Pyramids of Giza thousands of years older than we thought, study suggests

When it comes to historical discoveries, it's usually what's inside the pyramids rather than the pyramids themselves which interests researchers.

Ever since British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tut over 100 years ago, we Brits in particular have been fascinated by the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

While we've always been obsessed with how they were actually built, and whether or not aliens were involved, historical texts have meant that we've pretty much always had a good grasp on the sort of time period that they were built.

However, a 2026 study by Italian engineer Alberto Donini has proposed a new method for dating the Great Pyramids of Giza, and he suggests that they could actually be far older than we currently think.

Most would suggest that the pyramids were built around 4,500 years ago, with some sources suggesting that they were built across a span of 85 years between 2589 and 2504 BC.

We've always been fascinated by the pyramids (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

However, Donini's new method, which studies how the magnificent monumental tombs have been eroded over time, suggests otherwise.

In his paper, which was published in January, the independent researcher from the University of Bologna talked about how his controversial idea first came about.

He writes: "The idea is as follows: since some of the casing stones of the pyramids of Giza collapsed during catastrophic events, and since the time of their collapse and removal is known (on average, about 675 years ago the limestone casing of the pyramids was removed and reused to construct several buildings in Cairo), I measured the surface erosion of the stones that had been covered by the casing and compared it with that of the adjacent stones, which have remained exposed to atmospheric agents since they were laid at the time of the construction of the monument.

"The volume of disintegrated material should be proportional to the duration of exposure to erosive processes. From the ratio between these two types of erosion, it is therefore possible to calculate a plausible construction date for the structure."

He studied the base of Akhet Khufu in his research (A Donini)

By measuring the difference in erosion between two different surfaces, Donini argues that we can figure out just how long they've been exposed and if his method is accurate, then it suggestss a construction date tens of thousands of years earlier, potentially as far back as the late Paleolithic period.

If he is able to substantiate his claims within the wider archaeological society, then it would change a huge amount about what we understand about ancient Egypt but for now it seems as if other researchers will stick to more traditional methods, such as historical texts, when it comes to dating the pyramids.