# Secret Sphinx Chamber? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 8, 2003, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-sphinx-chamber/206263 "2003-10-08T10:15:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jimdigritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@jimdigritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimdigritz)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-sphinx-chamber/206263/1 "2003-10-08T10:15:36Z")
I remember this being published in the late 80’s, but have not heard of any follow-ups since: "1988 - Egypt, Giza Plateau, Great Pyramid Professor Sakuji Yoshimura along with a team of Japanese scientists conduct experiments in the Queen’s Chamber using electro-magnetic waves and radar equipment. This high-tech approach yielded results similar to the French (1986). With the confirmation of a ‘cavity’–some believe a hidden chamber possibly containing the treasures of Cheops–close to the French team’s drillings, they found another large cavity behind the N-W wall of the inner Queen’s Chamber and a ‘tunnel’–possibly passageway–outside and to the south of the Great Pyramid. Shortly after these intriguing discoveries, the Egyptian authorities stepped in and terminated Yoshimura’s work." Has anyone heard of this work being followed up? “Fingerprints of the Gods” style speculation aside, why on earth has no one investigated this in over 15 years? ---
**Author:** ![Scarf-Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Scarf-Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarf-Ace)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-sphinx-chamber/206263/2 "2003-10-08T10:20:15Z")
The Egyptian authorities won’t let them? ---
**Author:** ![jimdigritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@jimdigritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimdigritz)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-sphinx-chamber/206263/3 "2003-10-08T10:33:11Z")
Sterling work there Sir! ---
**Author:** ![SkyBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@SkyBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBum)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-sphinx-chamber/206263/4 "2003-10-08T11:31:53Z")
Heh. I would also be very interested to hear more on this… ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-sphinx-chamber/206263/5 "2003-10-08T12:07:51Z")
I’m sorry, but I thought the thread title said **"Secret _Sphincter_ Chamber"** ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-sphinx-chamber/206263/6 "2003-10-08T12:11:20Z")
and now I can’t stop laughing at my desk… **"Harry Potter and the Secret Sphincter Chamber"** please forgive me… carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-sphinx-chamber/206263/7 "2003-10-08T12:56:05Z")
The thread title doesn’t seem to match the OP–where in that story is there a reference to a secret Sphinx chamber? It seems like you’re talking about the Pyramid of Cheops (AKA Khufu). It sounds like this story:[Ancient Egyptian Chambers Explored](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/09/0910_020913_egypt_1.html) > [@](#): > > During Pyramids Live: Secret Chambers Revealed, presented by the National Geographic Channel, Egyptologist Zahi Hawass used a robot to peer into a narrow shaft that opens into the queen’s chamber of the Great Pyramid. Within the shaft Hawass found another stone block, possibly a door. It doesn’t sound like Egyptian authorities are blocking this exploration (Zahi Hawass is the Egyptian director of Giza excavations), only that it takes time and money–obviously, they’ve hit a few snags (or stone blocks, in this case). Doesn’t sound like they’ve given up, though. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-sphinx-chamber/206263/8 "2003-10-08T13:39:12Z")
Actually there was supposed to be some sort of chamber found I thought they said using sound. I haven’t heard anything else about it though in the last few years. I do know that Cayce (sp) said there would be one found as well. But yes the OP sounds more like the robots that they have sent up the hole and drilled through the stone to find another stone behind it. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-sphinx-chamber/206263/9 "2003-10-08T14:31:37Z")
Hold it, hold it! Any more buildup like that, and they’ll send in the dreaded Geraldo ! ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-sphinx-chamber/206263/10 "2003-10-08T16:45:09Z")
No. I remember this rumour too. From [NOVA](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/mail/responses970210.html) Dr. Zahi Hawass replies (bolding mine): > [@](#): > > Florida State University, on behalf of the Schor Expedition, carried out a remote sensing survey around the Sphinx and elsewhere on the plateau for three weeks in April 1996. They claimed to have found “rooms and tunnels” in front of the Sphinx and running from the rear of the Sphinx. Several other projects have made similar claims: > SRI International did an electrical resistivity and acoustical survey in 1977-78. > > **In 1987 a Japanese team from Waseda University (Tokyo), under the direction of Sakuji Yoshimura**carried out an electromagnetic sounding survey of the Khufu Pyramid and Sphinx. They reported evidence of a tunnel oriented north-south under the Sphinx, a water pocket 2.5 to 3 m below surface near the south hind paw, and another cavity near the north hind paw. > > In 1991 a team consisting of geologist Robert Schoch (Boston University), Thomas Dobecki, and John Anthony West carried out a survey of the Sphinx using seismic refraction, refraction tomography, and seismic reflection. The investigators interpreted their data to indicate shallower subsurface weathering patterns toward the back and deeper weathering toward the front, which they take to indicate that the back of the Sphinx and its ditch were carved by Khafre later than the front. They interpret their data to likewise indicate subsurface cavities in front of the front left paw, and from the left paw back along the south flank. > > In 1992 Imam Marzouk and Ali Gharib from the Egyptian National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics carried out a study of the ground below the Sphinx using shallow seismic refraction. Their evidence indicated the subsurface rock is composed of four layers and no faulting. They report no evidence of cavities. > > **The techniques such projects use do not directly reveal chambers and passages. They only show “anomalies,” that must be interpreted as chambers and passages. Faults and other natural features can also produce anomalies.** We cannot give permission to dig into the natural rock of the Sphinx, or to drill into the Sphinx on the basis of anomalies, especially now that our highest priority is to conserve the Sphinx. Remote sensing programs should anyway be carried out elsewhere to test the techniques, and to demonstrate that it works before it is used to make sensational claims of secret rooms in the Sphinx. Basically no one is digging because the evidence is too flimsy. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-sphinx-chamber/206263/11 "2003-10-08T23:32:55Z")
Chaper six of _Giza: The Truth_ (Virgin, 1999) by [Ian Lawton](http://www.ianlawton.com/gttindex.htm) and Chris Ogilvie-Herald discusses all the attempts to search for unknown chambers within the Giza pyramids. (Lawton and Ogilvie-Herald are enthusiasts rather than trained archaeologists, but the book is a sober look at both “orthodox” and “unorthodox” notions on the subject.) The Waseda University investigations in early 1987 are described on p303-5. They used a ground penetrating radar, pointing it at the walls and floors of the Queen’s Chamber. The main claim is that there’s a small chamber (1.5 x 1 m) about 3 meters behind the north wall. However, their readings through the west wall of the passageway outside - a wall which this cavity would be behind - were interpreted as a passageway parallel. Given the existence of the northern “air-shaft”, which runs horizontally back from this north wall of the Chamber for 7 feet before turning upwards, to me this all looks pretty cramped. GPR data is also awkward to interpret at the best of times and these results could quite easily be spurious. The Waseda team also suggested that there was a cavity beneath the passageway into the Queen’s Chamber. Lawton and Ogilvie-Herald make no mention of the Egyptian authorities doing anything to stop the investigation. And that’s exactly the sort of gossip they consider elsewhere in the book, so the fact they don’t suggests that that claim is _particularly_ baseless. The results were apparently published by the university as “Studies in Egyptian Culture No. 6” and “Studies in Egyptian Culture No. 8”.