عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Egypt Opens 2 Pyramids to Public

People walk in front of the Bent Pyramid of Sneferu, that was reopened after restoration work, in Dahshur, south of Cairo, Egypt July 13, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
People walk in front of the Bent Pyramid of Sneferu, that was reopened after restoration work, in Dahshur, south of Cairo, Egypt July 13, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
TT
TT

Egypt Opens 2 Pyramids to Public

People walk in front of the Bent Pyramid of Sneferu, that was reopened after restoration work, in Dahshur, south of Cairo, Egypt July 13, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
People walk in front of the Bent Pyramid of Sneferu, that was reopened after restoration work, in Dahshur, south of Cairo, Egypt July 13, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

Egypt opened to visitors on Saturday and for the first time since 1965 the 101-meter "Bent" Pyramid built for pharaoh Sneferu.

Tourists will now be able to clamber down a 79-meter narrow tunnel from a raised entrance on the pyramid's northern face, to reach two chambers deep inside the 4,600-year-old structure that lies just south of Cairo.

They will also be able to enter an adjoining 18-meter high "side pyramid", possibly for Sneferu's wife Hetepheres.

The "Bent" Pyramid is one of two built for Fourth Dynasty founding pharaoh Sneferu in Dahshur, at the southern end of the Memphis necropolis that starts at Giza.

Its appearance is unusual. The first 49 meters, which have largely kept their smooth limestone casing, are built at a steep 54 degree angle, before tapering off in the top section.

The angular shape contrasts with the straight sides of Sneferu's Red Pyramid just to the north, the first of ancient Egypt's fully formed pyramids and the next step towards the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Architects changed the angle when cracks started appearing in the structure, said Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

"Sneferu lived a very long time...the architects wanted to reach the complete shape, the pyramid shape," Mohamed Shiha, director of the Dahshur site, said.

"Exactly where he was buried -- we are not sure of that. Maybe in this (Bent) pyramid, who knows?"

Authorities are seeking to promote tourism at Dahshur, about 28km south of central Cairo. The site lies in the open desert, attracts just a trickle of visitors, and is free of the touts and bustle of Giza.

As they opened the pyramids, archaeologists presented late-period mummies, masks, tools and coffins discovered during excavations that began near the Dahshur pyramids last year and are due to continue.

"When we were taking those objects out, we found...a very rich area of hidden tombs," Waziri said.

Archaeologists also unveiled the nearby tomb of Sa Eset, a supervisor of pyramids in the Middle Kingdom, which has been closed since its excavation in 1894 and contains finely preserved hieroglyphic funerary texts.

Foreign ambassadors were invited to attend the archaeological announcements.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Scientists Drill Nearly 2 Miles Down to Pull 1.2 Million-year-old Ice Core from Antarctic

An international team of scientists announced successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet - The AP
An international team of scientists announced successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet - The AP
TT
TT

Scientists Drill Nearly 2 Miles Down to Pull 1.2 Million-year-old Ice Core from Antarctic

An international team of scientists announced successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet - The AP
An international team of scientists announced successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet - The AP

An international team of scientists announced Thursday they’ve successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet, penetrating nearly 2 miles (2.8 kilometers) to Antarctic bedrock to reach ice they say is at least 1.2 million years old.

Analysis of the ancient ice is expected to show how Earth's atmosphere and climate have evolved. That should provide insight into how Ice Age cycles have changed, and may help in understanding how atmospheric carbon changed climate, they said, The AP reported.

“Thanks to the ice core we will understand what has changed in terms of greenhouse gases, chemicals and dusts in the atmosphere,” said Carlo Barbante, an Italian glaciologist and coordinator of Beyond EPICA, the project to obtain the core. Barbante also directs the Polar Science Institute at Italy's National Research Council.

The same team previously drilled a core about 800,000 years old. The latest drilling went 2.8 kilometers (about 1.7 miles) deep, with a team of 16 scientists and support personnel drilling each summer over four years in average temperatures of about minus-35 Celsius (minus-25.6 Fahrenheit).

Italian researcher Federico Scoto was among the glaciologists and technicians who completed the drilling at the beginning of January at a location called Little Dome C, near Concordia Research Station.

“It was a great a moment for us when we reached the bedrock,” Scoto said. Isotope analysis gave the ice's age as at least 1.2 million years old, he said.

Both Barbante and Scoto said that thanks to the analysis of the ice core of the previous Epica campaign they have assessed that concentrations of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, even during the warmest periods of the last 800,000 years, have never exceeded the levels seen since the Industrial Revolution began.

“Today we are seeing carbon dioxide levels that are 50% above the highest levels we’ve had over the last 800,000 years," Barbante said.

The European Union funded Beyond EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) with support from nations across the continent. Italy is coordinating the project.

The announcement was exciting to Richard Alley, a climate scientist at Penn State who was not involved with the project and who was recently awarded the National Medal of Science for his career studying ice sheets.

Alley said advancements in studying ice cores are important because they help scientists better understand the climate conditions of the past and inform their understanding of humans’ contributions to climate change in the present. He added that reaching the bedrock holds added promise because scientists may learn more about Earth’s history not directly related to the ice record itself.

“This is truly, truly, amazingly fantastic,” Alley said. “They will learn wonderful things.”