Researchers from Egypt and Japan say the Great Pyramid of Khufu was not just built to last. It was built to move. A new study measuring vibration frequencies throughout the monument found that the 481-foot structure has a remarkable ability to disperse seismic vibrations, an effect the team says points to a carefully balanced design.

The findings, published Thursday in Scientific Reports, came from resonance data collected in nearly 40 different areas within and around the Great Pyramid. The data indicate the monument was intelligently balanced and well-tuned for stability, according to Asem Mostafa, one of the researchers behind the work. He said the result felt like uncovering a masterpiece of empirical engineering that had been hiding in plain sight for thousands of years.

Khufu began construction of the Great Pyramid around 2500 B.C., and thousands of laborers spent 26 years hauling and stacking more than 2.3 million limestone and granite blocks into what became the tallest of Egypt’s ancient pyramids. The monument stands 755 feet wide at its base, rises to 481 feet, and is highly symmetrical, with a firm bedrock foundation that already set it apart from earlier pyramid structures built in Saqqara, about 19 miles south of Cairo.

That long record of stability matters because Egypt has faced damaging seismic activity near Cairo in recent centuries, including the magnitude 5.9 earthquake in October 1992 that struck about 20 miles southwest of the capital and damaged or destroyed more than 129,000 buildings. More than one-third of local houses were affected. The Great Pyramid, by contrast, has survived numerous earthquakes over its 4,600-year history.

Mohamed ElGabry said only one stone fell from Khufu’s pyramid in that October 1992 event, adding that ancient structures built with massive, well-interlocked stone blocks generally suffered far less damage than later-era monuments. Even so, the researchers said they cannot say for certain whether the builders designed the pyramid with earthquakes specifically in mind. They can say the result was resilient, and that is what the measurements now show.

Mostafa said the fact that the pyramid is structurally resilient was never in doubt. What the study adds is a clearer picture of how it achieves that stability: by spreading vibration energy rather than concentrating it. For a monument that has stood for 4,600 years, that is a reminder that its engineering still has something to say.