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Lost Egyptian pyramids found ... by Google?
Images from Google Earth reveal what appear to be two long-lost pyramid complexes.
Mon, Aug 13 2012 at 11:43 AM
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Have two new Egyptian pyramids been located thousands of years after they were last seen by human eyes? That may be the case, as images from Google Earth appear to show two long-lost pyramid complexes in Upper Egypt near the city of Abu Sidhum, Discovery News reports.
The images were identified by satellite archaeology researcher Angela Micol, who posted her observations on her website, Google Earth Anomalies.
Google Earth is a 3D virtual globe and mapping program that combines satellite imagery and aerial photography. First created by a company funded by the Central Intelligence Agency, the program was acquired by Google in 2004.
Egypt's best-known pyramids, including the fabled Great Pyramid, are located at Giza, not far from the capital city of Cairo, but 115 others are known to be scattered throughout the country. That number keeps growing. Most recently, the so-called "headless pyramid" was rediscovered in 2008. The 4,000-year-old structure had been documented by archaeologist Karl Richard Lepsius in 1842 but it was lost when desert sands covered it back up for more than a century and a half.
The two new sites are located about 90 miles from each other and Micol has verified with Egyptologists that they are not among the 118 known pyramids. "The images speak for themselves. It's very obvious what the sites may contain but field research is needed to verify they are, in fact, pyramids and evidence should be gathered to determine their origins," Micol said in a press release on her site.
The first of the two sites contains what Micol characterizes as "a distinct, four-sided, truncated, pyramidal shape that is approximately 140 feet in width." The site also contains three small mounds aligned in a diagonal manner similar to the pyramids at Giza.
The second site, shown in the photo above, contains four mounds, the two largest of which are each 250 feet in width. The smaller mounds are each approximately 100 feet wide.
Micol has not revealed the exact locations of the two sites, saying they must first be identified and protected by Egyptian officials.
The researcher has been using satellite images for 10 years to identify previously unknown sites. She recently released an image she identified as a possible underwater city located near the coast of the Yucatan peninsula.
Micol says she is forming a nonprofit organization to promote satellite archaeology and remote sensing and is raising money to fund a documentary about the some of the sites she has unearthed using Google Earth.
Related computer story on MNN: Google merges online and offline worlds in Maps
Photo above: Google Earth
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Try this link to the other pictures: http://www.googleearthanomalies.com/Anomalies/tabid/56/articleType/Artic...
Thanks! Very interesting photos =)
As no western influences have attached significance to these idols, they should immediately be destroyed. _____ PBUH
This is what my grandfather built. He created this mound so that he can park his bulldozer on it.
"a distinct, four-sided, truncated, pyramidal shape that is approximately 140 feet in width.".......I see a three sided depression....
keep reading... it says that is the first sight. The photo is of the second sight
View the pictures upside down. There's a famous optical illusion operating here. Aerial photos of the northern hemisphere should be displayed north at bottom, otherwise most people perceive depressions as mounds. Look at the picture upside down.
Just checked that out. They do look raised up when they are flipped.
I wonder which constellation this pyramid pattern is.
If you click on "Discovery News" in the first paragraph of this article, it has a better picture..the pyramids are actually at the top of the picture and cut out of the picture shown in this article....the triangle shaped thing is another landform...
they cropped the picture incorrectly....
Thanks, Shantel. You're right about the previous crop. We've updated the story with another, much looser image this time around. MNN editor
There is nothing in that photo to suggest a pyramid.
Aw, shucks. I like the pyramid theory. If no one goes there we can believe they contain magnificence beyont our friend Tut.
Also take note, the Egyptian pyramids are SQUARE based, as are most man made pyramids...
REally not a serious article for a science site. the "researcher" has no serious credentials or even rudimentary background in archeology, Egyptology, geology, or remote sensing. These are clearly natural formations. In fact they are KNOWN and explored natural formations with some human buildings on top of some. The Yucatan "discovery" proved bogus too.
Are we talking about this triangular structure - looks natural to me, plus Google Earth could give you a good guess as to its height - if it is 1000 feet high, you can be sure it's not an undiscovered pyramid
I think its' a giant sharks tooth.
What is it in the image shown that's supposed to be a pyramid??? All I see is a triangular depression.
it's a butte, similar to the eroded pyramids in peru.
A butte is a naturally occurring geological formation. Not an eroded pyramid; though an eroded pyramid might be mistaken for one.
This, however, is most likely a butte or similar natural formation and not a pyramid. Egyptian pyramids and mastabas had rectangular or square bases for load distribution. This as you can see is triangular which makes it being a pyramid unlikely. Not impossible however.