Something big is coming in 2026. If you follow Egyptian archaeology, you’ve probably heard the name Zahi Hawass. He’s the guy usually wearing the Indiana Jones hat, and honestly, he’s not known for being subtle. Recently, he dropped a bombshell at the Sharjah International Book Fair: there is a "major archaeological discovery" inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu that won't be fully revealed to the world until 2026.
It’s about a door. Or maybe what’s behind it.
For years, the ScanPyramids project has been using cosmic-ray muography—basically X-raying the pyramid with particles from space—to find things we can't see with our eyes. They found a 30-meter-long corridor. It’s sitting there, hidden behind the "Chevron" stones on the north face, totally sealed off for 4,500 years. This isn't just a small hole; it's a massive passageway that Hawass claims will "rewrite history."
The 30-Meter Mystery
We already knew about the "ScanPyramids North Face Corridor" (SP-NFC) back in 2023. But the latest news on the pyramids suggests the focus has shifted from "what is it" to "where does it go."
Robots have been the heroes here. These tiny, high-tech machines were sent into the narrow air shafts and the newly found corridor to clean out dust and peer into the dark. According to recent reports, the passage leads to a sealed door. Hawass has hinted that this could be the most significant find since Tutankhamun, though he's keeping the specific details under lock and key until the official 2026 unveiling.
Is it a burial chamber? A secret archive?
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Mainstream Egyptologists are usually cautious. They’ll tell you it might just be a "relieving chamber" designed to keep the pyramid from collapsing under its own weight. But a 30-meter corridor is awfully long just to distribute some weight.
Why the 2026 Date Matters
You might wonder why they're making us wait. It's not just for the drama. Analyzing muon data takes forever. Imagine trying to develop a photo where the "light" only trickles in one particle at a time from the upper atmosphere. It’s slow work.
Also, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is finally, finally in its full opening phase. It makes sense for the Egyptian government to pair their biggest museum opening with the biggest discovery of the century. They want the world watching.
Not Just Khufu: The Menkaure Anomalies
While everyone is staring at the Great Pyramid, the smallest of the trio—Menkaure—just gave up some secrets of its own. In late 2025, researchers from Cairo University and the Technical University of Munich found two "air-filled anomalies" on the eastern side.
- Anomaly 1: About 1.5 meters wide and 1 meter high.
- Anomaly 2: Slightly smaller, tucked about 4 feet behind the stone facade.
Professor Christian Grosse noted that these voids suggest a second, forgotten entrance. This is kind of a big deal because we’ve always assumed these structures had very specific, singular layouts. If there's a second entrance, it changes how we think about the ritual use of the pyramids.
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Sorting Fact from "Underground City" Fiction
If you spend any time on TikTok or YouTube, you’ve probably seen headlines about a "massive underground city" found beneath Giza in 2025.
Let's be real: it's complicated.
An Italian-Scottish team did use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and claimed to see shafts spiraling down 600 meters into the earth. They talked about "luminous structures" and "vast chambers." While it sounds like a movie plot, the archaeological community is skeptical.
Why? Because the water table at Giza is only about 30 meters down. Anything 600 meters deep would be a submarine base, not a city.
However, they did relocate three very real, very deep shafts between the Sphinx and the pyramids. These aren't new—explorers like Selim Hassan found them in the 1930s—but they’ve been ignored for decades. They’re precise, stone-lined, and definitely man-made. Whether they lead to a "labyrinth" as Herodotus described or are just elaborate tombs is still the subject of heated debate.
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The Human Side of the Stones
We’re also learning more about the people, not just the pharaohs. In Sudan, at a site called Tombos, archaeologists found middle-class people buried in pyramids.
Wait, what?
We used to think pyramids were "Royals Only" clubs. Apparently not. Between 1400 and 650 BCE, it seems the "pyramid style" went viral. Ordinary workers and lower-level officials were being buried in small pyramids. It shows how much the culture of the Nile Valley shifted over time, moving from the absolute power of Khufu to a more shared religious tradition.
What You Should Actually Watch For
If you want to keep up with the latest news on the pyramids, stop looking for "aliens" and start looking for "muons." The tech is the key.
The next 12 months will be dominated by data from the "Global ScanPyramids" mission. They are installing new, larger detectors that can "see" through the stone with much higher resolution than the 2017 or 2023 scans.
Next Steps for Enthusiasts:
- Follow the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) updates: Most of the "2026 surprise" artifacts will likely end up here.
- Check the Journal of NDT & E International: This is where the Munich team publishes the actual sensor data, far away from the clickbait headlines.
- Watch the "North Face" project: This is the specific area where the 30-meter corridor sits. Any news about "robotic drilling" or "endoscopic cameras" in this sector is the real deal.
The pyramids aren't dead monuments. They're more like giant, stone hard drives that we are finally learning how to plug in. 2026 is when we see if there’s actually any data left on them.