All language subtitles for Egypts.Unexplained.Files.Series.1.Part.3.Tuts.Curse.The.New.Evidence.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

Narrator:
Pyramids, temples, tombs --

these ancient wonders promise
even greater secrets

still to be found
under the sands of egypt.

Now cutting-edge science

decodes the mysterious
land of the pharaohs.

With modern technology,
we are gaining an insight

into the way
the ancient egyptians lived

and the manner
in which they died.

Narrator: This time,
the beliefs and superstitions

central to ancient
egyptians' society.

Can pine trees in california
reveal new truths

about the plagues of the exodus?

Did these biblical plagues
actually happen?

Narrator:
Dna testing of cat mummies
reveals a macabre secret.

Modern science is proving
that the egyptians

were mass-producing
these animal mummies.

Narrator: And could scientific
testing of a baboon mummy

reveal the location of a land
once thought only mythical?

Bard: And baboons
are not indigenous in egypt.

So they had to have been
brought from elsewhere.

Narrator:
Ancient clues unearthed...

Long-lost evidence
re-examined...

Precious artifacts brought into
the light of the 21st century...

These are
"egypt's unexplained files."

-- captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪

the land of punt, long thought
to be a mythical country.

Macca: We have reliefs
or carvings on the walls

that seem to depict a great
expedition to the land of punt,

a land of palm trees
and wild animals.

Narrator: Its location
has remained a mystery.

Punt is a legendary place.

We don't know where it is.

Narrator: Until now.

Egyptologists hope that by using
cutting-edge techniques

to test the remains
of a 3,000-year-old baboon,

they'll be able to find it.

Macca: Have we found
the mythical land of punt?

Narrator: In 2004, archeologists
were digging at a site

near the small egyptian harbor
of wadi gawasis on the red sea.

Kathryn bard and her team
from boston university

made a remarkable discovery.

We found pieces of ancient
ships, 26 coil-papyrus ropes --

riggings from an ancient ship.

Narrator: These ships were not
built for the river nile.

They were made
for the open ocean.

The first seafaring vessels

ever to be uncovered
from ancient egypt.

Alongside the rigging,

they discovered a set
of strange boxes

and realized the incredible
significance of the find.

Bard: This was a really
wonderful find.

We excavated 43 discarded
cargo boxes.

And why do we know
that they were cargo boxes?

Because two of them were
inscribed like a package label

with "the wonderful things
of punt."

narrator:
This was the first evidence

that the mysterious land of punt
was a real place

and that the ancient egyptians
were trading there.

But where was it?

♪

for over a century,
the land of punt is thought

to be nothing more
than a tall tale,

first discovered by researchers
on a 4,000-year-old papyrus.

There is a wonderful
fictional tale

dating maybe about 1900 b.C.

Called "the tale
of the shipwrecked sailor."

and it's about a sailor who is
on a seafaring expedition.

He washes up on an island,
an island in the red sea.

And this is a magical island.

Narrator: The sailor tells
stories of fabulous creatures

and exotic spices.

He is taken care of
by a serpent king.

Darnell:
In the course of this tale,

the serpent refers to himself
as the lord of punt.

♪

narrator: Researchers now
re-examined an ancient tablet

called the palermo stone.

They find accounts of voyages

that were previously
considered fictional.

Could this help them
locate the land of punt?

The palermo stone mentions
voyages and interaction

with the mystical land of punt.

It was a place where
they were importing

their exotic trade goods.

Narrator:
The palermo stone reveals

that punt is the source
of many essential goods

brought into ancient egypt.

Rose: Incense, wood, gold...

Elephant ivory, ebony --

punt was where exotic
raw materials were obtained.

They were highly desirable
for temple ceremonies,

especially incense.

Narrator: All the evidence

points to punt
being a trading partner

for ancient egyptians using
the boats found in the cave.

But the stone does not reveal
its location.

Then teams excavating
the ocean-going ships

make an incredible breakthrough.

They find shards
of ancient pots,

which once contained
goods from punt.

The team turns to science to try
to locate the origin of the pots

and discover that the clay comes
from the east coast of africa.

We have evidence now based
on our excavation of pottery

that came from those regions.

Narrator: But exactly where
on africa's coast

remains a mystery
to researchers.

They turn to inscriptions
at queen hapshetsut's temple

in deir el-bahari.

Here they find accounts
of a voyage to punt.

The depictions of some
of the figures on the wall

have long puzzled visitors.

They have a different skin color
to the egyptians.

We have representations of
foreign people with red skin

and chin beards
much like the egyptians.

Narrator: Convinced that
these are real people,

they look for more clues.

They find a passage
which describes the animals

hapshetsut shipped back
to egypt.

She brought back baboons, dogs,
and living incense trees.

Narrator: Baboons are known
to have been sacred

to the ancient egyptians.

Macca: The baboon was considered
a really incredible animal --

almost human,
but certainly divine.

It was considered
a divine animal of wisdom.

Narrator: Baboons are not
indigenous to egypt.

So if archeologists
can determine

the origin of the baboons
found in egypt,

it could help them pinpoint
the exact location of punt.

They scour historical records
and track down a baboon mummy,

originally discovered
in the valley of the kings,

now kept in london.

There's one baboon
in the british museum

that comes from a temple dating
to the 20th dynasty,

so that would be maybe 1200 b.C.

Narrator: 2010.

A team of scientists
at the british museum in london

test the baboon using
a scientific technique

called stable oxygen
isotope analysis.

Stable isotope analysis was done
on some hairs from one baboon.

This gives us information
about the region

in which these baboons
would have lived

originally before
they were brought to egypt.

Narrator: Will the location
of punt be revealed at last?

The stable isotope analysis
of these hairs

points to the northeast
africa region

in what is today
eritrea or eastern sudan.

Narrator: It's a revelation.

Modern science confirms
the ancient egyptians

as intrepid seafarers,

sailing over 1,000 miles along
the coast of east africa

trading in spices
and exotic animals.

It finally proves not only that
the legendary land of punt

is real
but its geographical location.

♪

the tomb of king tutankhamun --

the greatest egyptian discovery
of all time.

News of its wondrous treasures
is overshadowed

by the tale of a deadly curse.

Day: Only months after
the discovery of the tomb,

the earl of carnarvon
suddenly died.

Narrator: Talk of a curse
has endured for over 70 years.

Now a pioneering new science

could help answer
once and for all

if there is any truth
behind this supernatural story.

Is there any reality
to the curse?

Can the death simply
be explained by coincidence?

Narrator: 2009,

and the famous tomb of
tutankhamun is under threat.

We've been very concerned
in recent times about the state

of some of the tombs
in the valley of the kings --

the impact that tourism has.

Let's face it, egyptian tombs

weren't made to pack
millions of people in.

Narrator:
The tourists who visit the tomb

are slowly destroying it
with their breath.

Anthony: When people were coming
into the tomb, we are exhaling.

And when the moisture
gets onto the walls,

it desecrates the paint,
the wall paintings.

Narrator: Conservationists
race to solve the problem.

Anthony: At first, they limited
the number of how many tourists

could go in at a time

and how many
could go in per day.

But now
they've built a replica.

So you can go in and breathe
as much as you like.

Narrator: Specialist teams
build this replica

using the latest 3-d
laser-scanning technology.

It saves the tomb from
the curse of the visitors.

Now, can egyptologists combine
this data with more new science

to shed light on the supposed
curse of tutankhamun?

♪

the tale of the curse dates back
to the tomb's discovery in 1922.

Soon after howard carter
and the earl of carnarvon

opened the tomb,
disaster strikes.

Only months after the discovery
of the tomb

and before they got as far
as opening up the mummy

in the burial chamber,
the earl of carnarvon,

the fifth earl,
got an infection.

That he received a bite
from a mosquito to his face.

And that whilst
he was shaving a few days later,

he nicked this bite,
and that it became infected.

Narrator:
On the 5th of April 1923,

lord carnarvon dies
from blood poisoning.

Newspapers connect his death
to a deadly curse

supposedly written on the walls
of the burial chamber.

Johnston: Within the tomb was
discovered a little inscription

stating that
"death will come on swift wings

to any who disturb
the pharaoh's tomb."

the story of the curse spreads
around the world like wildfire.

Narrator: Over the next decade,
six more people connected

to the excavation of
tutankhamun's tomb die suddenly.

Scientists previously looked for
clues to the mysterious deaths

by looking at the mummified body
of king tutankhamun.

Could the remains
themselves be toxic?

Johnston: The theory is
that the body

is still reacting
with the unguents

and the linen wrappings.

And therefore when
the sarcophagus is opened,

that there'll be
a release of gas

given off by the body itself.

Ammonia gas could affect
the eyes, the nose, the mouth.

Extreme cases,
it could affect the breathing.

And if left untreated,
could ultimately lead to death.

Narrator: But there's
a big problem with this theory.

The one man who would have
been hit by the toxic gas

does not experience
any symptoms.

Given that howard carter
is himself responsible

for opening these,

he would be the person
most likely to be affected.

And he remains
entirely unaffected.

I believe it's highly unlikely
that the gases

could have done
serious damage to anyone.

Narrator: Egyptologists now look
for other possible causes

that could explain the curse.

They turn their attention
to the tomb itself.

Specialist teams scrutinize
every detail and find,

including
a clue found in the plaster.

Dark patches which contain
a strange black fungus.

They are unique to
tutankhamun's tomb

in the valley of the kings.

Narrator:
The team ask themselves

why this strange mold
is not found in any other tomb.

They look for clues
to how it got there.

Experts think it may be to do

with the tomb's
rapid construction.

Johnston:
It is very much a rush job.

And it's entirely possible
that the plaster was still wet

when the paint was applied

and the doors
were eventually locked.

I think that's the reason
that we have this mold.

Narrator:
Could this be the reason

people died
once the tomb was unsealed?

It's been suggested that these
fungal spots are responsible

for deaths
connected with the tomb.

Narrator: The mold is tested
to see if it's poisonous.

The team draw a blank.

The mold is harmless.

We have no evidence that mold
is the reason

why anyone associated
with these discoveries has died.

Narrator: Scientists conclude
that nothing in the tomb

could have caused the deaths,

fueling doubts
about the entire story.

They turn their attention
back to the original curse,

reportedly carved
into the tomb walls.

A linguistic study of the text
reveals it is very different

to curses discovered
in other tombs.

Johnston:
Most of the curses,

they are not nearly
as terrifying

as the curse that we know of
from tutankhamun's tomb.

They tend to be made
dreadful things happen to you --

"may you be eaten by a crocodile
as you're swimming in the nile,

may you be savaged
by a hippopotamus."

I mean, they're not good.

But with the same token,
there's not this monolithic evil

attached to it, either.

Narrator:
Historians begin to suspect

it is not written by the hand
of an ancient egyptian at all.

And when they turn again
to the tomb,

their investigations uncover
no sign

of any inscriptions
containing the curse.

There's nothing of the "death
shall come on swift wings

to those who disturb
the tomb of the pharaoh."

that never existed.

That inscription --
that was fake news.

Narrator:
And scientific analysis suggests

to egyptologists
that the curse of tutankhamun

is knowing more
than a newspaper fantasy.

Everybody wanted to report
on this tomb.

So they had to make up new news.

Let's invent the curse tale.

Day: It made sensational
headlines -- instant press.

Money, money, money.

That's what it was
really all about.

Narrator: Far from being
a 3,300-year-old jinx

cast from beyond the grave,

modern analysis reveals
the curse of tutankhamun

was a work of imagination
by 20th-century journalists.

Ancient egyptians go
to extraordinary lengths

to mummify and preserve
their dead in readiness

for the afterlife.

But when egyptologists
discover a tomb

containing dozens
of mummified cats

instead of people,
they are baffled.

Why were these cats mummified?

Narrator: Historians turn to
science to try and decode

the meaning behind these cats.

This was a massive,
massive religious experience.

Narrator:
During the spring of 2018,

archeologists excavating
catacombs outside cairo

make an unusual discovery.

Inside the maze of tombs,

they find dozens
of mummified cats.

At other sites across egypt,
even more are found.

How on earth did they get here?
And why?

What's their purpose?

Narrator: Advances in technology
may allow experts

to discover the secrets
behind this bizarre practice

for the first time.

Day: Now we finally have
the technology

to study things
like their dna, their genetics.

Narrator:
Scientific analysis delivers

an intriguing revelation.

Dna testing shows that
these cats are very interbred.

Narrator:
Scientists conclude the cats

have been specially bred
on a cat farm.

Ikram: They are all quite
closely related,

which means that they must
have been factory farmed.

Or these were
really kitten mills.

Day: Modern science is proving
that the egyptians

were mass-producing
these animal mummies.

Narrator:
It seems to egyptologists

that the kitten mills
are supplying animals

to a mummification industry.

Cats are mummified
in a variety of ways.

But the best quality cat mummy

would have
the cat gutted, eviscerated.

Oils and unguents are applied

to give the body
a little bit of flexibility.

And resins are applied.

And then the cat
is wrapped up in bandages.

Narrator: The bandaged cat was
then creatively embellished.

They would often decorate the
external appearance of the mummy

with things like eyes,
false ears, whiskers.

Narrator: Cat mummification
appears to be big business.

But why?

Researchers look for clues
to discover

the scale of this industry.

They find
an astonishing account

from the early days
of egyptian archeology --

the mummified remains
of 180,000 cats

found in a field at beni hasan
outside cairo

in the 19th century.

A farmer puts his spade
into the ground

only to discover
that he's not digging soil,

but his spade has found a pit.

We're told that
he falls into it.

And he discovers a catacomb
filled with thousands

of mummified
ancient egyptian cats.

Narrator:
It's an extraordinary find

unlike anything seen before
in egypt.

For egyptologists,

this is a hall of cat mummies
on an industrial scale.

Johnston:
They're variously wrapped,

some of them in quite gaudy
wrappings,

others in more plain
linen wrappings.

Narrator:
It's the largest collection

of cat mummies ever found.

Now it's sent to England
to be sold privately.

♪

accounts of cat mummies
in such huge numbers

lead egyptologists
to form a theory.

Those cats are
being mass-produced

to be slaughtered
for mummification.

X-ray technology provides
scientists with more clues

to back up this theory.

The cats lived very short lives.

X-rays reveal injuries that show
many died a brutal death.

These cats are being killed
at a relatively young age

by having their necks broken.

Narrator:
It's a disturbing revelation.

The outer package looked
very impressive.

But the inner packet
often contained

some poor little
strangled kitten.

Narrator: But why did
the ancient egyptians

create these mummies
in such huge quantities?

Archeologists believe it points

towards a large-scale
religious practice.

Mcknight: The shear number
of these cat mummies

that are interred at sites
like beni hasan suggest

that this was a massive,
massive religious experience.

It was an activity that lots
of people were taking part in.

This mass breeding of these cats
shows that they were being

produced specifically
to be given as offerings.

Cat mummies were made
by the million

and deposited by the million.

It's a little bit
like the way today

that some people go to churches

and light a candle,
as a kind of an offering.

Narrator:
Experts now understand

why there are so many
mummified cats in egypt.

Their final question is what
happened to the 180,000 cats

sent to England
for sale in the 19th century?

When the cats arrive
at the liverpool docks,

there are two large auctions
which take place.

There's a story that one
of the auctioneers uses

the head of a cat as a gavel.

Narrator:
Despite the salesman's efforts,

the cat mummies don't attract
much interest from buyers.

Nobody really wants to
buy them

because they don't really
know what these things are.

But they end up being sold
for a very low price.

3 pounds, 13 shillings,
and 9 pence per ton

of mummified
ancient egyptian cat.

Narrator: The fate
of the mummies is a shock.

They got ground down
as fertilizer.

It is truly astonishing.

The cats which were murdered,
mummified,

offered to goddess
in ancient egypt

should then be ground up

and turned into fertilizer
in victorian England.

Narrator: It's a wasted chance
to study the lost cats,

but there may be more
beneath the sands

waiting to be discovered.

♪

♪

the bible's book of exodus
describes a series

of terrible plagues
that hit ancient egypt.

The nile turns to blood.

A plague of frogs and biting
insects and lice and flies.

Narrator:
Could there be any truth

in these strange phenomena?

Can we really explain
the phenomenon of the nile river

turning into blood
as recorded in exodus?

Narrator: Growth rings contained
within ancient trees

discovered in california
could unlock the answer.

These forests include

some of the oldest living trees
in existence

dating back to the times
of ancient egypt.

Narrator: Now scientists
look for the truth

behind the biblical story.

Did these biblical plagues
actually happen?

♪

♪

narrator:
8,000 miles from egypt

in the white mountains
of california...

Scientists study
high-altitude trees

looking for evidence
of global climate change.

Harrison: Bristlecone pine
forests in california

are at roughly 9,000 feet.

And these forests include
some of the oldest living trees

in existence, dating back
to the times of ancient egypt.

Narrator: Investigators study
tree rings from 3,500 years ago,

around the time the plagues
supposedly hit ancient egypt.

The rings can be used
to reveal information

about the global climate
at that time.

They notice
something intriguing.

When scientists examine
the rings from the period,

they find that the distance

between these rings
shrinks dramatically.

Narrator: Experts compare
these results to records

from other ancient trees
around the world.

They're almost identical.

For climate scientists,
it's a revelation.

Harrison:
This can mean only one thing --

global catastrophic
climate change.

Narrator:
Data from the tree ring studies

shows a massive worldwide
drop in temperatures

around 3,500 years ago.

Scientists begin the hunt
for an explanation.

They search records for
a geological event big enough

to cause such a worldwide
change in temperature.

What could cause such a thing?

Perhaps a meteor strike

or a huge volcanic eruption.

Narrator: Experts identify
a possible culprit.

It's not in california but on
the other side of the world,

on the tiny mediterranean
island of santorini,

just 400 miles north
of the egyptian coast.

There is a volcano called thera.

This volcano erupted
around 1600 b.C.

And wiped out
the local civilization.

This eruption in ancient times

was about four times
more powerful than krakatoa.

And it would have spewed up
hundreds of thousands of tons

of ash into the atmosphere,

effectively blotting out
the sun.

Narrator: It coincides
with the climate change event

recorded in ancient tree rings.

It also coincides
with the story of exodus.

According to the bible,
the pharaoh imprisons

the jewish people of egypt
and refuses to release them.

Desperate to free his people,
moses appeals to god.

And god sends plagues
upon egypt.

Narrator: The bible tells how
the land of the pharaohs

is beset
with terrible misfortune.

The waters of the land
turning to blood.

Killing the fish.

A plague of frogs and biting
insects and lice and flies.

Narrator: Is it possible
this geological event

could explain
the divine retribution

cast down upon ancient egypt
as described in the bible?

Rose: There's a team
of geologists now

working off the coast
of santorini

in the crater
where the volcano used to be

and digging into the seafloor.

What they've discovered
is a lot more ash

than anyone ever suspected,
up to 30% more.

And what they've calculated
is that the plume of ash

during the eruption

would have gone
25 miles up into the atmosphere.

So the question is, could that
then have reached ancient egypt?

Narrator: An icelandic volcanic
eruption in 2010

gives experts an idea of how far
an ash cloud can travel.

The volcanic eruption in iceland
was months of disruption.

It ejected so much ash
into the atmosphere.

It went all around the globe.

And in doing so,
disrupted airline traffic,

courier services,
all packages being delivered --

everything ground to a halt
for about a week.

Narrator: The scale of this
modern eruption leaves no doubt

that an ancient eruption
could easily reach egypt.

In the hunt for any volcanic
telltale signs,

researchers now
closely investigate

the geology of the nile delta

and find shards
of volcanic rock.

Chemical analysis confirms
their hunch --

the shards come all the way
from santorini,

thrown hundreds of miles
by the huge volcanic eruption.

It's a significant result.

And their investigation
continues to reveal more clues

to explain the biblical plagues.

This ash cloud would have had
a devastating effect

on the entire ecosystem
that it came in contact with.

I mean, this is poisonous gas.

So as it's falling back down
onto the earth,

it's falling into the nile.

It's falling into the red sea.

It's falling into the lakes
throughout egypt.

And it's poisoning the water
with sulfur.

Narrator: Large quantities
of volcanic ash and sulfur

would have
a major impact on the nile.

Scientists believe it could
change the color of the water

matching the river of blood
described in the book of exodus.

This acidic sulfuric deposit

could taint the river
and pollute it,

turning it a deep red.

Narrator: It's the first solid
evidence to link a natural event

to the accounts
written in the bible.

Could this fouling of the nile
also be linked

to the other
biblical disasters,

like the plague of frogs
or the infestation of flies?

Experts identify
a toxic chain reaction.

Bianchi:
The turning of the nile red

has a disastrous effect
on the wildlife.

Harrison: Fish in the river
would begin to die off.

And because of this,
all of the life that lived

on the sides of the river,
such as frogs,

would begin to move away
from that toxic water.

Eventually other animals die and
their corpses become infested.

And they in turn spawn the lice
and the flies,

which continue
to spread the plague.

Narrator: Modern
scientific investigation

has revealed evidence

that the biblical stories
could be based in fact

but driven by natural events
rather than the wrath of god.

We could tie this all back to
one catastrophic global event.

Narrator:
The plagues and devastation
described in the bible

may well have been
the side effects

of a giant volcanic eruption.

Ancient egyptians often bury

mummified animals with them
in their tombs.

Archeologists find cats, dogs,
and even baboons.

But when they find coffins

containing mummified dung
beetles, they're intrigued.

Godenho: Why on earth would
the dung beetle be so central

to the ancient egyptians'
religion?

Narrator: A new discovery

could help egyptologists
find out.

♪

narrator:
Experts exploring egyptian tombs

are used to finding carvings
of majestic animals,

like the jackal or the falcon,

beasts which protect the dead
in the afterlife.

But in 2018, at a tomb
outside saqqara,

a team of archeologists
find something else --

something extremely rare.

Wrapped in linen, they uncover
tiny perfectly preserved

beetle mummies
from 4,500 years ago.

Experts identify the insects
as scarab beetles,

a type of dung beetle.

This is literally an insect

which lays its eggs in
and feeds on feces.

Narrator:
The find is highly unusual.

Researchers question
why creatures

considered dirty and unclean

would be deemed important enough
to be mummified.

Egyptologists suspect
the attitudes

of the ancient egyptians
towards bodily waste

must be worlds apart
from our own.

In the ancient world,
human and animal waste

isn't necessarily something
useless and to be discarded.

People used it as fertilizer.

They used it to build
their homes.

They used it to heat
cooking fires.

It's used in magical
medical texts

to cure particular ailments
as part of medicine.

Narrator: Egyptians may not have
been repelled by animal dung,

but that alone doesn't explain

the spiritual significance
of the beetles.

One so important that it grants
them a ritual burial.

For researchers,
the insects' natural behavior

offers the next important clue.

Godenho: In the same way that
the ancient egyptians noticed

the sun rolling into the sky
onto the horizon each morning,

they noticed the dung beetle
rolling a ball of dung.

And in the same way they noticed

the life-giving
properties of the sun,

they noticed the newborn babies
of the dung beetle

hatching out
of this ball of dung.

Narrator: Egyptologists believe
that the ancient egyptians

see the spherical ball of dung

as a representation
of the sun --

making the beetle a sun god.

The ancient egyptians see
the scarab beetle

as the god khepri.

Harrison: The solar god
represented the rising sun,

the renewal of the sun,

and, therefore,
the renewal of life.

Narrator: Researchers ask,

could this be a clue
to the insect's role

in the journey
to the afterlife?

Archeologists re-examine
beetle carvings

found in sarcophagi
containing dead people.

Each was discovered placed
over the heart of the deceased.

Godenho: When ancient egyptians
enter the afterlife,

they have to go through
a series of trials.

And the very last part
of those trials

is when they enter the hall
of judgment before osiris

whom they want to join
within the afterlife.

But they don't get to walk
straight through.

Cooney:
If you're not clean of heart,

then you won't be able
to move into the afterlife.

And you would cease to exist
in any space

of the living or the dead.

Narrator: Egyptologists form
a theory that for a sinner,

the beetle over the heart
is an insurance policy

to get into paradise.

They find charms called
amulets in other tombs

that appear to serve
the same purpose.

Cooney: There's a particular
kind of amulet

known as the heart scarab.

It's in the shape of a beetle.

And on the back of this scarab
is inscribed text.

And in this text, you read,
"oh, heart of my mother,

oh, heart of my mother,
do not turn against me

in the halls of justice."

harrison: If you had a scarab
amulet protecting your heart,

it would stop your heart
from testifying against you

in the hall of judgment.

The last thing you want
is for your heart

to speak up against you

and to say
that you are a sinner --

that you're not worthy of
going into the afterlife.

And so you make sure
that you put this heart

scarab beetle amulet
on your heart to cleanse it

and make sure that you get into
the afterlife intact.

Narrator: Experts now know
that this tiny insect

is an ancient egyptian's
ticket to paradise.

It seems that some need
more help than others

in getting there,

enough to devote
an entire sarcophagus

to a lowly dung beetle.

♪

on the ceiling
of an egyptian burial chamber,

a 4,000-year-old mystery --
the figure of a strange animal.

One thing that stands out
is this bizarre creature

with the body of a hippo.

She's got the paws of a lion and
from the head up, a crocodile.

Narrator: It's unlike anything
ever seen before.

Who is this creature?

And why does it have the form
of three vicious predators?

What does it all mean?

♪

narrator: Experts have long
known that certain animals

are associated
with specific egyptian gods.

Ancient egyptians
were very observant

of the animals
that were around them.

Mcknight: They see things
in the natural world

that they believe
has connections to the gods

because they don't know how else
to explain things that they see.

So for the egyptians,
each animal was associated

with a god, had a power,

had some sort of mystical role
to play in the cosmos.

Narrator: Research suggests
there is a link

between how these animals behave
and the deities they represent.

Take for example the season
when the nile starts to flood,

frogs appear everywhere.

And so there's a deity known
as heqet,

which is basically
a frog goddess.

And she's not just the deity
of renewal

and agriculture and rain
but of fertility.

The baboon was also considered
a really incredible animal.

They were associated very often
with the sun god horus,

tied to the sky.

It wakes up, stretches to where
the sun is going to rise,

does this, and cries out.

And it's thought to be
this encouragement

to help the sun rise.

Narrator: 200 years ago,

the role of the gods
was revealed in glorious detail

when explorer giovanni belzoni
opened a painted tomb

in the valley of the kings.

This is the most
spectacular tomb in the valley.

It's the biggest.

It's absolutely magnificent.

Narrator:
Belzoni's gaze fell

on the familiar paintings
of deities

that adorned the walls.

But he was mystified by a
painting of an unusual goddess.

Rose: The body of a hippo.

She's got the paws of a lion
and from the head up,

a crocodile.

Narrator: Now experts
re-examine the goddess

and ask whether animal behavior
could hold the key

to the identity
of this historical enigma.

First, they examine why she
is made up

of three ruthless killers.

One clue, maybe egypt's
dangerous natural habitat.

You step out of the door,
and it's terrifying.

In fact, you get out of bed,
it's terrifying

because you never know
if there's a scorpion

that's going to get you.

If you go down to wash or to
clean your clothes at the river,

you also have to be
kind of afraid

that you're going to be eaten

or dragged into the bottom
of the nile.

There you are,
a poor, feckless human being

with no fur, no claws, nothing.

So the gods have to protect you.

Narrator: Archeologists
explore the theory

that the mysterious goddess

takes her form
from fierce animals

so that she can
offer protection.

But to whom?

Researchers analyze
the three creatures

which make up the deity.

Her head belongs to a crocodile.

Mcknight: The egyptians see the
crocodile as a powerful animal.

It's a very fearsome animal
that lives in the nile.

It also is very good
at protecting its young

and watching over eggs.

Narrator: Egyptologists believe
the goddess' body

is another fiercely maternal
creature -- a hippopotamus.

Hippopotami
are very fierce mothers.

Anthony:
If you've ever been to africa

and you're familiar
with hippopotami,

you know that these are probably
the fiercest creatures around.

You do not want to be engaged
with these animals at all.

Narrator: The goddess also has
the paws of a lion --

an animal that's yet
another ferocious mother.

Experts form a theory
that the goddess

has a maternal connection.

They hunt through records
to find evidence of the goddess

on other tombs.

They find a match on the walls
of a fertility temple.

Mcknight: We find the imagery in
tomb contexts often belonging

to those of women sometimes
who've died in childbirth

or at some stage of pregnancy.

Narrator: Further investigation
of the ancient texts

reveals her name -- taweret.

Rose: Taweret is something like
a mother goddess

to the ancient egyptians.

She protects women and children.

She's often depicted as this
fierce demonic character

that's guarding the household.

Narrator: Taweret might seem
alien to modern eyes,

but as guardian
of pregnant women,

her fearsome features
made her a powerful protector

of the most vulnerable
in egyptian society.