Great Pyramid’s ancient mechanical ‘locking mechanism’ detailed

OUTLANDISH claims of being an ancient power station or alien landing pad have dogged Egypt’s Great Pyramid for decades. But a new study shows it did have a mechanical function.

OUTLANDISH claims of being an ancient power station or alien landing pad have dogged Egypt’s Great Pyramid for decades. But a new study shows it did have a mechanical function.

Egyptologist Mark Lehner, current head of the Ancient Egypt Research Associates team that has been excavating the area for 30 years, has told the Science Channel that an elaborate system of blocks, grooves and chutes have been identified within the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Their purpose?

Not to anchor alien motherships or hold power conduits.

This system of huge granite blocks suspended on grooves could be activated to seal the Great Pyramid’s King’s Chamber. Picture: Science Channel

Instead, it was all part of a simple mechanism to protect the King’s Chamber from tomb robbers.

The grooves and blocks hidden beneath the walls of the pyramid have been known about for at least a century.

But now they have been carefully mapped and simulations established as to how they worked.

Computer animations used in an episode of the Science Channel’s Unearthed series which screened last night.

It shows how three huge slabs of granite were suspended in the grooves as the Great Pyramid was constructed.

Only after the Pharaoh’s burial ritual — most likely that of Khufu who ordered the pyramid’s construction — was the mechanism triggered to drop the blocks and seal the inner sanctum from the entrance passage. Another three blocks slid down a chute to seal the entrance passage itself.

But there may be more to the ancient Pharaoh’s trickery than is immediately apparent.

Four unexplained small shafts have been found leading from the King’s Chamber, and two more from a vault known as the Queen’s Chamber. Robots sent down the shafts have found three doors, each with copper handles.

Egyptologists hope that an extensive new survey of the pyramids which began in November last year, incorporating radar, infra-red and cosmic ray scans of their structure, will help expose any remaining hidden chambers.

A chute which, when activated, slid three huge granite blocks into an entrance passage. Picture: Science Channel