Mystery behind the only three objects ever to be found inside the Great Pyramid of Giza

Three objects recovered from the original Great Pyramid of Giza remain shrouded in mystery.

The original pyramid - and most famous of the Giza pyramid complex - is the largest Egyptian pyramid known and was the tomb of the Pharaoh Khufu, the second Pharaoh of the fourth Dynasty.

It's one of the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the ancient World and much of it remains intact, yet only three objects have - to this date - been able to be recovered from it.

When first built, the pyramid measured 481 feet tall with a base of around 755.7 feet square.

You'd think this would mean there would be a plentitude of historic artefacts and objects to be discovered inside, but archaeologists and other historical experts have yet to find anything other than three specific objects - which are just as mysterious themselves.

The objects were first discovered in 1872 in the Queen's Chamber of the Great Pyramid by 19th Century British explorer Waynman Dixon, Arab America reports.

And they've continued to baffle experts to this day.

Dixon discovered a stone ball, copper hook-shaped object and a wooden fragment or rod - the three artefacts soon becoming known as the Dixon Relics.

The original pyramid of Giza is the largest of the group. (Getty Images/ Ratnakorn Piyasirisorost)

However, shortly after the objects were brought back to Britain, they disappeared.

They were later discovered again in 1972 and donated to the British Museum.

Alas, the objects disappeared once more until 1933, when only the hook and ball were recovered - the wood still missing.

According to the University of Aberdeen, the items were later donated to the university's museum following a man named James Grant's passing - the doctor having befriended Dixon on his exploration into the pyramid - the wooden rod later donated in 1946.

However, the wooden rod was never classified and couldn't be located for over 70 years, until curatorial assistant Abeer Eladany searched the items located in another of the University's collections in 2019 that is.

Two of the Dixon Relics. (The British Museum)

An experienced archaeologist and having worked on 'digs in Egypt,' Eldany 'instantly knew' what the 'small fragment of wood' - which had since been broken into 'several pieces' - was.

But what were the objects doing in the pyramid in the first place?

Well, when Dixon first discovered them, British newspaper The Graphic reported in December 1872, as quoted by The University of Aberdeen that the objects were likely 'weights and measures in use by the builders of the pyramids' - the ball like a hammer and rod and hook other tools.

"The position in which they were left shows that they must have been left there whilst the work was going on, and at an early period of its construction," it reported at the time.

Curatorial assistant Abeer Eladany found the missing wood. (University of Aberdeen)

However, others believe the items were 'deliberately deposited as happened later during the New Kingdom, when pharaohs tried to emphasise continuity with the past by having antiquities buried with them,' as Head of Museums and Special Collections at the University of Aberdeen, Neil Curtis, explains.

The British Museum's site states: "Now thought to be offerings dating to the age of Khufu, they were either genuine tools or models of tools and are similar to objects discovered in foundation deposits. They may have been placed in the air shaft at Giza to allow the deceased king to magically open the passage and return to heaven."

Upon Eladany discovering the 'lost' cedar fragments and a robot capturing never-before-seen footage from inside the pyramid, it was ascertained the wooden fragments - belonging to a larger piece of wood - are actually much older than first thought.

It's been heavily debated what the purpose behind the three objects was. (The University of Aberdeen)

It was resolved the wood dates back to 'somewhere in the period 3341-3094BC - some 500 years earlier than historical records which date the Great Pyramid to the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu in 2580-2560BC'.

This 'supports the idea that - whatever their use - the Dixon Relics were original to the construction of the Great Pyramid and not later artefacts left behind by those exploring the chambers,' the university explains.

However, ultimately, Curtis resolves: "It will now be for scholars to debate its use. [...] This discovery will certainly reignite interest in the Dixon Relics and how they can shed light on the Great Pyramid."

• Scientists may have found a secret entrance into Pyramids of Giza after stumbling upon ‘mysterious void’
• 4,500-year-old ancient mystery finally solved after key discovery in pyramid
• Mysterious tunnel has been found inside Great Pyramid of Giza
• Robot captures never-before-seen footage uncovering secrets from inside Great Pyramid of Giza