The first clues emerged several years ago in Aswan, where Egyptian archaeologists were excavating an unfinished obelisk weighing more than 1,100 tons. They dug up part of what seemed to be a canal but had to stop because groundwater was flowing in.
Penn State researchers then joined the team to probe the site further. Instead of digging, they drilled holes and took underground readings. If a long-ago canal had been filled with gravel and sediment, there could be water circulating through it, and the temperature would be different from the surrounding granite.
They also fired shotgun shells underground and measured the resulting seismic energy.
Everything seemed to indicate a canal had been there, extending at least 165 yards beyond the aborted excavations. The flood channel of the Nile is yet another half-mile from where they stopped taking readings.
The next step is to keep water out of the excavated portion to protect the unfinished obelisk. Besides pumping, workers could dig and fill an adjacent trench with a clay barrier, says Richard Parizek, a geo-engineer at Penn State.
There's a rather nice photograph on the page of rock art near the unfinished obelisk.
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