Ancient Egypt mystery solved after secret rooms discovered in pyramid

The Pyramid of Sahure in Egypt is being explored (Image: Getty)

An Ancient Egypt mystery has been solved after secret rooms were discovered in a pyramid 200 years after the first exploration of it.

A pyramid complex in Egypt was built in the 25th century BCE for pharaoh Sahure, who was the second ruler of ancient Egypt’s fifth dynasty (c. 2465 – c. 2325 BCE).

It started a phase of pyramid building by his successors at Abusir, a location earlier used by the founder of the fifth dynasty for his sun temple.

The pyramid of Sahure was first explored in 1836 by British egyptologist John Perring, who was able to clear the entrance and the access passage.

Stonecutters badly damaged the burial chamber, making it unclear if it was made up of one or two rooms.

Secret rooms have been uncovered (Image: Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg)

Perring found a basalt fragment, believing it belonged to the pharaoh’s sarcophagus. And in the northeastern part of the eastern wall of the burial chamber, Perring discovered a low passageway.

He suggested this could lead to a magazine area, but the corridor was full of rubble and he did not attempt to enter it. Poor preservation in the internal part of the pyramid meant precise reconstruction of the substructure was impossible.

A conservation and restoration project inside Sahure’s pyramid began initiated in 2019, aiming to safeguard the substructure of the pyramid.

It was undertaken by the Antiquities Endowment Fund of the American Research Center in Egypt.

Mohamed Ismail Khaled, egyptologist at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg told SciNews: “Our efforts focused on cleaning the interior rooms, stabilizing the pyramid from inside, and preventing further collapse."

He added: “In the process, we succeeded in securing the pyramid’s burial chambers, which had previously been inaccessible.”

During the restoration work, they identified the original dimensions and were able to uncover the floor plan of the antechamber, which had deteriorated over time. Consequently, the destroyed walls were replaced with new retaining walls.

Archeologists said: “Perring suspected that corridors might have led to storage rooms. During further exploration in 1907, these assumptions were called into question.

“But we discovered traces of a passage. Thereby proving that the observations made by Perring were correct. The work was continued, and the passage was uncovered. Thus, eight storerooms have been discovered so far."