The eastern face of the more than 60-meter-tall Menkaure pyramid has long puzzled researchers. A section of granite blocks, measuring roughly four meters high and six meters wide, appears unusually smooth and polished. Similar finishes are otherwise only seen at the pyramid’s known entrance on the north side. This unusual feature led researcher Stijn van den Hoven to propose in 2019 that a second entrance might exist at this location.

Advanced Scanning Reveals Hidden Cavities

As part of the ScanPyramids project, the research team closely examined the eastern facade and detected two anomalies behind the polished surface. By combining non-invasive techniques such as ground-penetrating radar, ultrasound, and electrical resistivity tomography, they were able to clearly identify two air-filled cavities. This marks the first time that structural irregularities have been confirmed behind this distinctive section of the pyramid.

The two voids were located at depths of 1.4 meters and 1.13 meters behind the outer wall. One measures approximately 1 meter high and 1.5 meters wide, while the other is about 0.9 meters by 0.7 meters. Achieving this level of accuracy required integrating data from multiple scanning methods. The use of Image Fusion, which combines all collected measurements, played a key role in confirming the existence and dimensions of these hidden spaces.

Findings Strengthen Entrance Hypothesis

“Following the significant validation of a hidden corridor in the Pyramid of Cheops in 2023, ScanPyramids has once again succeeded in making an important finding in Giza. The testing methodology we developed allows very precise conclusions to be drawn about the nature of the pyramid’s interior without damaging the valuable structure. The hypothesis of another entrance is very plausible, and our results take us a big step closer to confirming it,” says Christian Grosse, Professor of Non-destructive Testing at TUM.

Project Collaboration and Support

• Work at the pyramid was conducted in collaboration with and under the supervision of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
• These ScanPyramids project results were achieved through the collaboration of mainly researchers from Cairo University, the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Portland State University, Dassault Systèmes, and the Heritage Innovation Preservation Institute.
• Additional partners and financial supporters were: the Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF), la Fondation Dassault Systèmes, NHK, TNG Technology Consulting, Mondaic AG. TUM was directly supported by TUM IGSSE and the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).
• Christan Große is Professor of Non-desctructive testing at the TUM School of Engineering and Design.

Today, researchers are uncovering new details about that crisis. An interdisciplinary team from the University of South Florida is studying the Plague of Justinian and its far-reaching effects. The group, led by Rays H. Y. Jiang, an associate professor in the College of Public Health, has published a third paper in an ongoing series examining what is believed to be the first recorded outbreak of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean.

Their latest study, “Bioarchaeological signatures during the Plague of Justinian (541-750 CE) in Jerash, Jordan,” appears in the Journal of Archaeological Science. It expands scientific understanding of the outbreak that killed millions across the Byzantine Empire.

“We wanted to move beyond identifying the pathogen and focus on the people it affected, who they were, how they lived and what pandemic death looked like inside a real city,” Jiang said.

A Mass Grave Reveals the Scale of Death

At the height of the Plague of Justinian, affected individuals came from a wide range of communities that were often disconnected from one another. In death, however, they were brought together. Large numbers of bodies were placed quickly on top of pottery debris in an abandoned public area, which became the central focus of this study.

Jiang served as principal investigator, working with colleagues from USF’s Genomics, Global Health Infectious Disease Research Center and departments including anthropology, molecular medicine and history. Additional contributions came from archaeologist Karen Hendrix at Sydney University Australia and a DNA laboratory at Florida Atlantic University. Earlier research in the series focused mainly on Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for plague. This new work explores how the disease affected society in both the short and long term, and what lessons it may hold today.

“The earlier stories identified the plague organism,” Jiang said. “The Jerash site turns that genetic signal into a human story about who died and how a city experienced crisis.”

First Confirmed Plague Mass Grave

Historical accounts describe widespread disease during the Byzantine era, but many suspected plague burial sites have lacked firm proof. Jerash now stands as the first location where a plague-related mass grave has been confirmed through both archaeological evidence and genetic testing.

Researchers determined that the burial represents a single event, unlike traditional cemeteries that develop gradually. In Jerash, hundreds of individuals were buried within a matter of days. This discovery reshapes understanding of the First Pandemic by providing clear evidence of large-scale mortality and offering insight into how people lived, moved and became vulnerable within ancient urban environments.

Mobility and Hidden Connections

The findings also help resolve a long-standing question. Historical and genetic data indicate that people traveled and mixed across regions, yet burial evidence often suggests communities remained local.

The Jerash site shows that both patterns can coexist. Migration typically unfolded slowly over generations and blended into everyday life, making it difficult to detect in standard burial grounds. During a crisis, however, individuals from more mobile backgrounds were brought together in one place, making those hidden connections visible.

Evidence suggests the individuals buried in Jerash belonged to a mobile population that was part of the wider urban community. Normally spread across the region, they were united in a single burial during a moment of crisis.

Understanding the Human Impact of Pandemics

“By linking biological evidence from the bodies to the archaeological setting, we can see how disease affected real people within their social and environmental context,” Jiang said. “This helps us understand pandemics in history as lived human health events, not just outbreaks recorded in text.”

The research is helping shift how scientists view pandemics, emphasizing not only how they begin and spread but also how they affect daily life and social structures. Dense cities, travel and environmental changes played a role then, much as they do today.

“Pandemics aren’t just biological events, they’re social events, and this study shows how disease intersects with daily life, movement and vulnerability,” Jiang said. “Because pandemics reveal who is vulnerable and why, those patterns still shape how disease affects societies today.”

Research Team

In addition to Jiang, the USF team on the three papers included:

• Swamy R. Adapa, research and development scientist, Department of Global Environmental and Genomic Health Sciences, COPH
• Andrea Vianello, PhD, visiting research fellow, Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences
• Elizabeth Remily-Wood, proteomics core director, Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine
• Gloria C. Ferreira, PhD, professor, Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine and College of Arts and Sciences
• Michael Decker, PhD, Maroulis Professor of Byzantine History and Orthodox Religion, Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences
• Robert H. Tykot, PhD, professor, Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences