Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Egypt, the richest source of archaeological treasures on the planet.

SALIMA: Oh, that's a fabulous one.

NARRATOR: Beneath this desert landscape

lie the secrets of this ancient civilization.

JOHN: Wow, can you see why the Pharaohs chose this place.

NARRATOR: Now for a full season of excavation,

our cameras have unprecedented access

to follow teams on the frontline of archaeology.

ASHRAF: I'm driving so fast because I'm so excited.

WOMAN: It's an entrance, we can see an entrance.

NARRATOR: Revealing buried secrets...

MAN: I have just been told that they have found something.

MAN: Oh my gosh.

JOHN: A sphinx!

NARRATOR: And making discoveries that could rewrite ancient history.

This time, the pyramids reveal startling new secrets.

Ashraf makes an incredible discovery in a 4,500 year-old tomb.

ASHRAF: I feel there is something down there.

Something is waiting for us.

NARRATOR: Iwona is on the hunt for human remains.

IWONA: This is a lovely left foot, so we've got a pair.

NARRATOR: And John unlocks the secrets of

the oldest known tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

JOHN: I'm truly in the final resting place of a Pharaoh.

NARRATOR: Rising out of the Egyptian desert stand some of the most

magnificent monuments in human history...

the Giza Pyramids.

Constructed from around five million stone blocks,

and standing up to 480-feet tall,

these are where the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt entombed

their mummified bodies and priceless treasures.

Each giant pyramid is a grand tomb and place of worship

built to ensure the memory of the Pharaohs

Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure would never be forgotten.

ASHRAF: Stop here Hamid and we wanna get our drone on the pyramid.

NARRATOR: In charge of this ancient site is

Director of the Giza Pyramids, Ashraf Mohie.

ASHRAF: You see this is my office.

I work as an Egyptologist more than 20 years.

I envy myself to be working here, you know, near by the pyramid.

NARRATOR: Ashraf has recently made a remarkable discovery in the shadow of

the Menkaure pyramid, the last to be built by the Pharaohs in Giza.

He's taking to the skies to survey his excavation site.

ASHRAF: So, I can see the pyramid from the top over here.

Can we get closer to the temple?

NARRATOR: Next to the entrance of Menkaure's pyramid,

are the remains of a grand temple and cluster of tombs.

ASHRAF: It has been surrounded by tombs for high officials.

Everybody, you know wanted to have the honor to have his tomb nearby Menkaure.

NARRATOR: Ashraf is excavating one of these tombs.

Its location was first documented by the American archaeologist

George Reisner over a century ago.

ASHRAF: Reisner, he started to work here in 1907, but he didn't go inside.

He didn't find the entrance.

He just dig for few days, that's it.

So, we continued the work, we found the entrance.

We are working now in the shafts, we started with the first one over there,

we got the edges and the workers, they are working down there.

NARRATOR: Reisner did not excavate this tomb.

Ashraf and his team will be the first archaeologists to enter it in over 4,500 years.

ASHRAF: We're going to work down step by step to see if there is something in the

sands or not there.

I'm so honored to be here between the pyramids.

It's my life time dream to dig.

It's going to be something very important for every Egyptologist

at the pyramids area.

NARRATOR: Menkaure ruled Egypt for over two decades and like his father and grandfather,

he built a pyramid as his final resting place.

His stands at the center of a grand cemetery where only

those closest to him could be buried.

So, the tomb Ashraf has unearthed must be for someone important.

It appears to be a flat-roofed structure called a Mastaba.

On top, two shaft openings suggest it could hide more than one burial chamber.

But any bodies won't be found inside the Mastaba,

they'll be deep beneath it...

in solid bedrock.

ASHRAF: I want to go deeper and see what it is going to be inside the shaft.

We will see at the bottom if there is a chamber and a sarcophagus down there.

NARRATOR: Menkaure would be the last Pharaoh to build a pyramid at Giza.

4000 years ago, they were suddenly abandoned.

The answer to why the Pharaohs deserted the pyramids may lie

300 miles south, in the Valley of the Kings.

Hidden within these remote cliffs is the final resting place of some of Egypt's

greatest and most famous Pharaohs.

JOHN: Mr. Mahmood? MAHMOOD: Hi, yes.

MAHMOOD: Yes, everything.

[speaking Arabic].

NARRATOR: Here, British archaeologist John Ward, is investigating why the Pharaohs

stopped building pyramids and decided to be buried in this secret location.

JOHN: We're on the way to one of the oldest tombs here in the Valley,

its where it all began.

You lead the way.

NARRATOR: Dangerous and unstable, tomb K-V-20 is closed to the public

and has not been excavated since 1904.

JOHN: There we go Sir.

NARRATOR: Despite the risks, John has been granted special permission

to investigate inside...

JOHN: Open Sesame as they say!

NARRATOR: And will attempt to navigate the dark and crumbling corridors to reach

the burial chamber, hidden over 320 feet below ground.

JOHN: Beneath our feet lies an intricate warren of engineering masterpieces,

where tunnels, chambers and pits are all designed to create a space in which

Pharaohs can achieve immortality.

NARRATOR: The Valley of the Kings is a remote limestone gorge...

and in a secluded corner is one of the first tombs to be carved into the Valley.

Built for the powerful Pharaoh Thutmose the first, 3,500 years ago,

ancient engineers chiseled a long and narrow corridor

that plunges over 320 feet underground...

to a secret burial chamber.

Here, the body of the Pharaoh was placed in a giant sarcophagus,

so that hidden from sight, the King with his treasures

could hope to rest in peace for eternity.

JOHN: One of the things Mahmood that I'm feeling as we're walking down,

you really get that sense that you're climbing down into the underworld!

NARRATOR: Building a tomb could take years and required a village of workers.

JOHN: Look at that. Okay.

It must have been awful down here.

To have carried up all of this chiseled flaky limestone and the dust.

I mean we're just walking here and I'm breathing the dust in.

It must have been hell!

NARRATOR: John has been descending into the darkness for over 45 minutes,

but he still hasn't reached the burial chamber.

JOHN: Wow! This shaft just continues.

NARRATOR: Above ground, a team of over 170 workers is excavating an area

known as the Valley of the Nobles.

It contains the tombs of ancient Egypt's social elite,

important enough to be buried close to the Pharaohs.

ANDREA: So, I will lead you up the excavation site right now.

NARRATOR: Egyptologist Andrea Loprieno-Gnirs from Basel University,

has been investigating this site for 16 years.

ANDREA: We really feel very privileged to have the opportunity to work here.

We want to learn more about who used this tomb, who entered the tomb,

who maybe planned the tomb, who used them for burials and who used them for living,

over the long-time span.

NARRATOR: This season, Andrea and her team are clearing

tons of earth and rubble from the tombs.

In one tomb called T-T-95 they've made an exciting discovery.

ANDREA: It's quite a huge coffin chamber cut into the bedrock.

Among the material that was still left by the tomb robbers,

we came upon painted pottery vessels

that bear the name and the title of Hunai.

NARRATOR: Inscriptions on the pottery suggest a noble woman called Hunai was buried here.

But who was she and what was her connection to the Pharaohs?

To answer this, the team is searching for Hunai's remains.

But she's not the only one here.

This tomb was re-used by others to bury their dead

and contains hundreds of body parts.

Robbers ripped the bodies apart in search of gold and amulets

wrapped in the mummies.

Finding Hunai will take a forensic investigation.

IWONA: One ear preserved, there's no jaw just a fragment.

NARRATOR: In charge of analyzing these human remains, is British bio-archaeologist,

Iwona Kozieradzka-Ogunmakin.

IWONA: I've worked in Egypt 13 years I think,

so I've got substantial experience with this kind of material.

This is a lovely left foot.

When I'm sometimes asked what I do, I'm kind of hesitant to say because

there's usually two types of reaction I get.

One is urghhh, and the other is oh really!

I suppose it's not for everybody.

NARRATOR: Finding Hunai's remains is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

IWONA: There you go, that's the left arm.

We estimate the minimum number of individuals to be just over 80.

That's quite a big number really when you think about an adult individual having

206 bones and imagine the skeleton is dispersed.

Every site has different challenges and this one is definitely challenging.

So, we've got torsos with no arms or no legs, or heads.

NARRATOR: 300 miles North, at the pyramids...

ASHRAF: This is the last of the sands that's coming out from the shaft.

NARRATOR: Ashraf and his team have been digging for two days to locate

the burial chamber in this unexcavated tomb.

ASHRAF: It should be there is something here.

NARRATOR: Finally, the workers reach the bottom of one of the shafts.

ASHRAF: We are so close to the burial chamber.

NARRATOR: This ancient shaft should lead to the entrance of a

4,500 year-old burial chamber, but something is wrong...

[speaking Arabic].

I can hear, you know, the sound of the rock.

The axe is hitting the rock.

This is not a good sign.

It means the shaft is unfinished!

NARRATOR: Ashraf thinks they have found a false shaft,

deliberately made by the tomb builders to

fool thieves trying to find the burial chamber.

And it's an anti-theft technique he's seen before, in Menkaure's Pyramid.

NARRATOR: Menkaure constructed the pyramid to protect his body and treasures,

but the giant pyramid also attracted thieves.

Inside, engineers tried to protect the burial chamber

with a series of heavy stone slabs...

but these barriers of solid rock weren't enough to keep out tomb robbers

and the Pharaoh's body and treasures were looted.

ASHRAF: Like the place we are standing here now, this is the place,

you know where they had the blocks, to seal this passage.

We found many small fragments of the blocks becauseit was broken to pieces.

Some blocks about 3 tons or 4 tons there.

NARRATOR: With these huge stone walls destroyed, the robbers could finally

enter the pharaoh's burial chamber.

NARRATOR: Nothing remains of Menkaure's mummy or his treasures.

Ashraf believes the threat of tomb robbers was the reason the

Pharaohs stopped building these giant pyramids.

NARRATOR: To keep their bodies hidden from looters,

the great pharaohs chose this secluded location.

The Valley of the Kings.

JOHN: How much further Mahmood?

MAHMOOD: We are close! JOHN: We're close?

NARRATOR: John Ward is in one of the first tombs to be built in the Valley and is

descending over 320 feet below ground into the sacred burial chamber.

JOHN: We're coming towards the end of this tomb!

The final steps.

Wow!

I'm in the belly of the final resting place of a Pharaoh.

I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like to be digging this out.

Truly an amazing feat.

NARRATOR: Although crudely completed, K-V-20 was a successful experiment,

and in this chamber, archaeologists found two stone coffins,

one inscribed with the name of the Pharaoh, Thutmose the first.

The other, for the Pharaoh Hatshepsut,

his daughter and one of Egypt's most powerful female rulers.

For the next 500 years,

the pharaohs built their tombs deep underground.

So far, 65 have been found but experts suspect there could be at least

two great pharaoh's tombs yet to be discovered.

With their tomb entrances hidden from sight, the pharaohs believed their

mummified bodies and treasures would be protected from grave robbers.

They had solved one problem, but they still needed to find a way to be worshipped

and for their legacy to be remembered for eternity.

JOHN: Whereas the pyramidcontains everything, the burial,

the place of worship, here that's all separated.

Here we have the tomb, the last resting place of a Pharaoh,

but he still requires that place to be worshipped.

NARRATOR: The Pharaohs wanted to be remembered forever,

but with their bodies hidden in the Valley,

their followers would need somewhere to worship.

John wants to investigate how they ensured their legacy would never be forgotten.

In the Valley of the Nobles,

Andrea and her team are on the hunt for clues that can

shed light on the life of a noble woman called Hunai.

They've found pictures on a tomb wall which suggest she shared an unusual

bond with the Pharaoh Amenhotep the second.

ANDREA: It's really an unusual... you will not

find another tomb showing this very personal relationship with the King.

In this case you can really recognize that she is giving him her breast.

NARRATOR: The wall paintings reveal Hunai was a royal wet-nurse who breastfed

the future Pharaoh when he was a child,

and this intimate relationship explains

why Hunai was buried so close to the Valley of the Kings.

IWONA: This was originally the burial place of Hunai,

and this is also where we found more individuals.

NARRATOR: In search of Hunai's remains, Iwona is sifting through

thousands of bones found in her tomb.

IWONA: That's super-orbital ridges, that are usually pronounced in males,

looking at the sutures,cranial sutures, and the teeth,

this person was definitely over 35.

NARRATOR: The wall inscriptions also reveal Hunai had a grown-up son,

who was a high official.

So, Iwona believes Hunai was a middle-aged woman when she died.

IWONA: You can see some depressions here, could be menopause.

This person seemed to havequite a pronounced nose.

I've got confident one female, question mark female so that's two,

and the other four are most likely male individuals.

NARRATOR: To find out if either of the female skulls belongs to Hunai,

Iwona needs to look for signs of a gruesome mummification process

only performed on the wealthy elite.

IWONA: The lady we're looking for definitely had herbrains pulled out in pieces!

NARRATOR: In Giza, Ashraf and his team have been working hard to clear the second shaft

of the unexcavated tomb at the foot of the Menkaure Pyramid...

[speaking Arabic].

[cheering].

NARRATOR: and their hard work has paid off.

[Speaking Arabic].

ASHRAF: He says that there is a small hole and no light in there,

so we need a torch to see what's over there.

So, I'm going to send Mohamed to tell us what will be there.

NARRATOR: The workers think they have found an entrance to a burial chamber carved in the

bedrock and Egyptologist Mohammad Ahmed will be the first to venture inside.

MOHAMED: Wow! Phew!

ASHRAF: Can you see if there is a coffin or sarcophagus?

MOHAMED: This is the opening which leads to the burial chamber.

I'm very excited!

NARRATOR: Sealed with rocks and hidden at the bottom of the 30 foot shaft,

this burial chamber could contain the 4,500 year-old

remains of the tomb owner and their treasure.

MOHAMED: Mr. Ashraf?

I see darkness.

ASHRAF: Can you see through the hole?

MOHAMED: Okay.

ASHRAF: You think I'm going to wait after you found a hole?

You are kidding me!

MOHAMED: Now I will get inside.

Okay.

All done. Wow.

This slab, it was blocking the doorway to this burial chamber.

When I see the sloping gravels and stones,

I feel that someone gets inside before me.

NARRATOR: The tomb has been looted by grave robbers,

but Mohamed finds bones that have been left behind.

MOHAMED: This bone is from the chest.

This is from the pelvis,

and I think this big long bone is the thigh.

NARRATOR: The treasures may have been taken,

but these ancient bones inside a burial chamber

by the pyramid are an incredible discovery,

and the remains will be collected and analyzed by the team.

ASHRAF: Mohamed, why youdidn't get out to tell meand show me the footage.

MOHAMED: Okay Sir!

ASHRAF: You have to get out now!

So, it has been looted.

A few bones only and remains of wood.

MOHAMED: Yes.

ASHRAF: I'm a little bit disappointed because

I was expecting to find a coffin with a mummy.

But I'm still happy because we have the discovery.

NARRATOR: The fragments of bone found in this burial chamber won't be enough for

Ashraf to identify who was buried in the tomb,

but he's convinced there is another

burial chamber here, so excavations will continue.

ASHRAF: I feel there is something down there,

so I hope that something waiting for us.

NARRATOR: Just a mile from the Valley of the Kings on Luxor's West Bank,

stands the vast Mortuary Temple, Medinet Habu.

JOHN: So here it is, Medinet Habu.

They call it the Mortuary Temple, the house of millions of years.

NARRATOR: To safeguard them from robbers, the pharaohs kept their tombs hidden,

but they also needed to be worshipped and remembered.

They chose this Temple to honor their legacy.

JOHN: Whereas today we would go to the graveyard or the cemetery,

we'd lay a flower at our gravestone,

this is a gravestone.

This is the legacy of Pharaoh Ramses, Amenhotep III, Hatshepsut,

they've all put their mark here.

NARRATOR: The pharaohs built mortuary temples like Medinet Habu as vast palaces

dedicated to preserving their memory for eternity.

Each temple had a loyal staff of priests devoted to maintaining a cult

that would continue worshipping the king forever.

The pharaohs had their royal names written as special symbols called cartouches,

carved all over the temples.

Their names were important because these ancient pharaohs believed that to achieve

immortality their names must be spoken for eternity.

JOHN: We have this whole development from Pharaoh being buried in the pyramid,

to being buried over there in the Valley of the Kings,

and this, his mortuary temple and they are immortalized here.

NARRATOR: But for some pharaohs, simply having their name inscribed

on a palace wall was not enough.

On the Banks of the River Nile, stands the vast Luxor Temple.

Here, an elite team of engineers is working to restore a giant statue

dedicated to one of Egypt's greatest pharaohs.

NARRATOR: Mahmood Farouk has a daunting challenge.

He needs to rebuild the giant statue of Rameses II that stands over 30-feet tall.

It was destroyed by an earthquake.

Now it's time to put the King back where he belongs.

NARRATOR: Mahmood and his team are using modern steel girders to hold the

pieces of statue together, and they must line up perfectly with the legs,

standing at the entrance to the Temple.

One wrong move could send the 3000-year-old statue

crashing into the temple wall.

NARRATOR: Moving the heavy statue into place

is an intricate challenge for the team.

The metal girders fixed to the body and legs must fit perfectly together.

NARRATOR: It might look finished, but Mahmood needs to check

the alignment of the statue's eyes.

According to Egyptian custom, they must look straight ahead to reflect the King's power.

NARRATOR: The measurements show the eyes are pointing down.

The team will have to start again.

In the Valley of the Nobles, Iwona is continuing her

forensic analysis of human remains to identify Hunai.

She's looking for evidence of a rare burial practice.

IWONA: The traditional way of mummifying the body would be to remove the brain.

The tool would have beeninserted through a nostril,

and then the ethmoid bone would be broken

through to get access to the brain cavity.

NARRATOR: Only high-status individuals underwent this mummification ritual.

So as a nurse to the Pharaoh, it would have been performed on Hunai.

IWONA: So here we have a complete skull, and it's quite interesting.

The person lost all their upper teeth except one!

I think there is a small opening here,

this skull seems to be...

seems to be fitting the description so far.

NARRATOR: The small hole is strong evidence that the brain was scraped out,

but to prove her theory, Iwona will use digital technology

to take a closer look inside.

At the pyramids, Ashraf has received some exciting news.

ASHRAF: You know I just got a phone call from Mohamed,

he's telling me he has found a shaft!

NARRATOR: The team has found a third shaft above the tomb,

which could lead to another burial chamber.

ASHRAF: The site is getting more exciting.

We are getting more excited to see, to know more information about the situations here.

NARRATOR: To help speed up the dig, the team has built a pulley system.

[speaking Arabic].

ASRAF: It's a little bit windy, but still good.

This is good weather for workers to work!

NARRATOR: But suddenly Ashraf's team is in trouble.

The heavy metal frame has collapsed into the shaft,

and the workers inside are not responding.

[speaking Arabic].

ASHRAF: It wasn't stable enough, but thanks to God everything was okay now.

So, we are using this rope ladder now.

So, you see the workers are okay.

[speaking Arabic].

[singing]

[speaking Arabic].

NARRATOR: The workers have escaped relatively unharmed.

Ashraf can press ahead with his excavations.

ASHRAF: We are so close.

On the righthand side, I believe this is the opening of the burial chamber.

NARRATOR: But a giant rock slab is blocking their way.

ASHRAF: They are going to drop some ropes to tie this stone and take it out of there.

NARRATOR: Ashraf has opened the entrance to the burial chamber,

now he's ready to find out who, or what, is inside.

NARRATOR: At the Luxor Temple, engineer Mahmoud

is trying to position the 65-ton statue of

Ramses the second at the entrance to the Temple.

But his first attempt has failed.

NARRATOR: His team has just a few hours to cut and reshape the girders.

They must ensure the statue's eyes point

straight ahead to the horizon, a symbol of power.

Only then will they have restored this great Pharaoh's legacy.

NARRATOR: Slowly and carefully, they winch it into position...

[speaking Arabic].

MAHMOUD: I hope this...

Success, yeah.

NARRATOR: This time, everything lines up perfectly.

The statue of Ramses II now stands exactly as it did 3000 years ago,

restoring his legacy as one of the greatest Pharaohs to rule Egypt.

NARRATOR: Across the Nile, Iwona and her team have turned to digital technology

in their hunt for the royal nurse Hunai.

IWONA: We actually have the x-ray of that particular skull that we think could

potentially belong to Hunai.

Her being a woman of high social status, we would expect her body

to have been prepared accordingly for the burial.

NARRATOR: Ancient Egyptians believed the brain had no value in the afterlife,

so they pulled it out in pieces through the nose, during mummification.

IWONA: And we can't see any brain residue inside the skull, the brain was removed.

NARRATOR: The x-ray confirms Iwona's theory.

All the evidence suggests this is the skull of Hunai.

It's a huge discovery for the team.

IWONA: Hello, so may I present a female,

an older female!

Her brain was removed.

If we are looking the best candidate for Hunai, this would be this skull!

ANDREA: This is really amazing results, that's exciting news!

NARRATOR: 3000-years after her death, Hunai's memory has now been restored.

it was her unique role as a royal nurse that earned her a tomb

next to the Valley of the Kings

so that she could join the Pharaohs for eternity in the afterlife.

ANDREA: We were able to uncover a great royal nurse of Amenhotep II

when he was a prince.

So, I think we are very lucky.

I'm very happy about this.

NARRATOR: At the pyramids, Ashraf's team is preparing

to enter the newly-discovered 4,500 year-old burial chamber.

ASHRAF: I'm so excited that we found the bottom of the shaft,

but I'm a big guy and the shaft down there is so small,

that's why I'm sending my colleagues to go down there.

I'm talking about 33 feet, its deep.

And to have your people down there, it's not easy.

But these people have the passion to find something new.

It is an adventure to be an Egyptologist, to find something new.

NARRATOR: Ashraf has brought in specialists to investigate the chamber.

Senior Archaeologist Wael Fathi and

anthropologist, Sara Saber.

ASHRAF: I'm so excited to tell you what you're going to see.

We make sure that everything is okay first,

and after this we'll let Sara get down there.

Good. Sara your turn.

She's getting down now.

You're doing a good job Sara, it's one of your adventures.

I think they are ready to go inside the burial chamber.

WAEL: This is strange here.

You see, its bones here, everywhere.

NARRATOR: Once again, grave robbers have ransacked the burial chamber.

SARA: This is the remains of a skull.

NARRATOR: But this time they left more evidence behind.

SARA: This is the sacrum.

It is very important to know sometimes the age or the sex.

We must collect all the bones.

WAEL: Wow!

REPORTER: What is it?

WAEL: It's a sealing stamp.

NARRATOR: It's an astonishing find.

These stamps were used to seal offering jars

left with the owner of the tomb during their burial.

It's rare to have survived over 4000 years.

This person to stamp his name or her name or his title, something like that.

So, this is a big discovery.

This is the first day for Sara here you know, and we found such a discovery.

It's a great day.

[applause]

NARRATOR: This discovery could hold vital information about who was buried

so close to Menkaure's pyramid, and why.

SARA: We found from the skull, this part is the mastoid process...

ASHRAF: Yes.

SARA: This is very, very small.

Also, we found this section of the vertebrae, it's very spongy.

This refers to a woman, maybe plus 50 years old.

NARRATOR: The bones reveal the tomb belongs to a woman.

WAEL: We have another evidence.

NARRATOR: But can the inscriptions on the seal provide a name?

ASHRAF: Amazing, you can see the two arms up, this is Ca!

It means Kawu...

WAEL: Shepset Kawu yeah. ASHRAF: Shepset Kawu.

So, this is for Shepset Kawu. You brought good luck for us!

You know because I was happy and satisfied with bones,

with a skeleton but you came...

WAEL: And bring you more.

ASHRAF: And you brought luck for us, and we found the stamp!

What a big day for our mission.

Robbers didn't care about bones.

So, thanks to the God because they didn't care about them, we found them.

We found the bones and we found the stamps that tell us about the lady,

the owner of the tomb, Shepset Kawu!

To have her tomb nearby Menkaure it means she was a very important lady.

For us as Egyptologists to find an inscription,

like a name for an unknown tomb is a great discovery.

NARRATOR: What the grave robbers left behind has helped Ashraf and his team

restore the name and memory of Shepset Kawu,

and now, like the Pharaohs who built the giant pyramids,

the vast mortuary temples,

and the hidden tombs in the Valley of the Kings,

her memory will live on.

Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.