In school, we’re taught that the Egyptian pyramids were built as tombs for pharaohs around 4,500 years ago. These giant limestone structures were believed to hold treasures and offerings for the afterlife. But a group of Italian researchers now claims that the story might be incomplete — or even wrong.
Speaking to The Daily Mail, the scientists said they’ve discovered what appears to be a large underground city beneath the Giza Plateau, the area outside Cairo that’s home to the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx. Challenging conventional belief, they claim this hidden city is about 38,000 years old and buried 2,000 feet below the surface.
Using satellite-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR), researchers Corrado Malanga, Filippo Biondi and Armando Mei claim they’ve identified a network of underground structures beneath the pyramids. They describe it as a complex system of chambers, pipelines, water features and cube-shaped formations, what they call a “true underground city.”
“We firmly believe the Giza structures are interconnected,” Biondi said. “This reinforces our view that the pyramids are merely the tip of the iceberg of a colossal underground infrastructural complex.”
Not the researcher’s first controversial claim
These latest claims follow an earlier announcement from the same researchers. In March 2025, they said they had discovered 2,000-foot-long vertical shafts beneath the Khafre pyramid.
According to their findings, the shafts contain spiral staircases and a possible underground network that could connect multiple pyramids and may even include the “fabled Hall of Records,” a mythical archive said to contain a vast amount of lost wisdom about ancient civilization, supposedly lost in a catastrophic flood. The team believes the pyramids survived that ancient world.
Internet goes looking for answers
Illustrations of the so-called shafts went viral online, drawing millions of views on social media. Some claimed they were evidence of an ancient energy source, while others believed they were proof of extraterrestrial contact.
Podcast host Joe Rogan quickly gave the theory a platform, airing a clip from YouTuber Jay Anderson, who called the alleged discovery “so incredible, so awe-inspiring and narrative-shattering.”
Mainstream archaeologists push back
But mainstream archaeologists and scientists aren’t buying it.
Dr. Zahi Hawass, a renowned Egyptologist and Egypt’s former minister of antiquities, also appeared on Rogan’s podcast to push back. When Rogan brought up the radar images, Hawass said he looked into them and consulted his colleagues.
Unbiased. Straight Facts.TM
The Giza pyramid complex is estimated to have been constructed between 2,600 B.C. and 2,500 B.C. and are designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“Everyone who works with me said, ‘This is bulls—, it cannot happen at all,’” Hawass said.
He argued that SAR technology is not designed to detect anything more than 10 inches below the surface and is not reliable for finding structures at great depths.
Later, Rogan claimed that the episode with Dr. Hawass was possibly the worst podcast he’s ever done.
Radar expert Professor Lawrence Conyers of the University of Denver backed up Dr. Hawass’ assessment, saying the radar technology used by the Italian team simply isn’t capable of detecting structures at such extreme depths.
“The technology they’re using wouldn’t allow for that level of depth or detail,” he said.
Biondi and his team say they plan to release full imaging data “within months” and will continue their research. But so far, their findings have not been peer-reviewed, and most experts in the field remain deeply skeptical.
