If tombs are discovered in the Pyramid of the Sun, they could shed light on the governing style in the ancient city of Teotihuacan, Mexico.
Does the Pyramid of the Sun harbor any tombs? What might such tombs reveal about the society that two millennia ago built one of Mesoamerica's largest pyramids? In an experiment à la Luis Alvarez, who in the late 1960s concluded that there are no tombs in Egypt's Chephren pyramid, a collaboration of physicists and archaeologists hopes to glean answers to these questions by monitoring the passage of muons through the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, 50 kilometers northeast of Mexico City.
In the 1970s, nuclear physicist Arturo Menchaca and archaeologist Linda Manzanilla each independently discussed with Nobel prizewinner Alvarez the idea of conducting such an experiment in the Teotihuacan pyramid. "[Alvarez] wrote me that the muon approach could be applied wherever you have a hole underneath the pyramid," recalls Manzanilla. But it wasn't until three years ago, when another physics Nobelist, Leon Lederman, asked if the "Alvarez test" could be applied to the Pyramid of the Sun, that broader interest was sparked. Manzanilla, a researcher at the Institute of Anthropological Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and Menchaca, who heads UNAM's Institute of Physics, teamed up to do the experiment.
Fabulous Finds as Saxon King's Tomb Is Unearthed
The tomb of an East Saxon king containing a fabulous collection of artefacts has been unearthed, it was announced today.
The burial chamber, believed to date from the early 7th century, has been described by experts as the richest Anglo-Saxon find since the Sutton Hoo ship burial in Suffolk – one of Britain’s most important archaeological locations.
The site in Prittlewell, Southend, Essex was filled with everything a King might need in the afterlife, from his sword and shield to copper bowls, glass vessels and treasures imported from the farthest corners of the then known world.
The Sutton Hoo ship burial is justifiably famous. More information here.