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The oldest and largest of the Giza Pyramids is that of the IV Dynasty pharaoh Khufu - better known as Cheops - who probably reigned between 2589 and 2566 BC. Called the "Glorious Place of Khufu" by the ancient Egyptians, it originally stood 140m (roughly 480ft) high and measured 230m along its base, but the removal of its casing stones has reduced these dimensions by three metres. The pyramid is estimated to weigh six million tons and contain over 2,300,000 blocks whose average weight is 2.5 tons (though some weigh almost 15 tons). This gigantic mass actually ensures its stability, since most of the stress is transmitted inwards towards its central core, or downwards into the underlying bedrock. Until recently, the pyramid was thought to contain only three chambers: one in the bedrock and two in the superstructure. Experts believe that its design was changed twice, the subterranean chamber being abandoned in favour of the middle one, which was itself superseded by the uppermost chamber. By the time archeologists got here, their contents had been looted long ago, and the only object left in situ was Khufu's sarcophagus. However, in April 1993, a German team of scientists using a robot probe accidentally discovered a door with handles supposedly enclosing a fourth chamber, apparently never plundered by thieves, which might contain the mummy and treasures of Cheops himself. The head of the Giza Antiquities Inspectorate, Dr Hawas, argues that there is no chamber, and that the "door" was a device for smoothing the inside of the shaft - but until investigations resume, the truth will not be known.
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