"Egyptian Pyramid Mysteries to Be Explored Live on TV"

[Sara Noel]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...3_egypt_1.html

The National Geographic Channel special Pyramids Live: Secret Chambers Revealed airs in the United States on Fox Television on Monday, September 16, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The same show will air worldwide later in the week under a different title, Egypt: Secret Chambers Revealed, on the National Geographic Channel. Check local listings for more information.

For all you geeksters like me that can't resist these shows.

Sara

[homesteadmamma]

Its times like these I wish we had cable. Our dd wants to be an archeologist and has since she could say the word. Would she love to see this show.

[mustang80]

Thanks Sara! My DD will FLIP!

[Sara Noel]

Door locks in secrets of Egyptian pyramid
By Tom Perry

CAIRO (Reuters) - Hopes of unlocking the mysteries of Egypt's biggest pyramid have hit a new snag after a robot crawling up a narrow shaft to peek through an ancient limestone door found a second stone slab blocking the way.

"Pyramid Rover" climbed about 65 metres (213 feet) up one of two passages stretching from a chamber inside the pyramid of Cheops to peer through a hole in the door which some thought might conceal secret chambers, statues of the pharaoh or ancient scrolls dating back 4,500 years.

"We found a space. We found another sealed chamber," the head of Egypt's Supreme Antiquities Council, Zahi Hawass, said during a live television broadcast of the expedition sponsored by National Geographic ( news - web sites) Channels.

During the broadcast, Hawass also lifted the lid of a 4,500-year-old sarcophagus near the site of the Great Pyramids on the Giza plateau near Cairo to reveal the skeleton of a man who he said was the mayor of a village of pyramid builders.

A tourist on the plateau discovered the tomb containing the ancient coffin in June.

"Every piece of this...will be taken to the lab for x-ray. We will find out...everything about him," Hawass said.

The fresh obstacle blocking the probe inside the pyramid of the pharaoh Cheops, also known as Khufu, is sure to vex archaeologists, who have been puzzled by the two shafts in the giant structure since they were first discovered in 1872.

Some Egyptologists think the shafts, which rise from an unfinished chamber, were built as vents. Others say they were passages for the dead king's soul to ascend to the afterlife.

Hawass said it was impossible to tell what might lie behind the newly discovered door in the 145-metre-high (480 feet) pyramid.

"Maybe something belonging to Khufu is hidden behind the second one. Maybe there is nothing," he told reporters after Pyramid Rover had finished shooting footage of the space between the two slabs using a fibre-optic camera.

"That door looks very fragile because it has cracks all over," Hawass said.

More investigation and scientific work were required before drawing up any plan for a further probe to look beyond the second door in the narrow shaft, which measures 20 by 20 cm (eight by eight inches), he added.

"We cannot make a plan right now. The plan will be done in a few months maybe," Hawass said.

The first door, fitted with two copper handles, was discovered by German scholar Rudolph Gantenbrink in a 1993 expedition using another robot probe.

"Pyramid Rover", which uses the same technology that helped search for survivors of the September 11 attacks, had drilled a small hole through the first door on Friday, allowing it to peek through during the live broadcast on Tuesday, an expedition spokesman said.

Ok, I watched this show. It was sooooo commercialized I thought I would scream. When peered through the hole with the robot camera and saw another door, I thought omg I just sat here for 2 hrs and watched 8 million Fox channel commercials. arghhhh.
It was just much too disappointing to me. There were some interesting parts, so it wasn't a total loss.

Sara

[i.m.cheap]

I watched and was disappointed also.

Deb