by
Barbara Keller
The annual Egypt Rises Again Conference, held at the
A.R.E. headquarters in Virginia Beach, on August 14 - 17, gave a
rare opportunity for the public to learn about the most recent Giza
Plateau discoveries. Key players in the escalating international
Sphinx controversy Dr. Joseph Schor, Robert Bauval, and
Dr. Zahi Hawass described the status of their current work in Egypt.
Schor, whose Giza exploration permit has not been renewed by the
Egyptian Antiquities Committee, confirmed the rumors that his
ground-piercing radar equipment found a room or natural cavity 25 to 40
feet underground near the Sphinx. He acknowledged that his
research validated the earlier seismic research done by John Anthony West.
If and when the authorities renew his permit to dig, Schor insisted
that his team could clear the rubble-filled shaft leading to this chamber
within a day and a half. Could this chamber possibly be the Hall of
Records that Edgar Cayce predicted would be found in 1998?
Robert Bauval, speaking of the language of the ancient skies, said
that the Pyramid Texts also suggest that there is something
here. He said, We have now reached the point where the evidence is very,
very strong. We have theoretical evidence, and we have radar evidence. What
happens now? We have to wait to see what Dr. Zahi Hawass has to say!
Although only 8 percent complete, Schor's radar mapping of the
Giza Plateau has also indicated a second underground
chamber located near the Great Pyramid. Schor graphically
described the presence of very unusual formations within the Great Pyramid
itself, beneath the floor of the King's Chamber. He told the
attentive audience:
We've done some radar work in
the King's Chamber and the Queen's Chamber. The
Queen's Chamber shows nothing unusual to us just normal construction. The
King's Chamber is very strange. Under that level floor, there is not level
support; there is undulating support. So there is a space it goes in a sort
of wave form underneath. There's enough support because the stone goes up to
the bottom of the floor and then goes down again, like a corrugation.
We don't understand that. Now on the wall nearest the sarcophagus (the
sarcophagus is only about 18 or 24 inches away from that wall) they come
to sharp points. That wall is also corrugated, but there is room for a
small corridor there it's about 2 feet or 2-1/2 feet but it's wide enough
for a person to walk along that wall on the other side of what you can see.
Again we do not understand the corrugation, and we do not understand where
that little corridor leads to, but it goes from one end of the wall to the
other.
Dr. Zahi Hawass, Director
of the Pyramids, emphasized the ongoing critical need for preservation and
restoration as well as exploration and excavation. Aware of the mounting
scrutiny of his own activities on the Giza Plateau, Hawass
described himself as a guardian of these fragile world treasures. He
reiterated his reluctance to allow drilling without further independent
sonar verification that there are, in fact, chambers. Hawass reminded
his listeners that he was only one member of the Egyptian antiquities
authority. When decisions are made to either issue or renew permits, the
committee of experts meets and makes the final decision together
During the question and answer period, Bauval asked Hawass if
he would be open to independent archaeological research. Hawass
responded to the question by citing that the Egyptian Antiquities Committee
requires that:
(1) the research must be
affiliated with an institution either a museum or university;
(2) there must be a written
proposal; and
(3) any filming must be
secondary to the research and not released without Egyptian government
permission.
Hawass confirmed the
existence of the room or cavity and tunnels described by Schor.
While describing other new discoveries on the Giza Plateau, Hawass
surprised the audience by stating that the Queen's Chamber is the only
actual amazing mystery that we do have in the Great Pyramid.
He stated that he is looking for the right people with the right degrees who
have the robot that can reach the door in the Queen's Chamber air shaft.
Hawass promised,
By the end of 1998 we are going
to look and to see what is behind this door. This is something very
important that we care about . . . and we will make it available to
everybody all over the world. This is really something that we are planning
to do.
Hawass then addressed the
issue of the recent tunneling above the King's Chamber in the Great
Pyramid. He said that he did arrange to have workers clean up dirt and
loose stones in the area of the Second Chamber above the King's Chamber. It
does not mean that every work I have to do, I have to make a press
conference. He again states,
I am not the only person who
gives permission. I am just one individual of a committee of 24 people.
But if Hawass has
influence on this committee, he will suggest that within the next six
months, the interior of the Great Pyramid be closed to tourists! Why? He is
alarmed by the rate at which deterioration is occurring from humidity
created by the breath of the very tourists who seek the eternal within its
mystery.
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