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The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, Egypt
The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, Egypt. Photo: kallerna / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

10 Aug 2026 · Great Pyramid, Giza, Egypt

Journal retracts Great Pyramid satellite-radar paper

Remote Sensing retracted Filippo Biondi and Corrado Malanga’s 2022 paper, which claimed SAR Doppler tomography revealed undiscovered internal structures in the Great Pyramid. The journal says an investigation after a reader’s concerns confirmed serious methodological flaws and statistical errors that undermine the conclusions.

Why it matters: The same pair’s 2025 claims of giant shafts beneath Khafre’s pyramid rest on the same technique (see the March 2025 entry).

Mainstream view: The journal and its Editor-in-Chief approved the retraction.

Alternative view: The authors have indicated that they disagree with the decision.

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Site guide: Giza & Saqqara · Source: Retraction notice, Remote Sensing 2026 ↗; Original paper (retracted), Remote Sensing 2022 ↗

Related

Fossilised human footprints in the gypsum at White Sands National Park (USGS photos, cropped)
Photo: United States Geological Survey · Public domain

16 Oct 2026 · White Sands National Park, New Mexico, United States

White Sands footprints re-dated to 23.5–21.7 ka

Kathleen Springer, Jeffrey Pigati, Jessica Tierney and colleagues expanded the excavations at White Sands and found 20 stratigraphic layers with human footprints in place, alongside megafauna trackways and drag lines made by travois. New radiocarbon dates on conifer pollen, combined with dates on aquatic seeds, put the footprint sequence between 23,500 and 21,700 years ago. Pollen, biomarker and sediment data record the lake turning into a playa during a dry spell that matches Dansgaard-Oeschger event 2, about 23,200 years ago.

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Graham Hancock · Source: Springer, Pigati, Tierney et al. 2026, Science Advances ↗

The zigzag megalithic walls of Saqsaywaman above Cusco, Peru
Photo: Steve FUNG · CC BY-SA 4.0

15 Oct 2026 · Sacsayhuamán, Cusco, Peru

Radiocarbon dates push back the Inca empire and Saqsaywaman’s megalithic rebuild

A Science news feature reports that Andean archaeologists are replacing the traditional Inca chronology (empire from 1438) with radiocarbon dates. At Saqsaywaman, dated charcoal suggests the site began to be remodelled with fitted masonry around 1400, with construction peaking from about 1418; the first results are in press at Antiquity.

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Site guide: Sacsayhuamán & Cusco · Brien Foerster · Source: Science news feature, 15 Oct 2026 ↗

The Red Pyramid of Snefru at Dahshur, Egypt
Photo: Ivrienen at English Wikipedia · CC BY 3.0

20 Jul 2026 · Dahshur, Egypt

Two possible Old Kingdom dams found near the Red Pyramid

Xavier Landreau, Guillaume Piton and Sayed Hemeda used satellite imagery, 19th-century maps and watershed mapping. They argue that two 600–700 m structures across Wadi Dahshur, west of the Red Pyramid, long read as stone-transport ramps, are dams, one with a duckbill-shaped spillway, linked to a roughly 1 km diversion channel passing close to the pyramid.

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Site guide: Giza & Saqqara · Source: Landreau, Piton & Hemeda 2026, npj Heritage Science ↗