Lost Treasures of Egypt (2019) s04e05 Episode Script

1
(suspenseful music plays)
NARRATOR:
Deep inside a collapsed pyramid,
a team of archaeologists
is on a dangerous quest.
MOHAMED:
Be careful.
(in native language)
Take your time. Be careful!
NARRATOR: To uncover the unexplored burial
chamber of one of Egypt's great pharaohs.
We are now entering
a really dangerous area.
NARRATOR:
It's a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Yes. Wow.
This comes from the sarcophagus.
(music crescendos)
(dramatic music plays)
NARRATOR: Across Egypt, more than
100 pyramids rise from the desert floor.
They span an incredible era
of over 1000 years.
Three stand out.
The Pyramids at Giza.
Iconic symbols of the ancient world.
Over three generations,
King Khufu, his son Khafre,
and grandson Menkaure, built three
of the most well-known monuments
in human history, all grouped together
on the Giza plateau.
They were surrounded by a
complex of ceremonial temples.
Khufu's pyramid was the tallest
manmade structure in the world,
for over three-thousand,
eight-hundred years.
Pharaohs continued to build pyramids.
But in all of ancient Egypt's
three thousand-year history,
they never built one this big ever again.
(unintelligible chatter)
NARRATOR: Now, archaeologists are scouring
the intriguing pyramids that followed.
To investigate the legacy
of the famous Giza pyramids
and reveal why these iconic megastructures
and Egypt, were never the same again.
I always say we are
like, we are like detectives.
This is our investigation site and
we come here to collect information.
NARRATOR:
Seven miles south of Giza, in Abusir,
14 pyramids break the desert skyline.
Among them, the pyramid
of a pharaoh called Sahure.
It's the investigation site
of Egyptian archaeologist,
Mohamed Ismail Khaled.
I'm coming originally
from Middle Egypt and we have
a lot of monuments around us and that's
why I became archaeologist.
NARRATOR: Sahure built his pyramid
only 30 years after the last
of the great pyramids at Giza.
Yet it's vastly different.
Sahure's pyramid was 150 feet tall.
A third of the height
of the Great Pyramid.
Around it was a complex
of ceremonial temples.
During previous seasons in the ruins here,
Mohamed and other archaeologists,
MOHAMED: Let's go!
NARRATOR: Have recovered nearly
one thousand square feet of reliefs
that portray Sahure's
life and achievements.
Wow. If you begin like to clean
little bit the dust,
it's really amazing to see how the artisan
was really carving every single detail.
(dramatic music bellows)
NARRATOR:
This season, Mohamed is back to excavate
the inside of Sahure's pyramid.
I am very really keen to know more and
more about his burial place.
NARRATOR: Archaeologists
in the 19th and 20th centuries
explored the burial chambers
of pyramids across Egypt.
But Mohamed believes
they missed one: Sahure's.
When archaeologists
first explored this pyramid
over 100 years ago, they found the central
core collapsed and filled with debris.
They identified a single room, which they
believed was the burial chamber,
but they never found Sahure's
sarcophagus or mummy.
Now, Mohamed has discovered
a second room just beyond it,
hidden under the debris
of the pyramid collapse.
The area is up to
eight meters, goes to the west.
And this is enough for
holding the burial chamber.
NARRATOR: He thinks this could be
Sahure's long lost resting place.
My dream is just to
discover the burial chamber
and to uncover every
single centimeter inside.
And to see the sarcophagus of the king.
(suspenseful music bellows)
NARRATOR:
Mohamed believes that deep below
Sahure's pyramid,
a corridor led to a series of rooms.
What explorers thought was
the pharaoh's burial chamber,
he now thinks was just the antechamber.
And that Sahure's real burial
chamber is undiscovered and
could still contain the
sarcophagus of the pharaoh.
(dramatic music bellows)
If Mohamed is right, and this
is Sahure's burial chamber,
it would be a huge discovery
and could help unravel what
happened to pyramid building after Giza.
Any piece of information
about what was inside here
will add a lot of information
about the history of the pyramid.
NARRATOR:
But this mission won't be easy.
Working inside a collapsed four-thousand,
five-hundred year-old pyramid
is incredibly dangerous.
You could see how the situation
of the of the ceiling is right now.
NARRATOR:
Three, 10-ton stone beams stacked
on top of each other once formed the roof.
The worst thing for
us that we are trying to stop
is just the falling
of this big large beam.
NARRATOR: When the structure collapsed,
some of the beams came crashing down.
Others are still held in
place by the mound of debris.
You see how large it is?
You see that some of
them are already destroyed.
It has cracks, you know.
So, if any movement around this area,
then the crack will be larger.
Some blocks will fall down, and we do not
know the consequences after that.
(ominous music sweeps)
NARRATOR:
To safely explore the mystery room,
Mohamed's team first had to install
a temporary wall to support
the unstable ceiling and hold
the 26 feet of debris in place.
Okay, so let's go.
(dramatic music intensifies)
NARRATOR: They slowly work
their way from top to bottom,
removing the supportive wall in layers
and clearing the rubble behind it.
My heart is beating
very hard because I'm just--
This is the moment that
I was waiting for a long time.
Be careful.
(music continues)
(speaks in native language)
Take your time, be careful!
We have to be careful and working
according to our plan.
Otherwise, it will be very dangerous.
NARRATOR: After nearly three
hours of painstaking work,
the team makes a first
discovery in the rubble.
MOHAMED:
So we got a bone. (sighs)
It's the lower jaw, you know,
of a human being.
NARRATOR: The curious jawbone is
an intriguing find and could be a clue
the undiscovered burial chamber
of pharaoh Sahure, lies ahead.
(dramatic music bellows)
Just south of Abusir in Saqqara.
(in native language) Okay. As soon as
she's finished with the one inside,
she'll start working on the drawing.
NARRATOR:
Egyptian archaeologist, Mohamed Megahed
is also investigating the intriguing
pyramids that followed
the iconic megastructures of Giza.
I'm Egyptian, so it's a very,
it's very easy to be an
Egyptologist because you are.
Your whole life your your childhood
around pyramids, tombs.
So maybe one of the things
that comes to your mind,
to study your 'grandparents'
and study your heritage.
(suspenseful music plays)
NARRATOR:
Mohamed is excavating the pyramid complex
of pharaoh Djedkare,
who ruled 100 years after the last
of the Giza pyramids was built,
and 60 years after Sahure.
Just like Sahure's pyramid, Djedkare's
is smaller than the giants of Giza.
Last season, Mohamed excavated
here and discovered the lost
tomb of Djedkare's wife, Queen Setibhor.
For the first time,
we have the daylight inside
the burial chamber of the queen.
(music bellows)
NARRATOR: He has returned this
season to excavate another
mysterious tomb just beside the pyramid.
The tomb's proximity to Djedkare's pyramid
suggests it could belong
to one of the pharaoh's top officials.
It could help Mohamed
understand why this pyramid
is so different in scale to those at Giza.
From those people you
gain so much information about
his rule, about his reign
and the society at the time.
NARRATOR:
The tomb has a rectangular shape
and is made from stone,
a structure known as a mastaba.
First, the team must dig around its sides
to try and find a way in.
MALE TEAM LEADER (in native language):
Come on. Come here, come! Lift. Come on.
- (intense music continues)
- (unintelligible muttering)
NARRATOR:
Soon they spot something in the sand.
(music crescendos)
This is a later burial and it's made or
the person is buried in two amphoras.
NARRATOR: Amphoras, large ceramic
storage jars, have distinctive shapes.
Mohamed can use them to date
this burial to around 500 BCE,
nearly 2000 years after
the mastaba was built.
And it's not the only later burial here.
The team is now finding small
tombs all around the structure.
It's clear people wanted to be buried
close to the mastaba tomb,
evidence of the owner's importance.
Usually from later times,
people who will come
and would like to be buried besides
important people. Well-known people.
(suspenseful music plays)
NARRATOR:
In 2019, just next to the mystery tomb,
Mohamed discovered another mastaba.
It was lavish, made from white limestone,
typically reserved for royalty.
And in its beautifully painted burial
chamber, Mohamed discovered a mummy.
He identified it as one of Djedkare's
senior officials, a man named Khuwy.
The mastaba Mohamed is
excavating now, is in worse condition.
Large parts of its roof are missing,
but the later burials around it
suggest it could belong to another
of Djedkare's highest ranking officials.
These officials' growing wealth
could help explain
the diminished scale
of Djedkare's pyramid.
But the search for an entrance
to the tomb has run into a problem.
We are blocked and being slowed
by those casing blocks
which were falling from this mastaba here.
NARRATOR:
Some of the huge stones of the mastaba's
limestone casing have
collapsed on one side.
They need to move them one by one
to see if an entrance could lie below.
This one of the difficult work we have.
The stones are very heavy.
The corridor is very narrow.
NARRATOR: The stones weigh up to half
a ton. Shifting them is a dangerous task.
Any small mistake can hurt the workers.
(music bellows)
(dramatic music plays)
NARRATOR:
At the pyramid field of Abusir,
Czech archaeologist Ladislav Bares and
his team are excavating a strange tomb.
For us, archeology is not only a
profession, but it's a way of life.
I always said that I am
half Czech, half Egyptian.
NARRATOR:
The tomb could reveal clues to how
the pyramids and Egyptian burial practice
evolved after the construction
of the iconic pyramids of Giza.
When the weather is really good, we can
see about ten pyramids from here.
So, it really is a heart of the
pyramid fields, this place here.
NARRATOR: The tomb consists
of an enormous sand filled square,
the mouth of a gigantic
rock cut burial shaft
- dropping down into the desert floor.
- The main shaft is about 40 meters square.
That is 14 by 14. And at the bottom,
there should be the burial chamber.
NARRATOR:
That's over two thousand square feet,
about half the size of a basketball court.
Ladislav wants to find out
when this massive shaft tomb
was built and who was buried here.
The challenge is getting to the
bottom of the massive burial shaft.
At present we are at
a depth of about two meters,
but it might be about 20, 25 meters deep.
So, we have to remove about
two thousand cubic meters of sand.
NARRATOR: That's enough
sand to fill 100 dumper trucks.
Excavating it all, could take the team
of 50, four months of backbreaking work,
eating up their entire excavation season.
But they think they have found a shortcut.
They have uncovered two smaller shafts
just to the side of the tomb.
Ladislav hopes one of them will
lead straight to the burial chamber.
(in native language)
Thanks a lot.
Anything new, down at the bottom?
NARRATOR: Czech archaeologist Jiri Janak
is overseeing the excavation here.
The approximate layout
of the tomb should be like this.
So, we are in a small entrance shaft
to the south of the main burial shaft.
On the bottom of the burial
shaft is the burial chamber.
And those two are connected
together here by a corridor.
NARRATOR: It's a shaft system
the team has seen before,
in the step pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara,
Egypt's first ever pyramid,
built 100 years before
the Great Pyramid at Giza.
It was one of the amazing deeds
of the ancient Egyptians.
NARRATOR:
Deep below Djoser's revolutionary pyramid
lies a hidden network of tunnels.
At the center, an enormous
square vertical shaft
that drops over 90 feet into the
ground to the pharaoh's
burial chamber, seen as a
gateway into the underworld.
(dramatic music bellows)
Branching off it, horizontal corridors,
some filled with treasures
for the pharaoh's afterlife,
one to access his chamber.
Djoser's revolutionary pyramid
was a blueprint for all pyramids
and launched the Pyramid Age.
Its colossal burial shaft was
just one staggering feature
of ancient Egyptian engineering.
The enormous square at the center
of Jiri and Ladislav's mystery tomb,
suggests the owner copied
this incredible design.
The layout and the structure
were somehow inspired by
the layout of the Djoser pyramid complex.
NARRATOR: So they think,
the builder may have copied
the horizontal corridor leading
to the burial chamber,
and that this access corridor might be at
the bottom of this second smaller shaft.
It's only six and a half by eight feet
wide. There's a lot less sand to remove.
It would massively reduce the
excavation time, but it's a gamble.
Every minute spent digging
to reach the short cut corridor
beneath means less time excavating
the main burial shaft.
So that's why we are
desperate to find the corridor.
(music crescendos)
(music bellows loudly)
NARRATOR: A short distance away,
inside the pyramid of pharaoh Sahure,
Mohamed inspects the
just discovered jawbone.
It's strong bones and,
and also the jaw itself. It's big.
NARRATOR: He's on a mission
to reveal the secrets of this pyramid,
built soon after the
giant pyramids of Giza
and find its long-lost pharaoh, Sahure.
The mass of rubble from a
collapsed ceiling and walls,
might hide Sahure's burial chamber
with his sarcophagus and mummy.
As Mohamed inspects the jaw,
he spots crucial evidence.
This is not a mummified body.
NARRATOR:
All the ancient Egyptian pharaohs
were mummified to preserve
their bodies for the afterlife.
But there are no traces of
mummification on this jaw.
This is not the pharaoh. This is, I think,
this is one of the tomb raiders.
(dramatic music bellows)
NARRATOR:
The pharaoh's pyramids were
filled with treasures,
hidden in secret rooms.
(music continues to sweep)
Tomb raiders on the hunt
for these treasures,
broke into every pyramid ever built.
The jawbone could be evidence
they broke into Sahure's pyramid, too.
It suggests that with
no plan of the layout,
they didn't know which wall
might be hiding the loot.
They may have cut through
a wall supporting the roof
which collapsed and killed them
(music crescendos)
If the pyramid collapsed above
the robbers' heads and sealed
the entrance for everyone else,
there could still be treasure inside.
It's very, very
interesting and very exciting.
NARRATOR: The team continues
to carefully remove the remains
of the collapsed walls and ceiling,
when suddenly the work comes to a halt.
(in native language)
You can't move that. Because if you do,
that part might lean
towards the other side.
If I remove it, I'll remove it from here,
just until Ahmad gets
a chance to strengthen it.
We are afraid that these two blocks
would a little bit move down.
(intense music sweeps)
NARRATOR: Two massive stone blocks
are looming on top of the debris.
But as you see,
it's already hanging there.
NARRATOR: Before the team can continue
excavating, they must secure the blocks.
If they move, the blocks
could trigger an avalanche
and even worse,
take down one of the ten-ton ceiling beams
precariously hanging above the room.
We could really get
trapped inside the pyramid.
(intense music crescendos)
(dramatic music plays)
NARRATOR:
In Saqqara, at the mystery mastaba tomb,
next to pharaoh Djedkare's pyramid,
Mohamed and his team have made
great progress moving the large stones.
We managed to move the,
to lift the block and
they are putting it down
and then try to fix it.
NARRATOR:
They are searching for an entrance
to get inside and investigate this tomb.
Mohamed hopes it could belong
to one of Djedkare's royal officials
and help explain
why pyramids became smaller
so soon after the Great Pyramids of Giza.
Every time we found a
new tomb, every time we found
a new information, it gave us
another piece of or complete
another piece of the picture
about the role of the king,
about how the state
looked like at that time.
(unintelligible muttering)
NARRATOR: So far, they haven't found
anything below the stone blocks here.
But on the other side of the mastaba,
there's been a breakthrough.
In the destroyed ruins,
they have discovered evidence
of what would have been the entrance.
We managed to clear
a part of the entrance room.
This is the entrance room,
actually, the first room in the tomb.
NARRATOR: Mohamed hopes
to find the name and titles
of the tomb owner in the
ruins of this entrance room.
It's nice feeling when you
feel that it's you are very near
to finding name or very near
to find who was buried here.
It's really exciting.
It's really exciting.
NARRATOR: But the reliefs
and inscriptions that used
to adorn the walls here,
now lie broken on the floor.
The team must painstakingly put
all the fragments back together
in the search for the
tomb owner's name or titles.
It's like puzzles. Working with
fragments is like working with puzzles.
NARRATOR: Mohamed's fellow
archaeologist Hana Vymazalova
carefully examines the
reliefs on the wall fragments.
So here, the small remains of the
hieroglyphic sign shows us
that this nice figure of a male carrying
lotus flowers was a funerary priest.
So, this was one of the
people who kept coming
and bringing offerings so that the
deceased could live on in the next world.
NARRATOR:
The reliefs contain offering scenes,
a wonderful insight into
how ancient Egyptians imagined
they might attain an afterlife.
But so far, no clues to the
identity of the tomb owner.
Until suddenly
HANA:
Mohamed. Look what we found. Look.
- MOHAMED: Whoa!
- (dramatic music crescendos)
(dramatic music bellows)
NARRATOR: In Abusir,
inside pharaoh Sahure's collapsed pyramid,
Mohamed's team are racing
o stabilize the two large stone blocks,
dangerously looming on top of the debris.
(music intensifies)
We need to stabilize them completely,
not to move really one inch.
NARRATOR: The team is
on the hunt for a burial chamber
and a long-lost pharaoh below
the debris here. If they find him,
it would shine a light on the
little-known pyramids built after Giza.
But if these two blocks move,
they could trigger an avalanche
bringing the team's
quest to a premature end.
These two blocks are the
most dangerous issue in this room.
(music bellows)
NARRATOR: So to seal the blocks in place,
the team applies a special
mix of mortar made from
gypsum and clear sand.
- (unintelligible chatter)
- (dramatic music sweeps)
We was throwing the mortars very hard
in order to get into the cracks.
NARRATOR:
After three buckets of mortar,
Mohamed is confident
there is no imminent risk
and the hunt for the chamber can continue.
(music continues)
(in native language)
Come on, guys!
NARRATOR:
Three feet deeper into the debris,
a sharp-eyed worker spots a telltale sign.
(in native language)
This is for the boss.
(music bellows)
(in native language) This part is from
the front, facing part around the burial.
Okay. So, we found a small piece
with a very smooth surface.
NARRATOR: Mohamed immediately
recognizes this polished stone.
MOHAMED: It's part of the of
the wall of the burial chamber.
The ancient Egyptians, when they
they did make the burial chamber,
they polished all the walls
of the, of the inside walls.
And that's why we have
this smooth surface.
NARRATOR: It's a great discovery that
proves Mohamed's hunch was right.
We now are going
inside the burial chamber.
NARRATOR: This room was once
Sahure's last resting place.
Mohamed is on the right track
to finally find the long-lost pharaoh.
And soon the team makes
another intriguing discovery.
(music intensifies)
It's very interesting now because we,
we have found original floor here.
NARRATOR: Even through the
thick layer of dust from the debris,
Mohamed can clearly
see the neatly polished floor
of the pharaoh's burial chamber.
It's really a great moment for me
and for the whole team.
We are standing in an unexplored area.
NARRATOR:
Mohamed inspects the 4500-year-old ground.
The original floor is intact and
it's in a good condition.
NARRATOR: The floor is still preserved.
A promising sign.
That means we could
find still, as our structure
still may be in situ, or we
could at least find the sarcophagus.
NARRATOR:
Carefully, they continue to excavate
until one of the workers finds
a smooth black stone: basalt.
- Yes. Wow.
- (music intensifies)
This comes from the sarcophagus.
(music crescendos)
(dramatic music)
NARRATOR: In Abusir, at the strange
shaft tomb amongst the pyramids,
Ladislav's team is racing
to find a hidden horizontal corridor,
a shortcut to the burial chamber.
We very much hope that this is the easier
way how to get to the burial chamber.
NARRATOR:
Ladislav wants to find out
when this shaft was built and
who was buried here.
Answers could help him
understand how the pyramids
and burial rites evolved after
the iconic pyramids of Giza.
The tomb shaft system seems
modeled on Djoser's pyramid,
Egypt's first pyramid, close by.
There, a horizontal corridor
leads to the burial chamber
at 28 meters, about 90 feet,
below ground level.
The team hope they
don't have to dig that deep
to find a shortcut corridor at this tomb.
Actually, we put our bets on.
So, my, my guess is 17 and a half.
Someone says 18. Some colleagues say 20
and some even 22 meters below ground.
But you never know with ancient Egyptians.
NARRATOR: Until evidence of a corridor
appears, it all remains a gamble
that could cost the team valuable
excavation time in the main burial shaft.
So that's, that's the exciting part
and most stressful part.
(dramatic music plays)
NARRATOR: The workers have
been digging for five days.
Now, Jiri and Ladislav check
how deep they have reached.
Can we have the tape measure, please?
(unintelligible chatter
in native language)
(music intensifies)
- LADISLAV: Still? Okay.
- JIRI: Uh. 15 and a half.
NARRATOR: They have dug
over 15 meters, 50 feet,
but they could have another 20
feet or even more to go.
I hope that with any
any stroke, we can find
a hole here that goes to the
north with a corridor.
NARRATOR: With the season
ending in just eight weeks,
the team can't afford to
search for the shortcut corridor
much longer and delay the excavation
of the main burial shaft.
So, they have to find it fast.
(suspenseful music bellows)
In Saqqara, next to the
pyramid of pharaoh Djedkare.
It's a part of the lintel that was
above the entrance to the tomb.
NARRATOR:
Mohamed and Hana examine
the relief fragments from
the entrance of the mastaba tomb.
Actually, it fits together even.
HANA: Yes, yes.
It's a nice piece that comes here.
NARRATOR: They want to
identify the owner of the tomb.
He could be a high ranking official
in the reign of Djedkare.
The growing wealth of the
bureaucratic elite could help
explain why the pyramids of this era
were not as grand as those at Giza.
It's really amazing, because
here we finally have the titles.
- (music bellows)
- So it is a lector priest.
- HANA: Mm hmm.
- (reads from fragment) Count or
- He was a noble.
- It was a noble.
- MOHAMED: Uh
- HANA: A lector priest who
could read the spells,
or he knew the spells
for the funerary cult.
So, he was a very educated
- and high positioned person.
- True, true.
- MOHAMED: Wow.
- (suspenseful music plays)
NARRATOR:
Hana and Mohamed recognize these titles.
They were typically reserved for only the
King's family and closest confidants.
Those titles can tell us he was working
very, very closely with the king.
Might be a vizier, which we can compare
it nowadays to a prime minister.
(intense music bellows)
NARRATOR:
In ancient Egypt, the Vizier
was the most important person
after the pharaoh.
(music intensifies)
He was in the Kings inner circle
of most trusted advisers
and was often
a member of the royal family.
The Vizier appointed and supervised
other government officials
and was the most senior judge.
Djedkare's Vizier would have been in
charge of building the Pharaoh's pyramid.
He would have been rewarded
with a tomb close by
and the hope of sharing
eternity with his king.
(music crescendos)
It's so satisfying
for us because it means we are
adding to those people who
were working with Djedkare.
We are adding to our
information about his reign.
(unintelligible chatter)
NARRATOR:
And soon the team makes another discovery.
We can see the entrance to another room.
(dramatic music plays)
NARRATOR: In the pyramid field of Abusir,
at the strange shaft tomb,
30 workers dig to reach a shortcut
corridor to the burial chamber
modeled on Djoser's Pyramid tomb nearby.
The archaeologists want
to find out who was buried
in this mystery tomb and
when it was built.
Slowly down please, slowly.
NARRATOR:
Jiri and Ladislav check the depth again
Thank you.
In Djoser's Pyramid,
the short cut corridor
and burial chamber are 28 meters,
about 90 feet deep.
- So what's the number?
- LADISLAV: It's 18 meters 40.
18 meters 40, okay. Okay.
NARRATOR: Jiri hoped the corridor would
be at most 17 and a half meters deep,
but at over 18 meters,
60 feet, there's still no sign of it.
JIRI: We are getting a little bit
anxious. Nervous.
When will this horizontal corridor appear?
NARRATOR:
With every foot, Jiri is getting more
and more worried their gamble
might not be paying off.
While the excavation continues,
Ladislav heads to the dig headquarters
where pottery specialist,
Kveta Smolarikova
is also on the hunt
for the owner of this strange tomb.
LADISLAV:
Good afternoon Kveta.
NARRATOR: Kveta is examining
a collection of 370 ceramic jars
the team previously
discovered at the site.
The residue inside them
suggests they were used during
the mummification of the tomb owner.
It's one of the largest collections
of mummification equipment
ever discovered in Egypt.
KVETA: We know, so far, that he should
have been a very powerful man.
NARRATOR: On some of the jars,
Kveta has now also discovered a name.
We know his name,
which is Wahibra-mery-Neith.
NARRATOR: She is convinced
Wahibra-mery-Neith is the tomb owner.
The ancient Egyptians believed
the name of the deceased had
to be written in their tomb,
so their soul could recognize
their body and reunite in the afterlife.
To have his name is great, excellent find.
NARRATOR:
And the shape of an intact jar
gives Kveta a clue
to when he was buried here.
Very nice. Very nice jar.
Which was typical for the Saite period.
NARRATOR: During the Saite period,
Egypt was ruled by a dynasty
of pharaohs from the
ancient Egyptian city of Sais.
They reigned between 664 to 525 BCE,
long after Djoser's Pyramid
launched the Pyramid Age.
LADISLAV: The ancient pyramids
are about two thousand years old
during this time in the
first millennium BCE.
NARRATOR:
Yet, Wahibra-mery-Neith seems
to be buried here amidst the old
pyramids, in a tomb shaft
that replicates Djoser's
pyramid, Egypt's first pyramid.
In the time when these
shaft tombs have been built,
Egypt was in danger from the east.
(dramatic music bellows)
NARRATOR: During the Saite period,
Egypt was at war with its neighbors.
(unintelligible fighting sounds)
NARRATOR: Egyptians looked to their
ancestors for help and flocked to Saqqara
to pray at ancient sites like
Pharaoh Djoser's famed first pyramid.
Inspired by Djoser's burial
chamber, the wealthy elites
built their burial tombs
deep into the ground nearby.
But their homage to
Djoser did not save them.
The Persians invaded in 525 BCE.
The Saite dynasty crumbled, and the last
native pharaoh of Egypt lost his throne.
People took inspiration
in the great past of their ancestors.
But very soon after
the time of building this tomb,
Egypt has been conquered by Persia.
NARRATOR: Back at the excavation,
the team has dug over 75 feet down
and finally reached
the bottom of the shaft.
But there's no sign
of the shortcut corridor.
It should be somewhere here.
But it's actually not Not appearing.
(music intensifies)
NARRATOR:
The team's gamble has failed.
There is no shortcut
to the burial chamber.
The small access shaft is a mysterious
dead end. They now have no choice
but to excavate the 70,000 cubic feet
of sand in the massive central shaft.
It's the only way to reach the burial
chamber. And the depths of the small shaft
suggest the chamber lies
at over 75 feet below ground.
Cutting this wide and deep into the
hard bedrock was a gargantuan task.
The Saites invested heavily
to hark back to the golden pyramid age.
Even 2000 years after the first
pyramid in Egypt had been built,
the pyramids were still most important for
the people as part of their iconic past.
NARRATOR: These iconic structures
have never lost their allure.
And I am sure the legacy of the pyramids
will live on not only in Egypt,
but everywhere in the world.
(dramatic music bellows)
NARRATOR:
At Abusir, inside the Pyramid of Sahure
Give me the brush.
NARRATOR: Mohamed examines
the black basalt fragment
his workers have just recovered
from the Pharaoh's burial chamber.
All the pyramids
inside is built of limestone.
And the only thing that made and
built of basalt is the sarcophagus.
So, this comes from the sarcophagus.
NARRATOR: It's an incredible discovery.
A piece of Sahure's sarcophagus.
It could mean the sarcophagus was
smashed and remains under the rubble.
I cannot expect my feeling now.
My eyes is shining and I'm really like,
my, my my heart is beating very hard.
NARRATOR: Now, the team needs
to clear all the burial chamber,
but they will first have to work
out what to do with the two large blocks
they temporarily secured with mortar.
We need to find a proper solution
in order to avoid that
those large blocks will fall down.
NARRATOR:
The blocks will need to come out.
But first, the team will have
to build supporting walls
to bear the weight around them.
It will delay the excavation,
but allow Mohamed to achieve his goal.
Then we can go deeply inside the burial
chamber to see the sarcophagus at the end.
NARRATOR: So far, the mission
has been a great success.
I'm very proud of my team.
They were able to take
this initiative and they have,
they have done something extraordinary.
NARRATOR: The team has found
the unexplored burial chamber
of one of Egypt's great pharaohs, Sahure.
It's really the best
moment of my career when you
really find something that
no one did it before you.
And you will be the first.
You are the first.
(dramatic music plays)
NARRATOR: The fragment of
basalt rock Mohamed has found,
is likely part of
Sahure's stone sarcophagus.
It is evidence his final
resting place lies ahead
at the end of a once beautiful
white burial chamber.
Sahure was buried deep inside a pyramid,
just like the three
Giza pharaohs that came before him.
His pyramid was smaller,
but surrounded by a complex
of temples covered in reliefs
proclaiming his achievements.
Here, worshipers kept his
name and memory alive,
so according to their beliefs,
he could live forever.
(dramatic music continues)
Sahure's stunning complex
marked a change in belief.
Pharaohs reimagined pyramids.
Elaborate decoration and inscription
became more important than size.
It was a revolutionary new
take on pyramid building.
It's a unique pyramid complex and
I wish that we will find the sarcophagus
then to know more and
more about this great man.
NARRATOR:
In Saqqara, Mohamed and his team
have painstakingly removed
the sand from the mastaba tomb
next to Pharaoh
Djedkare's Pyramid complex.
In this area we found
until now four storerooms.
Two are partly clear now and I believe
behind these walls are another two.
NARRATOR:
They have just discovered evidence
of four large storerooms or magazines.
Magazines are very
important for us because
it shows the wealth
of the owner of the tomb.
In those magazines, all the equipment
for the offering were kept and stored.
NARRATOR: In the time of
Djoser and the Giza pyramids,
Egyptians believed only the pharaoh
could resurrect and live forever.
Now, around 100 years later,
his high officials expected
and planned for an afterlife too.
They covered their
tombs in beautiful paintings
and filled storerooms with everything
they would want in their next life.
And their ambitions were
getting grander and grander.
I think the owner of
this mastaba was very wealthy
to build the magazines in the size.
NARRATOR: It is evidence of a shift
in wealth and power in the years after
the Giza pyramids, that also explains
why pyramids became smaller.
(dramatic music plays)
At Giza, pharaohs built great pyramids
in the hope of eternal resurrection.
When later pharaohs
expanded Egypt's borders,
they had to rely on a growing army
of officials to govern distant regions.
These high officials used
their new wealth and power
to build rich mastaba tombs
in the royal necropolis.
(music intensifies)
The pharaoh's power decreased.
And so too, the size of their pyramids.
(music crescendos)
The number of those
officials were getting bigger
and bigger and at the end,
it result in the collapse of the state
because they were much more
powerful than the king himself.
NARRATOR:
With the collapse of the Egyptian state,
the Golden Pyramid Age came to an end.
It's been a great season
for Mohamed and the team.
This is an amazing discovery.
This tomb can tell us so much
about the reign of Djedkare
about the king and the pyramid.
NARRATOR:
Archaeologists continue to unravel
the secrets of Egypt's lost pyramids.
Their investigations
uncover how the pharaohs
had to innovate when a growing elite
diminished their power to build big.
They conceived a new way to achieve
eternity, where the size of their tomb
didn't matter as much as worship and
keeping their name and memory alive.
Pyramid building continued for nearly
1000 years after its high point at Giza.
Even long after the last pyramid was
built, generations of ancient Egyptians
copied the fascinating tombs
of their ancestors,
that still capture our
imagination to this day.
(music crescendos)