Jon Ellison Wrote:
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> Archaic Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I agree, their work had nothing to do with
> > Egyptology.
>
> What contribution or impact could Egyptology
> possibly have on this discovery of a large void inside the pyramid?
> It's a purely scientific and technical enterprise.
> It looks like an attempt to steal the laurels or the discoverers.
> Will the SCA just deny the scientific evidence and
> ignore it as they did with Schoch's Sphinx chamber?

It was a strange complaint from the Egyptians. They didn't seem to complain that the Japanese published the science. It's that they didn't want the Japanese to claim they discovered a new passage or chamber, as though it was only the right of Egyptologists to make that claim. The compalint clearly states that the Egyptologists have known all along there were other chambers that hadn't been "discovered" yet (a strange concept in itself). The way I read it, the Egyptians didn't specifically state they didn't want those guys to publish the paper, they only wanted them to run it by the authorities first. I assume the terms of the research were very clear but that it may be that the Japanese secretly submitted it anyway since they couched their findings in terms of the technological measurements rather than in terms of archaeology and Egyptology. Note that the three authorities the Egyptians cite in their complaint are Egyptologists, not scientists. Why would they do that unless it was part of the the formal terms of the agreement?

Don't forget, that a year ago they already publlicly disclosed that the void above the main entrance. Perhaps at some point the Egyptologists didn't consider the void at the top of the GG to be related to the void above the main entrance (and other strange concept), so the Japanese ran with that technicality to take the opportunity to claim it's different void that they discovered this time. Perhaps the Japanese didn't like how the Egyptologists reported that first void, so this time they took matters into their own hands.

The other investigators who were previously blacklisted (perhaps even including Whitehead) didn't have a quid pro quo hanging out to the Egyptians, so it'll be interesting to see if there's any "unanticipated delays" in completing that Japanese-funded $100M museum.