The Great Pyramid Of Giza Is 10,000 Years Older Than We Thought, Controversial Research Suggests

The Great Pyramid Of Giza Is 10,000 Years Older Than We Thought, Controversial Research Suggests

Looking at erosion on the pyramid, the study suggests that it may have been built around 22,916 BCE. But you shouldn't believe an idea just because it's sufficiently fun.

Could the Great Pyramid Date Back to 20,000 BC?

The Great Pyramid of Giza. Credit: Douwe C. van der Zee / CC BY-SA 4.0 A new preliminary study is reopening debate over one of archaeology’s most firmly established timelines: the age of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The research, released in January 2026, was authored by Italian engineer Alberto Donini. It proposes an alternative method for estimating when the pyramid was built by examining erosion patterns in its stonework. The approach challenge…

New study says the Great Pyramid is far older than we thought

A newly published preliminary study has reignited one of archaeology's most enduring controversies: when was the Great Pyramid of Giza actually built? In a paper released in January 2026, Italian engineer Alberto Donini presents an unconventional dating approach — known as the Relative Erosion Method (REM) — which he argues may challenge the long-accepted chronology placing the construction of the Pyramid of Khufu around 2560 BC. According to Do…

Controversial Research Suggests The Great Pyramid Of Giza Is A Lot Older Than We Thought

ImAAm/Shutterstock.com A controversial new study has suggested that the Great Pyramid of Giza may be a lot older than we think it is. While this will certainly prick people’s ears up, there are plenty of reasons to remain skeptical. Getting your head around the timescales involved is already pretty difficult. For instance, it’s often repeated that Cleopatra (born 69 BCE) lived closer to the invention of the iPhone (released 2007) than the buildi…

Origins of Egypt's Great Pyramid upended as new clues point to lost civilization from 20,000 years ago

For more than a century, Egyptologists have dated the Great Pyramid to around 2580 BC, about 4,600 years ago.A controversial new study now claims the monument could be tens of thousands of years older.Italian engineer Alberto Donini from the University of Bologna said erosion patterns at the pyramid's base suggest it may have been built between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago, far earlier than the conventional timeline.Donini's Relative Erosion Meth…