Built around 4,500 years ago, few structures are quite as iconic as the pyramids of Giza.
And yet there's still so much we don't know about them - until now.
Modern technology has been helping uncover more about the Great Pyramid, with a robot exploring never-before-seen areas of it. Check out the footage below:
The robot captures footage from a narrow shaft, climbing at a 40-degree angle up the pyramid.
Advert
This shaft had never been seen before - it was hidden behind a false wall in the Queen's Chamber, and previous explorations damaged it, so it hadn't been accessed.
In 2010, Rob Richardson, professor of robotics at Leeds, led a team to send a custom-built robot to survey the shaft - without causing any damage to the pyramid.
This was no easy feat - developing the robot alone took five years, as it had to travel through a 20cm by 20cm space.
“This design was certainly challenging. The robot had to be extremely lightweight – and in the end we got it down to 5kg. Because it was so light, it did not require a lot of power – in the end, the challenges started to become opportunities," Richardson said.
Advert
“We developed a system that moved the robot very gently through the passageway.”
And it worked, with the robot successfully accessing this unknown area, gathering fascinating information. At the end of the shaft was a stone - and the robot was able to send a camera past it.
A false wall, a hidden shaft decorated in strange markings and a stone blocking the end - it's all pretty exciting stuff. But what were the Egyptians so keen to hide?
Advert
The camera "revealed a small chamber with intricate symbols painted on the floor", Richardson said - but there's still a lot of unknowns.
He said: “Given the artwork, it is likely the shaft served a bigger purpose than acting as an air vent. But what that bigger purpose was remains a mystery. ”
And there's still plenty more to explore, particularly as tech improves. The robot found another stone blocking its way, and it couldn't send a camera past it.
Advert
Richardson added: "The mystery of the Great Pyramid continues.”
In 2020 a documentary about the project was released, called The Robot, the Dentist and the Pyramid - the name referencing the Hong Kong dentist and inventor Dr Tze Chuen Ng who sent out the original challenge to build this robot.
You can watch the documentary on the Ancient Architects YouTube channel here.