The Use of Ground Penetrating Radar at Mysterious Sites in Archaeology

In today’s scientific endeavors, scientists have many new gadgets and devices to help them explain the world around them.  This is true in all fields including archaeology where ground penetrating radar is helping researchers determine what is lying underneath their feet before they actually start digging.  This has been an invaluable tool for archaeologists in helping them locate ancient sites.  The radar will only pick up large stone or metal objects but luckily our ancient ancestors built using megalithic stones so the radar is proving extremely helpful.  There are many sites where this technology has been used in the past several decades and many more locations to explore with it too.  Below are some examples of several sites that the ground penetrating radar has been used.  I have decided to use some mysterious locations for this list:

The Sphinx, Egypt

Ancient legends talk about hidden chambers located in or near the Sphinx in Egypt.  About 20 years ago, researchers used ground penetrating radar to determine if any of these legends were based on facts.  Amazingly several chambers were actually located in and around the Sphinx.  The two chambers that were located inside of the sphinx ended up being nothing but dead ends but there is one chamber that has some people buzzing with excitement.  This chamber was located right off of the left paw of the Sphinx.  What is really amazing about this chamber is that it is exactly where Edgar Cayce predicted the ”Hall of Records” was located.  Unfortunately, the Egyptian authorities have put a ban on excavating this location so we might not know what is in this chamber for quite some time. 

China’s First Emporer’s Tomb Pyramid.

Ancient legends talk about perhaps the most luxurious tomb complex ever built.  The tomb is said to contain a miniature Chinese city, huge amounts of gold and jade, mercury filled lakes and rivers, and the ceiling was supposed to have had ocean shells to mimic the constellations in the night sky.  There was also supposed to be several lamps that had whale oil in them to make them burn for the longest periods of time once the tomb was sealed.  All of these items were assumed to be just a legend until the Terracota army was found almost 40 years ago.  To date, there have been over 8000 soldiers, horses, and chariots discovered in pits right outside the pyramid complex.  Researchers think that the army was the emporer’s protection in the afterlife.  After the army was located, the legends of the emporer’s tomb were also looked at to possibly being true after all.  Ground penetrating radar has confirmed that the walls inside of the actual tomb are still intact and do not appear to have been breached.  Mercury levels in the soil near the tomb have been tested and there is approximately 30x the normal amount of mercury in the soil compared to soil farther away. All of these results have given researchers very positive hopes of the tomb actually containing all of the legendary items.  All depending how you look at it, China has put a stop on excavating the tomb until technology has been shown to not ruin any of the items inside of it.  Some look at this positively while others look at it negatively.  Hopefully technology will be developed shortly so the wait is not too long.