There’s perhaps no monument type more mysterious or enigmatic than a pyramid.
Of course, these incredible structures are most closely associated with ancient Egypt, as well as
the ancient Maya and Inca civilizations that once commanded South and Central America. They stand
often as tombs, and always as iconic and stirring landmarks. As places that leave explorers aching
to get inside and have a look around, even though that’s not always possible. But, alongside all the
most recognisable pyramid structures, there are also others that are less well known… and perhaps
more still that are totally hidden away. This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering
the extraordinary question; are there really secret pyramids hidden on Earth?
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You might think it would be quite difficult to keep a pyramid under wraps. They don’t exactly
blur into the background, and yet there are examples of some that have been missed or kept
quiet. The Great Pyramid of Cholula in Puebla, Mexico, is the largest pyramid by volume in the
world. Much larger than even the Great Pyramid of Giza, and with a base that’s more than one
thousand feet wide. In fact, its dimensions are so incredibly vast that not only is it
considered the planet’s largest pyramid, but also the largest manmade monument ever built, period.
Why, then, isn’t it at least as famous as Giza and the rest? One reason is that for
hundreds of years… nobody knew it was there. Spanish conquistadors arrived in Puebla in the
sixteenth century, laying waste to much of the native culture and replacing it with their own
over time. A Spanish church (still standing today) was even built on top of the Cholula Pyramid,
itself. But the settlers didn’t know the true nature of the land they walked upon,
because the pyramid – built (as it was) out of mud bricks – had long since grown over with grasses,
vegetation, and tropical plants. To the unaware, it might have seemed like just an everyday,
natural hill… and building on top of it might’ve felt like a statement of intent.
Now we know differently, though, and there are miles of tunnels beneath that hill,
where the hidden pyramid complex has more recently been excavated and mapped out.
For centuries, the covered corridors and rooms had all but been forgotten…
so it really is possible for something even as striking as a pyramid to be lost.
Next, we head to Australia, and to a site about which the true history is still up for debate.
The Gympie Pyramid – also known as Djaki Kundu – can be found just outside the Queensland town
of Gympie. In recent years it’s been subject to various building disputes,
as local authorities look to lay roads across it… while traditional groups claim that the area
should go untouched as it’s a spiritual and sacred place. Aside from that conflict, though, there
have also been numerous other theories put forward for Gympie, including that it was built by ancient
Egyptians who it’s claimed may have traveled to (and settled in) Australia… that it was built
by ancient Chinese settlers… and that it was built by a long-lost group of traveling Mayans.
Advocates for the theories claim that there’s further evidence, too,
including apparent local examples of discovered Egyptian hieroglyphs, and general similarities
between the physical style of Gympie and other pyramids from around the world. On the other hand,
the more mainstream (and more accepted) history for the site is that it was actually once a tiered
vineyard used for winemaking by early settlers just a few hundred years ago (rather than a few
thousand). There are some far out claims that aliens might’ve been involved, too, somewhere
along the line… although, again, the vineyard version of events is the more widely supported.
While China stands as one of the purported pyramid builders of a lost structure in Australia,
however, the country also has its own secret pyramid legacies. In the twenty-first century,
international interest has risen regarding a vast number of ancient pyramids in Shaanxi Province,
and particularly around the city of Xi’an. While Xi’an is perhaps most famous for the nearby site
of the Terracotta Army, the history surrounding these pyramids is much less well known.
It wasn’t until the early 1900s that they gained any kind of wider attention outside China…
but as interest has grown, the local security has also grown, as well.
The Xi’an pyramids are often reported as closely guarded. And, while the main drive behind this is
said to be to best preserve them, the secrecy has opened the void for alternate theories.
It’s generally accepted that the pyramids – of which there are more than forty, at least – are
tombs, built for the highest-ranking figures in ancient China. Emperors, officials, soldiers,
and rulers. Their style is much closer to those of Mesoamerica, rather than Egypt,
with wide bases and shallower inclines so that they might at first appear closer to rolling
hills than purpose-built monuments – in some ways similar to the Cholula Pyramid. They don’t rise to
a point as many Egyptian structures do, either, instead flattening off at the top. The precise
positioning of the Xi’an examples has been subject to debate, too, with pyramid locations appearing
to be astronomically inspired. This apparent mirroring between what’s on the ground and
the positioning of stars in the sky isn’t unusual when it comes to pyramid study, with various other
complexes found to do the same, and with star maps therefore used as a tool to help date them.
With the Xi’an pyramids, it’s thought they could be as much as 8,000 years old, or more.
But finally, we travel south to probably the most mysterious continent of all on Earth: Antarctica.
Such is the prevalence of alternate theories and rumored hidden secrets all over this frozen land,
it’s perhaps little surprise that a pyramid legend should’ve also embedded itself into
the ice. To begin, there really is a landmark in Antarctica, in the Ellsworth Mountains,
known as “the pyramid”. And it’s not a new discovery, with first recorded
mention of it dating back to an early twentieth century expedition. When viewed from above,
it has all the form of an artificial design: steep sides, more or less equal dimensions, and
a square base. At ground level, it rises out of the surrounding ice, to point to the stars above.
While much of this video has been concerned with pyramids historically mistaken for hills
and mountains, however, the opposite is happening here – according to most mainstream explanations.
Because it’s generally held that in reality the Antarctic Pyramid really is a mountain.
A natural rock formation known as a nunatak, referring to when the highest points of glacial
mountains breakout from the ice below. The striking similarity to a pyramid is clear,
but the pointed top isn’t by design… it has just been chiseled that way, over millennia, by the
elements. Nevertheless, theories have emerged in more recent years including, again, the suggestion
that ancient alien settlers might’ve built the Antarctic pyramid, perhaps in a pre-human time.
The alien theories linked to any (and all) pyramids are, so far, unfounded. There are
some generally shared themes behind them, such as, broadly, the suggestion that the pyramids on
Earth might’ve at one time formed something of a planet-wide communications network…
with the structures themselves standing like beacons, and all the energy passing through them.
In this way, some claim that Earth is transmitting out via pyramids, and that’s why there’s
still such mystery surrounding them. But really, those mysteries are lifting,
and there are generally stronger, more accepted explanations for most pyramid sites now – whether
it be that they were tombs, tributes, or shows of civilization power. And, while modern day attempts
to draw attention away from pyramids (as seen, to a certain extent, in Xi’an) might leave some
questioning the secrecy around them… it’s not as though such caution isn’t without precedent. The
pyramids of Egypt are certainly better known all over the globe, but they’ve also been continually
targeted by tomb raiders in the past… and are to some degree at the mercy of endless tourism today.
Perhaps the authorities for other pyramid sites just don’t want the same thing happening again.
Nevertheless, with various reasons for it, that’s why there really are some examples of “secret”
pyramids on Earth. In Mexico, there’s a massive, ancient building grown over and (until recently)
forgotten about; in Australia, there’s a structure that (according to some) might’ve
been put there by early settlers thousands of years further back than conventional history says;
in China, there are multiple lesser-known landmarks around an iconic, ancient city;
and, in Antarctica, there’s an intriguing, geometric formation jutting out from the pristine
ice surround. That one, though, isn’t actually a pyramid, at all. Nature has just made it that way.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these other
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