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The discovery of the secret chamber inside the Great Pyramid of Egypt was not going to be made public. by Erich von Daniken lhe videotape playing in front of me is well worth 5 million dollars. It shows the greatest sensation in the last 1200 years! In 821 AD, Kalif Abdullah al-Ma'mun, son of the famous Harun al-Raschid, sent a raiding party to the Great Pyramid of the Pharaoh Cheops at Giza near Cairo, Egypt. After an incredible amount of effort and pain, the men hacked a passage into the thousands of years old stone structure. It is the same passage which tourists today use to enter the pyramid. During the last 100 years, Egyptologists have thoroughly explored the inside of the Great Pyramid. Were there still secrets? Still hidden channels and passageways and obstructed chambers, as claimed by old Egyptian records? "No," the experts stated. "No more dreaming.” But now the German engineer, Rudolf Gantenbrink (born 1950), succeeded in a stroke of genius, Gantenbrink constructed a sophisticated robot, a small caterpillar-like vehicle, with a lot of electronics, laser beams and a built-in miniature video camera. Technical support for the project was supplied to Gantenbrink by the Swiss firm ESCAP in Geneva (speciality motors), HILIT AB in Vaduz, Liechtenstein (drilling techniques), and by the GORE Company in Munich, Germany (speciality cables). Gantenbrink's remote-con- trolled robot moved like a voracious miniature monster through one of the narrow pas- sages leading from the Queen's Chamber towards the top of the structure. The beam from the headlight at the bow of the robot illuminated scenes which no humans have seen for al least 4,500 years, Cheops, the supposed builder of the pyramid, ruled from 2551 to 2528 BC. Metre by metre the technical miracle worked its way past smoothly polished walls, overcoming small accumulations of sand and natural stone, and then, after the incredible distance of 65 inclined metres from the Queen's Chamber, there was a sensational find—a broken-off piece of metal was lying on the floor! Never before has metal been found inside the Great Pyramid. Shortly thereafter, the robot's camera caught some kind of slid- ing door which had obviously led into the shaft from above. In the middle of this door were two metal braces, one of them partially broken off. Gantenbrink stecred the robot towards the door and aimed the laser beam at the lower edge. The beam disappeared under the door. This was proof that the sliding door was nol firmly resting on the floor. The path of the robot, however, was now blocked. Until now the Egyptologists have assumed that the quadratic tunnel, with sides measur- ing only 20 cm, had to be an air shaft. That illusion is gone. One of the puzzles of histo- ty, hidden at least 4,500 years ago, is behind that mysterious, closed metal-plated door. In 1987 a highly qualified team from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, X-rayed the Great Pyramid with electronic equipment.’ As a result, the Japanese succeeded in locating a whole maze of heretofore unknown corridors and chambers. The Egyptologists did not take the Japanese readings seriously, but now with Gantenbrink's precise video record- ings, their position will have to change. Although Rudolf Gantenbrink succeeded in mak- ing a sensational discovery, he is not seeking publicity. His concern remains in preserv- ing antiquities. He would like to lend new impulses to archaeology and wants to make archacological research once again attractive. However, the outright hypocritical behaviour of the Egyptologists in this matter gives me a lot to think about. The mysterious door was discovered on 22 March 1993, exactly at 11.05 am. It was a perfect day for discovery, and experts of the German Archaeological Society in Cairo as well as the Egyptian Administration of Antiquities, were aware of it! However, silence prevailed. The public was not informed. They want- ed to keep this finding among themselves, and the public would not have learned anything even to this day if Rudolf Gantenbrink had not been there. He showed a copy of the phe- nomenal video to some experts. The British press got wind of it and on 7 April, two weeks after the discovery, the first small announcement was published.? What was the by Erich von Daniken Reprinted with kind permission from Ancient Skies vol. 20, no. 5, Nov-Dec 1993 (Ancient Skies is published bi-monthly by the Ancient Astronaut Society, 1921 St Johns Ave., Highland Park, IL 60035- 3105, USA, for distribution to its mem- bers. Phone: (708) 295 8899.) 50°NEXUS FEBRUARY - MARCH 1994