Antiquities Minister Mamdouh Eldamaty says the project will begin south of Cairo with the scanning of the so-called Bent Pyramid at Dashour, followed by the nearby Red Pyramid. Later, the two largest pyramids on the Giza plateau, those of Cheops and Chephren, will also be scanned. The structures are over 4,500 years old.

At a news conference, scientist Matthieu Klein of Canada’s Laval University says his team will use infrared technology to scan several meters (yards) beneath the surface without touching the structures.

He says “there could be interesting things there, even a few meters deep, two or three blocks deep.”