Zahi Hawass on archaeology: what the evidence says · JRE #2321

FACT CHECK // JRE #2321 // EXHIBIT LOG
EPISODE AIRED MAY 14, 2025 · THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE
CLAIM CMRGC4WKSTATUS: PUBLISHED
SUBJECT: ARCHAEOLOGY
Timestamp1:08:43
Aired
RulingNeeds Context

Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.

// THE CLAIM · ON TAPE
First of all, these two scholars from Italy, they have never been in Egypt. They have never worked in the pyramids before. Right. They're using satellite information. Number two, they published their article in a journal. This journal do not send their article to the freeze. You pay a fee to publish the article in your responsibility.
Zahi Hawass@ 1:08:43
Watch on YouTubeJUMP TO 1:08:43

What the evidence says 01 / RECORD

The March 2025 Giza claims came from Corrado Malanga (a retired organic chemist from the University of Pisa) and Filippo Biondi (a remote sensing expert associated with the University of Strathclyde), working with Armando Mei under the Khafre Project. Their analysis relied on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data collected by satellite, not on-site excavation or fieldwork inside the pyramids, which matches Hawass's point that they never worked at the site. The sensational 2025 underground-city claims were announced via a press briefing and press release and were not peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal, a point echoed by National Geographic and multiple independent experts. Hawass's framing is imprecise on one point: an earlier 2022 paper by the same authors on the Khafre pyramid's internal structure was published and peer-reviewed in the journal Remote Sensing, so it is the specific 2025 claims, not all of their output, that lack peer review. Radar experts also note that SAR typically penetrates only a couple of meters, making the deep-structure interpretations a substantial exaggeration.

/// factcheckjoerogan.com