Scholars have unearthed a hitherto undiscovered passageway within the Cheops pyramid.

A previously unknown corridor nine meters long has been discovered near the main entrance to the Great Pyramid of Giza, informed CNN. The discovery could lead to further discoveries, the scientists say.

The tunnel is located seven meters from the main entrance to the pyramid. A paper published Thursday in the journal Nature says the discovery could help understand the construction of the pyramid.

The Pyramid of Cheops (or the Great Pyramid of Giza) was built as a monumental tomb around 2560 BC. under the reign of Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops). Reaching a height of 146 meters (today it is 139 meters), the Pyramid of Cheops was the tallest man-made structure until the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1889.

The corridor discovered by the scientists was probably created to redistribute the weight of the pyramid either around the main entrance, which is now used by tourists, or around a room or space that has not yet been discovered, Mustafa Waziri, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, said.

“We will continue to scan to find out what we can find below or at the end of this corridor,” Vaziri promised reporters at a press conference.

The discovery inside the Cheops pyramid, believed to be the last surviving of the Seven Wonders of the World, was made as part of the Scan Pyramids project, launched in 2015. The project uses non-invasive technologies, including infrared thermography, 3D modeling and cosmic ray imaging.