Original subtitles

Fornal: Could a 150-year-old archaeological map

And an egyptian carving

Contain clues to how ancient egypt rose to power?

Following secret maps hidden in hieroglyphics...

We've got a scene showing us 25-day journey.

...We will hunt for a lost civilization...

This could be the birthplace of pharaohs.

Exactly.

Fornal: ...Scour ancient temples...

Fornal: This is absolutely magnificent.

...And dive to the bottom of the red sea...

Oh, my god. Look at that thing.

...As we journey into ethiopia...

Fornal: Absolutely breathtaking.

...To uncover the truth

Behind egypt's mysterious origins.

♪

Our world is full of mysteries that time forgot,

But maps hold the answers...

If you know how to read them.

I'm international explorer justin fornal.

This is the kind of spot people have taken shelter.

I've led scientific expeditions around the globe

And served as a fellow in the famed explorers club.

I use my collection of ancient maps

To unlock the secrets of our world.

This might not be a legend or a myth.

This might be historic fact.

Along with my partner and expert guide,

Emiliano ruprah, who has forged a career

In the most dangerous places on earth...

Look out, look out! [ gunfire ]

...We'll follow clues left behind

In ancient and modern maps...

As science advanced, so did cartography.

...To unearth lost relics, uncover forgotten civilizations,

And solve humanity's greatest mysteries,

Where "x" marks the spot.

-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

Ancient egypt was one of the most powerful

And advanced civilizations in history,

But centuries after its fall,

So much is still shrouded in mystery.

The lore of ancient egypt

Has always captivated the world's imagination

From the pyramids to the sphinx to king tut.

Perhaps the greatest mystery of all

Is how egypt seemingly rises out of nowhere

And becomes the world's first superpower.

Right, it's a question that's baffled

Archaeologists and explorers alike for centuries.

Yeah.

Egypt came to power around 3,000 b.C.,

And before long, they grew into a massive empire.

While europe was still using stone tools and hand axes,

Egypt had writing, advanced irrigation,

And the ability to construct breathtaking structures

With precise mathematical alignments.

So how did this advanced empire seemingly rise out of the sands?

Fornal: So this is an archaeological survey map of egypt

That was first published in 1851.

It details all the biggest archaeological work

That's been done in egypt over the decades.

Throughout the region,

There's hundreds of unearthed archaeological sites.

Archaeologists are scouring tombs and ancient cities,

But they still can't seem to answer the question,

How did egypt become this massive superpower?

It's a great question,

And I think, you know, really the key

To unlocking the mysterious origins of ancient egypt

Probably lies with its first rulers,

The pharaohs.

The early pharaohs of ancient egypt,

Such as djer and den,

Are typically credited with the empire's rise to power,

But recently new archaeological evidence

Has uncovered a much earlier period of egyptian history

Known as dynasty zero.

This lost period of time from 3,200 to 3,000 b.C.

Could be the key to uncovering

The true origins of this ancient empire.

These are essentially artifacts that were found

Depicting pharaohs from dynasty zero,

So this stone carving depicts nemar ruling egypt.

The interesting thing about this artifact

Is that it's dated around 100 years

Before egypt was believed to even exist.

Now, these pharaohs are said to rule

From an ancient capital

Which, for a long time, nobody knew where it was,

But all this archaeological evidence

Was found just outside of modern-day abydos, egypt.

Fornal: So I think the question is,

Can we find the secrets to the origins of ancient egypt

By searching for its lost capital

Near modern-day abydos?

♪

♪

Ruprah: Where do they come from?

I mean, what was the secret wisdom that birthed

Such an unbelievably powerful civilization?

We're in abydos,

One of the oldest and most sacred places

In the world.

Temples and tombs

Dedicated to the egyptian gods and ancient kings

Were believed to have jeweled this desert

Long before the great pyramid of giza,

The sphinx, and luxor's karnak temple.

Could this city hold the key to ancient egypt's origins?

To find out, we're traveling to one of

The last remaining temples in abydos,

The temple of seti.

♪

This is absolutely magnificent, huh?

Fornal: Can you imagine coming here thousands of years ago

When it was in its absolute prime?

We've secured a meeting

With one of the most renowned experts on ancient egypt

In the world

Who claims to have key information

That could help guide our search.

-Moamen. -Hey.

-How are you? -Great to see you.

-Great to see you, too. -Thanks for meeting us here.

Fornal: Dr. Moamen saad is an egyptologist

Who has spent his career studying egypt's early pharaohs.

We're really on a deep hunt to find the origins of egypt,

And in particular,

How do we know that the first pharaohs were here?

[ laughter ]

Sorry, we just brought

Some light talk for breakfast, man.

Saad: But...

Wow.

Please. Let's check them out.

Sure.

Fornal: According to moamen,

The temple of seti was built around 1,190 b.C.

By pharaoh seti I as a shrine to the egyptian god osiris.

-Wow. -That's awesome.

Ruprah: As soon as you walk into this temple,

It's like you're crossing dimensions,

And it's hard not to feel overwhelmed.

Fornal: It's unbelievable.

I've never felt anything like this before.

You certainly feel it's a sacred space.

As soon as your eyes start adjusting

To the light inside the temple,

All the carvings on every single wall start appearing.

There's history unfolding

On every square inch of this temple.

Fornal: As impressive as the temple is,

The real treasure lies beyond its walls

Where the graves of egypt's oldest royalty,

Including pharaohs from dynasty zero,

Dot the landscape.

♪

So you're saying that this could be pyramid zero?

Saad: Yes.

Wow.

So who was in there?

Whoa, scorpion I?

-Yeah. -That's cool.

Fornal: According to moamen,

The scorpion king is believed to be

The very first pharaoh of ancient egypt

200 years before the official egyptian dynasties would begin.

The pharaohs were buried with

Their most important treasures and relics from life,

So could something in this grave

Reveal the mystery behind how this ancient superpower began?

So what was actually found inside of this tomb?

-Ivory? -Yeah.

As in elephant tusks?

-Wine? -Wine jars?

Yeah.

We know that ancient egyptians

Didn't drink wine.

They drank beer,

So it's coming from elsewhere, this wine.

Yeah. Yeah.

Is ivory something that's found in egypt?

-No. -No.

-So ivory is not found in egypt. -Yes.

Wine is not something known to have been drank in egypt.

It's a clue that whoever was buried here

Might have come from somewhere else.

Wow.

Fornal: This is an intriguing possibility.

Maybe egypt has its origins in a foreign land.

Could the scorpion king or his ancestors

Have come from a lost civilization

That gave rise to ancient egypt?

What is this place that people believe

This may have all come from,

This precivilization of egypt?

The land of the gods?

Ruprah: I mean, that's interesting.

This could be the birthplace of pharaohs.

Amazing.

So this land of the gods, is it mythical place,

Or is it a real place?

It remains a mystery? But -- yeah.

Yes.

Well, I think that's our next stop.

Certainly is.

Fornal: There's convincing evidence

That the first pharaohs were not native to egypt

And that they may have originated in a place

Known as the land of the gods.

But finding a site marked "land of the gods"

On an ancient map

Is pretty unlikely,

So we're traveling 100 miles south to luxor.

Ruprah: There it is, hatshepsut's temple...

Fornal: Wow.

...Carved into the mountainside,

I mean, just incredible.

Hatshepsut was a powerful female pharaoh

Who ruled during egypt's 18th dynasty.

During her reign, she was obsessed

With the origins of egypt.

Her temple is a monument to her life's work.

Could it hold clues to the truth behind the land of the gods,

The mythical location that ancient egypt originated from?

-Meredith, sorry we're late. -No problem.

There was a lot of traffic in the valley of the kings.

Brand: I can imagine.

Emiliano. Great to meet you.

Hi. Meredith. Nice to meet you finally.

Justin. Hi, justin.

It's good to see you.

Fornal: Meredith brand is an archaeologist and professor

At the american university in cairo.

She spent the last decade researching the inscriptions

On hatshepsut's temple.

So your temple is looking fantastic.

I know. It's gorgeous, huh?

You cleaned it up for us before we came by?

I did. I was very busy, sweeping away.

So we've really been on this hunt to find

Kind of a precivilization of egypt,

You know, kind of a land of the ancestors

Or, as we've been told, kind of, the land of the gods.

Land of the gods, yes.

Ruprah: We're hoping there's some clues

In hatshepsut's temple.

Did we come to the right place?

You came to the right place, guys.

You really did. Come on. I'll show you guys.

Ruprah: Let's check it out.

♪

This temple is considered

One of the most impressive sights in egypt.

Nice.

It was built out of limestone

And adorned with elaborate hieroglyphics.

To the ancient egyptians,

These images were more than just decorative pictures.

They were maps that documented their history and travels.

Is it possible these carvings hold the truth

Behind egypt's mysterious origins?

We were very fortunate to get special permission

To go behind the barrier

To take a close-up look at these scenes.

Fornal: Usually we're doing this without permission,

So this is fantastic. [ laughs ]

Wow, these are beautiful.

Fornal: Amongst the thousands of carvings, hieroglyphics,

And ancient paintings,

There is one particular section

That speaks of a special expedition

To a far-off land

Overseen by hatshepsut herself.

This is where hatshepsut writes about

This expedition she took to a mysterious land.

Hatshepsut took great care

To make sure she recorded where she was going,

And right here, we have the hieroglyphs

Of the name of this land.

You see that rectangle?

Fornal: With the bunny rabbit beneath it?

And then the bunny rabbit and the water sign.

-Yeah. -And these three semicircles,

Those are supposed to be hills of foreign lands.

Together that spells out "punt," the land of the gods.

Really? Yes.

So punt is the land of the gods?

Exactly.

So it's telling you about a real place?

Yes, that's what her inscriptions tell us.

This is a real place,

And she sent an expedition there.

Fornal: This is our biggest discovery yet.

The land of the gods was a real place called punt.

Could this be where the earliest pharaohs came from,

And was the ancient homeland

Responsible for egypt's great rise to power?

It's a real place.

This is the proof right here.

Now we need to find out exactly where punt is.

♪

Fornal: Using an archaeological map of ancient egypt,

We're on the hunt for the land of the gods,

A mythical place believed to be responsible

For egypt's rise to power.

Wow.

Fornal: We've traveled to pharaoh hatshepsut's temple

And discovered hieroglyphics

Charting a journey to a mysterious place called punt.

So punt is the land of the gods?

Yes, this is a real place,

And hatshepsut sent an expedition there.

Fornal: Amazing.

So hatshepsut essentially was retracing a journey

The earliest pharaohs took, right?

Exactly. That's interesting.

Is it possible that egypt's wealth and power

Actually originated in punt?

Yes.

We've got a scene

Showing us the ancient egyptians in the land of punt,

And this is a mound of frankincense.

What was the importance of frankincense in ancient egypt?

If you burned incense,

It awoken the spirits of the gods.

It was the essential step in every single ritual.

So it was the most valuable resource for the egyptians?

Other than gold.

Other than gold. Right.

And alongside the frankincense

Are tusks of ivory

Brought back from the land of punt.

Is there anything that can point to where this place

Actually was? Right.

Well, all of these pictures and reliefs,

They do give clues.

Nice. So first of all,

We've got these five boats.

Those look like some big boats.

And look at how many people are on these.

Yeah.

These are clearly meant for long expeditions.

Yes.

And what are these details under here?

Well, this is the aquatic life

They recorded when they went to punt.

Okay.

A group of marine biologists

Studied these inscriptions and these fish

And said that they are from the red sea.

Okay. Really?

Is there any more details

About the scope of the expedition itself?

Some historians have looked at the reliefs,

And they've said this could've been a 25-day journey.

Interesting.

This is exactly the kind of evidence we've been looking for.

There's essentially a map of the expedition itself,

A pictorial representation

Of what the expedition would've seen on their journey,

And because of this map,

We can narrow our search for punt

To a voyage of 25 days on the red sea.

My question is, is there anything to prove

That this actually happened?

I want to show you this one relief over here.

Brand: These are massive frankincense trees

That hatshepsut brought back to egypt

To make punt, the land of the gods,

In egypt. Fornal: Wow.

What's so exciting is that we have evidence

That what you see on the wall did happen.

Come take a look.

♪

So right here we've got the root of one of the trees

Hatshepsut brought back from punt.

Fornal: That's amazing.

This is a tree from the land of the gods

Here in front of the temple.

The question is...

Where the hell did this tree come from?

Fornal: We now know punt could've been the source

Of egypt's origins and power,

But where is this lost mythical land?

Ruprah: To see hatshepsut's expedition so clearly preserved,

It's unbelievable.

We know that her expedition sailed down the red sea,

So she would've started somewhere on this coast.

We figure out where she left from,

We can estimate using their nautical technology

The time where 25 days could've taken them.

I guess what we need is just an ancient map of the region.

Why not use the most ancient egyptian map we have,

The turin papyrus?

The turin papyrus map was created over 3,000 years ago

To help mine and transport natural resources

Like gold in the area.

It's considered the oldest paper map in the world

And depicts trade routes and ports

Used by the egyptians at the time.

Could it reveal the port

That these legendary expeditions to punt departed from?

Here it says the map depicts a commercial road

Known as wadi hammamat

Which connected inner egypt with the eastern desert

Towards the red sea.

Essentially this is leading where we are to the red sea.

It could've been the same road

That hatshepsut's people would've used

To carry out their expedition.

It could lead to the launching point.

Right.

Wadi hammamat is still being used today.

I mean, it's a road we could literally retrace

If we wanted to.

We could be using the turin papyrus

To find the land of punt.

That's a great idea.

♪

Fornal: This is incredible.

♪

After traveling 70 miles along wadi hammamat

Through the unforgiving egyptian desert,

We're still 20 miles from the red sea.

Well, here's the thing.

The papyrus ends here.

We followed wadi hammamat as far as the papyrus takes us.

If we follow wadi hammamat to the end of the road,

It takes us to quseir. Quseir.

It looks like a port town.

If wadi hammamat was such a strategic road,

I mean, it would make sense that at the end of it

Would be a very important port.

There's only one way to find out.

It's straight ahead.

♪

Ruprah: In our quest to uncover the origins of ancient egypt,

We're on the hunt for the lost land of punt...

Amazing.

...A mysterious civilization that's said to have given rise

To egypt's immense wealth and power.

This land was along the coast of the red sea.

Fornal: Using the turin papyrus,

The oldest paper map in the world,

We've identified that the town of quseir

May have been where the egyptians launched

Their expeditions to punt.

Wow, look at that, man.

But is there any evidence

That this was once an ancient egyptian port?

Ruprah: There she is.

-What's up? -Hello.

Nice to see you.

Fornal: Marianne tames-demauras is an archaeological scientist

And egyptologist

Who has extensive knowledge

On ancient ports and trade routes.

Ruprah: Basically we're on the hunt

For where a launching pad

For expedition to the land of punt could've been.

So we're wondering, is there any evidence

That this was an ancient port used by the ancient egyptians?

Well, I think you've come to the right location.

Okay. Great. And I'll show you something.

Come. Come follow me, please. Awesome. Thank you.

No worries.

Ruprah: Look at that. This is cool.

-Fantastic, isn't it? -This is awesome.

This harbor was used in the time of augustus,

So the first emperor of rome.

Up to 150 boats would sail from myos hormos every year

To go and trade exotic goods with china and india.

We're looking for evidence of an even more ancient expedition.

Fornal: Could the egyptians have been using it

Before the greeks came?

Absolutely.

In ancient times, it was very common

To use architectural material

That was already there in place

To build on top a bigger, more grandiose structure.

So a lot of archaeologists do believe

That ancient egyptians used the port of myos hormos

To sail off to the land of punt.

Wow. That's unbelievable, man.

It would've been actually a very dangerous trip.

They would've probably stuck to the coast

All the way down to the land of punt,

But after the long voyages,

The ships would've been loaded with gold, ivory, incense trees,

And they would've had ceramic amphora,

Which would've been used to store these exotic goods.

Fornal: Amphora pots were common in ancient egypt

To transport goods long distances.

They were like the shipping boxes of their time.

Egypt's amphora pots would've varied in size

From a few inches to 4 feet tall.

Why's there no evidence of the ancient egyptians here?

We're thinking of thousands of years.

So, of course, if there was pharaonic evidence here,

It could've been lost, it could've been reused.

So you can't expect ancient egyptian amphora

To just be sitting here waiting for us to find.

No, no, no. With time, we lose evidence.

I guess it's understandable

That they haven't found egyptian amphora here,

But there's nothing to say

That they're not out in the red sea.

They would've had broken ones

They would've been throwing overboard.

Maybe there were some shipwrecks close by.

Who knows what the red sea is littered with.

I think we get on a boat, get some scuba gear,

And see what we find.

We're heading just 2 miles off the coast

From where this ancient egyptian port

May have once sat.

♪

-That's nice and clear. -Perfect diving day.

Fornal: If these waters were used as an ancient egyptian port,

It's entirely possible

That goods from punt that fell overboard

Could remain untouched and preserved underwater,

Leaving a bread-crumb trail

To the land that gave rise to egypt.

♪

-We're at search zone. -We're at the search zone?

-Okay. Thank you, captain. -You're welcome.

Fornal: With over 12 square miles of the red sea in our search zone,

We're deploying state-of-the-art side-scan sonar technology

To uncover what could be deep below the surface.

Any anomalies I see over 12 feet,

We'll mark them one by one,

And I will figure out what's what.

-Yeah. -Let's fire it up.

♪

Fornal: Using a parallel grid search method,

The sonar system will map the sea floor

With incredible accuracy.

Pretty empty, huh?

Whole lot of empty sea floor, man.

If the sonar reveals evidence

Of ancient shipwrecks or amphora,

We'll mark the coordinates on a map

So we can come back and dive.

Starting to go deeper. Yeah.

100 feet,

150, 200,

This is a big dip. Yeah.

There's something down there -- a little shape.

Yeah, it's not a large object, but it's several of them,

And they seem to stand out

From what looks like coral around them.

Yeah, I'm going to mark that one down.

We got one spot to dive, huh?

It's a good start to the day.

All right, captain, we're just going to circle back

And continue our grid pattern, okay?

Okay. Thank you.

-How deep is it here? -60 to 90 feet.

This looks pretty -- looks like a dead zone here.

There should be something.

Not seeing much.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, look at this.

That's huge!

Does that not look like that may be a bow?

That bow shape, yeah. Might?

That looks like a ship.

Boom.

We're diving on that. I don't care.

Ruprah: Captain, we've covered pretty much

The search area we began with.

I think we're going to suit up and get in the water.

Okay. No problem.

-Sound good? -Yeah.

Fornal: We've located two promising anomalies.

Could ancient evidence hidden deep below the surface

Help lead us to the mysterious lost land of punt?

♪

♪

Making a straight descent down to the anomaly.

Ruprah: Okay. We're reaching about 20 meters.

Copy that. Continue descent.

We're hitting our depth right about now.

We're at about 65 feet.

I think I am starting to see the outline

Of something interesting.

See something starting to take shape.

Ruprah: The waters are like crystal,

And in the distance,

This large mysterious object starts making itself known.

How could that be?

Oh, my god. Look at that thing.

Holy [bleep].

♪

Fornal: In a hunt for the lost land of punt,

The mythical civilization

Responsible for egypt's meteoric rise to power...

This land was along the coast of the red sea.

...The turin papyrus, the world's oldest paper map,

Has led us to the area of quseir along the red sea.

To find out if the egyptians could've used this port

To travel to punt,

We're searching the floor of the red sea

For any evidence of ancient egyptian expeditions.

Ruprah: How could that be?

And we've just made a huge discovery.

Oh, my god. Look at that thing.

Holy [bleep].

Wow, that's a big ship.

This is beautiful.

We know from ancient carvings

The egyptians sailed to punt in massive ships.

If we can determine that this ship was made

During ancient times,

We'll have our first piece of physical evidence

That this could've been the gateway to punt.

Feel like I'm seeing an entrypoint here.

Okay, buddy. I'm going to take the lead.

+you want to follow me in through this rear exit?

Yeah, that looks like a nice clear point of entry.

This is outrageous

Like swimming through a kaleidoscope.

It's absolutely beautiful,

But let's not get lost in the color

And try to find some evidence for the age of this thing.

Copy that.

If we keep rising, we might be able to figure out

How old this structure is

Just by looking at the bow itself.

This superstructure looks like it's iron.

And I'm looking at some of the coral growth here,

Looks relatively recent.

I'd give it 100 or 200 years max.

It's incredible, but it's not an ancient shipwreck.

I think it's time to head back up to the surface

And regroup.

Copy that.

♪

Fornal: I definitely don't think it was an ancient ship

But a hell of a ship.

Ruprah: It does confirm that this is an area

Of high nautical traffic. Fornal: Yeah.

If there's other shipwrecks, then, you know,

Maybe there will be a shipwreck

From the era we're looking for. There might be.

Let's see if we can get over to that second spot.

Let's do it.

♪

Fornal: We head to the coordinates of the second anomaly

Uncovered by our side-scan sonar.

It's located 1/2 mile away

And over 200 feet below the surface.

Are we on top of the second anomaly?

Yes, the second location. All right.

Diving to a target this deep is extremely dangerous.

Emiliano and I have the training,

But we're not certified to dive to these depths.

Ruprah: Have a safe dive, fellas.

-Thanks, guys. -We'll see you up here.

-Appreciate it, gents. -Yeah.

Fornal: So the dive masters will go in our place.

They'll be taking our camera to gather data for us to examine.

♪

What's your current depth?

Copy that.

♪

We copy, but you're a little scratchy.

What's your current depth?

Man: It is...

Repeat, what is your depth?

[ muffled speaking, radio static ]

Do you copy?

I repeat, do you copy?

I think he's out of range, man.

Yeah.

Fornal: With the dive masters now at a depth of nearly 200 feet,

All communication is lost.

All we can do is wait and hope they return safe.

It's a deep dive.

Hopefully he sees something down there.

As soon as he gets up, we'll download the footage

And see what he's got.

♪

Oh.

-Loud and clear, buddy. -You got it.

Loud and clear.

Excellent, man. Let's see what he's got.

Come on, guys. Bring us some gold.

Here we go.

Hey, welcome back.

Fornal: Finally, after 45 minutes,

The divers return with footage

Of what they saw at the bottom of the sea.

Ruprah: Did you find something?

Really?

Let's check it out.

♪

Okay.

Holy [bleep] look at that.

Does that not look like handles?

Wow, yeah, look at the whole shape.

Dude, that has got to be a container of some sort,

And right next to it... Yeah, another one.

...Another one. Oh, man.

I think we have ancient amphora, man.

I mean, that's amazing.

That's what we were looking for.

Just the amount of coral and growth on these things...

Man, that's been there for a long time.

Look at that. That's absolutely incredible.

I mean, are you comfortable saying that

This could've actually been a port of departure

For going down to punt?

I mean, the proof is in the pudding --

Ancient artifacts a few hundred feet

From where we guessed using the ancient map.

I mean, this is where these great expeditions

Would've come out of.

♪

Fornal: Using the turin papyrus,

The oldest paper map in the world,

Emiliano and I have uncovered ancient artifacts

Off the coast of quseir

That may prove that egyptians used this area

To sail to the lost land of punt,

A mysterious civilization

That may have given rise to egypt.

This is where these great expeditions

Would've come out of.

But now we need to prove that these pots,

Known as amphora,

Which we found at the bottom of the red sea,

Were actually used during ancient egyptian times.

♪

Ruprah: We definitely have something, man.

We have something big.

I want to make sure that what we think we have

Is what we actually have.

Right. Exactly.

We're heading 20 miles inland

To meet with a world-renowned egyptologist.

[ horn honks ]

♪

[ speaking indistinctly ]

[ laughs ] wow, look at this place.

Ruprah: Wow.

♪

[ taps on door ]

Hey. What's up? You're most welcome.

Ahmed seddik. How are you doing?

Nice to meet you. Great to meet you. Come in.

Fornal: Ahmed seddik has spent years

Studying the lost civilization of punt.

So myself and emiliano, we've been following this trail

To find out where the ancient land of punt was,

Which brought us to quseir,

And we start to investigate the waters around that area.

We took a boat out into the red sea.

We did some diving.

We found plenty of evidence

That this was an important nautical site,

An important port.

We even found what we think are some ancient amphora.

Yes.

So are we on the right track?

Was this an entry, an exit point

From the land of punt? Absolutely.

Wow. Let me show you this.

Okay.

So mersa gawasis,

Just a few miles away from where we're looking,

Is the real port used by ancient egyptians

To travel to punt?

Yes.

You're telling us that these are thousands of years old?

Those are and have been dated already.

Wow.

Fornal: Recently, archaeologists discovered human-made caves

Just 70 feet below the waters of mersa gawasis

That were filled with all sorts of nautical items

Proving that ancient egyptians likely launched long journeys

On the red sea from this area.

They're finding ropes.

They're finding amphora.

They're finding boxes.

All this is ancient stuff,

But how does this link us to punt?

Am I getting this straight?

These are boxes that are found in this port

Carrying goods from the period that we're looking at,

And they're being stamped with a stamp

That essentially says, "marvels of punt"?

Yes. [ exhales deeply ]

I mean, this is a label that says, "made in punt."

Yeah. That's incredible.

Essentially what this says!

I like how you qualify. Yeah.

This, to me, is like lights are going off.

This is an earth-shattering find.

What was in these boxes?

What were they finding?

We have gold, ivory, ebony, and frankincense.

Okay.

So where can these four things be found in the same place?

That's what we need to find out.

We have ancient boxes stamped, certified, "made in punt."

I mean, this is the place that we believe gave birth

To the entire civilization of ancient egypt.

All its wealth, all its power could've originated here.

So maybe what was in these boxes

Could help us find this mysterious land.

♪

Ruprah: You know, mersa gawasis could've been a starting point.

Fornal: The key to uncovering

Where the lost land of punt was located

Is using every navigational clue we've learned so far

And plotting them on a modern map.

Historians have looked at the reliefs,

So it gives us a clue that this land

Was along the coast of the red sea,

And they've said this could've been a 25-day journey.

We know it would've taken 25 days of sailing

Along the red sea

From mersa gawasis to reach punt.

During that time, an ancient ship

Could travel 40 miles a day,

So plotting every possible direction,

That gives us a 1,000-mile radius

As a search zone.

So here's our 1,000-mile search radius,

But that's a massive area.

We really need to narrow it down more.

We know they were bringing back ivory, gold, frankincense,

And ebony, right? Yeah.

What we could do is use a process of elimination

And see what region

Had all of those resources at the same time.

Okay, kind of like a venn diagram.

Exactly.

Fornal: Ivory, gold, frankincense, and ebony

Are only found in very specific areas

In our 1,000-mile search zone,

So when you overlay

Where each of these natural resources existed,

An "x" should mark the spot.

So I take the ebony distribution map,

Overlay it over modern africa map.

Only a small part of it falls within our search zone.

Looked at ivory.

You'll see the shared regions getting darker.

Okay.

From essentially the horn to really nigeria,

We can add frankincense.

Frankincense distribution is wide and varied.

And gold, boom, look at that.

Look at that. That's incredible.

I mean, literally we boil our search area down

To 100 square miles.

Everything points to the epicenter

Of all four of our resources.

Ethiopia. Ethiopia.

For centuries, archaeologists and historians

Have wondered how ancient egypt,

One of history's most advanced civilizations

Seemingly springs out of nowhere.

Could the answer to this age-old mystery

Lie in modern-day ethiopia?

That could've been the land of ancient punt.

You and I need to get on a plane.

♪

Fornal: Using advanced mapping techniques...

They came back with ebony, ivory, gold, frankincense.

That's the epicenter of all four of our resources.

...We've pinpointed a 100-mile search zone

In the mountains of ethiopia...

Welcome to ethiopia. Great to be here.

...That could be in the area of punt,

The lost civilization that gave rise to egypt.

Absolutely breathtaking.

We've linked up with michael briani,

Our local contact who will help us navigate our search zone.

Could the answers to egypt's mysterious origins

Lie buried somewhere in this area?

Is there any frankincense trees in this area?

It certainly seems idyllic.

I could see how somebody could think of this

As the land of the gods.

Fornal: To find out more about this ancient land,

Michael has set up a meeting at a mysterious temple

That could reveal the location of punt.

-Hello, doctor. -How are you?

-How are you? -Emiliano.

-Dr. Agazi. -Justin.

Nice to see you, dr. Agazi. -Hi, justin.

Fornal: Dr. Agazi negash is a professor and geoarchaeologist

Who spent decades excavating sites around ethiopia

Looking for answers about the prehistoric world

And the lost land of punt.

We've been on a long journey all the way through egypt.

It's brought us here,

And we've been in search of the land of punt.

Is there anything you could tell us

That might help us find this ancient mystical place.

Okay.

Wow.

-Could we take a look? -Yeah.

Fornal: These are the oldest ruins in ethiopia

And are believed to be the birthplace

For all future civilizations in this area,

But to this day, who lived here and why

Is still a mystery.

Fornal: Wow.

Could this temple have been connected

To the lost civilization

That launched ancient egypt to its superpower status?

This is a good-looking temple.

[ laughs ]

Ruprah: It's gorgeous. Oh, man.

So how old is this place?

Ruprah: 1,000 b.C.

So, like, serialized occupations? Right.

Fornal: Yeah.

I mean, that fits the bill to the "t"

Of what we've been searching for.

Yeah.

So the time frame works,

And we know this whole region is rich

In the resources egypt got from punt,

But what else about this particular site

Makes you think could be part of ancient punt?

Yeah.

So that's very interesting.

That's a big link.

Fornal: The puzzle pieces are all fitting together.

At this very location,

Not only were there frankincense trees,

Which were one of the wonders of punt sent to egypt,

But archaeologists have also found alabaster

From ancient egypt,

A key resource likely used by the pharaohs

When trading with punt.

There's a lot of elements here

That are starting to add up to the possibility

That this might have been ancient punt,

But we're looking for a massive ancient civilization.

All we have is a temple.

Why aren't there other temples, other structures?

Where's the rest? Where, yo?

Yes.

Yeah.

What's the second reason?

Really?

150? 150 earthquakes?

-Yeah. -Wow.

What?

If anything was sitting on top of that,

It would've essentially disappeared.

It would've been swallowed by the earth.

So you're inferring that possibly the land of punt

Could've been swallowed up by the earth?

The reason no one can find it is perhaps because...

It's not there. ...It's not there anymore.

So if this structure was part of punt's kingdom,

It's the only one that survived?

-Thank you, doctor. -Yeah.

Everything we've done thus far really has led us here.

Fornal: Perhaps it did essentially get wiped off the map,

But fortunately its influence,

Its knowledge will always live on.

True.

Fornal: For centuries, the truth behind ancient egypt's

Meteoric rise to power has been shrouded in mystery.

Ruprah: This is absolutely magnificent.

But our expedition has revealed significant evidence...

Wow, this is beautiful.

...That the origins of this advanced civilization

May have started...

Holy [bleep].

...In ethiopia.

♪

I'm convinced punt, the land of the gods,

May have stretched to sit on these very grounds,

Bestowing its wealth and knowledge onto the pharaohs

Who erected the great pyramids and gave rise to egypt.