Lost Treasures of Egypt (2019) s02e04 Episode Script

1
NARRATOR: Egypt.
The richest source of
archaeological treasures on the planet.
MAN: Oh wow, look at that.
NARRATOR: Hidden beneath
this desert landscape lie the secrets
of this ancient civilization.
(speaking native language).
ALEJANDRO (off-screen): I've
never seen something like this.
NARRATOR: Now for a full season of
excavations our cameras have been given
unprecedented access, to follow
teams on the front line of archaeology.
MYRIAM: This is the
most critical moment.
NARRATOR: Revealing
buried treasures.
SALIMA: Oh!
AHMED: We were lucky today.
NOZUMO: Wow! Lots
of mummies.
KATHLEEN: The smell
is horrible.
NARRATOR: And making discoveries
that could rewrite ancient history.
JOHN: We've never had
the proof, until now.
COLLEEN: This is
where it all started.
ALEJANDRO: My goodness,
I never expected this.
(applause)
NARRATOR: This time, new secrets
of Ancient Egypt's greatest structures.
The Pyramids.
Chris explores the
origins of the first pyramid ever built.
CHRIS: It's an incredible
achievement architecturally.
NARRATOR: Miroslav hunts
for the lost tomb
of the mastermind of Egypt's pyramid era.
MIROSLAV: Evidence
for an entrance.
HAMED (off-screen): Move,
move, move, move, move.
NARRATOR: Kamil unearths
new skeletons inside
Egypt's oldest pyramid complex.
KAMIL: We actually
find the remains of the next mummy.
WORKER (off-screen): Looks like
we have an eyeball here.
NARRATOR: And Christelle
decodes ancient texts,
to investigate the mysterious beliefs
that gave rise to these structures.
CHRISTELLE: Oh wow!
It's incredible.
(theme music plays).
NARRATOR: The Pyramids
of Egypt.
Across the last 300 years
explorers have found
over 130 of these iconic
ancient structures.
But mysteries of these monuments
and the pharaohs buried
inside remain unsolved.
To unlock the secrets of these structures
each year teams of archaeologists
investigate the birthplace of this
revolutionary ancient architecture.
Ten miles south of the
great pyramids of Giza
Lies the necropolis of Saqqara.
Today Egyptologist Chris Naunton
travels here to investigate what triggered
over 1,000 years of pyramid building.
He's been granted rare access to explore
restricted areas of this necropolis.
CHRIS: This is a pretty
exciting moment for me
because I've never been inside before.
NARRATOR: This ancient
cemetery is home to eleven pyramids
and hundreds of tombs,
but one structure dominates all
others, the first pyramid ever built.
CHRIS: This is
where it all began.
It is the first monumental
building in stone anywhere in the world.
NARRATOR: Constructed more than
four thousand five hundred years ago,
this is the Step Pyramid tomb of pharaoh
Djoser, a king of Egypt's third dynasty.
It's a revolutionary masterpiece designed
by Egypt's pioneer architect, Imhotep.
CHRIS: His achievement
was massive, not just for the Egyptians,
but for humankind.
NARRATOR: Born as a
commoner Imhotep rose
to become pharaoh
Djoser's trusted advisor,
and eventually his chief architect.
He invented the stepped pyramid,
using stone blocks instead of mud bricks,
allowing him to build ever bigger.
More than 2000 years
after Imhotep's death he was worshipped
as a God, all the way up
to Greek and Roman times.
Chris wants to discover
for himself what inspired Imhotep
to design his ground-breaking
step pyramid.
He climbs to higher ground
to examine the shape
of older burial structures
that surround it.
CHRIS: They're called
mastabas and they are these sort of squat
square platforms,
slightly sloping inwardly inclining walls.
NARRATOR: Chris can make
out traces of these simple structures
within Imhotep's design.
CHRIS: Now that we're getting
closer to the pyramid
you can really see the series of
platforms, one on top of another.
So the bottom one, in
some sense, is a mastaba.
It's just the addition of these successive
layers that make it into a pyramid
and it's an incredible
achievement architecturally.
NARRATOR: Built from over
500,000 tons of limestone,
constructed in mastaba-style layers,
the Step Pyramid stands
over 200 feet high,
then the tallest building in the world.
Its impact on the
Ancient Egyptian landscape was huge.
Ten more kings replicated
Imhotep's design,
determined to attain the same status
as the pharaoh of the first pyramid.
Their tombs became some of the most
iconic sacred buildings on the planet.
Each growing the necropolis until it
stretched five miles across the desert,
to create a sprawling city of the dead.
Today Imhotep's masterpiece
still dominates the Egyptian desert,
but while his structures survive
no trace of the man himself
has ever been found.
Half a mile north of the Step Pyramid.
A team digs an un-excavated
area they hope could lead to a tomb.
MAN: Saed, show me that
No, no, no!
NARRATOR: Project
leader Miroslav Barta has spent 30 years
searching Saqqara for
Imhotep's final resting place.
Finding his burial
chamber could help reveal the origins
of Egypt's greatest structures.
MIROSLAV (off-screen): This is
the very heart of Saqqara.
Full of treasures,
scientifically speaking.
NARRATOR: It's two weeks into the
dig and site inspector Hamada Shehata
is keen to explore a new lead.
HAMED: I am very excited to see what is
happening down, because if this, I need to.
NARRATOR: A shaft
filled with sand
that leads straight down into the bedrock.
MIROSLAV (off-screen): Who knows
where it will lead us to.
Maybe to the tomb of Imhotep.
We will see what happens
in the next few hours.
NARRATOR: Moments into the day's
dig a team clearing dirt next to the shaft
makes an intriguing discovery.
MIROSLAV (off-screen): We just
came across a large group of beer jars.
Wonderful. We are
lucky again.
NARRATOR: It's a good sign.
Pottery of this style dates
to the same era as Imhotep.
The team dig further down into the
shaft, hoping to hit the burial chamber.
MIROSLAV: Well, I am
becoming increasingly nervous
because it's getting wet
which has a very simple explanation
because we are getting closer
to the water table
NARRATOR: This may
be the desert,
but groundwater still
exists deep below the sand.
Many Egyptian tombs have
been destroyed by flooding.
MIROSLAV: I don't
want a deep shaft.
NARRATOR: If Imhotep's tomb lies below,
Miroslav's team needs to hit an entrance
in the next few baskets of sand.
HAMED: Move, move,
move, move, move!
NARRATOR: At the edge of
Djoser's pyramid complex,
a team investigates another
mysterious structure,
just 150 yards from the Step Pyramid.
Archaeologist Kamil
Kuraszkiewicz heads up the project.
This is his 23rd dig season
investigating ancient Saqqara.
KAMIL: We actually find
the remains of a huge trench enclosing
the Stepped Pyramid complex,
like a moat around a medieval castle.
NARRATOR: The trench
stretches over 130 feet wide
and 65 feet deep.
It's likely Imhotep used the extracted
stone to build his revolutionary pyramid.
But huge man-made
walls begin to emerge from the dirt,
suggesting Kamil's
team dig more than a simple stone quarry.
Discovering the true purpose of the
structure could change what we know
about Imhotep's pioneering design.
After 19 days digging,
bio-archaeologist Iwona
Kozieradzka-Ogunmakin
unearths more than just sand and stone.
She finds human remains.
IWONA: We just accidentally
come across it.
As you would.
So yeah, it's quite interesting,
it's a young individual, a teenager.
I reckon probably around 14.
NARRATOR: Could these bones hold
clues to why Imhotep dug the trench?
Within moments the
team finds a second entire skeleton.
KAMIL (off-screen):
Where is the new one?
IWONA: This one.
KAMIL (off-screen): The next
burial is not yet visible,
but you have to believe us, it is here.
IWONA: Looks like we might have
an actual eyeball preserved here.
NARRATOR: A burial this
close to the Step Pyramid could reveal
a hidden chapter in the history
of this revolutionary structure.
But first Kamil needs to find out
why the skeletons were buried here.
IWONA (off-screen): This
one looks suspicious.
NARRATOR: Iwona
carefully removes dirt
from the ancient skeletons
buried in the trench.
She wants to find out why the
bodies were buried here.
Can they explain Imhotep's
decision to carve this huge structure
surrounding the world's first pyramid?
As she gradually unearths
the skulls vital clues
to the burial practices
used begin to appear.
IWONA: We can see a hole
made into the cranium
through the nasal passages,
to remove the brain.
And I think they used
some linen scrubs to clean
the inside of the cavity.
NARRATOR: Traces of linen
and evidence of brain extraction are both
signs of mummification, a
form of body preservation
practiced during the time of Imhotep.
But as the team clears
more sand Kamil doesn't see a link
between the skeletons and the trench.
KAMIL: Without equipment
like coffins the graves are very simple.
NARRATOR: The simple burials
are a sign that they date to a time
long after Imhotep.
KAMIL (off-screen):
At the time of Imhotep
it was absolutely impossible for mortals
to be buried close to the King.
NARRATOR: But they are evidence
that this is a highly sacred site,
where people wanted to be buried.
KAMIL: They knew about the cemetery
close to the Step Pyramid complex.
To be buried close to the
creation of Imhotep
was the best thing they could expect.
NARRATOR: Convinced more
clues to the trench's purpose lie beneath
the dirt, Kamil instructs his
team to ramp up the excavation.
Just 150 yards away at
Djoser's Step Pyramid
Chris is keen to explore
the gigantic structure.
He thinks it might
reveal Imhotep's incredible innovations
that inspired over 1000
years of pyramid tombs.
Djoser's burial complex
is a restricted area
but Chris secures rare access
through archaeologist
Ragab Dawood.
CHRIS: Greetings
Are you Ragab?
RAGAB: Yes, I'm Ragab
CHRIS: Can we go inside?
RAGAB: Yes.
CHRIS: Thank you.
NARRATOR: They follow tunnels
that take them into the burial shaft
deep beneath the pharaoh's pyramid.
CHRIS: My God, wow, that
is amazing. It's huge.
RAGAB (off-screen): Yeah.
CHRIS (off-screen): And so the
pyramid is RAGAB (off-screen): Yeah.
CHRIS: Above us now.
RAGAB: Yeah.
CHRIS: Wow.
And what we're
looking at, at the bottom of the shaft,
so that's where he was buried?
That's where Djoser was buried?
RAGAB: Yes
CHRIS: Amazing.
NARRATOR: To create
one of the largest burial chambers
in Egypt Imhotep's workers dug
out thousands of tons of limestone.
CHRIS: It's amazing to think
that this is all cut from the bedrock.
RAGAB: Be careful.
CHRIS: Thanks. RAGAB: Yeah.
Watch your steps please,
and to the left, yeah.
CHRIS: Go this way?
RAGAB: Yeah, come this way.
NARRATOR: 90 feet below ground
Ragab spots a hidden carving.
RAGAB (off-screen): Have a look.
We found inside shaft blocks and stars.
CHRIS: Yeah, wow.
NARRATOR: The original
tomb builders left these blocks behind.
CHRIS: It's amazing to see
here examples of these stars,
'cause you find them on the ceilings
of temples and tombs in many places,
but this is the first
instance of this motif ever being used.
This is where it all began.
It's another innovation of this pyramid.
NARRATOR: Originally painted
gold on a blue background Imhotep's
stars decorate tombs built
over 1,000 years later.
They offer a glimpse into his
vision for this trailblazing tomb.
CHRIS: These evoke the
night sky, so the idea is
that even though Djoser is
laid to rest underground,
in pitch darkness, he can see,
symbolically, this stone cut night sky,
and in that way he would have been
able to make the journey to the stars,
which is how Imhotep
conceived of the journey to the afterlife.
NARRATOR: Imhotep's
underground labyrinth
was a pioneering architectural experiment.
One that became
the blueprint for Egypt's pyramids
for hundreds of years.
Two miles south of Djoser's
monument is a site where the pyramid
of Pharaoh Ibi once stood.
CHRISTELLE: Oh! Oh!
NARRATOR: Built 500 years
after the time of Imhotep
the structure was ransacked
for stone, to build ancient Cairo.
But archaeologist Christelle Alvarez
things fragments of hieroglyphs
here could reveal more about the
ancient beliefs that inspired Imhotep
and later Egyptians to build pyramids.
CHRISTELLE (off-screen): Just in
the middle we have the burial chamber,
which has preserved some of
the text that were inscribed
4,000 years ago.
NARRATOR: They're
known as pyramid texts.
Christelle wants
to decipher these ancient codes,
but first she must complete
the damaged inscriptions.
CHRISTELLE: It actually really fits and
for this one we can tell that it holds.
So one fragment has found his home.
NARRATOR: But this is
a puzzle with many missing pieces.
CHRISTELLE: It's not easy.
(laughs)
And I need some other hands.
This one is supposed to be here somewhere.
MAN: This one in here?
CHRISTELLE: Maybe we need
to find more fragments.
NARRATOR: Finding lost
sections of hieroglyphs
will help Christelle decode
the ancient writing.
CHRISTELLE: Now if we want to
really have a look at this whole area
we need to remove these two big blocks.
NARRATOR: She thinks
mystic texts, unseen for over 4,000 years,
lie undiscovered in
the corner of the tomb.
CHRISTELLE: Maybe there
will be some elements that we will find.
NARRATOR: Two miles north, at
Miroslav's tomb excavation
it's week three of the dig, and he
finally gets news of a breakthrough.
MIROSLAV: Ismael
ISMAEL: Yes
MIROSLAV: Have we found it?
ISMAEL: Yes, yes it's here
MIROSLAV: Is it
opened or closed?
ISMAEL: We still don't know boss
MIROSLAV: Keep going
MIROSLAV: Evidence
for an entrance.
So we are on time.
NARRATOR: At the bottom of
the shaft the team finds
what they think is the
entrance to an ancient burial chamber.
HAMED: Does it go this way?
ISMAEL: If you want
to go down, it's okay
NARRATOR: But the
excitement is put on hold.
Reports from the bottom of the shaft
are not what Miroslav is hoping for.
MIROSLAV: It's open.
They say it's open.
NARRATOR: Tombs are always
sealed after burial.
An open tomb is evidence
of ancient looters.
MIROSLAV: We basically follow in
the footsteps of the ancient robbers.
NARRATOR: But crucial
discoveries may still be inside.
HAMED: Let's do it.
Hurry up.
NARRATOR: Beneath Saqqara's
towering Step Pyramid
Chris and Ragab navigate the labyrinth
of tunnels inside pharaoh Djoser's tomb.
They want to investigate why Imhotep
dug out thousands of tons of rock
to bury his master so far underground.
CHRIS: Can we go this way?
RAGAB (off-screen): Yeah.
CHRIS (off-screen):
It's very confusing.
NARRATOR: At 90 feet below
ground level they emerge into a chamber
dominated by a huge stone structure.
CHRIS (off-screen): Wow!
Oh my God! That's immense.
So this is a giant sarcophagus for Djoser,
and he would have been buried inside
and it's made of these
massive pieces of granite.
There's no way in.
Exactly as Imhotep would have intended,
but of course Imhotep didn't have
any idea that after his time robbers,
somehow, did manage to find a way in.
NARRATOR: When archaeologists
discovered Djoser's sarcophagus,
his body and treasure were missing.
Imhotep's underground burial
couldn't protect his master's corpse,
but it wasn't dug just for security.
CHRIS: The ancients were bringing the
body of Djoser a long way underground,
so that's partly about placing
him physically underneath the world
and in the kind of underworld.
NARRATOR: This pioneering
pyramid tomb was built as a grand gateway
for the deceased king to
pass into life after death.
Beneath the pyramid's thousands
of blocks of limestone
lies Djoser's underground palace.
A central shaft descends
to the pharaoh's tomb.
A granite vault in which
Djoser's mummy once lay.
Almost four miles of tunnels,
with over 400 chambers,
branch out around it.
Some full of riches,
to make sure the pharaoh had
all he needed in the afterlife.
Crowned with a vast pyramid the
tomb of King Djoser was a beacon
for early archaeologists.
Just over 800 yards from the Step
Pyramid Miroslav's team search
for the tomb of its
mastermind, the great Imhotep.
It's 24 days into the dig and they've
caught a glimpse of an opening
at the bottom of the shaft.
HAMED: Big discovery maybe
MIROSLAV: It's robbed
HAMED: Big discovery maybe
MIROSLAV: Just be quiet
MIROSLAV: We are going
down now, to see the entrance.
Cross the fingers.
NARRATOR: This is the
moment Miroslav has been waiting for.
MIROSLAV: The excitement
is rising right now.
NARRATOR: He could be
on the brink of an historic discovery.
MIROSLAV (off-screen):
So here we are.
Oh! Oh there is a wonderful
limestone sarcophagus.
Untouched for more than 4000 years.
NARRATOR: But up close Miroslav
discovers evidence of destruction.
MIROSLAV: That's sad.
That's very sad.
The mummy is completed disarticulated.
There is a very sad pile of bones in
the northern part of the sarcophagus.
So it's not a very nice
end for this gentleman.
NARRATOR: The ancient thieves
who first opened the tomb
have broken into the sarcophagus.
MIROSLAV (off-screen): It was torn apart
in antiquity because the most important
target for the tomb
robbers was his personal jewelry.
NARRATOR: With this level of devastation
identifying the body seems impossible,
but could evidence survive to
reveal if this is the great Imhotep?
MIROSLAV (off-screen): I think most
parts of the burial equipment survived,
which is quite a
valuable source of information for us.
NARRATOR: Further
inside Miroslav discovers vital clues
to the tomb owner's status.
MIROSLAV: So here we
are. This is called 'canopic jar'.
They were used to contain
mummified organs of the deceased.
NARRATOR: Only very
high status people were mummified,
Imhotep included.
But to be sure of the
identity of the body the team hauls up
the evidence for closer inspection.
MIROSLAV: Oh!
13 meters up.
It's okay, we finished.
NARRATOR: Two miles south, at pharaoh
Ibi's pyramid Christelle needs to move
two huge stone blocks,
that she thinks hide
fragments of pyramid
texts lost for thousands of years.
They could help decipher
the hieroglyphic codes
and reveal the vision of
the pyramid builders.
CHRISTELLE: That will take a
little bit of time because they need
the wood and ropes to drag them away.
NARRATOR: Her team
sets to work moving the blocks,
slowly exposing a section
of wall she hopes
will reveal inscriptions
unseen for millennia.
CHRISTELLE: We hope that maybe
we will find some extra fragments.
NARRATOR: But if
Christelle is to decode the pyramid texts
she'll need the fragments intact.
CHRISTELLE: I hope they haven't
damaged too much the text that was going
all the way down,
'cause it's very easy for the hieroglyph
at the base of the block
to disappear in dust.
NARRATOR: Each stone
weighs almost a ton.
Any sudden move could shatter the fragile
4,000 year old inscription.
CHRISTELLE: I think the far
one is going away here.
No, I give it, I can
take it. No, it broke!
NARRATOR: Inside the ruins
of pharaoh Ibi's tomb,
Christelle has removed two
obstructing stone blocks
and continues her hunt for
sections of ancient writing
unseen for thousands of years.
She's convinced they can
shed light on the belief
systems that compelled the Egyptians,
starting with Imhotep,
to build the pyramids.
CHRISTELLE: This is the corner where
we where never able to actually look at,
because it was behind those big blocks.
NARRATOR: As she digs away the
sand Christelle makes her first discovery.
CHRISTELLE (off-screen): There is one
fragment that they just found in this corner.
It's the bottom of the Cartouche of Ibi,
so we'll just have a look
if there is some more.
NARRATOR: This royal
hieroglyphic sign.
CHRISTELLE (off-screen):
Oh, yes, here there is one.
NARRATOR: Is a clue that
the texts were written to reinforce
the pyramid's sacred function,
to transport the king into the afterlife.
CHRISTELLE: There
is another one.
NARRATOR: Among the hieroglyphs
Christelle recognizes a figure known
to all Egypt and much
of the ancient world.
CHRISTELLE: You can see the Cartouche,
looks like the sign of the god Osiris.
NARRATOR: This is one of the
earliest ever descriptions of Osiris.
A god of resurrection and the underworld,
who features in later
Greek and Roman religion.
The hieroglyphs here reveal
the rise of belief systems
that lasted for thousands of years.
They pyramid texts are
the oldest copies of religious text.
Found in 11 pyramids
across Saqqara these pyramid texts record
the spiritual beliefs of
the pyramid builders.
With her time at Ibi's pyramid running out
Christelle still has
hundreds of pieces missing.
To help fill the gaps she
wants to explore another
major discovery of pyramid texts.
CHRISTELLE: When we're able
to compare from one version
to another we can sometimes
get a better sense.
NARRATOR: Christelle sets
off to find hieroglyphs inside a tomb
that has lain untouched
for almost 50 years.
CHRISTELLE (off-screen): And
it's exciting to see what's awaiting us.
NARRATOR: In the centre of the
Saqqara necropolis Kamil's team works hard
to excavate Imhotep's
vast moat shaped trench
surrounding Djoser's pyramid.
KAMIL (off-screen): We are looking
for any structures that could have been
the parts of the original design.
NARRATOR: As they dig
chambers, begin to appear,
cut into the sides of
the ancient structure.
KAMIL (off-screen): We uncovered
the entrance to this room
which is hewn in the back of the moat.
NARRATOR: The rock
surrounding the chamber is weak.
Cracks mean it's too
dangerous for Kamil to explore,
but he is keen to investigate a
tunnel that has been secured.
KAMIL: The first thing we
saw, it was the beginning of the corridor,
was quite unusual, and
during the exploration,
as we progressed deeper and
deeper towards the pyramid
it became more and more strange.
NARRATOR: Kamil thinks
it could hold clues to the true function
of the giant trench.
KAMIL: It's really impressive piece
of work, of ancient stone cutters.
So the pyramid is ahead of us.
The corridor points almost
exactly its middle.
NARRATOR: The shaft
seems to lead directly towards the pyramid
but Kamil's team has
dirt to dig before they can discover
what lies at the end
of this mysterious tunnel.
Half a mile north of the
Step Pyramid Miroslav
and his team are hunting for the identity
of the body in the newly discovered tomb.
To search for clues they
excavate a separate structure,
constructed next to the
opening of the burial shaft.
Miroslav has found part
of the original mastaba,
a large chamber 50 feet above
where he found the body.
It's the tomb's chapel, where visitors
would have come to leave offerings.
A wall, with a small peephole,
seals off a tiny cell that would have
contained a statue of the deceased
and may have
preserved clues to his or her identity.
MIROSLAV: We have two workers
inside that are about to clean the floor,
but we must be extremely
careful, as you can see.
NARRATOR: It's a big job.
Keeping the desert sand
out of the chamber is an endless task.
MIROSLAV: So far, so
good, but still we have to mind especially
when the windblown sand starts to flow.
It's like a flood coming in.
I'm just going down to
check out what is there.
NARRATOR: This is Miroslav's
last chance to figure out the identity
of the body in the tomb.
Just as he reaches
the chamber's entrance the workers
at the dig surface discover
something intriguing.
MAN: Use a brush
NARRATOR: Miroslav is
keen to climb down to examine the find.
MIROSLAV (off-screen): Now comes
the moment when we go down
and inspect the walls for
any possible inscriptions,
which may tell us more about the owner.
Let's hope for some surprises.
NARRATOR: In search of clues to
the identity of the body discovered
in the Saqqara tomb
Miroslav scours the walls
of the newly excavated mastaba chamber.
MIROSLAV: See, oh! It's a
red painted graffito.
It starts here, I guess.
Oh, here's one, here's another one.
NARRATOR: The 4,500
year old paint has faded,
but Miroslav recognizes
sections of the graffiti.
MIROSLAV: I'm not sure about the
proper reading at the moment though,
we can discern some,
it's double I, and 'ha', B T perhaps.
NARRATOR: These symbols represent
the sounds 'huh', 'tuh' and 'puh'.
Could it be part of the name Imhotep?
MIROSLAV: We are coming up to
the total of four red-painted graffiti
which seem to be all
the same, and turned upside down,
so I would say it's the name of the owner.
NARRATOR: Why are some of the
inscriptions upside down?
The key lies in how the
Egyptians built this tomb.
Before construction the
builders would mark
some stones with the
name of the tomb owner,
and then didn't care
which way round they installed the blocks,
explaining why some of the inscriptions
Miroslav has found are upside down.
But until Miroslav can
decode the hieroglyphs
he can't be sure whose tomb this is.
Just over 700 yards from Miroslav's site,
Kamil's team has
excavate the entire rock cut corridor.
It doesn't lead to the pyramid,
but Kamil thinks a strange
object discovered inside this tunnel
can finally reveal
why Imhotep built the giant trench.
Kamil climbs inside to
investigate further.
KAMIL (off-screen): At the end of this
corridor, in a small room to the right,
we found a huge wooden harpoon placed
in a special cylindrical container.
It's really impressive.
NARRATOR: Carved from a solid
piece of wood from the juniper tree,
the harpoon is a precious object,
and a snake motif dates
it to the time of Imhotep.
KAMIL (off-screen):
It was a ritual device.
It could not be used for an
actual fight or hunting,
because it was too large and too heavy.
NARRATOR: The position
of the harpoon,
tucked into a chamber set
inside the trench,
could be a clue to the
function of the trench
surrounding Imhotep's
revolutionary pyramid.
KAMIL: It was a three-dimensional
model of the road into the afterlife.
It was a path
intended for the King to ascend to heaven,
so the harpoon was a weapon
prepared for the King, for his afterlife.
NARRATOR: The King was
buried deep below ground,
taking him close to the
underworld, and the path to resurrection.
The Egyptians believed the
King's spirit was fortified
with offerings left inside the tunnels.
And with weapons stashed inside
the trench walls he'd defeat his foes,
until he finally reached the afterlife,
to complete his transformation into a God.
The trench may be
Imhotep's idea of the sacred journey
that awaited the King after he died.
If Kamil is right he has
exposed the true scale
of Imhotep's ambition for
the world's first pyramid.
KAMIL: The Step Pyramid complex
was completely experimental because
Imhotep tried to integrate religious
and ideological concepts and
he translated it into stone.
NARRATOR: In the desert
two miles south
is the pyramid of pharaoh Pepi II.
Built centuries after
Imhotep's pioneering monument,
Christelle thinks it hides
ancient pyramid texts
that can shed light on the missing
inscriptions back at Ibi's pyramid.
CHRISTELLE: This is the
first time since the 1930's that some work
is happening again in
the pyramid of Pepi II.
NARRATOR: Unlike Ibi's destroyed
monument Pepi's pyramid survives intact,
preserving many of its
archaeological treasures.
It's been locked up for decades, but
Christelle has the keys to go inside.
CHRISTELLE: It's
incredible. Wow!
NARRATOR: At the pyramid tomb
of Pepi II Christelle comes face to face
with the largest display of
pyramid texts ever discovered.
Inscriptions that could offer a
glimpse into the beliefs that inspired
the building of these
enigmatic structures.
CHRISTELLE: Oh wow!
So much was preserved in this pyramid.
It's really cool.
I really wanna have a
look at the West Wall.
Oh yeah.
Oh, the text goes all the way down.
That's pretty impressive.
I can see the white paint, the green.
Even the line at the end,
these are all things
that I cannot see in the pyramid of Ibi.
NARRATOR: Christelle hunts for sections
that match up with the inscriptions
she found inside Ibi's tomb.
CHRISTELLE: You can really see the
very similar arrangement between a line,
where you have some times a
text written horizontally,
and then you have the columns.
NARRATOR: Christelle uses a
database of inscriptions,
to track down and decode familiar
sections of the ancient hieroglyphics.
CHRISTELLE (off-screen): It
tells me that it's in the
antechamber, west wall, column 11.
The beginning starts just here.
So the title of the spell is invoking
the ferryman and doorkeeper.
NARRATOR: This is one of the oldest
carvings of the ferryman spell in existence.
In later myths he is
known as Nemty, the falcon-headed god,
who ferries the souls of the
dead through the afterlife.
The deceased pharaoh must
summon the ferryman to help him navigate
the treacherous waters of the underworld.
And deliver him safely to
the realm of the Sun God Ra.
Carving the hieroglyph of the
ferryman inside a pyramid
was meant to guarantee
protection for the dead.
Complete spells written on the walls
of Pepi's pyramid give Christelle a clue
to the meaning of
the texts back inside Ibi's tomb.
CHRISTELLE (off-screen): Perhaps the fact
of carving them inside the burial chamber
tells us that the pyramid
complex had really a ritual function.
It was a place of remembrance of the King.
It was a place to perform
the ritual activities,
to be sure that the King would actually
be able to maintain his
status as a spirit in the afterlife.
NARRATOR: Like the structures
themselves the ancient hieroglyphs
inside Egypt's pyramids served
deeply sacred functions.
They carved out a smooth passage
into the underworld, for the pharaoh,
and ensured he was still
King when he got there.
At Miroslav's Saqqara base.
He examines records of
ancient inscriptions,
hoping to find a match for the graffiti,
and discover the identity
of the 4,500 year old body.
MIROSLAV: This now,
it is exciting.
NARRATOR: Hieroglyphic markings
discovered at another pyramid complex
appear similar to the
mason's graffiti on the walls of the tomb.
MIROSLAV: There is
the same name,
referring to a particular
official from the same period.
Basically from the same context.
NARRATOR: A figure sits
next to the symbols.
MIROSLAV: This could
be the tomb owner.
NARRATOR: Miroslav is able to
fully translate the hieroglyphic name.
MIROSLAV: This part of the
scene, the reading is ptah, wer.
So that was him.
Ptah Wer.
NARRATOR: Incredibly he has tracked
down the owner of the ancient tomb.
It's not Imhotep, but
another high ranking Egyptian official
known as Ptah Wer.
MIROSLAV: Imagine that
you have someone who lived more than
4,400 years ago and you have his tomb.
You also have pictorial evidence for him.
It's quite an exceptional case I think.
NARRATOR: But who is Ptah Wer?
And why does he merit
a tomb so close to Djoser's Step Pyramid?
The clues could lie hidden in
the rest of this ancient inscription,
at the other end of the Saqqara plateau.
The pyramid complex of Sahure,
ruler of Egypt 100 years
after the time of Imhotep.
Miroslav's colleague,
Mohamed Ismail Khaled,
comes here to investigate the inscription.
It is hidden behind this protective
modern wall and could reveal more clues
about Ptah Wer's life and work.
MOHAMED: This is the moment
that I'm waiting for,
to see actually the relief.
Wow, if you begin like to clean little
bit of the dust, it's really amazing,
to see how the artisan
was really carving every single detail.
NARRATOR: Mohamed's
restorer gets to work cleaning the stone,
and glimpses of the ancient
scene begin to emerge.
MOHAMED (off-screen): This is
really a kind of detective work.
NARRATOR: As they clear the dust
the ancient original image of Ptah Wer
is revealed, along
with the symbols that spell out his name.
MOHAMED: This is his
title and this is his name, Ptah Wer,
and his title is written
above him, as the sculptor
and also the one who's in
charge of the stone vessels.
NARRATOR: A century after
the great Imhotep built the first pyramid
this inscription reveals Ptah Wer is
another master craftsman of pyramids.
His work honored by the pharaoh Sahure.
The carving shows
Ptah Wer feasting at a royal banquet,
a reward for his services to the pharaoh.
Ptah Wer had led an
expedition to the lands east of Egypt,
and brought back precious
stones, ivory and minerals.
Materials he used
to revolutionize pyramid decoration.
Commanding hundreds of skilled
craftsman he continued Imhotep's legacy
and built in honor of his King.
In return for his groundbreaking work
he was buried near
Imhotep's great pyramid,
at Saqqara, the most sacred
burial ground in Egypt.
MOHAMED: It's something
extraordinary for Ptah Wer,
to be depicted in such scenes like this,
that he's only just sitting,
eating and relaxing.
We are now sure that
Ptah Wer was really a high official
and that's why the King was able
to reward him for what he has done.
NARRATOR: Miroslav and his
team have found Ptah Wer,
a key figure in the rise
of Egypt's incredible pyramid landscape,
but the hunt for Imhotep continues.
Thousands of years
after Imhotep built the first pyramid
his revolutionary
tomb design is a spectacular success.
Kings who sought immortality live on
through these incredible structures.
Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.