All language subtitles for Ultimate Treasure Countdown Series 1 6of6 Unwrapping King Tut1080p

Bettany: The
ancient egyptians.

They built great pyramids,
temples and tombs in life.

In a bid to become
immortal after death.

I am professor bettany hughes.

I'm a historian and I spend my
life traveling the world to

Investigate the stories
of the cultures and
civilizations of the past

And I love having the chance to
share what I found with you.

I'm counting down our
top ten egyptian mummies.

At number 10 we met
ramesses the great,

The man who created one of the
world's first peace treaties.

At number 9, seti the
first revealed that ancient

Egyptians had skills
in cosmetic surgery.

At number 8, we found
shoshenq the second,

The lost pharaoh of tanis.

And at number 7 we got under
the skin of some of the oldest

Mummies in the world,
gebelein man and woman.

At number 6, a baby
disguised as a bird.

For number 5, we're at karnak,
the vast temple complex where

Pharaohs celebrated
their achievements,

But also where
there's a conundrum.

Now what you should be looking
at here is an image of my next

Mummy, but instead
of a great pharaoh,

You've just got
this ghostly presence.

Someone has gone to a huge
amount of effort to hack out

The face and body that
was once on these walls.

And there's a reason for that.

My next choice is
so controversial,

Ancient egypt wanted to
wipe their memory from
the face of the earth.

Number 5 in our list
was an enlightened ruler,

A skilled negotiator,
a winning diplomat and

Crucially, a woman
in a man's world.

This is one of my
all-time heroines of history,

Hatshepsut.

I'm incredibly lucky to
be close to this mummy,

Only identified as
hatshepsut in 2007.

And the tale behind
her discovery is worthy
of agatha christie.

The first clues
are found here,

In one of ancient
egypt's most iconic buildings.

This is hatshepsut's
mortuary temple,

Built so that priests could
worship her during her life,

In preparation for her death.

And even by ancient
egyptian standards,

It is vast.

Hatshepsut is a
rare female pharaoh,

And the truth is she
wasn't even officially
in line for the throne.

When her husband,
thutmose the second,

Died his direct
heir was her step-son,

Thutmose the third.

He was too young to rule, so
hatshepsut was put in charge

Until he came of age.

But then, hatshepsut
pronounced herself pharaoh

Instead, and reigned
for over 15 years.

So this is one of my very
favorite images in the temple.

It is hatshepsut, but
looking like a man.

She's got this stick-on beard,
which most pharaohs would

Actually have used,
so that's not unusual.

But look at how she's dressed.

I'm sure she's
doing this on purpose.

I'm sure that this
is hatshepsut saying,

'I am your female king, and
I can do the job of any man'.

But hatshepsut ruled her way.

And, she often asked for the
people's blessing in all that

She did which was
really unusual for the time.

So in many ways she was
styling herself a kind of

Bronze age people's princess.

She also brought wealth,
trade and stability to egypt,

So why try to erase
her from history?

Out here, in the
valley of the kings,

Her mummy seemed
to vanish too.

Some of her
belongings were found,

But her body was
nowhere to be seen.

Then, in 1903, archaeologists
discovered a tomb which

Was a real enigma.

Ok, oh, shukraan, shukraan.

So I was warned that this tomb
was difficult to get into,

Er wish me luck.

This doesn't look
like a royal tomb,

There are no decorations here,
so what lay inside the chamber

Was a complete mystery.

Wow, it's great
to get down here,

Cos I've read a lot
about this place,

But I've never made it in.

And when it was
first discovered,

Frankly, what was in
here was a bit odd.

So there were mummified geese,
and a coffin with the name of

Hatshepsut's wet nurse on,
and then a single female mummy

Just propped up
against the bare rock.

Hatshepsut's wet nurse's
mummy was removed and
taken to cairo.

But the unidentified female
mummy was left alone for

100 years until archaeologists
came to fetch her in 2006.

Back in cairo, the female
mummy found in the mystery

Tomb was scanned in the
hope of revealing her secrets.

My colleague, egyptologist
salima ikram, has the details.

Salima, hi. Oh, how
are you? How are you?

Salima: I am so
glad you made it.

Bettany: I know.

There's an intriguing thing
about her identification isn't

There, there's something
about a missing tooth?

Salima: Oh, the story of how
she was identified is amazing.

When they were being
scanned, they found that
there was a molar missing.

You know, fine, whatever,
that's sort of normal.

But there is a box that
was found and that box has...

Bettany: It's this one?

Salima: Yes, that
is the very box.

And it's inscribed with
the name of hatshepsut.

Now it had a package in
it which they thought was

Probably her liver and
when they scanned it,

They found embedded in the
resin a molar, broken off,

And they think, because
when they did the scan,

That one of the roots is still
here and the root is broken off.

And they thought that they
matched and as a result they

Thought must be hatshepsut.

Bettany: So just to
get the story straight,

When hatshepsut was mummified,
it seems her liver and tooth

Were put in a
personalized box.

The box became
separated from the mummy.

Now this mummy is
also missing a tooth.

Reuniting the two has
led us to the remains
of a once great queen.

I mean, it's really
interesting this tooth,

Has that randomly
ended up in that box,

Or do you think it
dropped out during the
mummification process?

Salima: A lot of things get
loose when you're being dried

With natron, so maybe she
had just lost a tooth or

Something, someone noticed
it because it was cracked or

Broken, and then during
the course of mummification,

It fell out.

And they thought,
'oh, bloody hell.

We have already
wrapped up her face'.

And so they might have
stuffed it into that.

And so you know, 4,000
years later or something,

Here we are trying
to put it together.

Bettany: And also in the
process of her mummification,

Hatshepsut appears to have
been given what may very well

Be the world's
first tummy tuck.

Salima: You know when
you see her in her relief,

She looks rather
slender and very elegant.

This lady is quite plump.

Bettany: She
doesn't look plump.

Salima: Well,
what they did is,

When they use the natron, what
it does is it desiccates but

It also de-fats, so
it sucks it all out,

Which is great for your diet.

And then all the loose flesh
after it's been desiccated was

Taken, stretched out and then
tucked underneath and kept in

Place with resin.

Bettany: So they are
literally pinning it back?

Pinning back the
kind of excess flesh? Gosh

Salima: And so she looks a bit
more as she did in her youth.

Bettany: Hatshepsut is one of
the most remarkable women in

The story of the world.

She should be a household
name, shouldn't she?

Salima: Absolutely.

I mean, how often do you get a
female pharaoh ruling egypt,

Sending people to all kinds
of places on expeditions and

Creating some of the world's
most exquisite monuments?

Bettany: Incredible.
Oh, I wish she could talk.

I wish she could tell us
why she ended up being so...

What a woman, what a woman!

Well, kudos and
respect to her.

Salima: Absolutely.

Bettany: And who tried to
obliterate her from history?

Well, almost certainly
her jealous stepson,

Thutmoses the third.

Although it now looks like
he was foiled in his mission.

The mummy of hatshepsut
deserves to be celebrated,

Not just because it involves
an incredible detective story,

But more importantly, because
it helps us understand one of

The greatest and most
powerful women of all time.

G and

Buying mummies
from across egypt.

Mummies became 'big business'.

Many ended up in private
collections and in museums

Across the world.

The british museum in london
is now home to no fewer than

140 egyptian mummies.

In a corner of the museum's
storeroom hides my next mummy,

Number 4 on my countdown.

And this mummy isn't a
mighty pharaoh but more
a man of the street.

The reason that he makes it
onto my list is because he

Shows us just how much we
can learn about the ancient

Egyptians from investigating
a body that is close on
3,000 years old.

Curator john taylor is
on hand to show what
we can piece together.

Starting from the outside.

John: This is what
I wanted to show you.

Bettany: So beautiful,
look at those colors,

They're amazing.

John: It's incredible, yes.

Bettany: But it's not a
coffin we're looking at, is it?

John: We would call
this a cartonnage case.

It's a kind of papier
mache shell that fits
around the mummy.

It's made from
layers of linen.

Bettany: And his mummy
is still inside here?

John: Yes. Completely
sealed up inside.

Bettany: And do we
know from the decoration,

Who it is?

John: We do, because
his name is inscribed
above this figure here.

Padiamenet.

And this figure
represents him.

Bettany: Is this a
kind of portrait of him?

John: This is how he wants
to look in the next life.

Young, perfect.

No kinds of illness
and no physical defect.

Bettany: Plump as well.

John: A little plump.
Bettany: Well fed, okay.

So I've noticed there's a sort
of slightly rubbish bit tacked

On at the end?

What's going on with that?

John: Yes, it looks as though
the people who were making the

Cartonnage didn't make
it quite long enough.

So when it came to
putting him inside,

His feet were
sticking out at the end.

And all they could do was just
quickly cover up his feet with

A bit of extra linen.

Bettany: Great.

But do we get any other
clues to his life from this?

John: We know that he was the
chief doorkeeper of the temple

Of ra at karnak.

That's written in the
inscriptions just here.

He's a kind of security guard,
because the temple contains

Lots of valuable objects.

He's also there to watch
who comes through the doors.

Bettany: So the first thing we
learn is that padiamenet was a

Kind of temple bouncer!

And this is where
he once worked,

The staggering temple of amun
in karnak, just outside luxor.

A number of areas in the
temple were reserved

Exclusively for
the elite and elite priests.

And so there were
hundreds of doormen here.

Padiamenet's job was
to make it very clear
where was off limits.

So as you can imagine, doormen
were often rather unpopular.

There are these brilliant
depictions from the time of

Them falling asleep on the
job and being described as
corrupt and lazy.

It was a role that was passed
down from father to son,

So padiamenet was in
a privileged position:

Probably good food, great
pay and decent hours.

But the job also
came with another,

Curious responsibility.

Padiamenet also acted as the
local barber at the temple.

Egyptian priests were
completely shaved
from head to toe.

So that would have meant
there'd have been a lot of

Rummaging around in men's
underarms and private parts.

I want to see what else we
can learn about padiamenet

From his mummy.

But there's a challenge.

For the last 200 years,
the british museum hasn't

Unwrapped any of their
mummies out of respect
and fear of damage.

Now the very latest 3d
technology allows us to peer

Beneath the bandages without
touching a hair on these

Mummies' heads.

A pioneering team,
led by daniel antoine,

Is giving our ancient egyptian
bouncer-cum-barber a 21st
century post mortem.

Daniel: So what's
extraordinary about ct

Scanning is that you can
virtually remove layer by

Layer and reveal their remains
for the first time since they

Were embalmed.

And here you can see
padiamenet's face.

Bettany: But
that's so impressive.

You haven't touched the
cartonnage you haven't touched

The linen wrappings.

But look at this,
we're beginning to
see the man inside.

So what does it tell
you about how he was
embalmed and mummified?

Daniel: So his brain was
removed through his nose.

Minimal damage, removing quite
a three dimensional organ

Through a very small aperture.

They've also added
packing in his mouth.

And then they've reconstructed
the nose and added some lips,

So that his facial features
are preserved and recognizable

In the afterlife.

Bettany: What about him as
a person, his lifestyle.

Could you tell any of
that from the scan?

Daniel: We discovered that he
had terrible dental health.

If I virtually remove all the
soft tissue and this is what

You have here, is
you've got these lesions,

These periapical lesions and
here you can see the bone is

Really moved away
from the molar.

And these are
probably abscesses or cysts,

And he might've died
from these infections.

He might've died for
two complications,

Either because he had a lot
of pus going down his mouth...

Bettany: Pus? Nice.

Daniel: And the
throat closes up,

Or, if the infection
enters the bloodstream,

You die from septicaemia.

Bettany: Gosh.

I mean do you think that's
anything to do with the fact

That he's working in a temple
so he'd have had access to

Kind of pretty
rich foods, you know,

Because it's the centre of
activity and where all the

Treasures and wealth is kept.

Daniel: Absolutely.

He would have had a very rich
diet and that appears to have

Had other consequences.

If we look at some of
the arteries in the leg,

So here we've got
the femoral artery.

You can see inside the
femoral artery you've got

This large plaque deposit.

It's the same density
as bone, it's calcified,

And this is basically hardened
fat, hardened cholesterol,

And he suffered from
a cardiovascular
disease, basically.

He would have been at
high risk of a heart
attack or a stroke.

Bettany: Wow, wow.

Daniel: And we think of
this as a modern disease,

But actually the more
mummies we study,

The more we realize it was
very common in ancient egypt,

In these
mummified individuals.

Bettany: But the scans
also revealed something
rather unexpected.

Daniel: You can see these two
giant poles that were inserted

To hold and reattach his head.

You can see them
highlighted in green here.

Bettany: Yeah.

Daniel: There were no signs of
trauma in the neck so it's

Likely that as the body dried,
because the skull is very

Heavy, the head detached and
they had to reattach it as

Part of the embalming process.

Bettany: Wow.

I mean, that's not
good practice, is it?

Daniel: No, absolutely not.

But the embalmers still
achieved a lot of what

Padiamenet would have wanted.

Bettany: No, incredible.

What he wanted
was immortality,

And 2,700 years on, we're
looking at him, face to face.

Daniel: Exactly.

Bettany: Padiamenet
is still here with us.

And it's amazing, isn't it,
how much we can learn about

Him and his life story
without disturbing his body.

But I tell you what I
really love about this mummy.

He reminds us that
mummification wasn't just for

Pharaohs and their queens, but
for many ancient egyptians,

Even the ancient egyptian
equivalent of a bouncer.

Coming up, I continue my
countdown of the top ten

Egyptian mummies with
a terrible tale of a

Pharaoh's family at war.

This shows his enemies' hands
and penises having been cut off.

Has been hiding a gruesome
secret for thousands of years.

At number 3 on my countdown,
it's ramesses the third,

A man who had
enemies everywhere.

So this is the mummy of
ramesses the third and on the

Face of it he
looks really typical,

But you've got to have a look
at this bandages wrapped round

His neck which
really, really unusual.

When this mummy was scanned,
it was discovered that he has

A massive gash on his neck,
so it seems as though

Ramesses the third has
had his throat slit.

The story behind ramesses'
horrendous death is a royal

Scandal worthy of
game of thrones.

Let me take you to a possible
crime scene on the west bank

Of the nile, a temple where
mummies were prepared and

Perhaps a fatal plot
was prepared too...

This is the mortuary
temple of ramesses the third,

Built so that ordinary
people could worship him
during his lifetime.

As well as being a temple,
there was a palace here.

So, we can learn not
just about ramesses' death,

But the events
that led up to it.

This palace would have been a
beating heart of royal power,

Possibly for
women as well as men.

Now, in many of
the royal palaces,

There was a harem where
all the royal women of real

Influence lived and we're
told that in the harem of
ramesses the third,

A plot was hatched
to kill the king.

Archaeologist kimberley watt
has been studying what really

Went down with ramesses the
third over 3,000 years ago.

When we use the word
harem, in relation to egypt,

What does that actually mean?

What does an ancient
egyptian harem look like?

Kimberley: It's a royal
household dedicated to
royal women.

Bettany: We're talking
about substantial numbers
here, hundreds?

Kimberley: Yes.
Definitely more than that.

Bettany: And if you've got
that many royal women in a

Tight space together,

You can imagine them
plotting and planning.

There really could have
been this harem conspiracy,

There could have been a
plot to kill the king.

Kimberley: Yes definitely.
We have the evidence for that.

We have a papyrus that
actually records in very

Detailed manner that there
was a plot to overthrow and

Kill the king during
ramesses the third's reign.

Bettany: Written,
not in hieroglyphs,

But in an egyptian script that
any literate egyptian could

Read, it's an extraordinary
record of the trial of the

Conspirators in a plot hatched
by a woman called tiye.

Now, tiye was a secondary wife
of ramesses the third and she

Was clearly furious with him
and we know this because of

This amazing bit of evidence
that survived over 3,000 years

And it tells us that a plot
was hatched to kill the king

And put tiye's son,
prince pentawere,

On the throne instead.

I can tell you that
conspirators in a court

Intrigue like this would be
encouraged to commit suicide

And would almost certainly
be horribly mutilated
before they died.

And when I say horribly
mutilated, I mean it.

This shows his enemies' hands
and penises having been cut off.

Ramesses the third's
slit throat may be proof that

Queen tiye's plot to
assassinate him succeeded.

And further research has
revealed a curious thing.

Ramesses' big toe appears
to have been hacked off.

Most probably at the same
time his throat was cut.

During his mummification, a
loyal subject made him a new

Toe out of linen and resin
to ensure the king could walk

Proud in his afterlife.

The story ramses the third
tells us of the power and

Influence of the harem in
ancient egyptian politics.

But it also reminds us
that even the greatest aren't

Immune to the twists
and turns of fate.

And that egyptian women
were also players in ancient

Politics, not just the men.

Our next mummy is one of egypt's
most controversial rulers.

This is an extraordinary
man with a problem.

The issue with this notorious
pharaoh is that physically

There's not much of him left.

He was a pioneer and an out
and out rebel and that is one

Of the reasons there's a
mystery that surrounds his

Mummy and it's this dramatic
life story that makes him

Our next choice.

At number 2 on our countdown,
it's the pharaoh akhenaten.

For years the fate of his
mummy lay shrouded in mystery.

And when a tomb was
discovered in 1907 the
plot only thickened...

I'm really lucky to
get access to this tomb,

Because we've actually got the
break the seal in order to get

In, and that's amazing for me
because the first reports of

This being excavated at the
beginning of the 20th century

Talked about having to break one
of the original seals to enter.

Shukraan.

(speaking arabic).

What was discovered
here just didn't add up.

Grave goods scattered
across the floor and a dumped,

Beaten up coffin apparently
containing the decomposed body

Of akhenaten himself.

He wasn't being
treated like a royal mummy.

To understand why, and what
happened to this once great

Pharaoh, I'm going right back
to the beginning of his story.

I'm heading out
deep into the desert.

I'm looking for clues to
help unlock the puzzle of

Akhenaten's mummy.

Our first stop is this
remote tomb deep in
the egyptian desert.

So this is actually the tomb
of a high priest and here,

With his face
scratched out, is akhenaten,

Driving a beautiful chariot.

But, why was his
face scratched out?

Well, five years
into his reign,

Akhenaten makes a series
of extraordinary decisions.

First the pharaoh announces
that egyptians should stop

Worshipping their
traditional gods.

He declared all egyptians
should now worship one god

Alone, the great sun god aten.

Akhenaten does everything in
his power to ban the practice

Of the old religion.

As the living incarnation
of the great sun god,

Everyone now had to worship
the uber-pharaoh akhenaten.

And if that wasn't enough...

He decides to move
his entire court and
community to the desert.

The pharaoh's court had
once been at luxurious luxor,

A beautiful site on the
banks of the life-giving nile.

But his brand new city
amarna, 200 miles away,

Would have to be built
entirely from scratch,

In the most
punishing environment.

Archaeologist anna stevens
and her team have made a
shocking discovery.

They've given me access to
their remarkable finds and I'm

Hoping to find more clues to
help me understand akhenaten's

Controversial life-story.

So what is it exactly
you're digging here?

Anna: It's an
ancient cemetery.

So a cemetery for like
the ordinary people.

Bettany: Ok.

Oh look here cause you can see
the human remains everywhere.

That's really, what do
you think these ones are?

Anna: You can see
bits of ribs popping up.

And if you actually look very
closely you can just see some

Teeth popping out of the sand.

So this is part of a jaw or
the lower part of the skull

Bettany: Oh god, you can.
And how many are there here?

Anna: Probably in this one
cemetery there's something

Like 4 to 5,000
people buried here.

It's enormous.

Bettany: That's enormous
anna: So that's not just
a few hundred people,

Bettany: What can you
tell so far from the

Human remains here?

Anna: What we find from the
study of the skeletons is that

They were undertaking very
heavy, very hard labour.

So there's lots of signs of
degenerative joint disease,

So arthritis on
their skeletons,

In a way, in patterns that
would suggest that they were

Doing things like
heavy lifting especially.

Bettany: Right, right.

Anna: And various other signs
generally of difficult lives,

Difficult work conditions.

What we think is that
this was probably a
cemetery of laborers.

Bettany: Mm-hmm.

Anna: And they were very young.

So most of the
people buried here,

They are aged between
seven and 24 years of age.

Bettany: No.
So, it's child laborers?

Anna: Yeah, exactly.

Bettany: So do you think
there's a possibility

They're being drafted in or
brought in to try to help

Build this city in a hurry?

Anna: It does seem likely that
they're actually involved in

Building the
city for the king.

Bettany: Right.

Armana was built
using child labour.

The skeleton of this 12 year
old, only just discovered,

Bears witness to the huge
loads they were carrying.

Limestone slabs up to 70 kilos
caused shocking injuries.

This skeleton reveals
crushed neck vertebrae,

Fused spinal bones
and skull deformities.

You see, this is the truth.

You get the official version
of history when what's being

Described is this
kind of brilliant,

Glittering experiment.

And then, you know,
this is the harsh reality
of what's going on.

Anna: The people's history.

Bettany: Yeah.

The great tragedy is
that all that pain and
suffering was pointless.

Within just 20 years, the
egyptians had turned back

To their old beliefs
and decided to abandon

Akhenaten's crazy new city.

En became
one of the most hated
pharaohs of all time.

His successors destroyed
statues and struck him from

The list of kings.

His own son, the
world famous tutankhamun,

Immediately reversed his
father's radical ideas and

Returned the
royal court to luxor.

Akhenaten's coffin and his
mummy were left abandoned.

The story goes that priests
scratched out his face so that

He wouldn't be recognized in
the afterlife by the gods.

I have to say, I think that
is actually a bit fanciful,

But what is certain is
that after his death,

Akhenaten was
unmourned and unloved.

Amarna was conceived as a
kind of utopian experiment,

But for many it
ended up a living hell.

So akhenaten reminds us
to know when to stop.

It's been an epic journey
as we count down our top ten

Egyptian mummies.

And my heroine,
hatshepsut, was number five,

The woman who properly
rocked in a man's world.

At number four,
padiamenet the bouncer
was digitally unwrapped.

At number three, it was
ramesses the third and the

Revenge of the royal harem.

And at number two, was the
religious radical akhenaten,

Who broke his people's
backs building his dream city.

Now it's time to reveal number
one in our top ten countdown

Of astonishing
egyptian mummies.

The final mummy in our top
ten is the most famous
pharaoh in the world.

His solid gold death mask and
over 5,000 of the treasures

Buried with him have given us
an incredible insight into the

Lives of the
ancient egyptians,

And the world of the teenage
king, tutankhamun.

We've all heard
of tutankhamun,

Not because he was a
great pharaoh in life,

But because his almost-intact
tomb treasures were found

3,300 years after his death.

But, dazzled by all this gold
the mummy of the teenage king

Himself is often overlooked.

So I want you to
meet him, in his tomb,

In the valley of the kings.

Here he is, the
mummy of tutankhamun.

When you come up close to him,
I think you realize that he is

Just a vulnerable,
fragile teenager.

Originally you could have seen
his lovely eyelashes and the

Fact that he had pierced ears,

And his arms were
very peacefully folded,

But he hasn't been treated
so well, across the years.

It was November 1922 when
british archaeologist

Howard carter discovered
tutankhamun's tomb.

Incredible treasures
were captured on camera.

Breaking through into
tutankhamun's burial chamber

Carter discovered,
inside a stone sarcophagus,

The ancient egyptian
equivalent of a russian doll.

Three coffins, each
smaller than the last;

The first, gold-plated wood.

The second, the same,
decorated with
semi-precious stones.

But the third, the
smallest coffin,

Is made of solid gold.

Inside lay the
mummy of tutankhamun,

His face covered by the now
famous golden death mask.

Eager to see inside, carter
unwrapped tutankhamun's mummy,

Leaving his tiny body exposed.

He then had to ease
tutankhamun's body
out of the coffin,

With difficulty,
using heated knives.

The young pharaoh's
body was left in this
outer wooden coffin.

Tutankhamun lay
there for 40 years.

When he was
removed for examination,

An awful truth was revealed.

Over time tut's
hands had come off,

His legs were detached from
his pelvis and when the famous

Death mask was removed,
his neck was severed.

So now, instead of an
intact royal mummy,

All we have is
this fragile body,

With tiny remnants of
his mummification bandages

Clinging to his toes.

I'm glad to say
that now, at last,

We treat mummies,
including tut's remains,

With a great deal more
reverence and expertise.

And the egyptian
authorities have launched a

Multi-million-pound program
to restore and preserve tut's

Legacy for future generations.

The lid's been put back on
tutankhamun's sarcophagus for

The first time in years, but
I've been promised I can have

A special look at
what was hidden inside.

Opportunity, behind the scenes
at the grand egyptian museum.

The labs here have dedicated
teams of specialists,

Carrying out incredibly
delicate work to restore

Priceless treasures.

A high-tech operation to
save one of tutankhamun's most

Prized pieces, the final
resting place of his mummy.

I know this place
seems a bit austere,

But frankly, I think it is one
of the most exciting places on

Earth because this is where
tutankhamun's treasures are

Being lovingly
cared for and restored.

The restoration
work is extraordinary.

It's worth remembering
that, just like tut's mummy,

This coffin is
over 3,300 years old.

So this is the
lid of the coffin.

It's kind of the
most famous bit,

It's the bit that you
could see in the tomb.

And the workmanship on
it is totally remarkable.

So you can see every
single detail on the feathers.

And this is tutankhamun
being represented as the god,

Osiris, the mighty
god of the underworld.

It's massive, it's
over seven-foot long.

I've met ahmed before.
Hi, nice to see you again.

Ahmed: Hi.
Nice to see you too.

Bettany: Ahmed is one
of the restorers here.

When you're doing
this restoration work,

Does it make you feel even more
impressed by the egyptians?

Ahmed: Yeah, of course.
Of course, of course.

Bettany: The tomb
also contained another,

Totally unexpected find, one
that gives us a moving insight

Into what mattered to
this young pharaoh.

Bettany: These two babies
died in the womb at around

25 and 37 weeks old.

Gosh. It's so
poignant to see them.

They are so
perfect, aren't they?

You can see their fingers
on their hands and you know,
the shape of their legs.

Amazing.

And do we have any more
information of who they are?

Bettany: So they were born
prematurely or stillborn?

Because that's an
important part of his story,

That he died when he was
just a teenager and he
died without any heirs.

So it can change history
a bit if we think these
could be his daughters.

These poor little girls.

Isn't it amazing to think
that we're still investigating

Their story over 3,000
years after they died.

Stillborn, these two tiny
baby girls were still lovingly

Preserved, showing us that
for the ancient egyptians

Mummification was the
ultimate act of reverence;

An approach that, thankfully,
is now being matched by their

Careful preservation
and the dignity of
their treatment today.

I wonder if he feels he's
getting the right kind of

Immortality, thanks
to being a celebrity.

Certainly, we are saying
the name of tutankhamun

Again and again and again.

And the incredible survival
of this mummy has given us an

Enduring fascination
with ancient egypt and

With mummification
in particular.

In our top ten we've spanned
4,000 years of egyptian history,

From a couple mummified
by nothing more than

The hot sands of
egypt, to mighty pharaohs,

Buried in the grandeur of
the valley of the kings.

We've seen cutting-edge
research shining a new light

On the ancient dead, and
remembered that mummies are

The bodies of real people
who deserve to be honored,

And that's why we
should treasure tutankhamun,

My number one egyptian mummy.

Mummification is a remarkable,
frankly quite miraculous

Process that allows us to come
face to face with women and

Men from ancient egypt and
to understand their stories,

Their hopes and their fears.

It also allows us to be
eternally fascinated by them

And in fact to do what
mummification was originally

Intended to do: To remember
their names with respect and

Awe across thousands of years.

Captioned by cotter
captioning services.