Original subtitles

Narrator: the bent pyramid,

Egypt's most mysterious Ancient megastructure,

The ambitious dream Of a godlike pharaoh.

Woman: at this time, the bent Pyramid would definitely

Have been the biggest Construction project

Egypt had ever seen.

Narrator: why is The bent pyramid

Such a bizarre shape?

Well, we can't really look into The minds of these people.

We have to go on the clues Left behind.

Narrator: today, archaeologists Dig beneath the sand

And explore inside crumbling,

Age-old tunnels To discover its secrets

Man: this place was terrifying When we first come in here.

There were stones Hanging from the ceiling.

Narrator: was this huge pyramid Always meant to look like this,

Or did something go Catastrophically wrong?

Man: we are undoubtedly looking At a major dislocation

In the structure.

Narrator: the only way to solve This mystery

Is to raise the ruins Of egypt's strangest pyramid,

Blowing it apart stone by stone,

Lifting its temples Out of the desert

And exploring Hidden burial chambers.

We'll uncover how this bizarre Monument paved the way

For the age of the pyramids.

--captions by vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

Narrator: egypt -- The land of the pharaohs.

More than 100 pyramids line The nile valley.

One stands out from all others,

The bent pyramid of dahshur.

There isn't another pyramid In egypt that looks like this.

Narrator: Named after its crooked profile,

It baffles archaeologists.

It is the first pyramid with Smooth sides ever completed,

And the only one whose shape Changes dramatically halfway up.

Why?

Woman: I think the bent pyramid

Is probably The most mysterious pyramid.

Narrator: Did this bizarre construction

Alter the course of Egyptian architecture forever?

The bent pyramid is A 4,600-year-old megastructure,

Built to last for eternity.

Hidden inside, two passageways That lead to a pair

Of traditional burial chambers.

Each chamber Is seven stories tall.

Encased in over 3 million tons Of limestone blocks,

It is almost a classic pyramid, Except for its angled summit.

Was it designed this way, Or is its bizarre appearance

The result of A catastrophic disaster?

♪♪

The bent pyramid was the second Of three pyramids

Built by the pharaoh sneferu In the third millennia bc.

Most archaeologists believe That sneferu wasn't buried here,

But in a neighboring pyramid.

So why did he build This strange monument,

And why did it take this shape?

♪♪

Archaeologist daniela rosenow Believes clues lie

Buried in the surrounding sand.

We're standing in front Of the bent pyramid here,

But it's important To keep in mind that the pyramid

Is only one element Of a pyramid complex.

Narrator: daniela thinks that The first step

Towards understanding sneferu's Grand vision for this pyramid

Is to resurrect the whole Of this ancient area

In all its glory.

Rosenow: it's just really Fantastic to be able

To bring this site to life.

Narrator: over 4,000 years ago, The bent pyramid was covered

By a blanket of finely Polished casing stones.

It formed the centerpiece Of a large religious complex.

At its southern side, A smaller satellite pyramid

Stood about 96 feet tall.

A holy shrine was flanked by two Standing stones

Inscribed With the pharaoh's name,

All enclosed behind A thick limestone wall.

A causeway provided A monumental entrance.

What can this complex reveal About the pyramid

And the bizarre shape it took?

♪♪

Today, daniela investigates An area half a mile

To the northeast Of the pyramid.

Narrator: here, her team Uncovers the remains

Of a mysterious building Lost for thousands of years.

Rosenow: we're situated on The desert plateau here,

And there can be Quite harsh gales,

So sometimes When you clean something,

It has disappeared Half an hour later,

So you have to be very quick.

Narrator: today, only a small Section of the building

Is still visible,

But a geophysical study Using radar to map the site

Reveals that a grand structure Once stood here.

Rosenow: when we had a look At the results

Of the geophysical survey, We realized

That there is actually Quite a large settlement.

It's actually a settlement even Bigger than the pyramid itself

And covers an area Of about 350 by 200 meters.

Narrator: daniela and her team Try to piece together

What this vast building Might have been.

Rosenow: what we see here is one Of the walls of the building

Covered By a nice layer of mud

And then a beautiful layer Of white lime plaster.

It wasn't there at all to make The building any stronger.

It was just there To make it prettier.

Narrator: as daniela's team Removes sand

Built up Over thousands of years,

They unearth ancient rooms Alive with color.

Rosenow: we have discovered Quite a large amount of tiles,

Which probably decorated The walls

Or the floor of the rooms,

And you can imagine it must have Been a really beautiful contrast

With the white walls And then the turquoise tiles.

Narrator: the sheer quantity of Rooms here, and their quality,

Suggests that this was once A very impressive residence.

Why was such a luxurious house Built in the shadow of a tomb,

And who lived here?

So, the pottery We have discovered so far

All dates exclusively To the reign of sneferu.

Narrator: the date and The location of this structure

Leads daniela To a surprising conclusion:

This could have been home to The architect

Of the bent pyramid.

Rosenow: it really makes sense To think

That whoever lived here Was somehow connected to

The building process Of the pyramids.

Narrator: this entire complex Was worthy of a king.

The villa and the surrounding Buildings spread across an area

50 times the size Of the white house.

Rosenow: you just get an idea

Of what a really Prestigious project

Pyramid building Was at the time.

Narrator: the royal architect

Held one of the most powerful Positions in ancient egypt.

He not only supervised The construction,

But also the logistics Of building a pyramid.

Projects could take decades To complete,

So the architect Of the bent pyramid

Probably lived In a splendid home.

Here, he worked among a lavish Tree-lined garden oasis,

Surrounded by servants To comfort and shade him

As he monitored the progress.

The royal architect enjoyed Luxurious meals

And maybe even a visit From the pharaoh himself.

♪♪

All the evidence suggests That building the bent pyramid

Was of great importance To sneferu.

The pharaoh clearly intended This tomb

To be his final resting place.

It was the first pyramid with Smooth sides to be finished,

And it was the largest So far attempted,

Almost twice the size Of earlier pyramids.

Rosenow: at this time, the bent Pyramid would definitely

Have been the biggest Construction project

Egypt had ever seen, Possibly even the world.

Narrator: Sneferu spared no expense

In his plans for The afterlife --

So why was he Never buried here?

Did he simply change his mind?

Or was this pyramid's strange Shape not what he intended?

And what can a buried temple

Reveal about sneferu's plans To cheat death and live forever?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: the bent pyramid, Egypt's strangest megastructure.

It was the biggest Building project

The country had ever seen.

♪♪

But what explains Its strange shape?

Was it designed this way,

Or was there A construction disaster?

Its inner core Could hold the key.

Inside the pyramid hides Evidence of the techniques

That ancient engineers Used to build it.

At the center, roughly cut Limestone blocks

Are piled many stories high

And filled with rubble And mortar.

♪♪

But on the outer edges,

The blocks are positioned At an angle.

They lean towards the heart Of the pyramid,

Piled on top of each other, Layer after layer,

Creating a gentle outer slope.

Can these layers help explain The pyramid's strange shape?

♪♪

The answer could lie six miles North, here in saqqara.

This royal burial ground is home

To egypt's oldest Pyramid-shaped structure.

It's called the step pyramid.

It was built for a pharaoh

Who reigned over 30 years Before sneferu.

Specialist engineer dennis lee Has spent almost a decade

Trying to decode the mystery Of how this pyramid was built.

It's amazing that a structure Like this,

4,500 years old, Is still standing.

It may look rough and ready,

But standing back, It's a pyramid.

The pyramid shape is there.

Narrator: dennis believes this Monument might have inspired

The builders Of the bent pyramid.

Could it reveal the reason For its strange shape?

At first sight, the two Structures look very different.

The pyramid at saqqara is made From gigantic steps,

Unlike the bent pyramid Which has smooth sides,

But both have a core where rows Of stone lean inwards.

Dennis thinks these layers Reveal that the two pyramids

Shared a common ancestor.

They both evolved from egypt's Very first burial mounts,

Called mastabas.

Egypt's earliest rulers Were buried in simple tombs

Dug into the ground,

Sealed by layers Of stone blocks.

Step-by-step, These mastabas grew,

As more and more layers Of tilted stones were added

Until a rough pyramid emerged.

This same construction method

Could be at the heart Of the bent pyramid,

A primitive stepped core might Be hidden inside the monument.

But there's a problem --

The step pyramid is In danger of collapsing.

So, could the bent pyramid have Similar structural issues

If it was built in the same way?

And could this explain Its strange shape?

Dennis and his team climb down Narrow passageways

Into the heart of The step pyramid

To strengthen it with 21st-century reinforcements.

At the end of A 90-foot-long tunnel,

They emerge into a huge But crumbling burial chamber.

Lee: this place was terrifying When we first come in here.

There was stones hanging from The ceiling

You didn't touch or brush.

If you brushed against The ceiling, mud fell off.

It was a frightening experience.

Narrator: today, dennis and his Team use the latest techniques

To fortify and stabilize The chamber's ceiling.

It's falling down one block At a time.

They install steel anchors To pin the stones together.

Whoa, that was a hard Front stone.

The work is painstaking And nerve-racking.

Lee: I was very nervous Drilling the hole.

It's a lot of pressure.

There's millions of tons Of stone above us

At this very minute right now.

Sometimes you have to put out Of your mind them,

Blank out how much weight Is actually above us now.

With that weight of stonework On top of you,

Just try and forget it While you're working in here.

Narrator: what's going on

Inside this Ancestor of the bent pyramid?

Dennis thinks that the burial Chamber here

Once had a flat ceiling Held up by wooden beams.

This simple design was copied From the early mastabas,

But it wasn't nearly Strong enough

To cope with the crushing weight Of a pyramid.

Lee: what you see is left is A natural arch that's fallen

Where the stones In the middle collapsing.

This couldn't handle the weight Of the stones on top of it

And the wood that was Supporting it disintegrated

Or collapsed down Onto the sarcophagus,

Which is 23, 24 meters below us.

Narrator: the builders of The step pyramid

Followed the traditional Mastaba tomb design

And supersized it.

They had no idea that this would Cause the entire structure

To start collapsing In on itself.

Lee: there was no blueprint For a pyramid in those days.

The pyramid Hadn't been started then,

So they were making this up As they went along.

Narrator: the builders of The step pyramid

Had exceeded their knowledge.

Could the strange shape Of the bent pyramid

Be the result Of a similar mistake?

And can it explain why this Pyramid is completely empty?

♪♪

Narrator: on the desert plain of Dahshur, in egypt,

Stands the unique bent pyramid.

It was built by The great pharaoh sneferu

Over 4,000 years ago.

It was the first complete Pyramid in the world

To have smooth sides

And the only one To have this strange shape.

Did something go terribly Wrong during its construction,

Like it did with The step pyramid in saqqara?

Engineering geologist Colin reader

Believes that pyramid's Crooked outline

Might actually be An ancient attempt

To prevent a fatal disaster.

Reader: we're here at The bent pyramid at dahshur,

And we're investigating whether There's any signs of movement

Or settlement Within this pyramid.

Narrator: Colin thinks the bent pyramid

Might have suffered From even more damage

Than its stepped predecessor.

♪♪

Underneath The cracked outer stones,

The bent pyramid has Far bigger problems

Than just a crumbling ceiling.

Inside the northern passage Is a fracture.

This indicates a dangerous Fault line

That caused part of the pyramid

To slip under Its colossal weight.

Sneferu's builders encountered Similar problems

In the western passage,

Forcing them to seal And abandon the entrance.

How serious was this damage, And did it force the builders

To change the shape Of this pyramid?

♪♪

Colin examines the exterior.

Here, the damage Looks superficial.

Reader: they're all cracks.

You can see from the casing Around us

That there are cracks Running through it,

But that shouldn't be unusual.

Buildings like this will move As they're constructed.

The ground will settle.

Narrator: but colin soon spots Something more serious.

As we've come up To the entrance door,

This seam in the casing seems To drop around the entrance.

We look over there. It's flat.

It's horizontal, As all the joints are.

As we get to this point Over the passageway,

The casing drops down, Runs horizontally

And then rises up again.

That might be superficial.

We perhaps have to look at Whether that goes

Any distance Inside the structure.

Narrator: colin heads down A narrow passageway.

Just a short way inside The northern entrance,

He finds other stones Have also slipped.

Reader: we're at a point about

10 meters inside The northern passage,

And at this point, we've got Quite a major movement.

This block here has dropped About 20, 25 centimeters.

Narrator: This crack, running right across The passageway, concerns colin.

What this big drop tells us Is that,

That dip we saw On the casing,

Just by the entranceway, Isn't superficial.

It runs the full length Of this passageway

For about 10 or 11 meters.

We are undoubtedly looking At a major dislocation

In the structure As it was being built.

Narrator: What does all this mean?

Colin believes that the pyramid Has split in two.

One section, 32 meters thick And weighing thousands of tons,

Has cracked and slipped down.

He thinks this is because The pyramid

Was constructed In two different stages.

The bent pyramid started As a stepped pyramid,

But in the pharaoh's Quest for perfection,

Workers added a second layer To cover its huge steps.

It gave the pyramid smooth Sides,

But with nothing Locking the steps

And the outer shell together,

The layers began to split And slip down.

Was this enough to change The shape of the pyramid?

The damage is severe,

But it seems to be limited To just a few places.

That disturbance of the casing We saw over the entrance,

Though, suggests to me That this is localized;

This movement here is The passageway only.

Taking it all together, It doesn't seem to be evidence

For a dramatic collapse.

Narrator: so did the builders Catch the problem here

Just in time and save the rest Of the structure?

♪♪

Colin travels 30 miles south of Dahshur to meidum

To hunt for further clues.

♪♪

Here, he discovers What would have happened

If the builders Of the bent pyramid

Had ignored The first signs of damage.

♪♪

Meidum is the first of the three Pyramids sneferu built.

Archaeologists Believe that it was started

Just before The bent pyramid,

Using similar Construction techniques.

Reader: what we've got from this Pyramid at meidum

And also at the bent pyramid Is mason's marks,

Graffiti that were painted By the quarry gangs

Or the builders Of the pyramids,

And that graffiti Is quite similar.

Some people have suggested That it's so similar,

That the two pyramids Were built at the same time.

Narrator: colin suspects that if He can work out

What happened here, It might explain

What went on at dahshur.

Like the bent pyramid, Meidum has a stepped core,

But this is the only Part of it that remains.

The huge pile of rubble Around the pyramid

Is its crumbled outer layer.

Sneferu intended to build A smooth-sided pyramid here,

But it went terribly wrong.

The angle of the pyramid Was too steep.

The top was too heavy,

And the slides slipped off.

Reader: Just as the evidence suggests,

This pyramid collapsed during The last phase of building,

Taking that stepped structure

And converting it Into a smooth-sided pyramid.

Narrator: colin thinks What happened here

Terrified the architect Of the bent pyramid

Who was building it In a similar way.

Reader: what they intended to Build at the bent pyramid

Was a true, Straight-sided pyramid,

But with collapses here, They might have been concerned

Something was going to go wrong At the bent pyramid.

Narrator: disaster at meidum may Have forced the builders

Of the bent pyramid to Radically change their design.

At first, the bent Pyramid's cracks

May not have looked too serious.

Then the meidum pyramid Collapsed catastrophically.

Fearing the same fate,

The architect Designed a much safer,

But shallower summit.

This gave the bent pyramid Its strange shape.

By reducing the angle At the top of the pyramid,

Making the whole Structure more stable,

It reduced the possibility Or the likelihood

That yet another pyramid Was going to collapse.

Narrator: sneferu had invested Over a decade

Constructing the bent pyramid At dahshur.

He wasn't about to let his Eternal resting place implode

Into a pile of rubble,

But if the egyptian stonemasons Worked out

How to reach the top safely By building

Upwards at a shallower angle, Why didn't they go back

And change the bottom Half to match it,

And did sneferu do much more

Than just revolutionize Pyramid design?

Did he pioneer a new method Of large-scale construction?

Narrator: the bent pyramid had Finally reached its summit,

Finished with a gentler But safer angle.

Why didn't the builders rework The lower section to match it?

♪♪

Engineer colin reader heads into The very heart of the pyramid.

♪♪

He thinks another flaw Inside this giant tomb

Might hold the answer.

The bent pyramid is unique For having two entrances.

One leads to empty lower chamber Cut into the bedrock.

A roughly finished tunnel Connects them to the main

Royal burial chamber.

Its tapered ceiling rises Over 52 feet high,

Bridging the enormous void With a series of gradual steps,

But this chamber Was left entirely empty

Before being sealed shut.

Can this abandoned burial Chamber reveal why sneferu

Decided to keep This pyramid's angled summit?

Colin investigates the first of Two unoccupied burial chambers.

Reader: at this time, And let's not forget,

We're talking about 2500 bc, They couldn't close a roof

Across such a big, big space As this,

So they took Each step of masonry,

Or each layer of masonry, And stepped it in slightly.

One step at a time, Like a series of staircases

Meeting high up Above our heads.

Narrator: this style of ceiling Is called corbelling.

The first pyramid ever built, The step pyramid,

Only had A simple wooden ceiling,

Far too weak to hold The enormous weight

Of the pyramid above,

So inside the bent pyramid,

Sneferu used an ingenious Corbelled ceiling

To spread the weight And prevent it collapsing.

In the lower chamber,

The ceiling is finished To perfection.

Reader: The edges of these corbels,

The edges of these steps,

Are really neatly formed, Neatly carved,

A most accurately Built corbelled ceiling.

Narrator: colin must crawl Through narrow tunnels

To investigate the most Important room in the pyramid,

The main upper burial chamber.

Inside, the finds Something very different

From the beautifully carved Ceiling he saw lower down.

Here, the stones are jagged And rough.

Reader: the corbelling seems to Have been reworked, attacked,

Cut away, so we've got This irregular finish.

Narrator: What happened here?

Colin thinks the builders wanted To enlarge this burial chamber

By hacking into The stepped stones,

But it didn't go According to plan,

And the ceiling was ruined.

Reader: They've put the corbel back.

They've chiseled away at it, And once you get to that point,

There's no going back.

You can't... It's like if you Cut someone's hair too short.

You can't glue it back on again.

Narrator: this pyramid was Destined to hold

The body of sneferu,

But once the ceiling Was damaged,

It was no longer fit to be The pharaoh's eternal home,

So all the chambers Were left empty.

Reader: you'd expect this to Have been the burial chamber

For sneferu, but when, Eventually,

People got into here, There was no sarcophagus,

No evidence it had been Used as a burial.

Narrator: one crucial mistake Meant more than a decade of work

Had gone to waste,

But sneferu was determined To give it another try.

It looks that they abandoned it.

They gave up here, And they started again.

Narrator: Over a mile to the north

Stands sneferu's third And final attempt,

The red pyramid, The world's first true pyramid.

This time, both the sloped walls

And the ceiling of the burial Chamber would be perfect.

In the bent pyramid, Masons tried to enlarge

The burial chamber During construction,

But damaged the ceiling Beyond repair.

Finally, in sneferu's Red pyramid,

Masons built a higher, Steeper ceiling

Right from the start,

And created A tomb worthy of the pharaoh.

At last, sneferu had achieved The perfect tomb,

Inside and out, and all thanks To his earlier mistakes.

It seems they took everything They learned

From the construction Of the bent pyramid

And applied it to the Construction of the red pyramid

Several hundred meters To the north.

We can only assume that was The final resting place

Of sneferu.

Narrator: but a mystery remains.

Despite its obvious flaws,

Sneferu still covered The bent pyramid

With egypt's finest limestone.

If the red pyramid was now His tomb,

Why go to this Huge needless expense?

And can a mysterious temple Reveal how this mighty pharaoh

Planned to life forever?

Narrator: the bent pyramid, A construction disaster

Built by one of egypt's Greatest pharaohs, sneferu.

Why was it finished With expensive limestone

When it would never be used?

Could sneferu's quest For immortality be a clue?

Rosenow: the afterlife was A very important

Concept in ancient egypt.

Every egyptian wanted To have a tomb

And wanted to be Remembered eternally,

But it was obviously Only the king

Who could actually end up with Something as big as a pyramid.

Narrator: sneferu spent years

Trying to build The perfect tomb.

The red pyramid saw his dream Finally come true,

But could sneferu have always Had far bigger plans

Than just creating The perfect resting place?

This causeway links The bent pyramid

To the nile valley.

At the end of it stands The remains of an impressive

And mysterious temple.

Daniela thinks it could Provide a clue

As to why sneferu Completed the bent pyramid.

These crumbling stones were The start of a valley temple,

Aligned along the royal axis, North to south.

It would have been a place To worship a dead pharaoh.

Flanking the entrance Were four rooms,

And beyond, an open courtyard,

With two rows of pillars At its end.

Inside the holy sanctuary Were six niches that housed

Larger-than-life-sized Statues of the pharaoh.

Building this impressive temple Was an enormous job.

What can it reveal about why The bent pyramid was finished?

Very little is known about

The valley temple's Decoration or function.

When the temple was discovered In the early '50s,

Obviously it was not A standing temple anymore.

Narrator: Its stones eroded over time.

Robbers destroyed what was left.

But a surprising discovery Deep under the desert sand

Suggests the pyramid

And the temple may have been Used in an unexpected way.

Rosenow: one of the Archaeological methods we use

Is conducting drillings.

We realized that there is Another huge structure

Buried under 2 to 3 meters of sand,

A road made of limestone blocks.

Narrator: daniela discovers That this road dates back

To about 1,000 years After the pyramid was finished.

She carefully documents Its paving slabs.

She thinks this road was built Out of material

From a demolished building.

Rosenow: the weird thing is that We actually found

Decoration on these blocks,

And, of course, normally, a road Is not made of decorated blocks.

This rather hints at the fact That the blocks here were reused

And originally belong To another building.

Narrator: daniela has no doubt

About which structure They come from.

Rosenow: putting all of this Evidence together,

The material, The style of the carving,

We were very sure That these blocks

Originally come from the valley Temple of the bent pyramid.

Narrator: a millennia after Sneferu's death,

The valley temple Was dismantled.

Workers reused its stones To build a road,

But daniela quickly recognizes The scenes

These carvings once depicted.

♪♪

Rosenow: this small fragment,

We actually Learn about a much,

Much bigger scene.

This is actually the hand Of the king

Holding the hair of one Or several of his enemies.

This belonged to a scene called "Smiting the enemies,"

Where pharaoh is depicted Holding a mace in one hand

And with the other hand,

Grabbing one Or several of his enemies,

And he is shown, basically, Exactly in the moment

Before he is striking.

Narrator: one particular pharaoh Appears in these images.

Rosenow: we found some blocks With inscriptions

Which gave us The name of king sneferu.

Narrator: the high-quality Carvings reveal sneferu

Finished the bent pyramid's Temple to the highest level.

Rosenow: so the blocks give us Quite a good idea

About how the valley temple Would have looked like

When it was completed.

Narrator: why did sneferu Complete both this pyramid

And its temple, Even though he had no intention

Of being buried here?

Daniela believes it was Part of sneferu's bigger goal,

To create a new form of worship

That would grant him More power in the afterlife.

♪♪

Early egyptian burial grounds Were desolate places.

Known as the land of the dead,

They were separated From the world

Of the living On the banks of the nile.

Sneferu's valley temple Was a design pharaohs

Would follow for centuries.

It used a causeway to bridge

The gap between These two worlds.

The valley temple shows carvings Of sneferu

Receiving bountiful offerings

Brought from every region Of his kingdom.

After his death,

The temple remained An active place of worship,

Immortalizing his name forever.

At the end of the day, The pyramid has been not

The only thing Sneferu left behind.

He also left behind

This beautifully Decorated valley temple.

Narrator: sneferu wanted to Ensure he achieved immortality.

The bent pyramid still served A useful purpose.

Rosenow: it clearly shows that The whole project

Was very close To sneferu's heart,

And, indeed, the pyramid And the whole complex

Stayed a place of worship For many generations.

Narrator: Despite its crooked profile

And its ruined burial chamber,

The bent pyramid was celebrated As part of sneferu's legacy.

He created a pioneering template For construction pyramids

That was followed by egyptian Pharaohs for hundreds of years.

Rosenow: there were actually no Valley temples before sneferu's,

So what we have here Are the remains

Of the very first valley temple In ancient egypt in history,

And that's why every scene We discover is so important

Because many of the scenes That later on become standard

In these kind of temples Appear here

For the very first time.

Narrator: Sneferu's bent pyramid complex

Was far more important That once thought.

It launched a whole-new Tradition of ritual buildings

And worship,

But did his innovations go far Beyond religious architecture?

What can new discoveries right Next to the greatest pyramid

Ever built reveal about how The bent pyramid turned egypt

Into a superpower Of the ancient world?

Narrator: The bent pyramid of dahshur,

A giant hulk more than 300 feet high,

One of the largest man-made Objects of its time.

Did it play a bigger role Than once thought?

Did sneferu's legacy go far Beyond construction techniques?

Just over 10 miles north, At giza,

Three giant pyramids tower Over the landscape,

Among them, The great pyramid of khufu,

The last-surviving wonder Of the ancient world.

Just how much does it owe to the Builders of the bent pyramid?

Archaeologist mark lehner Has spent

Decades excavating at giza.

He believes that sneferu's Bent pyramid

Didn't just transform The way pyramids were built,

But the whole Of egyptian society.

Sneferu started big.

Khufu comes along and builds Even bigger here at giza.

Narrator: giza's pyramids were All commissioned

By sneferu's heirs.

They wanted to surpass Their famous ancestor,

But to achieve this, they needed A supporting infrastructure

On a massive scale.

Before the time of sneferu,

Egypt was mostly made up Of small villages.

Mark's excavation, Half a mile from the pyramids,

Suggests this was all About to change.

Lehner: we clear away the sand Over an area

Of about seven football fields And find houses and barracks.

Barracks, through time, Have been mostly for men

And mostly for young men,

And we think that's probably Who occupied these barracks.

Narrator: he finds what looks Like a settlement

Housing up to 20,000 people.

Its buildings date back to The same time as the pyramids.

This was a place with a purpose.

Lehner: one of the things we Find all across the site

Are these heavy Dolerite hammer stones

That the egyptian masons And quarry people

Used to basically Smash the rock away,

To carve out channels To define huge blocks of stone.

The fact that we find these Dolerite hammer stones

All over the site Is just one of many indications

That workers and pyramid Builders were living here.

Narrator: tens of thousands of Laborers were brought together

To build these pyramids.

Their settlements gave rise To the first cities

And paved the way for egypt

To become a superpower Of the ancient world.

Mark thinks it all began With the bent pyramid.

Lehner: the excavations of The settlement now at dahshur,

The settlement contemporary with The building of those pyramids,

That is the precedent For everything

That we have found here at giza.

Narrator: to build his pyramids, Sneferu likely developed

A method of bringing Huge workforces together,

A system his heirs would copy To build their tombs.

Lehner: if you add up the total Volume of all the pyramids

That sneferu built,

It exceeds that of The great pyramid of khufu

By a significant amount.

He actually did more pyramid Piling up than his son khufu.

Narrator: sneferu's pyramids may Not all have been perfect,

But his invaluable experience Was passed on

To the next generation.

Lehner: This was the culmination

Of a long Research-and-development program

Carried out largely Under sneferu.

Narrator: Without the bent pyramid

And sneferu's determination,

Our world might not have The great pyramid of giza.

I imagine that if sneferu Could come back and see that,

Especially when it was complete With all its elegance,

Massiveness and perfection Shining on the horizon,

He would have been very proud Of his young son khufu.

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Narrator: sneferu's desire For immortality

Led him to build bigger And higher than ever before,

But his plans Almost ended in disaster.

His grand vision drove him To finish this pyramid

With a safe But imperfect summit.

An opulent valley temple Completed the ritual complex

And ensured that sneferu's Name would live on forever,

Not just in stone, but in The new society he left behind.

His hard-won triumphs combine to Earn sneferu his rightful place

As the king of The pyramid builders.

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