All language subtitles for Lost Treasures of Egypt Series 2 Part 8 Curse of the Mummy 1080p

Ator: 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).

Archaeologist: I 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.

Woman: This is the
most critical moment.

Team: Ahh!

Narrator: Revealing
buried treasures.

Woman: Oh!
Man: We are lucky today.

John: Wow, lots of mummies.

Woman: 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,
archaeologists hunt for
some of the most intriguing

Egyptian artifacts of all.

John: Oh, wow.

Narrator: Mummies.

John: Oh, there's wrapping
and mummy everywhere.

(speaking native language).

Narrator: John
and maria discover a
hidden tomb entrance.

(speaking native language).

John: Yes!
Man: Oh!
John: We have light!

Narrator: Veronica and
alberto investigate an
ancient crime scene.

Veronica: We found the
mummies everywhere.

Narrator: And alejandro looks
for treasures hidden beneath

The bandages of
his prized mummy.

Alejandro: In five
minutes we will know.

(theme music plays).

Narrator: The ancient
egyptians, famous for their
pursuit of immortality.

They made mummies
by preserving the dead with
salts, oils, and wrappings,

Hoping their bodies
would live forever.

And covering these mummies
with gold and jewels,

They sought to guarantee
success in the afterlife.

Yet, only a tiny fraction
of these mummies have ever
been discovered intact.

Most were destroyed by ancient
thieves looking for treasure.

For archaeologists, finding
an untouched burial is the
holy grail, and the chance to

Uncover extraordinary
new information about
the people and society

Of this great civilization.

Among these archaeologists
are husband and wife team,
john ward and maria nilssen,

Here for their 13th season
to excavate their site
in southern egypt.

John: Okay,
everybody on the car.

Archaeologist: Okay.

Narrator: But before
they can start digging,

They must transport their
20 strong team to the site.

(speaking native language).

Narrator: With
just one vehicle.

John: Don't push
me further off!

(speaking native language).

John: Looks very
cozy in there.

Maria: Doesn't it!

John: I'll just precariously
hang off the back.

(laughing).

Ooh!

Narrator: The site john and
maria want to investigate today,

Sits right on the mountaintop.

Team: Oh!

(speaking native language).

Narrator: It's the final
day their excavation permit
allows them to dig on site.

Maria: Come on, guys.
John: Come on, guys.

Narrator: This area,
gebel el-silsila, is known
for its huge stone quarries,

Where ancient pharaohs mined
stone for their giant monuments.

But it was also the site
of a small town built
to house the workers,

Where they lived,
died, and were buried.

John: Souka you're gonna be
with nils and souna.

Narrator: John and maria are
on the hunt for the graves of

The town's middle classes, like
the specialist stone masons.

John: Move that lot.

Narrator: A tomb with any
mummies or burial goods could
hold valuable information

About this ancient
egyptian community.

John: So you've got about 10,
15 minutes to get that open.

(speaking native language).

Narrator: John's particularly
keen to investigate a
structure he's named tomb 15.

John: We've got a monument
that once stood right
on top of this mountain.

And, at some point in history,
some looters came along and
actually dug a hole

Through the floor of that
monument, and, lucky for
them, discovered a tomb.

Narrator: The monument
could have sat on top
of a high status tomb.

And, though he knows
it was looted for valuables in
antiquity, john hopes that the

Robbers may have left traces
of the tomb's owner behind.

John: I am hoping to find
remains of the mummies that
were entombed in there.

Some indication of what they
were entombed with, their
funerary ware, to understand

The importance or the status
of them within the community.

Narrator: Keen to use every
minute of their last day,
maria gets to work exploring

A different part of the site.

She quickly spots something
amongst the rubble.

Maria: Oh, john!
Do you wanna come in?

John: What have you got?

Maria: I actually think
that I got a game piece
here, a game board.

What I can see are three
vertical lines and a series
of several horizontal lines.

I found myself a senet game.
I know it's difficult to see.

John: Yeah, I can see.

Maria: I just turned
the stone around.

Narrator: Senet was a
popular board game played
throughout ancient egypt.

It was also a
funerary offering.

Squares of the game
representing different
hazards the deceased would

Need to navigate to
reach the afterlife.

The great tutankhamen was
buried with five senet games

In his tomb in the
valley of the kings.

Could this find be a hint
that an important mummy is
hidden somewhere nearby?

Maria: This is a
game that was played.

John: Well, it was played
by royals and laymen alike.

Maria: Yeah.

John: I mean, everybody, from
the workers all the way right
up to the viziers, all the way

Up to the living god, the
pharaoh himself played it.

Maria: Yeah, yeah.

Narrator: But on closer
inspection maria isn't
sure that this senet board

Was a burial offering.

Maria: Look where I am,
I'm in beautiful shade,

I got the breeze coming through.

John: True, true.

Maria: What if the men who
quarried these monuments,
what if they sat here,

Had their break, and you've
got the senet game here.

Narrator: Perhaps not a game
for a deceased tomb owner,
but the tomb builders.

Still an exciting sign they
are in the right place.

Maria: Wonderful.

Narrator: But they only have
six hours left on site to find

The chamber they
are looking for.

John: Jose!

Narrator: 40 miles south,
along the nile, in aswan

Sits the hillside necropolis
of qubbet el-hawa.

In his 11 years of working
here, professor alejandro
jiménez-serrano has already

Discovered four new tombs
and ten burial chambers.

(speaking native language).

Narrator: The site's
location, on ancient
egypt's southern border,

Makes it a particularly
exciting place to excavate.

Alejandro: This area was
the frontier between egypt
and nubia where the people

Interchange not only
products but also ideas.

Bilal, don't find
another tomb, hey?

(laughing).

(speaking native language).

Narrator: Last year at this
site alejandro and his team

Made the discovery
of a lifetime.

Alejandro: Get ready.

Narrator: An incredibly rare
undisturbed burial with a
4,000 year old wooden coffin

Containing a completely
untouched mummy.

Alejandro: Yeah, we
have been very lucky.

It's impossible to explain
the feelings that I am having.

Narrator: The coffin
is covered in hieroglyphic
markings, immediately giving

The archaeologists
vital information about
who this mummy might be.

The hieroglyphs reveal
the person inside is
a male named shemai.

They describe him as a priest
and overseer of the stores,
controlling the distribution

Of grain amongst the
local population.

The markings also identify his
father as khema, a governor,

A powerful ruler in
the south of egypt,

And his mother as satethotep,
the daughter of sarenput I,

A man trusted by the pharaoh
to be the founding governor
of this region.

But these discoveries came right
at the end of last season,

And now the team are
keen to uncover more of
shemai's life story.

Alejandro begins the search at
a spectacular tomb nearby

That he began excavating
two years ago.

Thanks to the coffin, he now
knows that this belongs to

One of shemai's
distinguished relatives.

Alejandro: This is one of
the stars of the necropolis,

It's the tomb of sarenput I,

Shemai's grandfather.

Narrator: On the outside wall
of the tomb is an intricately
carved family portrait.

Alejandro: We have sarenput I
sat and receiving the homage of

His wife, his mother,
his eldest daughter,

Satethotep,
who was shemai's mother.

Narrator: But shemai
himself doesn't appear.

Alejandro: We did not have
any reference to shemai before

The discovery of his
funerary chamber,

So he was member of the family,

But for any reason he was
never represented here.

Narrator: Though alejandro
has discovered other human
remains at this necropolis,

He has never found any
of the family members
represented on this tomb wall.

Now the body of shemai,
the missing son, provides a
unique chance to investigate.

Who were the people of
this great ruling family?

And where did they come from?

40 miles away in
gebel el-silsila,

John and maria hope
they are on the cusp of
their own mummy discovery.

With time already very tight
to complete their work,

Maria begins excavating
at tomb number nine.

Maria: Okay, are
you ready, trish?

Narrator: Working alongside
team member, tricia coletto,
she hopes this chamber will

Reveal more clues about
gebel el-silsila's inhabitants.

Maria: Take a while
for the eyes to adjust.

Tricia: Eyes to
adjust a little bit.

Narrator: Earlier this season
the team cleared this tomb and
found the stone slab empty,

But the broken remains
of a mummy half buried
in the mud of the floor,

Looted by tomb robbers.

Maria: They find the mummies,
they will break them in half
for the sake of finding the

Few little glittery things
that might adorn these.

Narrator: But the looters
feared the mummy's curse,

So they completely
destroyed the mummy,

Hoping it could then never reap
its revenge in the afterlife.

Tricia: The looters have torn
our little friend apart and

Unceremonially thrown him
or her back inside the tomb.

Narrator: The small handful
of tombs that have been
discovered with treasures

Intact provide a glimpse
of why mummies were so
sought after by thieves.

The most splendid is the
mummy of tutankhamen.

Beneath the stunning death
mask and under the wrappings
is a treasure trove of over

100 ritual ornaments.

Around the neck alone dozens
of precious amulets, covering
the chest a golden vulture and

A winged cobra, deities
of upper and lower egypt.

On the navel a black resin
scarab, a symbol of immortality,

And around the waist and thigh
the king's prized daggers,

Made of gold and iron
hammered from a meteorite.

These valuable objects were
meant for the afterlife,

But were an irresistible
target for the living.

To properly examine the looted
mummy that they are working on,

Maria and tricia must
first carefully remove
it from the ground.

Maria: Now what I think
we should do this morning is
to lift this block to start.

Narrator: But just as
they are ready to begin,

Maria spots something
worrying in the sand.

Maria: That's concerning.

Tricia: Oh, yes, I see it.

Maria: Yeah.
We might have a snake.

And it could still be hiding
somewhere in the tomb.

John joins them to
lend some support.

Tricia: Good luck.

Maria: Okay, if you're still
in here, I come in peace.

Tapping a bit.

John: Maria, don't
tap it, just lift it.

Maria: All right.
John: Yank it.

Maria: I don't want it to
end up falling on our mummy.

John: Just be safe.

Narrator: Many of the
snakes in egypt are deadly.

John: Are you okay?
Maria: Yeah, there's tracks.

John: Yeah, don't
lift the stone.

Try and keep back
from the door please.

(grunting).

John: I got it.

(grunting).

Maria: Well.
John: Nothing?

I tell you what, I'm gonna
carry on with my work and
leave you with your snake.

Narrator: Maria and
tricia can't be completely
sure the snake has gone.

Maria: I removed a
hole where it entered.

Tricia: Okay.

You've scared him
off anyway, I think.

Narrator: But with
the clock ticking, they
decide they must press on.

Tricia: We have to be careful
to distinguish what is
mummy and what is dirt here.

Maria: Yes.
Tricia: The stone can go.

Narrator: By excavating the
body from the mud, they hope
to discover more about the

Role of this person in gebel
el-silsila's community,

But the state of the mummy
makes their task tougher.

Maria: More pieces.

Tricia: A little
piece of skull.

Maria: Yeah, I got more here.

And they burn to such
heat that the white
bones turn blue.

Narrator: Ancient looters
would often burn the mummies
they found inside a tomb.

Maria: They're after gold, and
by burning the mummies it's
easier for them to open them up.

Very sad.

Narrator: The ancient
egyptians would have dreaded
this kind of mutilation,

They went to huge lengths to
mummify and protect their dead,

Believing that to
succeed in the afterlife

Key elements of the body and
soul must be preserved intact.

The first was the ren,
your identity and name.

It lived for as long as
your name was spoken.

Ib was the heart, the
seat of your soul, the
good force in your life.

Sheut was the shadow, an
image of yourself that was
reborn every day at sunrise.

Ba was the unique personality,

It left the body in the form of
a bird at night and at death.

The ka was the vital
essence, the force that
animated the individual,

And the khat was the
physical form of the body,

Which must be preserved, or
mummified, for the dead to be

Granted eternal life.

Tricia: I feel like I
personally get attached when
I'm working on a mummy, and

You feel like you're
getting to know them, and
you feel like a caretaker.

Narrator: At tomb 15, john has
just hours remaining to search
inside for any evidence of the

Tomb's owner's status in the
town, but he has a puzzle,

Right now the only way into

The chamber is via the hole
dug by ancient looters.

John: Found the door yet?
Archaeologist: No.

Narrator: John hopes that
if he can find the tomb's
original door, it could be

Inscribed with a name
or date identifying
who was buried here.

John: Theoretically it should
be somewhere in this area.

Narrator: He decides he might
have more chance of locating
it from inside the tomb,

Descending through
the looters' tunnel.

John: I must admit I'm
a little bit worried
about going down there,

But I know what to do if
I find a snake, call maria.

(speaking native language).

John: Oh wow.

(panting).

Oh, there's wrapping
and mummy everywhere.

I am surrounded by the
remains of the poor souls
that were interned in here

But have been completely looted.

This is the part I really
want to get to, and find
out if this is, oh wow!

(laughing).

Narrator: An area of fallen
rocks could point the way to
the tomb's original entrance.

John: No, it's far too small.

This is not big enough by any
stretch of the imagination,
so where's my entrance?

Narrator: 75 miles north of
gebel el-silsila is luxor,

One of the richest
archaeological sites
in the world,

Home to magnificent
temples of the pharaohs,

The tombs of the nobles, and
the great valley of the kings.

Here, in the foothills
of the famous valley, at
the necropolis of asasif,

A team of archaeologists
from Spain works to solve
an ancient mummy mystery.

The site is unusual because
of the sheer number of

Ancient artifacts and the
level of devastation.

Narrator: Archaeologist,
veronica garcía martinez is
tasked with piecing together

The thousands of shards
and fragments the
team has found here.

Narrator: And amongst the
debris there's something
much more grizzly.

Are in a very bad state.

Narrator: Just like john and
maria's site, these mummies
were looted by thieves looking

For precious jewels and
amulets, and again the bodies
have been mutilated to avoid

Inciting the
curse of the dead.

But here the robbers
were very particular
in their desecration.

Narrator: By dismembering the
corpses like this, the looters
hoped to deny the dead of all

Possible means of
enacting their revenge
in the next life.

Narrator: So far the
team has found more
than 350 mummies here.

Now they want to know
why were so many people
buried in this one spot?

They think the answer
could be connected to this
site's original purpose,

As a tomb complex for
a man named huy,

Vizier to king amenhotep iii,
who ruled from 1390 bc.

The vizier was a very powerful
position in ancient egypt,

Second in command only
to the pharaoh himself.

Narrator: Professor francisco
martin-valentin works at the
heart of the burial ground.

The once magnificent tomb
chapel that huy himself spent
years designing and building

In preparation for his death.

Narrator: When francisco began
his restoration work 11 years
ago, the chapel was in ruins.

Now he's hoping that clues in
the stone wall inscriptions
could help solve the mystery

Of the mummies.

Narrator: As francisco
puts the pieces of this
stone puzzle together,

It's clear that this tomb has
not just been weathered by time,

It has been
systematically vandalized.

All inscriptions
depicting the tomb's
owner have been mutilated.

He thinks the damage here
is not down to looters
looking for treasure,

But someone much closer to huy.

Huy was vizier during the
reign of both amenhotep iii

And his successor,
amenhotep iv.

Amenhotep iv, in an attempt
to cement his power, soon
abolished the worship of

Traditional gods in favor
of just one, the aten, and
changed his name to akhenaten.

Refusing to follow his heretic
king, huy added inscriptions
inside his own tomb declaring

Loyalty to the old gods.

When akhenaten found out,
he ordered the destruction
of huy's tomb chapel.

The vizier, huy, was never
seen again, and his mummy
has never been found.

It seems that huy was
murdered for his beliefs
by order of the pharaoh,

And by destroying his name
and likenesses, his ren,

The killers ensured that he
would never be able to pass
peacefully into the afterlife.

But amongst the rubble
the team has found a
very special fragment,

A rare image of
the vizier's face.

Narrator: By reinstalling this
piece to its original position
in the wall inscription,

Francisco hopes to right the
wrongs of these ancient vandals,

Giving huy back his ren and, in
theory, his place in eternity.

On the mountaintop
in gebel el-silsila.

John: What have you got?

Narrator: John and his
team are searching for
a hidden tomb entrance,

And things are looking up.

John: What it looks
like is actually the
entrance to tomb 15.

Narrator: To be sure,
john wants to see whether
this hole lines up

With the chamber below.

John: We're gonna continue
now, clean this entire area,
and I would be downstairs

Cleaning from up, or
down up, and hopefully
we'll meet halfway.

Narrator: Maria gets word of
the discovery and arrives

To supervise the
team digging on top.

(speaking native language).

Maria: I can see light,
it looks like we've got
the ancient doorway.

John: I think they're
breaking through.

(laughing).

Narrator: It seems
john could be in the
right place after all.

Maria: Yeah,

(speaking native language).

John: I can hear maria's voice.

Oop!

Narrator: The workers on the
surface pick up the pace, but
without knowing john's precise

Position below them, there's
a real risk the tomb could
collapse on top of him.

John: Ah! We have light!

John: Yeah. Come up.

I'm fine! I'm fine! Still alive!

Maria: There's his head!

John: How are you doing, guys?

Maria: Hi!

Narrator: John finally breaks
through what he hopes is the
ancient doorway to the tomb.

John: I think we've
found the entrance!

Maria: We did, it's a shaft.

Narrator: But there
is still a puzzle.

This opening still doesn't
seem big enough to get a mummy
through it and into the tomb.

John: Well, we'll continue
and take this back and see
where we can get up to.

Narrator: At the necropolis
of asasif in luxor, inside
the vizier's tomb chapel,

Francisco and his wife,
teresa, have found the
correct location for the

Fragment bearing huy's face,
and are ready to restore it
to its rightful place.

Narrator: After three and
a half thousand years,

Vizier huy's image is
finally complete, and,

According to
ancient egyptian traditions,

His spirit lives again
in the afterlife.

But this site still holds
a mystery, why did the
team find over 350 mummies

Scattered around huy's tomb?

Who were these people?

Veronica and alberto examine
one of the mutilated bodies,

Inserting a tiny camera
in through its nose.

Narrator: Veronica is looking
for a crucial sign that

She can only find
inside the skull.

Narrator: Removing the brain
was a prestigious part of

Mummification that
few could afford.

Narrator: This man's high
status is a clue to why he and
hundreds of other mummies are

Here at huy's tomb.

After the pharaoh akhenaten
died, worship of the old gods,

Like amun, the king of
the gods, was restored.

Veronica and alberto
think that huy became
regarded as a martyr,

And his tomb a place
of pilgrimage and
burial for the elites.

Narrator: Sadly, like so many
ancient mummies, this pilgrim
was later plundered for his

Burial riches, and
mutilated by the robber
to avoid a curse.

Narrator: 115 miles
south, in aswan,

Alejandro is on the
hunt for clues about another

Elite egyptian, his
extraordinary intact
mummy, shemai.

(speaking native language).

Narrator: The evidence at the
burial site revealed his name
and ancestry within a family

Of powerful governors.

But to uncover more about his
age, any amulets and perhaps
even further clues about this

Enigmatic ruling family
and where they came from,

Alejandro must probe
shemai's mummy itself.

Alejandro: Tonight we have
came here to the store of the
ministry of antiquities in

Aswan where shemai's
mummy is kept.

We are going to transport
the mummy to the hospital
in order to do a ct scan.

Narrator: It's been a
year since alejandro last saw
shemai, and now he hopes that

A ct scan will allow him
to peer beneath the mummy's
bandages for the first time.

Alejandro: When
I saw the box and the
mummies, it's a respect.

In that same ways it's
part of my family.

Narrator: The hospital is
across town and the ct scanner
is only available outside

Regular hours, which means the
team must travel at night,

The most dangerous time to
travel through the city.

Alejandro: I'm nervous,
definitely, I'm nervous.

Narrator: A mummy like
shemai is a priceless ancient
artifact, and still a prime

Target for thieves, so
armed police escort the team
through the busy streets.

Alejandro: Egypt was so
plundered in the past that
they tried to avoid any kind

Of modern robbery wherever.

Narrator: Shemai's
body could be wrapped
with precious jewels,

A modern-day looter's jackpot.

Find more about shemai
after a year of waiting.

Alejandro: I feel very excited
because it's an opportunity to

Know perhaps the
causes of his death,

Or perhaps the amulets
that we are going to find,

So it's amazing.

Narrator: After a tense 30
minutes the armed convoy makes
it safely to the hospital.

Alejandro: We go.

Narrator: But will the
scan give alejandro the
answers he's looking for?

A ct scan of tutankhamen, the
world's most famous mummy,

Revealed an incredible
level of detail.

Beneath 13 layers of bandages
lies tutankhamen's body.

The embalmers drenched his
head in tree resin to preserve
the soft tissues of his face.

X-ray evidence of healthy
teeth revealed a good diet,
and still developing wisdom

Teeth indicated he
died a late teenager.

A hole in his skull and a
bone fragment in his head were
telltale signs the embalmers

Removed his brain.

These features are all typical
of the advanced mummification

Reserved for the
highest in society.

(speaking native language).

Narrator: Alejandro hopes that
shemai's ct scan might reveal

The same kind of forensic clues.

Technicians carefully
place his prize discovery
onto the scanner.

Technician: You
find it in a coffin?

Alejandro: Yeah.

We excavated it last season,
and we have the titles,
which are very interesting,

He was the overseer of
the grain store.

Technician: Mm hm.

Narrator: As well as
looking for amulets and a
possible cause of death,

There is a mystery that has
puzzled alejandro ever since

He first opened shemai's
coffin a year ago.

Alejandro: Oof,
uno venticinco. 125.

It's quite short.

My daughter is more
or less like this, and
she is eight years old.

Narrator: Could shemai really
have been as young and

Held the title of overseer
of the grain store?

Alejandro hopes the scan
will finally help to
determine his true age.

Alejandro: We are going
to begin the scanning, so
we need to leave the room.

Narrator: The forensic
anthropologists look closely
at shemai's teeth to estimate

His age when he died.

Anthropologist: Nueve.

Alejandro: Nine years old?

(speaking native language).

Alejandro: Nine years
old, he's a child.

Narrator: For alejandro such
a tender age at death suggests
that shemai never actually

Held the title
inscribed on his coffin.

Alejandro: If he was only
nine years old when he died,

It means that it's
impossible that he might

Hold in reality the title of
overseer of the grain store.

Narrator: It's more likely
that this was a posthumous
promotion designed to give

The boy a position of
status in the afterlife.

(speaking native language).

Narrator: Alejandro is
getting closer to uncovering
shemai's true story.

Alejandro: Five minutes we
will know more about him.

Narrator: In gebel el-silsila,

Tricia has just over an
hour left to excavate
the mummy in tomb nine,

When she discovers
something unexpected.

Tricia: Maria, would
you please come over?

I think we have something
interesting, I think we
don't have one mummy,

I think we have two.

Narrator: A second mummy is
an intriguing development.

Family members were often buried
together in the same tomb,

So these two could be related.

But both have been burned
by the ancient looters to
get at the precious amulets,

Fusing the mummies together.

Maria: Oh wow, look
how burned that is.

Tricia: Oh no, the resin is
now basically turned to stone.

Maria: Yeah, and
glued together.

I don't know how
we're gonna do this.

Let's see.

Narrator: It's now a huge
challenge to remove both bodies

Before the work must stop.

Maria: Nice.

The problem is, if we leave
it here, it will most probably
be destroyed even more.

If we lift it, we might
have to actually take
that bone to the side.

Tricia: I think we
take the femur out.

Maria: And we're
fighting the time now.

Narrator: With only one
hour remaining, maria
faces a tough decision.

So little time risks
too much further damage.

Maria: What we'll do
is protect it as far as we
can and we will rebury it.

Tricia: I think
it's the right idea.

Narrator: Maria's disappointed
not to be able to remove
the mummies today, but the

Discovery of two individuals
means she could have
found a family group,

An exciting prospect
to explore next season.

Tricia: You're going to stay
here for a while, my friend.

Maria: Yeah, we did our best.

Narrator: In tomb 15,
john is still trying
to dig himself out of

What could be the
original entrance.

Having left her
mummies behind, maria
heads back to help.

Maria: Let's see if we can.

Narrator: And she's just in
time for a surprise discovery.

(grunting).

John: There's another doorway!

Maria: What?
To where?

John: Another chamber!

There's a whole new chamber
directly in front of me.

I can see the chisel marks,
it's full of mummy wrappings.

Narrator: It's a
tantalizing find, a whole
new area of the tomb,

Potentially with a
rare intact mummy.

But they now have just minutes
left before they have to close
the site, so this will have to

Be another project
for next season.

Now john must stick to
his first task, finding
the tomb's original door.

John: I just need to move
some of this sand so I
can get my butt in here,

You can see I'm stuck again.

Narrator: There's no sign of
the grand entranceway john was
expecting, so could this small

Opening be the original
doorway after all?

The only way to test if it's
wide enough for a human mummy

Is for john to climb
through the gap himself.

(maria laughing).

(coughing).

John: Hello darling.
How are you?

Maria: Happy to see
you on this side.

(laughing).

John: Wow, that was
something and a half.

Maria: Well done, you.

Narrator: The
dimensions seem to fit.

(laughing).

John: Absolutely amazing.

Narrator: It's an unexpectedly
emotional experience for john.

John: Most of us get to
have the experience of
going through the entrance

Into tombs that have been
looted, not the other way round,

Coming out of the entrance,
having dug it from the inside.

Narrator: If this is the
original door, it could hold

Crucial clues about
the tomb's owner.

Sadly, there are no markings
to indicate a name or date,
but john and maria are still

Able to glean
valuable information
from the stonework.

Maria: The shaft is absolutely
beautifully dressed.

Narrator: The craftsmanship of
the masonry and the existence
of the extra chamber suggest

That this was an
important individual.

John: This tomb definitely
belonged to someone of some
status within the community.

It wasn't just a worker.

The other chamber, we've
just got a glimpse of it.

What awaits us inside
is yet to be revealed.

Narrator: At the university
hospital in aswan,

Alejandro waits nervously for
more information about shemai.

Alejandro: Que tiene?

Anthropologist: Necklace.

Alejandro: Ah, he
has a necklace.

Narrator: Inside the ct
scanner the mummy is slowly
revealing its secrets.

Alejandro: He is wearing a
necklace with small beads.

Narrator: But alejandro still
has unanswered questions.

The ancient egyptians usually
mummified members of the
elite, removing their organs

And brain while preserving
the rest of the body.

Alejandro is keen to see
whether shemai has received
the same treatment.

(speaking spanish).

Alejandro: Yeah.

(speaking spanish).

Alejandro: Yeah, we can
see the remains of the
brain inside the head,

So it was not taken out.

The nose was not perforated
to drain the brain.

Narrator: Over the course
of the evening, the scan
has revealed a host of

New information about shemai.

Beneath the bandages is
a 4 foot 1 inch tall skeleton
with little surviving tissue.

His mouth has a mix of both
adult and baby teeth,

Which puts his age at death
around nine years old.

Around the neck is a ceramic
necklace designed to magically
help him reach the afterlife,

A hallmark of high status.

But unlike other elite
mummies of the era,

His brain, now shriveled,
was left in his skull.

Why was shemai's body so
poorly preserved when
he came from such a

Powerful egyptian family?

Alejandro has a theory.

Alejandro: We need to
think that we are in the
periphery of the state.

The best specialist would be
in the court, and we are in

The southernmost
province of egypt.

They had no experts
in mummification here.

Anthropologist: Ahora...

This is new, it's different.

Man: Yes.

Narrator: But the ct
scan has one more surprise for
alejandro, shemai's ethnicity.

Alejandro: Well, they have
just told me that shemai

Had the nubian features,

Which means that the ruling
family was probably nubian,

And that was unexpected.

Narrator: Examining shemai's
anatomy closely, the thickness
of his bones and the shape of

His nasal cavity, the
anthropologists think he
was a black african,

Likely from neighboring nubia.

A huge revelation that
challenges the prevailing image

Of the egyptian
ruling class.

Alejandro: We always thought
the ancient egyptian elite
were mediterranean type,

And in this sense shemai
is representing the society

Of a frontier in which

Different ethnic
groups were mixed.

At the end it doesn't
matter the color of your
skin, shemai was egyptian.

Narrator: It's
been an incredible night of
investigation and discovery

For the team, who have
added a brand new page
to the history book.

Alejandro: Thank you very much
for your help, it's very useful.

Narrator: With their
carefully preserved mummies
and elaborate tombs,

The ancient egyptians sought
eternal life after death.

Despite a curse to protect
them from robbers, few
mummies ever survive intact.

But for the lucky archaeologists
who discover them,

It's an incredible
opportunity to uncover

The secrets of this
fascinating civilization,

And by protecting and restoring
the mummies they help return

The souls of the ancients
onto their path to immortality.

Captioned by cotter
captioning services.