: He believes he has identified the area where Nefertiti is buried. There is new evidence that she ruled after Akhenaten's death. He has begun exploration in a side canyon of the VotK not this far searched.
1) Shafts:
There will be a live broadcast of the Lower Chamber shaft exploration. From the context of what he said, I took away a remote sensing experiment through the terminal slab on the north side. It sounded like this broadcast is a couple of months away.
The debris along with ticket, and black disc have been removed. Sibson's Window, by the way, is just a blind space. No conduit joins where that shadow is.
2) Lower Chamber:
A void has been found under the floor of the Queen Chamber using a remote sensing experiment,
3) Relieving Chambers:
New quarry marks have been discovered that include two new gang names and more than one regnal year (of Khufu?). I asked about this and he said year 13 and 10. I specifically asked about cattle count versus regnal year. His answers were not clear to me, but on balance it sounded like regnal years. Given that the highest known year is 26 or 27, 10 and 13 made more sense, but, taking him at face value, I was astonished that the pyramid had advanced to the RC's by year 10 and 13.
At the beginning of the talk he mentioned that new hieroglyphic writing was discovered inside G1, but I am not sure whether he meant it was in the shafts, the Small Void, or the RC's, i.e. the new marks I just mentioned, or other ones.
4) Small Void:
A robotic snake will be used to explore it. Hawass showed Infrared scans of the Chevrons that had alerted his team of the Small Void, corroborating the Muon data. He showed the endoscope images.
5) Khafre Pyramid:
on the south side, Hawass thinks there is a void behind two core blocks in line with the T-shaped entry into the Nebenpyramide. This is about to be probed.
6) Menkaure Pyramid:
The remote sensing team has identified a void behind a uniquely shaped trapezoid granite casing block on the, confirming with my own photos, the east side of Menkaure's Pyramid facing the pyramid temple. I think this may be the actual reason why the re-casing project was stopped.
7) Ghisr Mudir:
He has found a missing wall of a pyramid he thinks belongs to Huni, but has not yet entered the substructure. This discovery was made after filming of The Lost Pyramid.
He spoke about the Amenhotep III's Golden City, new items found there.
Hatchepsut's Valley Temple has been discovered.
He spoke about repatriating the Rosetta Stone from the B.M. , Nefertiti's bust from Berlin.
He said that some new finds are still under wraps because there is talk with a production company about a new film, whose executives were in attendance. He mentioned publications to come.
No photos or film were allowed so I am reporting this based on memory during a fast-paced presentation. He seemed very upbeat. Anyways, it sounds like this forum is about to be tanked up with plenty of new fuel.
Add.: He believes he has identified the area where Nefertiti is buried. There is new evidence that she ruled after Akhenaten's death. He has begun exploration in a side canyon of the VotK not this far searched.