Developments in Brief : Scientists Hope to Get a Breath of Old Pyramid Air to Test With Present

American archeologists hope to capture an air sample from an ancient pit in the Giza Pyramid area of Egypt to study how the Earth’s atmosphere has changed over 4,500 years.

The idea is “to compare the old air with the new air in view of the detected increase of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere,” said Al Mussawar, a Cairo-based magazine. It said the expedition also hopes to learn new techniques in preserving antiquities.

The magazine said the expedition was proposed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Geographic and 17 professors from seven American universities.

The team hopes to capture the air sample from a pit west of the Great Pyramid of Cheops, which is believed to contain a solar boat sealed by ancient Egyptians. A similar pit was opened in 1954 and yielded the only solar boat known to the world. The ancient Egyptians believed the boat would carry the soul during its journey in the afterlife.

The magazine said the Americans plan to use “ultramodern equipment similar to the equipment they used to scoop stones from the surface of the moon.”