All language subtitles for Egypts Unexplained Files Part 4 Secrets of the Tomb Raiders 1080p

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 egyptian obsession
with death and the afterlife.

What's so special about
this dagger

that it earned a place
in king tut's tomb?

They found a phrase,
which seemed to read,

"iron from the sky."

narrator: Will science
uncover the secrets

of the embalmers craft?

They had this incredible power
to stop nature in its tracks.

Narrator: And can new technology
uncover the truth

behind egypt's animal mummies?

We have these millions
of mummified animals,

but when we come
to c.T. Scan them,

many of them are not
what they seem.

Narrator:
Ancient clues unearthed,

long-lost evidence reexamined,

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

a metal dagger discovered
in tutankhamun's tomb --

a possession so prized
by the king,

he wanted it with him
for eternity.

But it shouldn't exist.

Naughton: It's made of iron,

which is a material
not known to egypt at this time.

This is still the bronze age,
not the iron age.

Narrator: Now state-of-the-art
x-ray analysis reveals

an unexpected discovery.

There are objects in there that
are literally out of this world.

The mystery here is how do these
objects come to be in this tomb?

♪

narrator: 2015.

The priceless artifacts
unearthed

from king tutankhamun's tomb

are on display at
the egyptian museum in cairo.

Among them, an unusual dagger
unlike any other

in the collection.

Cooney: The dagger itself
has a golden handle

with delicate geometric designs
and a beautiful golden sheath.

Narrator: But it's not
the design that's so special.

It's what it's made of.

It's an iron blade,
fully functional.

Narrator:
Ever since its discovery,

archaeologists have been puzzled

over the dagger's
very existence.

Cooney: Iron seems
so commonplace to us,

but for the ancient egyptians,
iron was quite a rarity.

Naughton: The iron age doesn't
arrive in egypt

for another two centuries
after the time of tutankhamun,

so it's very strange to find
such a fine object

made of iron at this time.

Narrator:
A clue to the dagger's origins

surfaces in an ancient text --

a piece of hieroglyphic writing
that points to the heavens.

They found a phrase which seemed
to read "iron from the sky."

narrator: Experts are unsure
what the hieroglyphs mean.

Can modern technology

help pinpoint
the source of the metal?

Scientists investigate
the chemical makeup

of the blade itself.

The dagger is tested using
x-ray fluorescence spectrometry,

which is
a newly developed technique.

Analysis of the results
point to a surprising source.

The equipment shows that
the composition of the iron

in the dagger is of iron,

but also nickel and cobalt
in exactly the combination

that matches the database
record for meteoric iron.

Narrator:
Iron from inside a meteorite.

It's an extraordinary result.

The riddles written
in the hieroglyphs,

"iron from the sky,"
now makes sense.

The metal that was fashioned
into the dagger's blade

came from space.

Egyptians didn't know how to
make iron for themselves.

Due to its rarity, it is revered
as a sacred metal.

Naughton: So it's easy to
imagine that they would think

of a meteorite falling
as being like a gift from god.

That would make meteorites
very highly prized,

and for that reason,
they're the kind of thing

that the king might well have
wanted to claim for himself.

This iron was likely
more valuable than gold.

And so to be buried
with an iron dagger

would have linked tutankhamun
to the gods themselves.

Narrator:
If the iron in the dagger

arrived in a meteorite,

where had it landed?

Investigators draw a blank.

♪

in the hunt for a new lead,
they search for any other items

in tutankhamun's treasures

which may also
have celestial origins.

Their attention is drawn
to king tut's breast plate.

Naughton: Inside the sarcophagus
is an extraordinary broach

made of a kind
of yellow gemstone,

which has been cut and polished
into the shape of a scarab.

This presents something of
a mystery

because this is a material which
we wouldn't expect the egyptians

having access to or being able
to work in this way.

So what is it doing here
in the tomb?

Narrator:
The beetle-shaped broach

was initially assumed
to be a gemstone.

To be sure, researchers test
the material using a technique

called oxygen isotope analysis.

They discover it's actually
a strange type of glass.

The egyptians did have
the technology to make glass,

but not with such
a clarity and translucence.

Narrator: The chemical
composition of the glass

matches a material
found naturally

in one specific area of egypt --

a remote region located
on the western edge

of the ancient egyptian empire.

This desert is known
as the great sand sea.

Cooney: The only way to make
glass like this

is with extraordinarily
high temperatures.

Narrator:
Geological surveys of the site

suggest these high temperatures

could only be the result
of a meteor strike.

Naughton: When meteors enter
the earth's atmosphere,

if they're traveling
at the right speed,

they explode on impact.

They create a giant fireball
of masses and masses

and masses of energy and heat.

When it hits the ground,

silica in a substance like sand
melts immediately

and forms a kind of glass,
a very particular kind of glass.

♪

narrator: Experts calculate

that the glass
in tutankhamun's broach

was made by a meteor strike

10,000 more times more powerful
than an atomic bomb,

turning a desert of sand
into a sea of glass.

A scarab made of this glass is
pretty extraordinary,

and it was obviously precious
to the ancient egyptians

who understood it
as a kind of miracle --

something that wasn't
naturally occurring.

It was a very special
and rare thing.

Narrator:
While the scarab matches

the glass found in the desert,

experts are still unsure
that the iron in the dagger

came from this specific
meteorite strike.

But one thing is certain.

When tutankhamun's tomb
was discovered back in 1922,

archaeologists had no idea

that cosmic events
millions of years earlier

had left their mark on egypt's
most famous pharaoh.

Cooney:
One of the most amazing things

about the find
of tutankhamun's tomb

is that there
are objects in there

that are
literally out of this world.

♪

narrator: An ancient cemetery
filled with animal mummies.

Price: We have these millions
of mummified animals,

but when we come to scan them,

many of them
are not what they seem.

Narrator: Now cutting-edge
scanning technology

reveals secrets hidden deep
inside the mummified remains.

Ikram: Sometimes you'll get
what you think you will,

but sometimes it's not.

We need to get to the bottom
of what's going on.

Don't ever judge a mummy
by its cover.

♪

♪

narrator: 2015.

Scientists reexamining
a large hall

of ancient mummified animals

want to see what lies beneath
the bandages,

but strict government rules mean

they're not allowed
to unwrap the remains.

Instead, they turn
to scanning technology

usually reserved for the living.

Nowadays, we can use c.T. Scans
and x-rays

to look inside the mummy bundles

in great detail.

You can see
exactly what's inside

without damaging
the bundle itself.

Narrator: The mummified remains
were originally discovered

in the 1960s,

unearthed at the ancient temple
complex of saqqara,

15 miles from cairo --

site of the oldest pyramid
in egypt.

This was
one of the biggest excavations

anywhere in the world
in the 1960s.

Narrator:
Digging under the site,

they made a macabre discovery.

Instead, they break into
a network of tunnels...

...Filled with millions of pots,
each of them containing

an ancient egyptian
animal mummy.

This is perhaps
one of the strangest finds

we have
from the ancient world.

Narrator: Further excavation
revealed more and more chambers,

each filled with different
mummified animals.

So there were all these
different catacombs underground,

and each one is dedicated
to a different animal.

You have raptors in one,
you have ibis birds in another,

there are cows in a third.

Mcknight: We have
a cat catacomb, a dog catacomb.

Price: You have jackals,
you have falcons.

Each individual section
is very much self contained.

Ikram: Millions of animals
in the galleries --

a vast underground zoo.

What were they all there for?

Narrator: The ancient egyptian
belief system

had many animal deities.

Could these all be
votive offerings?

Ikram: Votive mummies
are the same

as lighting a candle in a church

where your prayer
goes up to the god.

And so a votive mummy is
the same as your prayer is taken

by this animal
straight to the god.

Narrator: Each animal god was
thought to have powers

that could protect a person
from evil spirits or sickness,

or act as a guide
towards a peaceful afterlife.

Ikram: Ibis is associated
with the god thoth,

cats associated
with the goddess bastet.

So really, all of these animals
were associated

with some kind of divinity.

Narrator: Saqqara's animal
mummies were thought to be

perfectly preserved
whole animals,

buried as offerings to the gods.

But modern investigators
have a hunch

something is not quite right.

They want to reexamine
the mummies

to see exactly what lies
beneath the painted wrappings.

Now using
a hospital c.T. Scanner,

the archaeologists
get their first-ever look

inside the assorted
mummified animals.

They're staggered
by what they find.

Sometimes you'll get
what you think you will.

It looks like a bird,
there's a bird in there.

But sometimes it's not.

Sometimes there's just a bundle
of feathers

or sometimes one bone.

We expect to find that they
contain the animal itself --

a complete articulated body.
But more often than not,

we find that they contain
something entirely different --

natural materials like
sand and soil and stones,

often with reeds
and vegetation in there.

Sometimes there is no bone
at all.

Price: About 1/3 contain
a full skeleton

of the animal we expect,

another 1/3 contain part
of the animal,

and the last 1/3 contain
nothing animal remains related.

Begs the questions,
what on earth is going on here?

Narrator: Experts look for clues
in the religious practices

that were carried out
at saqqara.

Access to the temples
was controlled by priests.

Ancient sources reveal these men
were given offerings

from visiting pilgrims.

Ikram: This was a vast
pilgrimage center,

and hundreds of people come

and they want to leave
an offering to the god.

So they buy,
from the priests there,

a mummified cat, dog.

Narrator: Pilgrims would buy
a mummified animal

and hand it over to be buried
as part of a religious ceremony.

You give them an offering
that you hope

they will pass on to the gods

and eventually bury in one
of the underground catacombs.

♪

day: There was quite
a money making business

going on in the temples

by selling millions
of animal mummies

as votive offering to pilgrims
who came each year

to sacred festivals
at each of the temples.

Narrator: With such a high
demand for mummified animals,

it's likely that rogue
embalmers would cut corners.

It is possible in an industry
on this scale that some people

are using less-than-honorable
means in order

to make the articles
that they are going to sell.

Ikram: Is it that the priests
are trying to rip off people?

Is it large-scale cheating
of the populous?

Narrator:
But the mystery deepens.

Further investigation
of the fake mummies reveals

they wouldn't have been cheap
to produce.

Price: Analysis using
mass spectrometry

shows that both the mummies
with the animals

and the mummies without
the animals

are made up with
the same chemical components.

So, we were able to identify
things like tree resins,

which were used
as a preservative,

and bees wax,
a variety of plant oils.

We found out that these are
resins that are very expensive,

that have been imported
from what is now lebanon.

Narrator:
The investigation has revealed

that many of the mummy bundles
traded at saqqara

are not quite what they seem.

But for the ancient pilgrims,
this may not have mattered.

Maybe the things that we think
of as false mummies

aren't really false,
and they really have the same,

if not greater, importance
to the ancient egyptians.

They would have been equally
expensive for a pilgrim to buy,

and they contain materials
that were thought to be sacred

in the same way as an actual
example of the species.

I think
these empty mummy bundles

are equally valuable.

Narrator: Modern science
has revealed

that even 3,000 years ago,

there was a roaring trade
in fake goods.

The saying "buyer beware"

was clearly as valid then
as it is today.

♪

the discovery of
an embalmers workshop

is helping archaeologists solve
an age-old mystery.

Day: Do we really know
everything about mummification?

No, we don't.

Some of it is still a mystery.

Narrator:
Ancient embalmers had skills

we can't seem to match today.

Johnston: The hair is intact,
the fingernails are intact,

the eyelashes are intact.

What did the egyptian embalmers
know that we don't?

Narrator: Now scientists
are trying to identify

the precise way that bodies were
preserved so well for millennia.

Buckley: We're getting
the physical evidence

from the place where
some of these mummies

were actually made.

♪

♪

narrator: Mummified bodies
have been found

perfectly preserved
even after thousands of years.

Archaeologists are still unsure

how the ancient egyptians
achieved this.

Johnston: Whilst egyptologists
have always been aware

of mummies form ancient egypt,
we have nothing written down

telling us how human beings
were mummified.

We have had to do it through
trial and error

down through the centuries
ourselves.

Narrator: Investigators now turn
to modern science

to look for clues.

Because we have so many
ancient egyptian mummies,

then we're able
to study them, scan them,

do forensic analysis on them,
and from that,

find out more about
the process of mummification.

Narrator: Mummified tissue
samples are put through

a series
of biochemical analyses.

The results reveal a complex
mixture of herbs and oils.

It's found that they were
using types of plant resins --

things like juniper,
turpentine, and so on.

They would rub things like myrrh
over the body to sweeten it

and dispel some
of the unpleasant smells

associated with
preserving the body.

Narrator:
But the chemical ingredients

of these herbs and spices alone

are not enough to stop
dead bodies decomposing.

There must be
some other ingredient

that is key
to perfect preservation.

Day: The egyptian embalmers
must have seemed like magic men.

They had this incredible power
to stop nature in its tracks

using methods and substances

which they kept a trade secret
from everybody.

Narrator: Investigators search
for more clues by reexamining

the complex rituals
surrounding mummification.

Day: The mummification process
of an elite egyptian

would have looked quite shocking
and quite gruesome.

One of the priests would come
forward with a very thin,

very sharp obsidian blade,

and he would make a slice
down the left-hand flank.

Narrator: Organs are removed
from the body

and stored alongside
in special jars.

Could these extractions
help in preservation?

Internal organs
are removed, separated,

and put into four special
canopic jars protect by deities.

So the jackal-headed god
looks after the stomach,

the baboon-headed god
looks after the lungs,

the human-headed god
looks after the liver,

and the auk-headed god
looks after the intestines.

Narrator:
By removing the organs,

the embalmers appear
to have benefited

from a very useful side effect.

It was necessary to remove
the organs

to take out the moisture

that lends itself
to the decay process.

The moisture in the body
is where the bacteria lived,

and they start
eating the body up.

So they had some sense that
you should remove

whatever is causing that decay.

Narrator:
But extracting the organs

and associated bacteria

still doesn't explain
such perfect preservation

found in mummies.

Archaeologists have to
cast the net wider.

2018.

In the desert tombs of saqqara,

archaeologists make
an extraordinary discovery --

an area where mummification
actually took place.

Buckley: We're finding
embalmers workshops.

We're finding ingredients there

that were clearly involved
in some sort of embalming.

So we're getting the physical
evidence from the place

where some of these mummies
were actually made.

Narrator:
Inside these ancient workshops,

archaeologists find the remains
of a special mineral salt.

Chemical analysis
reveals its composition.

It's sodium carbonate,
sodium bicarbonate,

and sodium chloride,

which is a little bit like
table salt plus baking soda.

Narrator: Known as natron,

this salt is known
to quickly remove moisture

from anything it comes
into contact with.

Natron is found naturally
in the valley of wadi el natrun,

50 miles from the embalmers
workshops at saqqara.

Day: But it was
in the middle kingdom

about 4,000 years ago

that they discovered
the magic ingredient of natron.

Narrator:
But how was natron used

during the preservation process?

It was thought that they would
pack bags of natron

inside the body cavity,

and they would cover the entire
body in a big pile of natron.

Narrator: When investigators
put this theory to the test,

they find that the dry crystals
did not prevent decay.

They decide to try
something different.

A few years ago, a taxi driver
donated his body to science.

Narrator:
In a controversial experiment,

scientists try to preserve
the taxi driver's body.

This time, they dissolve
the natron salts in water,

soaking the body

in super-concentrated
salt solution.

We found that it is actually
possible to preserve

a human body
in a bath of natron --

natron in solution --
super-salty water.

Johnston: After a period
of some 40 days,

almost all of the moisture
has left the body,

leaving the body
in a leather-like state,

like a leather handbag.

You need to time it very
carefully, dry the body out,

but not too much, so that
you leave the limbs flexible

and you can move the arms
into whatever position you want.

Narrator: It's the breakthrough
archaeologists are looking for.

Modern scientific analysis,

along with hands-on
experimentation,

reveals that a concentrated
liquid solution of natron

was the key component
above all others

for preserving a body
for eternity.

Day: They dried
inside the body and out

to produce a body
completely preserved

that in the right dry situation
would last forever.

Buckley: 3,000 years old,

and they're still looking
recognizable.

They were thinking
of the long term.

They are masterpieces
of the embalmers craft.

♪

narrator:
The great pyramid of giza.

Archaeologists are still puzzled

over the ancient builders'
ability

to construct such
a perfectly shaped structure.

Dash: The accuracy of
the ancients was remarkable.

It's jaw-dropping.

Harrison:
The structure is almost perfect.

It's an incredible feat
of engineering.

Narrator:
Now for the first time,

scientists use
laser-scanning technology

to accurately measure the size
and scale of the pyramid...

Previously, the pyramid had only
been measure with plumb lines

and yard sticks.

...And search for clues
to explain how they could build

such a perfectly proportioned
stone tomb.

It's beyond belief.

♪

♪

narrator: 2015.

Engineers from the giza plateau
mapping project

launch an ambitious new survey
of the great pyramid.

Glen dash leads the team.

Dash: When you're standing there
looking at the great pyramid

and seeing other people
walk up to it as well,

inevitably,
they do the same thing --

they stand there
and their jaw drops.

They're thinking, "who was
the guy that took that stone

and had to put it up there?"

harrison: It's the only one of
the ancient world wonders

that's still standing.

They managed to build
nearly 500 feet high,

3,000 years before christ.

Narrator: Archaeologists
want to investigate

how this was possible.

What drove them to build a tomb
in the shape of a pyramid?

Clark:
There are several theories

about the shape
of the true pyramid.

Some think it might be
a representation

of the benben stone.

Harrison:
In egyptian mythology,

the benben stone represents
the first piece of land

that emerged from
the primordial waters of chaos

at the beginning of time.

This was how the universe
was created.

Narrator: Researchers find
many ancient religious sites

contain a sacred mound,
or benben stone,

in their design.

Early temples would have
a mound in them,

which would be an icon
to the mound of creation.

Other temples would have
a pyramidal stone.

Narrator: For pharaoh khufu,
the great pyramid

was built to be
his eternal resting place.

It would need to be a perfect,
accurately shaped structure

to successfully launch him
into the afterlife.

The shape of the pyramid

traditionally represents
the rays of the sun,

and the slope represents
the way a pharaoh

can climb up into the sky,
into the heavens,

and be amongst the gods.

Der manuelian: So you're
investing in this afterlife.

A staircase to the heavens,
if you will.

Dash: The purpose
of a pyramid was to provide

for the resurrection
of the king.

Fundamentally, a pyramid
is a resurrection machine.

Narrator: Archaeologists
are still puzzled

as to how the egyptians
managed such perfection

in their construction.

For the giza mapping project,
glen's team used the very latest

in laser-scanning
survey equipment.

Their goal
is to precisely measure

the size and orientation
of the pyramid.

Dash: We have
marvelous instruments today

called total stations.

They combine a telescope
with a laser beam.

They are fantastically
precise instruments.

Narrator: The results astound
the engineers.

Dash: The south is longer than
the north by about 3 inches.

The west is longer than the east
by about 2 inches.

The accuracy of the ancients
was remarkable.

It's jaw-dropping.

Harrison: The structure is
almost perfect.

It's an incredible feat
of engineering.

The pyramid was built
with almost perfect accuracy.

Narrator: The great pyramid
was constructed

with a margin of error
of just .03%.

So how exactly did they do it?

Keep in mind
that they built it all

with wood, rope,
copper, and stone.

They had nothing else.

They great pyramid is built
to construction standards today.

Narrator:
Continuing his survey,

glen discovers the great pyramid
holds more hidden secrets.

Dash: Most people,
including archaeologists,

when they walk up
to the great pyramid,

they look up.

We walked up to
the great pyramid

and decided to look down.

Narrator: Beneath their feet,

the team finds
something very strange.

Dash: In the bedrock
around the great pyramid

are all these cuttings.

We mapped 3,000 of them.

Narrator:
Hiding in plain sight

are the remains
of a system of holes.

Glen thinks these were cut
into the ground by the builders.

Dash:
There are these large holes.

They run parallel to the sides
of the pyramid.

We call them post holes.

Narrator: Glen believes
the ancient builders

slotted posts in these holes

at one significant time
of the year --

on the day
of the autumn equinox.

The posts would cast a precisely
oriented shadow on the ground.

These shadows could then be used
as directional reference points

to help build the pyramid.

♪

harrison:
The equinox is the only time

when the sun will create
a straight shadow

running perfectly
from east to west.

So if they measured during
the equinox,

this is how they would have
got the angles

for the pyramid so accurate.

Dash: It turns out to be
the simplest possible method.

They stuck a stick in the ground
and watched the shadow.

That was it.

Narrator: The shadow lines
not only help the builders

create a perfect pyramid shape,

they also made sure
it was correctly oriented.

It was extremely important
that the temples

were properly aligned,
true east to west.

The east is the land
of the living,

and the west is
the realm of the dead.

Narrator:
The great pyramid was built

to represent life, death,
and resurrection.

Its construction is testament to
the ingenuity of the ancients.

Clear evidence of their
understanding of mathematics,

engineering,
and the movement of the sun.

Dash: They did it with their
wood, rope, copper, and stone,

and they found some way to do it
that was brilliant

and robust and simple.

♪

narrator: A vast cemetery
reveals evidence

of an ancient tragedy.

Bianchi: Excavations have
discovered an appalling number

of adolescent children
that have died.

Narrator: A devastating event

that preyed on the young.

Zink: Their spines
are completely rotten.

Their joints
are almost destroyed.

Narrator: Can forensic science
reveal how and why they died?

Were they killed by a disease
that still affects us today.

♪

♪

narrator: 2015.

Archaeologists working
at the ancient city of amarna,

on the edge
of a vast desert plateau,

make a shocking discovery.

Ikram: Excavations have shown
that there are all types

of people buried there.

Not just the rich and the elites
that we knew of,

but new cemeteries
have been found

filled with bodies of the poor.

Narrator: Many of the graves
contain multiple bodies.

The size of the corpses suggest
most of them died young.

This cemetery is
predominantly children.

They were buried with
very, very simple things.

There's not just one person
buried.

There's quite a few together.

Narrator: The question is,
what killed them?

♪

archaeologists already know
a great deal about the lives

and deaths of the ordinary
people of ancient egypt.

Disease and infection
were quite common.

General life expectancy
was much shorter than today.

Ikram:
So by the age of 30,

you were
an old man or an old woman.

It was a very fraught
kind of existence.

♪

narrator:
Determining how these people

in this mass grave died
presents a challenge.

No records exist
documenting their deaths,

so experts need
to search for clues.

Studies of bodies
from other burial grounds

provide valuable insights.

2012.

At the university of manchester
in England,

scientists discovered
a possible cause of death.

14 ancient egyptian lungs
were analyzed.

Tiny microscopic specs
were discovered.

These with some particles.

They're breathing in
a significant amount of sand,

causing lung problems
or spiritual diseases.

Even the environment conspires
against the ancient egyptians.

Narrator: The study showed
inhalation of sand particles

affected egypt's rich
and poor alike,

and was almost as severe
as modern day car pollution.

We are seeing changes
in the lungs

where you see
that sand was inhaled

and it caused
inflammatory reaction.

This can go as all kinds
of lung infections.

It can compromise
the whole immune system,

so this would definitely
have been a problem.

Narrator: Long-term exposure to
sand inhalation can be deadly.

But at the dig site in amarna,
the shear scale of the burials,

plus the age of the bodies,
makes archaeologists conclude

this can't be
the cause of death.

♪

the investigation team
analyzed the bones

from the mass grave
in forensic detail.

The results suggest that
amarna's young people

were very badly treated.

The bones are really where
the history of the body lies.

We are seeing that they used
to work very hard.

Even children were being pressed
into hard labor.

They appear malnourished.
There's stunted growth.

There's evidence of scurvy,
rickets.

They had a lot of bone changes
that is typical for somebody

who is working
almost his whole life.

♪

narrator: An explanation
for this appalling treatment

is sought in the history
of amarna itself.

The city was built hundreds
of miles

from the old capital of thebes

by the heretic
pharaoh akhenaten.

The skeleton suggests
the local people were forced

to build the city,
stone by stone.

Bianchi: One worked
until one was physically unable

to perform the task
that was at hand.

You have a population living
in that city

that are undernourished and
are dying because of poor diet.

Zink:
They didn't have enough food

to compensate
these heavy workloads.

So they were really under
a very -- very severe stress

during their whole lifetime,

and a lot of them died
in a very young age.

Narrator:
Analysis of the skeletons

unearthed from the mass grave

continues to reveal more clues.

Investigators start to notice
distinctive marks on the bones.

It appears that many of
the young people

were suffering from
a blood-born infection,

a disease still
prevalent today --

malaria.

Some of the lesions
in the bones,

some of the soft tissue tells us

that these people at amarna
suffered from malaria.

And outbreaks of this disease
wipes out entire populations.

Zink: It's highly likely
that there was an outbreak

that killed a lot of people
at the same time,

so they had to put them together
in a sort of mass grave.

♪

narrator:
It all begins to make sense.

For the overworked
and starving people of amarna,

malaria would have been
a killer blow.

The risk of disease
from mosquitos

and the ill treatment
of the population

could also explain

why the city was abandoned
as soon as akhenaten died.

Aziz: These are the young people
that would have built the city.

The work must have been

excruciatingly painful
and difficult.

And this cemetery is
predominantly children.

It's just very sad.

♪

narrator: Tombs have been robbed
of their riches

since the first pharaohs
were laid to rest.

People want the important
stuff buried in there.

We don't know
what's happened to the bodies.

Narrator: But tomb raiders
didn't have it easy.

Cooney: There is this mythology
that the great pyramids

are somehow booby-trapped.

Narrator: Now archaeologists are
reexamining the inventive ways

the ancient egyptians tried
to protect their dead.

They have got very complex
and strong defenses,

which were incredibly difficult
to breach.

♪

♪

narrator: The ruling elite of
ancient egypt believed

they would reach the afterlife

only if their mummified body
and possessions remained intact.

But how to stop thieves
from looting your tomb?

When ancient egyptians
are building tombs,

they aren't necessarily thinking
in terms of booby traps,

like you see in "indiana jones".

You're not gonna be chased
by a boulder.

But they do think about the fact
that tombs are raided.

Macca:
They built their resting places

way down in the base
through these long chutes

and corridors
and labyrinth-themed circuits

that you had to get through
to find the tombs.

Narrator: Most royal burial
chambers had been found defended

with carefully constructed
security mechanisms.

Some of the features of tomb
security include

vast, heavy, thick,
hard stone portcullises

that can be dropped down.

Clark: Some of these were
shafts filled rubble,

passages blocked
with lumps of solid stone,

others raising the entrances
out of reach.

Narrator:
Often, these security measures

were built
simply to hide the door.

The idea was to
prevent the tomb robbers

finding the entrance

and then getting admission
to inner sanctum of the tomb.

Narrator: Experts reexamine
one of the best examples

of afterlife security
at the great pyramids.

There is this mythology that
the great pyramids

on the giza plateau
are somehow booby-trapped,

and that when people tried
to break into them,

that there would be
some sort of mechanism

that would suddenly kill them.

Narrator: The legend is not far
from the truth.

Clark: The burial chamber itself
was granite lined,

and the entrance to it blocked
with three stone portcullises.

Narrator: The physical design
of the pyramid

could also act
as additional security.

Clark: The outside
of the pyramid would be covered

with a layer
of polished tura limestone

to completely seal
the access point,

and it would be very difficult
to find.

♪

narrator: Despite assorted
security mechanisms

put in place,

most sacred tombs were
still robbed.

Pyramids and tombs
have been looted and robbed

since the very earliest days

of burying important people in
the ground with important stuff.

Clark:
Those remains that we do find

have been severely damaged
by the tomb robbers,

who even set fire to the bodies
to cover their tracks.

Narrator: So how are so many
tombs robbed so regularly?

Cooney: It would be roving bands
of men who go out

in the middle of the night
with their torches,

break open a burial chamber,
opening up coffins,

taking out what they can
quickly pocket,

what they can quickly bring to
the market and exchange.

Narrator: It wasn't just
the tombs of the elite classes

that were raided.

No one was safe.

If times are tough economically,

people do what they need to do
to survive --

family members going into
their own burial chambers

and stealing from
their own ancestors.

Narrator:
As well as opportunist thieves.

Ancient texts reveal
that tomb robbers

came from all levels
of society.

Cooney: Everybody seems to be
involved in this tomb robbing

in some way, shape, or form,

even the people ruling thebes
at the time --

the high priesthood of amun.

The priesthood is systematically

going into
the valley of the kings,

tomb by tomb,

and pulling out everything
that was of value.

♪

narrator: The discovery of
an ancient papyrus,

dating from the time
of ramesses xi,

gives an intriguing insight.

Senior authority figures
are noted in court proceedings,

apparently conspiring
among themselves

to rob the tombs they guarded.

Cooney: There are letters
with veiled references

to "that thing
that I showed you that time"

or "that place you uncovered."

"keep it sealed until
I get there,"

which is the way people talk

when they're talking about
something contraband,

something they shouldn't
be doing.

Narrator: Even with clever
security measures in place,

there's one group of people
who had insider knowledge

to bypass
the innovative features --

the tomb builders themselves.

♪

cooney: They knew the location
of every royal tomb.

Not only that,
they knew how to get in.

Narrator: It was down to
pure luck that a burial site

was not robbed of its riches.

Today, it's incredibly rare
to find an undisturbed tomb,

and that's why our
understanding of the details

and processes
of egyptian burials

and the afterlife are still
being revealed to this day.