All language subtitles for Assassination.in.the.Valley.of.the.Kings.2026.1080p.WEB.h264-CBFM

[narrator]
The Valley of the Kings,

an ancient burial ground...

for Egypt's greatest pharaohs.

[Sally] It never gets old.

It's truly a really
special place.

And the most famous
archaeological site

in the world.

[speaking Arabic]

Let's go.

Now, for the first time
in over 100 years,

an elite team of archaeologists

will excavate the tomb...

of one of the most powerful
kings to have ever lived,

Ramses III.

The story of Ramses III
is sensational!

[Meredith] Even the tiniest
clues about Ramses III's tomb

would be an incredible find.

[speaking Arabic]

With unprecedented access,

the team will dig
for three months...

to unearth clues...

I'm very excited.

...and find lost treasures.

Wow -- this is
a very incredible find.

Unraveling a 3,000-year-old
murder mystery...

[gaps] This is terrifying.
Wow!

...that exposes one of the most
treacherous conspiracies

of the ancient world.

The idea that the pharaoh was
assassinated is extraordinary.

In the burial chamber
of Ramses III,

new evidence will be revealed,

and three-thousand-year-old
secrets, discovered.

Only in Ancient Egypt

can you actually do
this sort of thing.

[Salima] The Valley of the Kings
is a place of promise,

of excitement.

It is silent.

It is mysterious.

It's like
you're in another world.

The Valley of the Kings

lies in the very heart
of Egypt,

hundreds of miles south

from the Great Pyramids
of Giza.

Three and a half
thousand years ago,

the pharaohs stopped
building giant pyramids

to transport their mummies
into the afterlife.

Instead, they moved
to the valley...

to build incredible
underground tombs.

[Meredith] The tombs
are absolutely stunning,

and they served as this
kind of resurrection machine

to help the king
enter the afterlife.

In their tombs,
the king's mummies were buried

in nested coffins
with everything they would need

in the netherworld.

[Arto]
Food, furniture, clothing,

little magical artifacts
that are supposed to help you

and lots, and lots of gold.

The wealth of Ancient Egyptian
kings was the stuff of legend.

It's the reason
that archaeologists

have scoured this unique

and exclusive location
for centuries,

and its secrets
continue to be revealed.

[Brett] It's an extremely
challenging place,

but the idea that archeology
of the Valley of the Kings

is finished is not correct.

Now, an elite team
of archaeologists

is beginning an excavation
they hope will change history.

In charge of the mission
is Dr. Anke Weber.

[Anke] For more than ten years,
I always imagined

what could be below my feet.

This is the history
of humankind.

It's an honor
to become part of this.

Anke has negotiated
exclusive access

to dig for three months

in one of the most prestigious
tombs in the valley.

[speaking Arabic]

Beneath the valley floor

lie over 60 tombs, cut
into the rock, rocky landscape.

In the center,
the final resting place

of the legendary
boy pharaoh, King Tut.

But just 100 feet away
is the site of Anke's mission,

Tomb KV11.

Inside, decorated corridors
plunge deep into the rock,

leading to a secret dig site
piled high with debris.

This is the unexcavated
burial chamber

of King Ramses III.

[Arto] Ramses III is one
of the towering figures

from Ancient Egyptian history.

He defended Egypt
at a crucial, pivotal time

of not just Egyptian history,
but in fact,

the entire Mediterranean world.

Ramses III is considered

Egypt's last
great warrior king.

Hieroglyphics reveal he ruled
for 31 years,

building vast temples

and battling marauding armies

that threatened to destroy
Egypt's empire.

Incredibly, Ramses' mummy
exists today,

kept in a museum in Cairo.

He was found
almost 150 years ago,

half a mile from his tomb,

high in the mountains,
above the Valley of the Kings.

[Salima] It was really
one of the most

earth-shattering finds.

You get to actually look
at Ramses III,

not just a statue, but at him.

[Arto] The story of Ramses III
is sensational.

Any sort of information,
no matter how little

we can glean from all of this,

would be very exciting.

Now, for the very first time,

Anke's team will fully excavate
inside the great king's tomb.

Its entrance has already been
beautifully restored,

filled with hieroglyphic text

designed to transport
the king into the afterlife.

But deeper down lies
the tomb's secret.

An ancient scene
of destruction,

off-limits for over a century

and never fully
excavated before.

Ramses burial chamber.

[Anke]
It's absolutely incredible

to be inside his burial chamber,

where Ramses III
and the sarcophagus

once rested,

to revive him for the afterlife.

Anke's mission is to clear
away the debris,

to unearth the tomb's
lost artifacts,

and finally unravel
the mysteries

of this great
pharaoh's life and death.

[Anke] This is our task now,

bringing back the magic,
uh...of the burial chamber.

The more we reveal
and uncover from the sand,

the more we will
know about the person himself

and find something that
was last seen by our ancestors.

First, the team must haul out
the surface debris

and search for any ancient
artifacts that lie beneath.

Today we are very excited.

This is the day we were
waiting for.

I hope that we are lucky.

The team works quickly,

but the burial chamber
is a danger zone.

Massive chunks of rock
have tumbled 20 feet

from the ceiling above,

leaving the tomb
incredibly fragile.

Anke believes it's a result
of violent flash floods

around 100 years ago.

We are looking
to get more information

about the flooding event,
but the area is very unstable.

To avoid further damage,
the workers must wrestle

the 500-pound boulders by hand.

As they clear away the debris,

something begins to appear.

[Anke] It seems as if
this would be a piece of metal.

Actually, it's very unusual,
uh...to find metals.

We try our best to get
it out in one piece,

uh...in order to see
what it actually was.

But as the team clears
away the sand,

there's a surprise.

[Anke] This is not, um...metal.

It's a piece of wood
going into this direction.

What we have here, um...

are parts of the spine
of a...living being.

So, for now, it looks
as if it is covered

with linen,
a little bit.

So this would tell us
that some kind of

mummification
took place.

A piece of mummified
human spine

is an intriguing clue,

and a mystery
because Anke believes

it shouldn't be here
in Tomb KV11 at all.

The mystery is actually,
why do we have

any kind of
remains inside KV11?

We would never expect it here,

because we know
that the mummy of Ramses III

is not placed in KV11 anymore.

Who does this mummified
spine belong to?

And why is somebody else buried
inside Ramses' tomb?

Clues could lie less than two
miles away at Ramses Temple.

Egyptologist Meredith Brand
investigates the site

to decode the mysteries
of the king's reign.

It's one of the most famous
monuments in Egypt,

Medinet Habu.

[Meredith] I love
Medinet Habu Temple.

It's really It's stunning
because it's so complete.

Inside, there's amazing colors.
It's so well preserved.

This is one of my favorite
temples from Ancient Egypt.

This temple was built
for Ramses III

so that people could
give him offerings

and celebrate him during
his life and after his death.

So what was celebrated
about Ramses III's reign?

On almost every facade
is a scene of terror.

Spilled blood...

severed hands...

and captured victims glorifying
the battles of the Pharaoh.

[Meredith]
Looking at these walls,

it's clear that Ramses III
wanted to show himself

fighting enemies,
smiting everyone.

This temple says, "I'm Ramses
III, and I'm a warrior king."

So who was Ramses
fighting against?

On the side of the temple,

Meredith finds a fierce
conflict at sea.

[Meredith] It's quite faint,

but I can make out
this massive image

of Ramses III shooting
a bow and arrow.

At this melee of a battle,
we have ships and soldiers,

and everyone's falling over
into the water.

It's pure fighting and chaos.

The chaos reveals
a group of marauding tribes

known as the Sea Peoples.

And they aren't the only
adversaries threatening

the borders of Egypt.

[Meredith] There's battles
of him fighting the Nubians.

There's two separate battles
fighting the Libyans.

Ramses III was enmeshed
in warfare.

Ramses' temple records
his astonishing victories

over the enemies
of the Egyptian empire.

Ramses III was not a warrior
pharaoh necessarily by choice.

This was thrust upon him,

he truly, truly lived at one
of the most difficult times

in which a king could reign.

And the fact that
he managed to make out of it

what he did is
a true testament

to how great a king he was.

Ramses was a celebrated
and successful warrior king.

So how did he die?

And why are the mummified
remains of someone else

buried inside his tomb?

Inside the tomb
of Ramses III...

[speaking Arabic]

...the team has unearthed
a piece of human spine.

And soon, even more ancient
bones emerge,

including what looks
like a mummified limb.

We found here a large part
of a mummy, very clearly.

We can see
the layers of linen

that was soaked with,
um, resin

in order to preserve
this body for eternity.

So for now,
we can't tell exactly

which part
of the mummy this is.

However, it's very exciting,

um, because it's
somehow like,

coming closer
to all these people

uh, who once were part
of the history of KV11.

Ramses III's mummy
is no longer inside his tomb,

now preserved in a museum.

So who do these body
parts belong to?

And why are they here?

Anke spots a new clue nearby.

What we have here are parts
of an Ancient Egyptian coffin.

There are remains of a plaster
on top of the surface.

You can see these dowels
inside the dowel holes.

An expensive, plaster-covered
coffin suggests the mummies

were once members
of the elite.

Anke believes they were
probably buried here

hundreds of years after
Ramses's death,

when Egypt was
weak and fractured.

They won't be able
to precisely date the burials

until a lab analysis.

But Anke has a theory on why
they were here.

[Anke] Everybody wants
to be something special.

Everybody wants to become part
of the history of something.

So it is most likely
that the people,

high-ranking officials,
decided, "Oh, yeah, why not

"be buried inside the tomb
of one of Egypt's

most interesting and greatest
pharaohs of all time?"

Ancient elites chose
to be buried

in the valley's
magnificent tombs

to pay homage to the kings
that came before them.

And Ramses III

was one of the greatest kings
of them all.

So what was it that killed him?

Meredith Brand
has come to the National Museum

of Egyptian Civilization
to investigate.

[Meredith] It's such a unique
and special aspect

of Ancient Egyptian culture

that they preserve the dead,
and that now, for us,

we can look into the face
of some of the greatest kings

and queens
of Ancient Egypt.

The pharaoh queen, Hatshepsut,

Ramses II,

and none other
than Ramses III himself.

[Meredith]
It's so remarkable to stand here

and see this very important
and very powerful king.

This mummy is
beautifully preserved.

You can see his facial
features, even his teeth

and his hair.

The Ancient Egyptians
mummified the dead

to preserve their bodies.

They believed it would allow
their body and soul

to reunite in the afterlife.

And they strived
for perfection.

A mummy like
Ramses III was done

with such care and attention.

The embalmers would have
removed his internal organs,

washed him
with oils and perfumes,

packed his body with salt,

and then wrapped
his entire body up in linens.

If something was wrong,
the embalmers could fix it

so that when the deceased
got to the afterlife,

not only would
their body be there,

but it would be more perfect.

On the surface,

Ramses' mummy
looks completely intact.

But X-ray scans reveal
a different and shocking story.

Beneath the bandages,

six healing amulets are packed
around Ramses's foot

that conceal a missing toe,

cut off with a heavy blade.

On Ramses' neck,

embalming resin fills
a deep gash...

that splits the throat
right down to the bone.

[Meredith] The cut
on Ramses III's neck,

this severed the trachea
and the esophagus,

and even nicked the bone
in his vertebrae.

This is a mortal wound.

This kind of gash
makes it clear

that his death wasn't
some kind of accident

or a result of old age.

He met a violent end,
and all the evidence points

to murder.

[Salima] The idea that
the pharaoh was assassinated

and by something
as violent as that,

is extraordinary.

It is an extraordinary
and terrifying thought.

It would have been almost
unthinkable in Ancient Egypt

to try to assassinate
the pharaoh.

[Arto] Can you imagine
how difficult

kind of an undertaking
that would be?

First of all,
it's not a one-man job.

You need allies
in this sort of thing.

You also need a motive.
Why are you killing the king?

Surely you must have
a really good reason

to actually undertake something
so incredibly risky.

Who killed Ramses III?

And why did they want
him dead?

Deep inside Ramses'
burial chamber,

Anke and the team
search for clues.

But the surface
of the tomb is a chaotic,

jumbled mess of finds,

making this mystery
difficult to unravel.

[Anke]
We have pieces of pottery

that belong to
a larger vessel.

All these finds are mixed.

Both ancient robbers
and Colonial-era explorers

have rummaged
through the debris,

like a crime scene that has
been revisited for centuries.

We know
that this area is disturbed.

It's always puzzling for us
to say what actually happened.

But step by step,
we will investigate

what happened here in KV11.

But hidden within the debris,

Anke spots something
that may have belonged

to Ramses III himself.

We have here the lower
part of a wooden ushabti.

It's rather destroyed.

However, you can still see here,

this is the beginning
of the lower part of the feet.

It could be
over 3,000 years old.

Across the chamber,

the team finds
the missing head.

[Anke] This definitely
belongs together.

They must have been,
uh, disconnected somehow.

That's amazing.

Ushabtis are ancient figurines,

often around a foot tall,

that were buried
with the deceased.

A king like Ramses
would have had hundreds.

They acted as servants,

inscribed with magic spells...

so that if the dead was made
to work in the afterlife,

the ushabti will say,
"Here I am,"

and do the work for him.

The team and the statue pieces,
searching for inscriptions

that could reveal a name.

[Anke] We have the hope
that they belonged

to the pharaoh Ramses III.

But hard evidence
of its original owner

has been lost.

The team will need
to keep searching.

It's a promising start
that even among the chaos,

there are still incredible
clues about Ramses' death.

[speaking Arabic]

At the monumental temple
of Medinet Habu,

built to honor pharaoh
Ramses III in life and death,

Egyptologist Meredith Brand

investigates the king's
brutal murder.

She wants to establish a motive
for his royal assassination,

and believes the sheer number
of battle scenes

on his temple walls
reveal a deeper story

than just Ramses'
military prowess.

[Meredith] These scenes
show Ramses III

as this victorious ruler
who was indestructible.

In some ways, it is true,

but there was a larger issue.

Ramses III was
surrounded by war,

and this war
took a toll on Egypt

and its economy.

Ramses' never-ending battles

begin to drain the resources
of the country,

and inflation spirals out
of control.

-[distant shouts]
-Strikes, civil unrest,

and even famine strangle
the heart of Egypt.

Was Ramses killed because
of the crumbling economy,

or were there
other motives at play?

[Brett] Nobody ever blamed
the pharaoh for anything.

He was theoretically perfect,
a divine ruler.

What we do know
is that he had a number of wives

and a large number
of children.

And we don't think
that he designated

an heir during his lifetime.

In Ancient Egypt,
the firstborn son

would normally
inherit the throne.

But with no designated heir,

the stage is set for a coup.

[Arto] Let's say you do
have a motive.

OK, how do you do it?
How do you find the allies?

How do you know where --

where people's loyalties stand?

So you have to sort
of start, you know,

um...checking the pulse,
as it were.

See who might have
grievances, perhaps.

Once you have that in place,
you need an entire network

of people, but also
they need to be

close to the person
of the king.

Meredith investigates a copy
of an ancient papyrus

originally discovered
near the site.

[Meredith] This is an image
of an amazing papyrus

from the time of Ramses III.

It tells us
about a conspiracy

to kill the king.

It reveals the proceedings

of a murder trial.

[Meredith] It's shocking
the number of people involved

in this conspiracy.

It has everyone
in the palace.

It has people involved
with food.

It has security, army,
and it has women of the harem,

including Queen Tiye,
the wife of Ramses III.

This is a courtroom drama,
playing out in front of our eyes

that tells us when
and how Ramses III was killed.

One of Ramses's secondary
wives, Queen Tiye,

leads the conspiracy
to place her son,

a younger, more minor
prince, on the throne.

Some believe that after
a festival at Medinet Habu,

Ramses is steered
into the apparent safety

of his harem.

Here, the attackers pounce...

and slice off Ramses'
toe in the struggle,

before dealing
the mortal wound.
-[distant scream]

Here's the critical thing.

The assassination attempt,
that plot certainly succeeded.

We know Ramses III
died as a result.

But ultimately, the coup was
not successful.

Over 30 perpetrators were
caught, tried, and sentenced.

The punishments outlined
in this papyrus

are quite severe.

Some people had their nose
and ears cut off,

but those actually in
the center of the conspiracy,

they were executed.

And Ramses' treacherous
younger son

never made it to the throne.

He was examined.
The judges found him guilty.

They left him where he was,
and he killed himself.

Ramses' murder was
a shocking family feud.

But his death makes Ramses
even more important.

A vast funeral procession

leads his mummy
into the Valley of the Kings

on a new journey...

to become a god.

How cool is it that we can
talk about so much detail

around this historical event

that took place
around 3,000 years ago?

Only in Ancient Egypt

can you actually do
this sort of thing.

[dramatic music plays]

Inside Ramses' tomb,

Anke and the team want
to investigate what happened

after the king's death.

How did his tomb transform
Ramses into an immortal god?

[Anke speaking Arabic]

Hidden below the debris,
they have unearthed

incredibly fragile pieces

of 3,000-year-old
tomb decoration.

[Anke] So beautiful.

What we found here

is a piece
of the wall decoration,

and it's the food of this god
here in the middle,

and he's standing
right on top of a snake.

It's very amazing
and very touching,

because it's the first time that
we have such a complete piece.

It's a very lucky find.
Very happy about it.

The snake is a crucial clue
that connects

with the decoration
in the rest of the tomb.

[Anke] This is so impressive!

The paintings tell a story

of an elaborate
mythological journey

Ramses must go on
to achieve eternal life.

As night falls, Ramses follows
the path of the sun god

as he voyages through
the dangerous waters

of the netherworld.

To prove he is righteous,

he must navigate
the flames of a lake of fire

and appease Apophis,
the chaos serpent,

who threatens to plunge
the world into darkness.

If he succeeds,

the pharaoh rises
as the sun god Ra,

bringing order
and safety to the universe.

[Brett] The king
in Ancient Egypt

served an important
cosmological role.

He was, during his lifetime
and after his death,

the embodiment of the sun god.

[Salima] The tomb itself,
it was really a machine

to make you go from
this world to the next,

to ensure the king's safety,

to ensure
that day followed night,

and the entire cosmos
would continue to exist.

In the burial chamber,
the team carefully glues

the fragile
painted plasterwork.

It's so delicate,
they must lift it out

with a stabilizing block
of sand below.

[Anke speaking Arabic]

Thank God, we have it.

Uh...I'm quite relieved,
actually.

Yeah, that's a very,
very special object.

But hiding among the rubble

is something even
more tantalizing.

[speaking Arabic]

With exclusive access inside
the tomb of Pharaoh Ramses III,

Dr. Anke Weber and her team

are hunting for artifacts
to unravel

how the king was buried
after his brutal assassination.

From the debris, they unearth
a mysterious stone.

[Anke] This is amazing.

We have found here a piece
of rose granite.

I didn't expect that here.

So we are going to lift
this object out now,

very carefully.

Rose granite is an expensive,
high-quality stone,

far more precious
than the surrounding limestone

of the chamber.

Inside the Valley of the Kings,

it would have been brought in
from over a hundred miles away

to create one thing,

the Pharaoh's sarcophagus.

[Anke speaking Arabic]

Oh, my gosh, that's amazing.
Please try to clean it.

Make all your notes.

I want pictures
from before the cleaning

and after the cleaning.

And we will see.
That's amazing.

The team keeps digging
and reveals even more

of the precious granite pieces.

[speaking Arabic]

We have a very clear
corner here.

I'm quite speechless.

There are many possibilities
what this can actually be.

That it is most
probably part of a foot,

but, um, one thing is clear,
it is amazing.

If this is the foot
of Ramses III's sarcophagus,

it's a huge discovery.

This pieces would be
an incredibly rare clue

about how the king was buried.

But something doesn't add up

because the sarcophagus
belonging to Ramses III...

already exists.

Removed from the tomb
around 200 years ago

is a 10-ton granite monolith,
and a colossal matching lid.

It's covered from top to bottom
with religious texts

bearing the name
of the king.

And the top is carved
with Ramses as Osiris,

the god of death.

[Arto] The story of
the sarcophagus of Ramses III,

the lid is actually
in England,

whereas the box itself,
it's in the Louvre in Paris.

It's very sad
because when people excavate

or find things -- nowadays
to keep everything together --

but in earlier periods,
it wasn't the case.

The lid of Ramses' sarcophagus

now lies thousands
of miles from his tomb,

but there are pieces missing.

Has Anke's team now
found one of them,

among the sand inside
Ramses' tomb?

Anke inspects a digital model
of the lid for clues.

She finds the granite
at the bottom,

around the pharaoh's feet,
is missing

and has been
reconstructed for display.

This is the exciting thing.
The feet are missing.

It is most likely
that this object here

is a part
of this sarcophagus lid.

Anke has a missing
piece of Ramses III's

3,000-year-old sarcophagus lid.

That's so incredible,
and it would be my dream

to virtually reunite
these pieces.

If they can unearth
more pieces...

[speaking Arabic]

...the team might decode
the most critical part

of Ramses' burial chamber.

The sarcophagus is the focal
point of the burial,

containing the king's
instructions

for navigating the afterlife.

If the king didn't make it
to the afterlife,

the sun might not rise,
the world might end.

It was so important
to have sarcophagus

to protect his body,
so his afterlife

maintained the cosmic balance
of Ancient Egypt.

So the stakes were pretty high.

Inside pharaoh
Ramses III's tomb,

the granite pieces
keep coming,

and now, crucially,
with inscriptions.

[Anke] We keep finding
pieces of rose granite,

actually almost daily.

We can see that here on top,

the surface is sculpted
with a snake.

And here on the sides,

we have hieroglyphs
that tell us more

about the deceased person

and, uh, that he was actually,
here, he's called a god.

Named as a god,

it is almost certain to belong
to Ramses' sarcophagus,

and the pieces even
fit together.

-[Anke] Oh, wow!
-Wow!

That works very well.
It fits exactly.

That's perfect!

It's absolutely amazing.

But something is strange.

[Anke] Great.

Can you check
this piece, please?

These newest pieces of granite

don't match
with any part of the lid

that is already known.

For Anke, it can
only mean one thing.

[Anke] I guess
that we have something

that is even more exciting.

So, it might be that we have
here one or even two other lids

that probably belong
to Ramses III.

It would mean that Ramses

didn't just have
one sarcophagus,

but two or even three,

nested inside each other.

Why would the Ancient Egyptians

build such a difficult
and complicated construction?

Outside in the Valley of
the Kings, Anke investigates.

She explores a nearby tomb.

Its long corridors
extend deep into the rock,

and open to reveal
the burial chamber

of one of
Ramses' predecessors,

a king named Merenptah.

His tombs actually worked
like a template.

It's basically a clue of how in
the tomb of Ramses III

it once looked like.

In the center
of the burial chamber,

assembled from granite
fragments,

is a gigantic box.

13 feet long
and 8 feet high,

it's the largest sarcophagus
in the Valley of the Kings.

Next to it, Anke finds
a massive granite lid

covered in beautiful
religious carvings.

The pieces are part of a set
of four stone sarcophagi

that all once
nested inside each other.

[Anke] It's unbelievable
that they were able to lift

these tons and tons
of massive material

inside the burial chamber.

And Anke has a theory
why the Ancient Egyptians

went to such lengths.

[Anke] It was of religious
significance

to protect the deceased pharaoh.

So nesting,
and nesting, and nesting

until you come
to the centerpiece

wrapped in his royal
linen for the mummy.

Protecting the mummy
of the pharaoh was critical,

but very few kings
in history

had nested sarcophagi
this large and elaborate.

Was this how Ramses III's
mummy was buried too?

[Arto]
Oh, it would be spectacular

if maybe, just maybe,
Ramses III was in fact buried

in more than one sarcophagus.

It's such a rare find.

These tombs have been
robbed in antiquity.

So to find extra evidence,

anything that lets us
piece together

how these incredible
figures from history

were buried, we'd all be
all the richer for it.

Ramses III was one
of the greatest pharaohs

to have ruled Ancient Egypt.

Could Anke's team be
on the verge of a discovery,

kept secret for 3,000 years?

In Egypt's Valley of the Kings,

a team of archaeologists is
excavating the 3,000-year-old

burial chamber of the murdered
pharaoh, Ramses III.

They are now over halfway
through a three-month mission

to unravel the mysterious
happenings inside his tomb.

So far, they have unearthed
sacred ashabti,

meant to help the pharaoh
in the afterlife,

and the body parts
of other ancient elites.

Now lead archaeologist,
Dr. Anke Weber,

believes she has found pieces

of the most important
burial artifact of all,

the pharaoh's sarcophagus.

So far, we have found around
about 29 pieces,

larger pieces of
a sarcophagus.

Anke is now sure there are
at least two new sarcophagi

that have never been discovered
or recorded before.

It's quite amazing,
because, uh,

if we imagine what
we have here,

this hill in front of us,
there must be more below.

With enough pieces,
like a giant puzzle,

the team could rebuild Ramses'
missing sarcophagi

and reveal to the world how
this great king

was supposed to rest
for eternity.

In the heart of his tomb,

Anke believes that Ramses
would have laid cocooned

inside at least two immense
nested sarcophagi,

all encased by
a gigantic outer box,

with the walls painted
with religious spells,

and burial treasures,
filling every chamber.

Ramses' tomb was designed
to be the ultimate

resurrection machine.

[Salima] What Anke
is slowly revealing,

square by square,
painstakingly,

is an extraordinary insight
into what was deemed necessary

for a king to reach
the afterworld.

For any pharaoh, their tomb is
your gateway to eternal life.

So, where your body
is supposed to rest undisturbed,

where you are memorialized
with the gods.

But Ramses III's body
was not undisturbed.

What used to be
a glorious tomb,

today, it lies destroyed.

The once nested sarcophagi
have been smashed to pieces,

which would have left Ramses'
mummy completely exposed.

[Arto] Here's the big mystery.

If you were to go, right now,

to Cairo, you would see
Ramses III himself,

his mummy, Ramses III
in the flesh.

So then, what gives?

If such a magnificent tomb

has descended into
chaos and destruction,

how did Ramses III's
mummy survive?

Inside the tomb of Ramses III,

Dr. Lutz Popko is in charge
of deciphering

the hieroglyphic texts.

Just above the burial chamber
are ancient inscriptions,

graffiti carvings that record
visits to the tomb

after Ramses' death.

It's basically
a list of names,

so one name
and one title per line.

Lutz decodes the text.

[speaking Ancient Egyptian]

And one name stands out.

[speaking Ancient Egyptian]

Butehamun, scribe
of the royal tombs.

[Lutz] It was a very
famous person.

Butehamun was born

around 50 years after
the death of Ramses III.

Um, but he was strongly
connected to him.

Who was Butehamun?

And why was he in Ramses' tomb
after the king had died?

Ramses III's death
was a turning point

in Egyptian history.

He stewarded Egypt
to this successful point.

But after him,
everything seems to have caved.

Whether it was as a military
power, economically,

it really started to crumble.

The result was a lapse
in public security,

public safety,

such that the tombs
in the Valley of the Kings

began to suffer grievously
from tomb robberies.

Was Butehamun,
whose name was written

in the tomb graffiti,

robbing the tomb
of Ramses III?

Behind the great temple
of Medinet Habu,

Meredith investigates
the ruins

of a once magnificent
pillared house

that could provide
a missing clue.

[Meredith] It's vast.
It has these huge columns,

and it's in
this prime location.

It's clear the house
belongs to a member

of the wealthy elite,

and Meredith finds the owner's
name inscribed on the pillar.

It says here that his name
is Butehamun,

an he's an overseer
of the royal treasury.

A code for the king's tombs,
hidden just over a mile away.

[Meredith] Ancient Egyptians
didn't have coin money.

Rather, Butehamun's house
was so close

to an underground
treasury for Ancient Egypt.

The tombs of the pharaohs
in the Valley of the Kings

had a vast amount of wealth
buried under the ground.

With the economy crumbling

and the Valley's
security failing,

the wealth is too much
for the authorities to ignore.

Just 84 years
after Ramses III is buried,

Butehamun is sent orders
from the top.

"Inspect the royal tombs,

"unwrap the Pharaoh's mummies,

and remove all
the treasures inside."

What better way of getting gold

than just going
and digging up the kings

and taking what they could?

Egyptologists are
still trying to work out

how Butehamun actually
carried out what he did,

how much he left behind,
what he took.

But for the most part,
he -- he was

pretty thorough
in what he removed.

Butehamun was
no ordinary thief.

He was in charge
of a government plan

to dismantle
the Valley of the Kings

and take the Pharaoh's
treasures from their tombs.

Butehamun is such
a fascinating figure,

because we really don't fully
understand his motivations.

We know he was in
the Valley of the Kings.

We know he was
rewrapping the mummies.

But one of the biggest
questions is,

was Butehamun
robbing the pharaohs?

Or was he saving them?

For 3,000 years,

Ramses' mummy
was never seen again.

[Salima] Everyone thought
that these mummies,

the kings and queens,
had been lost.

Until 1881.

Authorities receive a tip-off
from a local family

of goat herders.

They had come upon
a secret hidden tomb

high in the mountains.

It was to become the greatest
archaeological discovery

in Egypt's history.

[speaking Arabic]

Meredith has come to explore
the secret tomb.

[Meredith] This is incredible.

This is so remote.

No wonder it was
hidden for 3,000 years.

Today, the tomb is only open
to those with special access

and a way to scale down
the precarious 40-foot shaft.

[speaking Arabic]

This is such a rare chance
to go down this shaft,

but it's a massive drop.
I'm a little bit scared.

All right --
[laughing].

This is terrifying.

In the mountains,
above the Valley of the Kings.

[Meredith laughs]
This is so crazy!

Egyptologist Meredith Brand

is following the trail
of Ramses III's mummy.

[Meredith chuckles]

I never thought in a million
years I'd do this!

She's trying to uncover
why his body wasn't found

inside his tomb.

[sighs]

Good job!

That was incredible!

It's so high up!
I can't believe I did that!

All right.
It's so dark in here.

It's a bit eerie.

This is hacked out
of the mountain.

It seems like, in a hurry,

there's absolutely nothing
even here.

There's no decoration.
There's no -- no nothing.

It makes it feel like
a cave,

not something that --
that a human

could have made.

200 Feet into the mountain,

Meredith finally
reaches an opening.

[exhales]
Oh, wow.

This is amazing.

It's the site
of a secret cache.

Oh, this is incredible.
Wow.

This was the hiding place
of over 50 royal mummies,

including the mummy
of Ramses III.

This tomb looks carved in
a haste and a bit unplanned,

but the mummies were here
for a reason.

The king was a living god.
The mummy was vital.

This was an official program
of removing the mummies

from the tombs
in the Valley of the Kings

and hiding them here.

Although Butehamun,
overseer of the royal treasury,

strips the kings
of their burial goods

to rescue the failing economy,

he also leads a mission

to protect the kings
and queens for eternity.

Eventually, the authorities
hide over 50 mummies

in labeled wooden coffins

to save their sacred bodies
from destruction.

[Meredith] They chose a perfect
spot hidden from everyone.

And for over 3,000 years,
no one knew

where the mummies
of the pharaohs were.

The discovery of this cave

filled with the royal mummies
of the kings

is probably
the most important discovery

in all of Egyptology.

We can now look
at Ramses III.

We have his mummy.

[Salima] To stand in front
of the royal mummies,

it's sort of a game changer.

You are there with
the most powerful people

in the ancient world,

but also you are being
able to, on some level,

interact with them.

It is a telescoping of time.

It is meeting
an Ancient Egyptian.

And for many people,

it changes
their perception of the past,

of Egypt as a whole,

but also
how you think of the past,

how you think
of the dead.

The mummy
of Ramses III lives on

and so too
does his legacy

in the Valley of the Kings.

Anke now has one
crucial question.

Could there
be lost burial treasures

that belong
to the great pharaoh

still hidden inside his tomb?

Finding something like this
would be so rare,

it hasn't happened
in over 100 years.

[speaking Arabic]

[Anke] Since the time
of Howard Carter,

since they were working
in the tomb of Tutankhamun,

no original burial equipment
of an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh

has been found here in
the Valley of the Kings.

It would be amazing
to find some pieces

that belong to Ramses III.

Anke is relying
on the expertise

and eagle eyes
of her right hand man,

Rais Mahmoud Abu Diab.

[speaking Arabic]

[Rais continues in Arabic]

[Anke] Our Egyptian workmen
are a great team.

Believe me,
it's very challenging.

You have to lift very
heavy limestones,

and on the other way around,

you're like brushing
tiny pieces out of the sand.

It's absolutely incredible.

[speaking Arabic]

After almost a month
of heavy lifting,

the team has now
cleared the top layers

of limestone
debris from the tomb.

[speaking Arabic]

But beneath is an even
bigger challenge.

The entire floor
of the burial chamber

is encased in a rock-hard layer
of dried-out mud.

Anke thinks it's evidence
of intense flooding

from around 130 years ago.

[Anke] The Valley of the Kings
is a dried-out riverbed.

We have to imagine now,
this heavy force of water

coming down from the hills
and taking everything with it,

destroying everything
in its way.

The team gives each clump
of sediment an ID number,

before hauling them out
of the ground.

They break open every single
one searching for artifacts

and sift the sediment,
so that nothing is missed.

But the flood destruction has
left very little behind.

We have some older pieces,
like this very deteriorated

piece of wood.

It's a massive blow.

With such extensive
flood damage,

Anke faces the possibility

might be no treasure
left at all.

But as the team finally breaks
through the mud layer,

Anke spots
something unexpected.

This is not normal.

Inside the tomb
of Pharaoh Ramses III,

beneath the compacted
layer of mud,

a strange type of sand
catches Anke's attention.

It doesn't look like
the same sand found

in the Valley of the Kings.

And the one-foot deep layer
is smoothed out

across the entire floor
of the burial chamber,

as if it has been filled up
by someone on purpose.

[Anke] It's very intriguing
and puzzling

what this actually is.

This is almost everywhere
on the same level.

There's only a difference
of a couple of centimeters,

and this is,
uh, quite mysterious.

Anke takes the sand
to the team for analysis.

Under the microscope,

the grains
confirm her suspicions.

The sand doesn't come
from the Valley of the Kings.

[Anke] We are very curious
about the sand.

It's very clean and uniform,

not the typical, um, yeah --
sand that you would expect.

Now we want to try to find out
where this originates from

and why it was brought
there in this area.

Why would anybody bring
over 20 tons of sand

into this burial chamber?

Anke has one outlandish theory.

It involves the most famous
discovery of all time,

King Tut,
and the man responsible...

Howard Carter.

[Anke] There are many
rumors surrounding

the mystery of Howard Carter.

One of those describes
that Carter actually hid

some objects from the tomb
of Tutankhamun

in order to keep
them for himself.

We know that Howard Carter
was a chief inspector

inside the Valley of the Kings.

And we know that he worked
inside the tomb of Ramses III.

We never know
what we will find.

Still, there are
mysteries, to solve.

Could this mysterious
layer of sand

indicate that Howard Carter,
discoverer of King Tut,

hid treasures
within Ramses III's tomb?

[dramatic string music plays]

In the hills above
the Valley of the Kings,

Egyptian heritage expert,
Sally El-Sabbahy

is following
Howard Carter's trail.

She hikes to one of the most
sacred lookouts in Egypt.

[Sally] No matter
how many times

I've come to
the Valley of the Kings,

I'm still always struck
by just the scale of the place.

It just -- it never gets old.

You just keep learning,
you keep feeling humbled.

It's truly a really
special place.

Sally examines photographs
taken over 100 years ago.

They reveal the beginning
of Carter's mission,

to find the lost tomb
of a forgotten pharaoh

named Tutankhamun,

today known to the world
as King Tut.

Carter would have been
dealing with a much

uh, more barren environment,

much more
complicated environment,

because at that point
there was still a lot of debris

filling the valley.

From the valley floor,

Carter removes thousands
of tons of rubble.

Ancient floods have completely
concealed any sign of a tomb.

[Sally] Carter was dealing
with what we could describe

as almost
impossible circumstances.

You really get a sense
from this photo

of just the immense
amount of material

there was to work through
as an archaeologist

searching for really anything
in this valley.

After five years of digging,

Carter is still no closer
to finding the tomb.

[Sally] By this point,

he had one last
season with funding secured,

so it was make-or-break.

If he hadn't found the tomb

at that exact moment in time,
he probably never would have.

On November 4th, 1922,

battling the heat and dust,

finally Carter finds
what he's looking for...

a buried staircase
that leads

to a sealed doorway.

[Sally] And, um,

that's when he kinda carved out
a little hole and stuck

a candlestick through
and looked through,

and he made
that famous statement

that he had seen
wonderful things

because he basically
saw a full tomb

with all of its
funerary equipment,

which is something
that we had never seen

before or since.

Inside the tomb,

Carter finds a room
crammed full of chariots,

thrones, and gilded statues.

In the burial chamber...

is an intricately
carved sarcophagus

and a coffin
made of solid gold

that housed the mummy
of the king.

It's hard to understand now
the magnitude of the discovery

of the tomb of Tutankhamun,

but in 1922, it was the biggest
news story in the world,

and the gold,
the glamour, the glitz,

it made everyone
completely crazy

about Ancient Egypt.

[Arto] Finally, we actually got
a tomb in which all that wealth

of Ancient Egyptian kings
came to full display, like real,

actual objects reflecting
the splendor of the kings

of the New Kingdom.

The discovery
was a game changer

for the Valley of the Kings,

archeology,
and modern Egypt itself.

Personally speaking,
as an Egyptian,

this was such an amazing
moment in our history,

because it was really --
it took place at a turning point

when Egypt was forming
its own independent identity.

And Tutankhamun
literally was the face.

He gave us that identity
that was something of our own.

But despite
the earth-shattering find,

Egypt's growing independence
left Carter with a bombshell.

[Sally] Until that point,

what had dictated all
of the discoveries made

by foreign nationals
and missions in Egypt

was a 50-50 split.

And so Carter anticipated

that they would be able
to keep 50%

of whatever they found here.

And literally just mere weeks,
actually, before the discovery,

the Antiquities Department
changed that law

and got rid of
the 50-50 split.

I -- I think this was
a tough pill to swallow

for a very long time,

and Carter
did fight it for a while.

Carter had no treasures
to call his own,

and he was suspected
of stealing.

[Sally] There was
always a concern

from officials that something
could be taken

without their knowledge.

And so...

because of that,
Carter had to tread

very carefully.

Would Carter read have stolen
from the tomb of Tutankhamun?

And if so, could
he have buried treasures

just a few hundred feet away

in the burial chamber
of Ramses III?

Inside the tomb...

[speaking Arabic]

...Anke finds a clue,

a fragment of glistening
blue pottery.

It's broken,

but its vivid color
and decoration suggests

something ancient
and royal.

Wow, that's beautiful piece!

What is this treasure?

And more importantly,
which pharaoh

does it belong to?

Sally El-Sabbahy

investigates suspicions
that Howard Carter,

discoverer of King Tut,
stole royal treasures

and hid them
in Ramses III's tomb.

Just outside the valley,

she explores
his old dig house for clues.

[Sally] You really feel like
you're in the home of somebody

with a very strong
personality and character.

And I think that's such
a critical part

of understanding
who this person was.

Inside the house,

Carter's team had
a darkroom

and created thousands
of photographs of the dig

and its treasures.

Everything was photographed
in excruciating detail.

That was unprecedented.

By all measures, I think
that we can safely consider

Howard Carter a pioneer

in terms of how
he handled this discovery.

And yet, despite
his forensic approach,

Carter had a secret.

Rumors of stealing treasures
have followed Howard Carter

for over a century.

Now, finally, hard evidence
has come to light.

Shown for the very first time,
are unpublished letters

from 10 years
after the discovery

between one of Carter's
colleagues,

Alan Gardiner,
and other experts.

[Sally] It's apparently
addressing an amulet

that Carter gave
to Gardiner as a gift.

So this letter opens with this
really interesting sentence

that reads, "The whm amulet
you showed me

"has undoubtedly been stolen
from the tomb of Tutankhamun

before the objects
were sent to the museum."

The amulet, like this one,
was a perfect match

with the others that were kept
at the Egyptian Museum.

Gardiner confronts
Howard Carter in a letter.

"I deeply regret having
been placed

in so awkward a position."

The concern from Gardiner
was probably to have

an object like that
in his possession.

And I think there also
must have been

a bit of, uh,
embarrassment knowing

that he had also
kind of outed Carter.

What's really important
about these letters

is that this is the first,
not just written, but hard proof

that objects had been taken out
of the tomb of Tutankhamun,

apparently directly
by Carter himself.

So why was the theft covered
up for almost 100 years?

[Sally] What these letters
really show me

is that there was really
a concerted effort to

not tarnish
this incredible discovery,

by revealing
unsavory things about Carter.

Because at the end of the day,
this was not about Carter.

He was the discoverer, yes,

but this was about Tutankhamun
and his tomb,

and this incredible legacy
of the Valley of the Kings.

Hero or villain,

the discovery raises a new
possibility for Anke's mission.

[Meredith] There were
over 5,000 artifacts

found in the tomb
of King Tut.

Maybe Howard Carter took some
of these small finds

out of the tomb, and who
knows where they are?

Carter once worked
in Ramses III's tomb,

just a few hundred
feet from Tut.

Did Carter hide
stolen treasures

beneath the unexpected sand
that Anke has found?

At the team's dig-house
headquarters,

Anke and her colleague,
Lea Rees, investigate.

But as you can see...

They want to find out
when the sand was dumped there,

and they find a clue in notes
left by an explorer

from the late 1800s.

[Anke] Here we have one
from the year 1891.

He is writing how
vivid the colors are

in the burial chamber.

As of 1891,

the burial chamber was
still in pristine condition.

And a couple of years later,

in 1895, he's writing here

that the rooms
are "much damaged,

and need detain the traveler
but a short time."

So this means that already
something must have happened

and destroyed the rare
compartments so heavily

that they were inaccessible.

In just four years,
by 1895,

flooding must have already
destroyed the chamber.

It means the sand
must have been dumped

long before Carter worked
in the valley in the 1900s.

It would mean
that Howard Carter

is not the one
who could have brought

the sand layer inside.

So the blue pottery
doesn't belong to Tut.

But could that mean something
even more intriguing?

Could it belong
to Ramses III himself?

Back inside the tombs,

the team has now
unearthed over 20 pieces

of the mysterious
blue pottery.

[Anke] We have here some
very dazzling blue shining

glazed fragments
that came out of the bottom

from our excavation.

It could be the first burial
treasure discovered

in a king's tomb in 100 years.

They begin the painstaking task

of trying to glue
the fragments together.

Anke thinks they once belonged
to a set of vases

that held sacred oils
and perfumes.

[Anke] We are thinking
that it must have been

in the realm of beauty,

making yourself fresh
in the morning.

They are remarkable pieces.

But Anke hasn't been able
to prove the owner.

Until now.

[Anke] We found a very,
very special piece.

So we can probably compare
that here on one of the pillars.

The writing almost perfectly
matches Ramses III's name

on the walls of his tomb.

[Anke] The sign heka,
means ruler.

Without any doubt,
we have here

a part of the original burial
equipment of Ramses III.

It's amazing.

An original artifact
that brings Anke closer

to the great pharaoh
and his spectacular burial.

The fragments reveal
Ramses was buried

with at least four blue vases,

designed to hold sacred
perfumes and oils.

Placed within his tomb,

they may be the last surviving
treasures that belonged

to Ramses III.

It's, uh, simply beautiful

to have all these
pieces here together,

to see them shining,
and to know

that you actually hold
something that was supposed

to be with Ramses III
in his afterlife.

It's an incredibly rare find,

the kind of which hasn't been
seen in the Valley of the Kings

for over 100 years.

To now be finding actual
burial equipment of the king

whose tomb you're excavating
is pretty damn cool.

And it really does add a huge
amount of information

about what was being
buried with these kings.

Could anything else lie inside
the burial chamber?

On the floor of Ramses' tomb,

Anke spots evidence that
could help explain

the lack of treasures.

Almost everything could have
been burned to the ground.

In the tomb of Ramses III,

Dr. Anke Weber and her team
have just two more weeks to try

to excavate the great king's
burial chamber.

The last mystery to unravel

is why almost everything
they have found so far

has been damaged
or destroyed.

[Anke] We collect everything.

We take notes, pictures, to see
the wider context of an area.

All the finds must
be meticulously recorded.

[Anke] Once something
is excavated,

it is gone forever.

This is why it's so important
to do a decent job with that.

With the end of the dig
approaching,

the team hits
a major milestone.

[Anke] We are reaching parts
of the original floor level

of the burial chamber.

This is absolutely amazing.

Some parts of the tomb's
original floor

may not have
been seen for hundreds,

even thousands of years.

But everywhere Anke looks,

she spots something odd.

These are burn traces.

It's a mixture of the burned
wood, limestone, and ashes.

A fine layer of ash coats
many stones

on the burial chamber floor.

We have actually
a lot of evidence

for burning here inside
the burial chamber

that tell us a story about,

like, large fires
with immense heat.

The heat was so intense,

it's broken down
the limestone

the burial chamber
is carved from.

[Anke] As soon as
you touch it,

it starts chipping
from all sides.

You can, like,
crack it open like a cake.

So, um, it's in a very,
very bad shape.

It's puzzling, because nobody
brought charcoal

or -- or wood from outside.

What has been burning inside
the burial chamber?

The team finds small pieces
of wood scattered around,

pieces of coffins,

including the bodies
that were once inside.

[Anke] We didn't find
a complete mummy.

All the remains that we find
are only pieces.

This is quite suspicious,

but we also found traces
of burning.

It leads Anke to one
gruesome conclusion.

[Anke] We know that in
the 18th and 19th century,

mummies is served as fuel.

We have to imagine that
there was no electricity,

so the individuals
who visited needed light

in order to experience
the tomb

and to have
a look at the artifacts.

We, uh...believe that
these are firing places

that were used to enlighten,
uh, the darkness

of the burial chamber.

Robbers and modern explorers

would have lit huge fires
in the tomb,

burning everything
and anything they could find.

[Meredith] Anke Weber's
project in KV11

is cutting-edge
and innovative.

Using modern technology
to explore the tiny,

minute remains
is telling us so much

about the Tomb of Ramses III.

The paintings and this kind
of -- the sheer beauty of it

is just one part
of the story.

It's really a 3,000-year
history of activity

that begins with the king
and ends with our modern time.

Layer by layer,

Anke and the team can
now finally piece together

the complete story
of the tomb.

Inside a nested sarcophagus,

Ramses III lay in peace
for less than 100 years...

before his mummy was moved

into the safety
of the mountains.

Now empty, others used Ramses'
tomb for their burials.

Then came nearly 3,000 years
of destruction,

fires, brute force,
robbers, and explorers

all scarred the king's tomb.

Until finally,
floods inundated the chamber

and brought
its roof crashing down.

And the history of the tomb
is still evolving.

After three months of
nonstop digging,

the team has cleared
two shipping containers

worth of debris,

discovered original
burial treasures,

and opened a new chapter
in the story of Ancient Egypt.

[Anke] It feels
absolutely incredible

to have achieved so much.

We finally excavated it,

we cleared it
from rubble and debris,

and we found so many amazing
and wonderful things inside.

Now at the end
of the field season,

I feel like I became part
of the history of the tomb.

We grew closer
to this ancient pharaoh.

It's a long-life dream
that came true.

The last great pharaoh
of Ancient Egypt,

who was brutally murdered,

came to be buried
in a spectacular tomb

with an army of servants

and nested sarcophagi.

The tomb was Ramses'
portal to eternal life

in the heart of
the Valley of the Kings.

[Salima] There's still a lot of
work to be done in the valley.

Even now, there are places
where we don't know what lies

beneath the sand.

[Meredith] There is so much
more out there to find.

There's so much more
to excavate.

This is a never-ending quest.

Now Anke's goal is to restore
and conserve the structure

of the burial chamber

and make it safe
for visitors to enter,

so that the world
can bear witness

to the greatness
of Ramses III.

[Anke] We are
the connecting point.

Everything that we excavate
that tells us something

about our history
will bring us

to a past that can
shape a better future.

[speaking Arabic]

It's a quest that will fulfill
the Pharaoh's ultimate wish.

Speak the name
of the dead

and make them live again.

Ramses III lives on.