1 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:08,080 Deep inside a 4,500-year-old pyramid... 2 00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:11,840 We are going to try to enter inside the pyramid. 3 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:15,720 ...archeologists hunt for the last resting place 4 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:17,000 of a king. 5 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,760 I think if my wife knows this, she will kill me. 6 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:22,600 Goodbye. 7 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:25,680 They are searching for new clues 8 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:29,000 to how these colossal tombs were created. 9 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:31,640 Oh, my goodness. 10 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:35,920 Oh, my goodness. 11 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:41,160 Wow. 12 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:53,360 The pyramids, 13 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,080 massive tombs built for ancient kings and queens. 14 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,480 Over a hundred of these iconic structures 15 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,840 have towered over Egypt for thousands of years. 16 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:08,800 But how did they begin 17 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,280 and why did they evolve over time? 18 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:16,400 We follow investigators as they explore 19 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:18,440 the pioneering engineering 20 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:20,960 that crafted these enduring structures, 21 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,720 why the first pyramid's shapes changed in radical ways, 22 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:31,920 and how pharaohs used the awe-inspiring power of their tombs 23 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,360 to guarantee eternal life. 24 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:42,360 In Abusir... 25 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:49,000 archeologist Mohamed Megahed 26 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:53,960 is aiming to reach the heart of this 4,500-year-old pyramid. 27 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:58,720 It's so exciting to be working 28 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:00,560 in the great pyramid of Abusir. 29 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:06,120 The largest of 14 royal tombs originally built here, 30 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:09,920 Abusir's Great Pyramid was built just a century 31 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:12,000 after the Great Pyramids of Giza. 32 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:16,000 It dates to a little-known era of experimentation 33 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:17,600 in pyramid design, 34 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,120 when pharaohs tried out new materials 35 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:24,080 and construction techniques to create their dazzling tombs. 36 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:30,720 This pyramid was built for the body of King Neferirkare. 37 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,000 Around 4,500 years ago, 38 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,360 Neferirkare succeeded to the throne 39 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,360 after the death of his father King Sahure. 40 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:50,320 During his reign, he maintained a peaceful and prosperous Egypt 41 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,040 and commissioned a pyramid for his eternal rest, 42 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,080 a limestone core ringed with red granite. 43 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:03,040 We are going to go inside the pyramid 44 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:05,080 and to try to find its layout 45 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:06,680 and if we are lucky, we will reach 46 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:09,080 the burial chamber of the King Neferirkare. 47 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,000 It's a massive task. 48 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:17,120 Hundreds of stones have slumped to the ground 49 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,320 making the pyramid inaccessible. 50 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,520 Mohamed's team is already hard at work 51 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,120 clearing broken blocks from the entrance. 52 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:32,800 When they first came here, everything was covered. 53 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:35,640 This debris was covering the whole area. 54 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,720 We had to remove hundreds of stones, large stones. 55 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,560 It's a rare opportunity for modern archeologists like Mohamed. 56 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:48,600 No one in recorded history has ever excavated 57 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:50,400 this king's burial chamber. 58 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:53,960 On his journey to the heart of the pyramid, 59 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:56,000 Mohamed hopes to uncover hints 60 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,520 of how its builders engineered this colossal structure. 61 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:05,280 This is a mystery for us, and we are going to open this mystery and solve it. 62 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:08,800 Pyramids from this experimental era 63 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:10,840 aren't built to a fixed blueprint. 64 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:13,840 Passageways can lead in any direction. 65 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:19,400 But this king's burial chamber must lie beneath ground level 66 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:22,080 because of the angle of the entranceway. 67 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:28,520 This is the original floor of the descending corridor. 68 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:32,320 From this piece, we can collect many informations. 69 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:34,960 We know that it was built of white limestone, 70 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:37,640 we know that the slope of the descending corridor 71 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:39,560 was about 25 degrees. 72 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:44,000 The team carts away collapsed stone 73 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:45,480 that blocks the route. 74 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:56,160 As they clear, Mohamed spots something. 75 00:04:58,280 --> 00:05:00,920 This oil lamp can help us to understand 76 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:02,480 the history of the pyramid. 77 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:05,440 This oil lamp would have lit the way 78 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:07,600 to the dark heart of the pyramid. 79 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:12,080 But it is hundreds, not thousands of years old. 80 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:16,840 It's very roughly made, I have to say cheap, 81 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:19,640 so it was used by the common people 82 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:21,600 who were coming here to cut the stones, 83 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:23,080 the stone robbers. 84 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,360 Tomb robbers didn't just take precious treasures. 85 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:30,200 They also stole the very materials 86 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:32,000 that pyramids were made from. 87 00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:40,000 Monuments to great rulers, clad in glistening limestone, 88 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:43,960 the pyramids were built to be seen from far and wide. 89 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,640 But their prominence was also their downfall. 90 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,120 In the pyramid of Neferirkare, 91 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:53,440 limestone was not only on the outside. 92 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:56,720 It lined tunnels and chambers. 93 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,560 The prized stone was removed in medieval times, 94 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:07,160 robbers reusing the slabs in other monumental structures. 95 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:11,320 But without the stones supporting the weight of the pyramid, 96 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:13,720 the corridors were at risk of collapse. 97 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:21,680 The stone robbers' work means Mohamed and his team 98 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:24,560 must be extremely cautious from here on in. 99 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:27,040 The stones are very dangerous. 100 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:35,320 Two miles south at Saqqara... 101 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,400 Egyptologist Chris Naunton is exploring 102 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:44,800 how the original idea of the pyramid tomb was born. 103 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:49,200 This is such a special place. 104 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:51,760 It's difficult not to feel shivers when you're here. 105 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,160 All around me here are the burials 106 00:06:56,240 --> 00:07:00,840 of no less than 11 kings of Egypt's formative age. 107 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:03,080 For many people, 108 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:05,960 this is the world's greatest royal city of the dead. 109 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:11,280 The Saqqara Necropolis extends for four miles. 110 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:16,760 Its vast size a tribute to one pioneering king. 111 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:21,360 Generations of kings chose this place for their tombs 112 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:23,960 because they wanted to be buried close 113 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:26,560 to the very first pyramid builder, 114 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:28,240 a pharaoh called Djoser. 115 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,800 What he built was unprecedented, magnificent, 116 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:40,320 a building on a scale 117 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:43,880 that nobody had ever experienced in Egypt before, 118 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:46,080 and it's the prototype pyramid. 119 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,720 The first time anyone had built anything like this size, 120 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,000 it's the first building in cut stone, 121 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:53,760 the first time a pharaoh had ever commissioned 122 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:55,800 anything like this as a tomb. 123 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:01,360 Djoser was the first king of a new royal dynasty 124 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,440 and wanted something different to be remembered by. 125 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,800 Chris believes that he created his step pyramid 126 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,320 as an innovative way to ensure his eternal life. 127 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,320 Prior to this, the tombs of kings, 128 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:19,280 the tombs of all elite officials, 129 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:24,800 take the form of these giant rectangular platforms, 130 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:28,040 lay over the top of burial compartments. 131 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:30,720 We call them mastabas. 132 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:35,320 What happened here, having created a platform 133 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:37,640 and there perhaps comes a moment where somebody says, hey, guys, 134 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:39,640 looks pretty solid this thing. 135 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:41,200 Why don't we see if we can go higher? 136 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:50,320 Djoser's step pyramid appears to be six mastaba tombs 137 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:52,280 stacked one on top of the other. 138 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:56,320 What we're looking at here is not just the first pyramid actually 139 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,560 but it-it's a, it's a kind of a great experiment 140 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:03,480 and a massive moment in Ancient Egyptian history. 141 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,520 Djoser aligned his tomb towards the northern stars, 142 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,160 always visible in the evening sky. 143 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:17,040 Their guiding light would lead the pharaoh's soul 144 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:18,680 up this great stairway 145 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:21,120 to join the gods in the heavens. 146 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:25,960 How did Djoser's experiment evolve 147 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:28,560 into the quintessential pyramids of Giza? 148 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:34,160 To investigate, Chris will have to visit 149 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:36,600 the strangest pyramid in Egypt. 150 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:45,240 Less than 200 yards from Djoser's step pyramid, 151 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:48,640 archeologist Kamil Kuraszkiewicz 152 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:50,480 wants to solve a mystery. 153 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,720 He's excavating this large non-royal tomb. 154 00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:00,960 What will it reveal about the legacy of Egypt's first pyramid? 155 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:03,440 Starting an excavation, 156 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:05,800 basically you cannot be sure of anything. 157 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:08,840 There are always surprises. 158 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,480 After King Djoser had died, 159 00:10:15,560 --> 00:10:20,280 hundreds of tombs sprang up in the desert around his final resting place. 160 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:24,360 Many were covered with the quintessential element 161 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:27,480 of Djoser's pyramid, the mastaba. 162 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:31,040 The plots closest to his tomb 163 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:34,000 were reserved for the highest ranking elite, 164 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:38,200 showing just how much the Egyptians revered Djoser 165 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:42,400 and his groundbreaking monument long after his death. 166 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:48,280 The step pyramid itself 167 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:52,400 was the steps leading to the sky for the king. 168 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:58,760 Everything else was built around it, close to it. 169 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:03,680 The tomb Kamil is excavating 170 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:07,520 dates to at least three centuries after Djoser's reign. 171 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:11,360 It consists of a chapel and a burial shaft 172 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,240 plunging deep into the bedrock. 173 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:17,160 The large size, so close to the step pyramid, 174 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:21,280 suggests this tomb was created for someone important. 175 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:26,040 But unlike others nearby, it's missing something. 176 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:32,640 Unfortunately, we don't know the names of the owners. 177 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:35,400 You can see the inscription says that 178 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:39,720 the owner was a scribe of magical protection, 179 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:44,240 a person who, for example, prepared the amulets 180 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:47,800 to protect people from evil or dangers. 181 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,640 Scribes were high-ranking members 182 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:53,680 of the Ancient Egyptian elite. 183 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:58,200 But unusually, this person's name has either been removed 184 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:00,960 or it was never added to the inscription. 185 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:06,440 Kamil wants to work out if there is a body 186 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:07,960 buried beneath the ground. 187 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:10,440 And if so, 188 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:13,800 will it hold any clues to the tomb owner's identity? 189 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:18,240 The team sets up a winch 190 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:22,280 to speed up the excavation of debris from the tomb's shaft. 191 00:12:24,880 --> 00:12:28,080 Kamil has no idea how deep it will be. 192 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:32,880 And I wonder what we'll find at the bottom. 193 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:41,000 In Abusir... 194 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:46,600 Mohamed is trying to reach 195 00:12:46,680 --> 00:12:49,440 King Neferirkare's burial chamber. 196 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:54,320 Medieval stone robbers have made the team's mission harder. 197 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:56,520 We have to clear the debris 198 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,760 and see if those rocks are stable enough to go underneath. 199 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:02,680 But the thieves' demolition 200 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:06,320 has exposed something of huge value for Mohamed, 201 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,360 the pyramid's internal architecture. 202 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:13,920 We are so happy because like this, 203 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,160 we know how the pyramid was constructed. 204 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:22,760 The builders began by cutting the corridor 205 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:24,840 and burial chamber into the ground. 206 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,960 They lined the floor and walls with fine white limestone 207 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:31,720 and rare red granite. 208 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:40,520 Covering the ceiling with more limestone slabs. 209 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:43,200 Then to resist the enormous weight 210 00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:46,200 of the pyramid, they added a vaulted ceiling 211 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:48,400 of massive limestone blocks, 212 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:51,600 now visible because the robbers removed 213 00:13:51,680 --> 00:13:53,760 the flat ceiling slabs beneath. 214 00:13:55,560 --> 00:13:57,280 If we enter this pyramid 215 00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:59,160 without having this destruction, 216 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:03,080 we will not know that above the ceiling of the corridor, 217 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:05,720 we have this vaulted ceiling dividing 218 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:07,640 all the way to the side walls. 219 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:12,880 Even among the mountains of rubble, 220 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,080 it's essential for archeologists 221 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:17,360 to remain vigilant for clues. 222 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:22,240 Mohamed spots something that looks different 223 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:23,880 to his expert eyes. 224 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:25,640 Wow. 225 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:32,920 Heading south of Saqqara, 226 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:35,880 Chris is exploring how and why 227 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:38,400 pharaohs transformed their tombs 228 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:41,920 from the step pyramid to the Great Pyramids of Giza 229 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:43,680 within 100 years. 230 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:46,080 When you think of pyramids, 231 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:51,640 you can instantly picture kind of perfect geometric form. 232 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:55,320 Four perfectly triangular sides, 233 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:59,400 rising to a point above a perfectly square base. 234 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,240 And yet the process of development, 235 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:06,200 innovation that leads to that happens super quickly, 236 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,520 almost, in historical terms, like in the blink of an eye. 237 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,440 To unravel this tomb-building revolution, 238 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:17,640 he's come to what may be the world's weirdest pyramid. 239 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:23,800 What really sets this pyramid apart 240 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:25,360 is that it's bent. 241 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:28,080 So it starts off really, really steep, 242 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:30,680 about 55 degrees to horizontal. 243 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,200 There's then this change about two-thirds of the way up each side 244 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:38,560 and that angle changes to 43 degrees. 245 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:40,880 It just looks a bit odd. 246 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:44,240 The pharaoh Sneferu commissioned this tomb 247 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,600 just 50 years after Djoser's step pyramid. 248 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:52,000 It's one of the first attempts at a smooth-sided pyramid. 249 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:55,360 But is this bent monument 250 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:58,040 really what Sneferu had in mind? 251 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:03,000 The entrance to this pyramid 252 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,880 lies nearly 12 meters above the desert surface. 253 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:13,360 It leads to a steep, tight, descending passage. 254 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:19,680 Deep within the pyramid, 255 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:22,760 Chris finds the sacred heart of the tomb. 256 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:29,960 Wow. 257 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:33,760 This is the burial chamber. 258 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:36,440 This is where pharaoh's body would have been placed. 259 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:41,040 It's pretty atmospheric in here. 260 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:43,960 It's almost completely silent 261 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:47,760 except for the odd squeak of a, of a bat here and there. 262 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:50,200 Chris spots evidence 263 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:53,440 that the builders were still learning on the job. 264 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:57,760 These wooden beams date from the time the pyramid was built. 265 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:02,240 They're of cedar, I think imported from Lebanon. 266 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:05,640 The builders, it seems, must have been concerned 267 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,920 about the structural stability of this pyramid. 268 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:11,880 These beams I think 269 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:15,400 are here to-to try and stop the forces 270 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:18,600 created by this massive weight of the stone blocks, 271 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:20,280 from crushing this chamber 272 00:17:20,360 --> 00:17:22,840 and causing the whole thing to collapse in on itself. 273 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:24,200 If that's right... 274 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:27,040 then this must have been a pretty nerve-wracking place 275 00:17:27,120 --> 00:17:28,240 to work. 276 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:33,160 Sneferu's architects seem to have added the bracing beams 277 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:36,120 to reinforce an unsound construction. 278 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:38,800 What exactly went wrong? 279 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,600 And is it the reason the exterior ended up 280 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:44,320 with its unusual bend? 281 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:52,880 In Saqqara... 282 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:58,000 200 yards from Egypt's first pyramid, 283 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:02,000 Kamil's team is progressing down the burial shaft. 284 00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:10,520 As you see, it's rather noisy doing the work. 285 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:13,560 The team is keen to identify 286 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,360 who or what lies inside this tomb. 287 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,440 What can it reveal about the step pyramid's status 288 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:23,000 in Ancient Egypt? 289 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:27,800 Everything you find 290 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:29,800 during the excavation is important. 291 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:31,960 Everything tells you something. 292 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:38,120 One item of shaft debris has caught Kamil's eye. 293 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:40,880 A fragment of a pottery bowl, 294 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:45,760 a flat one, like something you could put your food on it, 295 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,680 like fruit perhaps, o-or meat. 296 00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:52,480 But painted white which means that 297 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:57,440 it-it was purified for the soul of the deceased. 298 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:00,520 So such vessels were put on the offering table 299 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:03,920 for the deceased to come from the afterworlds 300 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:07,400 and to eat the food prepared for them. 301 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:12,360 The presence of part of an offering bowl 302 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:15,960 increases the chance this tomb contains a body. 303 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:23,360 Encouraged, the team continues to dig down. 304 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:30,200 They still have several tons of material to remove. 305 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:34,880 Now, 30 feet deep, 306 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:38,160 Kamil hopes the effort will pay off. 307 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:41,960 Perhaps in the deeper part of the shaft, 308 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,840 there will be... something untouched. 309 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:53,000 In Abusir... 310 00:19:56,400 --> 00:20:00,160 attempting to reach King Neferirkare's burial chamber, 311 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,680 one chunk of rubble has caught Mohamed's attention. 312 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:09,200 When I picked it, I thought it's very weird 313 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:11,480 because it has some dark spots. 314 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:14,000 I watered it, and it's a piece of basalt. 315 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:16,840 This hunk of basalt, 316 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:20,480 a volcanic rock, is a rare and special find. 317 00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:25,000 It's very interesting because the sarcophagus of the king 318 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,320 should be made of dark stone, usually basalt. 319 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:31,440 It's amazing, you never stop finding you know, 320 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:33,600 clues and pieces of information. 321 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:37,480 This is proof that we might have 322 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:39,680 the sarcophagus of the king inside. 323 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:44,120 Mining basalt was difficult 324 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:47,880 because it is hard and dense, and only one quarry in Egypt 325 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:51,200 had stone of high enough quality for a pharaoh. 326 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:56,880 Workers had to drag blocks seven miles through the desert 327 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,240 to be shipped to master craftsmen near Abusir. 328 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:05,520 Basalt was an incredibly difficult stone to work. 329 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:11,520 So exactly how a solid slab was carved into a sarcophagus 330 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:13,400 is a mystery to this day. 331 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:20,520 Complete with a lid, it would protect the pharaoh's body, 332 00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:25,680 its black color securing his passage into the afterlife. 333 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:30,800 The dark color is connected with Osiris. 334 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:33,040 Osiris was the God of the afterlife, 335 00:21:33,120 --> 00:21:37,520 and the king, when he join him, he should be Osiris. 336 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:40,640 It makes us feel that we are on the right track. 337 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:45,120 There are still many more meters of rubble 338 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,560 between the team and the king's chamber. 339 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:04,840 We are so lucky because every minute there is a change. 340 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:07,920 We found the entrance which will lead us 341 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,160 to the burial chamber of King Neferirkare. 342 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:13,600 But the deeper the team reaches, 343 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:15,840 the more dangerous it gets. 344 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:18,840 We have a very huge problem. 345 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:21,040 I'm very nervous. 346 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:27,160 The stone robbers have taken so much limestone from the side walls, 347 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:31,080 one giant ceiling block is at risk of collapse. 348 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:36,160 This huge white limestone is hanging. 349 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:39,680 We cannot proceed without supporting this one. 350 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:42,560 The team stops work. 351 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:46,080 They can't advance further until it's safe. 352 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:53,120 At Dahshur... 353 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:59,640 Chris is investigating the structure of Sneferu's bent pyramid. 354 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,440 Constructed in the century in between the step pyramid 355 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:06,120 and the Great Pyramid of Giza... 356 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:09,680 its structure can give insight 357 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:12,760 into the rapid progression of pyramid design. 358 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:19,080 As he climbs the steep passage back out, 359 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:20,920 Chris spots something. 360 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:24,880 This is really, really interesting. 361 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:29,200 Up until this point in the passageway, 362 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,640 all of the stones seemed quite nicely aligned, 363 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:37,200 and then here, the ceiling block looks as though it has slipped, 364 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:39,160 maybe a foot. 365 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:41,920 Pretty scary stuff. 366 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:47,840 Sneferu's bent pyramid was plagued with problems. 367 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,760 It started with a steep slope of 60 degrees. 368 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:56,680 But the huge weight of stone sat on unstable ground, 369 00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:00,240 maybe causing the slippage visible today. 370 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,480 To support the structure, builders widened its base 371 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:10,320 and raised it at a shallower 54-degree angle. 372 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:15,440 But at around 45 meters high, they were again in trouble. 373 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:21,480 To save weight, they reduced the final angle to 43 degrees, 374 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:25,320 making Sneferu's pyramid one of a kind. 375 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,160 Despite its imperfections, 376 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:34,400 it was a major breakthrough. 377 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,920 The world's first smooth-sided pyramid, 378 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,280 paving the way for even more massive monuments. 379 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:49,160 Looking at this pyramid, 380 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:51,480 there clearly were problems, 381 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:53,000 changes of plan. 382 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:57,320 But, you know, you have to remember that the pyramid builders at this point 383 00:24:57,400 --> 00:24:59,600 are almost making things up as they go along. 384 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,520 They've got no blueprint, there's no template. 385 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:06,680 This is still an enormously impressive structure 386 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:11,920 and if you want to create the perfect monumental building, 387 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,680 you just have to experiment a little along the way. 388 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:18,640 Next, Chris wants to investigate 389 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:23,520 why Sneferu was so keen on creating smoothly sloping walls 390 00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:27,240 rather than the stepped sides of his predecessor. 391 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:34,520 At Saqqara... 392 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:37,720 in the shadow of the step pyramid, 393 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:41,560 Kamil's team is trying to find out 394 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:43,800 the owner of a mystery tomb. 395 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:50,240 After four days of digging, they hit the hard rock 396 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,880 that marks the foot of the shaft, 397 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:55,840 35 feet below ground level. 398 00:25:57,080 --> 00:25:59,960 They start to excavate the side walls, 399 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:01,840 looking for a burial chamber. 400 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:09,040 Above ground, Kamil searches for clues 401 00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:11,480 to help identify a possible owner. 402 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:19,400 One wall next to the shaft has a faint carving of a false door, 403 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,600 a gateway only the deceased's spirit can cross. 404 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:26,880 This is the false door 405 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:29,840 from the point of view of the deceased. 406 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:35,360 This is the place through which his soul came back 407 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:38,280 to feed on offerings left for him. 408 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,680 On the side of the false door is an inscription. 409 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:45,520 It appears to include a job title, 410 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:48,240 but there's something odd about it. 411 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,200 Something like the royal bodyguard. 412 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,720 The person listed outside 413 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:59,280 had the title of that of the scribe of magic formulas. 414 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:05,320 The relief outside is of much better quality than this here, 415 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:09,880 so it's an indication that the facade and the false door 416 00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:13,520 were hewn in different periods for different persons. 417 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,920 There's even a possible name carved for this later arrival. 418 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:20,960 Which is Ptahhotep Ipi. 419 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,600 Could this royal bodyguard, Ptahhotep Ipi, 420 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:31,480 have taken over a tomb originally excavated for someone else? 421 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,200 The tomb is revealing more than expected. 422 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:38,760 Wow. 423 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:42,480 Come on. 424 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:44,320 So here it comes. 425 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:54,960 At Dahshur... 426 00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:00,720 Chris wants to know what drove Pharaoh Sneferu 427 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:03,800 to create his smooth-sided, bent pyramid, 428 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:08,040 rather than the stepped pyramid of his predecessor. 429 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,720 When I entered the pyramid, I did so from the north, 430 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:15,960 but actually, there is another entrance, 431 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:18,240 but this one is not in the north face, 432 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:21,080 it's in the west face of the pyramid. 433 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:23,040 Maybe that western entrance 434 00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:26,520 says something about a change in the Egyptians' beliefs. 435 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:30,280 If the north entrance is aligned to the, the pole star 436 00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:32,880 which guides the king into the sky at the end of his life, 437 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:37,000 then maybe the western entrance is aligned towards the setting 438 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:39,000 of what would have been for the Egyptians 439 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:42,560 the biggest and most visible star in the sky: 440 00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:43,680 the sun. 441 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:49,280 A seismic shift in religious thinking 442 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,480 sparked Sneferu's demand for a smoothly sloped pyramid. 443 00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:57,000 The pyramid shape is no longer like 444 00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:00,000 a stairway to heaven like Djoser's step pyramid. 445 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,840 It's a symbol of the new solar ideology. 446 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:08,880 Those straight sides mimic the shape of the sun's rays 447 00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:10,600 descending down to the earth. 448 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:15,200 Before Sneferu, 449 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:18,560 the pyramids were stairways to the stars, 450 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:22,280 allowing the pharaoh to rise up to join the gods 451 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:25,000 in the night sky after his death. 452 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:28,840 But Sneferu's pyramid symbolized the pharaoh 453 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,400 as a living god here on Earth, 454 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:35,560 its smooth sides channeling the divine rays 455 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:37,240 of the sun god Ra. 456 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:41,720 Sneferu's bent pyramid 457 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,480 expressed the pharaoh's wish to embody the living sun god. 458 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:48,560 And he didn't stop there. 459 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:54,000 A mile away, he built another giant structure. 460 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,400 Off in the distance behind me is the red pyramid. 461 00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:02,040 This was Sneferu's next great building project, 462 00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:05,640 a true, straight-sided, geometric pyramid. 463 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:10,120 It's as if all that experimentation, innovation, 464 00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,720 mistakes maybe, yes, okay, trial and error 465 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:14,600 that goes on over here in the bent pyramid 466 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,160 is what allowed Sneferu and his builders 467 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:21,760 eventually to accomplish the feat of a true geometric pyramid. 468 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:26,600 And Egypt's most prolific pyramid builder 469 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:29,840 continued his quest for greater glory. 470 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:34,640 Eighty yards away, Chris picks up a trail. 471 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:37,800 This is really interesting. 472 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:39,480 It's not entirely obvious, 473 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:42,360 but there's a linear feature here 474 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:46,160 running roughly from the area of the bent pyramid. 475 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:48,640 And when I brush just beneath the surface, 476 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:51,160 we can see this quite brilliant white color. 477 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:53,640 So, it's clearly some sort of route 478 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:57,640 between the Nile Valley and the pyramid here. 479 00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:01,680 This trail of limestone paving 480 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:03,400 is a causeway. 481 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:07,120 It's part of an entire landscape 482 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,760 designed to give the pharaoh everlasting life. 483 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:17,680 Sneferu's journey to eternity 484 00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:20,480 would begin at a temple beside the Nile 485 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,760 where priests would prepare his body and soul 486 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:25,040 for the afterlife. 487 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:30,720 When the time came, the mummy of the dead king 488 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:32,680 would be carried along the causeway, 489 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,960 to a grand pyramid built to protect his body, 490 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:41,600 while a smaller pyramid nearby 491 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,680 would hold offerings to sustain his spirit. 492 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,520 And there was also a chapel designed for people 493 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:52,320 to worship the great king 494 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:56,720 so his name would live on to the end of time. 495 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:03,400 This was Sneferu's grand plan, 496 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:06,720 but it's likely that his body was actually buried 497 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:08,520 in the nearby red pyramid, 498 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:12,800 perhaps because the bent pyramid wasn't perfect. 499 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:16,880 Despite this, for the Ancient Egyptians, 500 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:20,360 the bent pyramid was where Sneferu's life continued, 501 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:23,920 maybe because its sacred complex is complete. 502 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:28,920 Even 700 years after his death, 503 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:33,240 Ancient Egyptians still celebrated Sneferu's name. 504 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,200 For people around the world and throughout history, 505 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:41,320 pyramids are iconic because of their enormous size 506 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:43,120 and the simplicity of their shape. 507 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:48,080 But for the Egyptian kings, they become an indispensable part, 508 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:52,280 the way the king presents himself as this god on Earth, 509 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:56,120 and he retains that status for the rest of Egyptian history. 510 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:05,200 In Abusir... 511 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:12,760 Mohamed's hope to reach King Neferirkare's burial chamber 512 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:16,880 has stalled thanks to an unsupported ceiling block. 513 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:21,840 It's very dangerous, it's very stressful right now. 514 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:27,120 Mohamed has called in expert stonemasons to find a solution. 515 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:31,040 The masons recycle blocks 516 00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:34,880 to shore up the 4,500-year-old structure. 517 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:40,120 The stones itself are cracking. We have to support them. 518 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:41,760 This is what he's doing now. 519 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,000 He's filling all the joints. 520 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:46,520 Whilst Mohamed waits, 521 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:49,600 he spots an opportunity to inspect the roof 522 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:52,520 above the blocked corridor that lies ahead. 523 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:55,240 We will try to enter from this hole 524 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:57,680 which was made by the stone robbers. 525 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:00,600 If we are lucky, we will manage to have a look. 526 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:03,640 If it's too dangerous, I have to come back. 527 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:06,520 I think if my wife knows this, she will kill me. 528 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:08,680 Goodbye. 529 00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:13,200 Mohamed wants to know if the roof has collapsed 530 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:16,040 along the final stretch to the burial chamber, 531 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:18,720 dashing all his hopes. 532 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:29,560 Oh, my God, okay. 533 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:34,040 Oh, my goodness. 534 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:39,240 Oh, my goodness. 535 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:41,800 Wow. 536 00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:44,400 Wow. 537 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,160 The size of the stones is magnificent. 538 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:51,360 I never saw something like this before... 539 00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:56,520 have so many of the slabs of the ceiling, 540 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:01,200 some of them in their original position. 541 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:06,640 The crucial stretch of ceiling has not one but three layers 542 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:09,000 of weight-bearing limestone blocks. 543 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:12,960 It's an incredible piece of engineering, 544 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:16,840 designed to keep the king's body intact for eternity 545 00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:20,160 by withstanding the massive weight of the pyramid above. 546 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:26,920 With the unsupported block now secure, 547 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:29,160 the team gets back to work. 548 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:33,800 Now we will start carefully 549 00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:35,920 removing the stones from the inside. 550 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:38,400 Turn the flashlight on. 551 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:40,680 We have power off, I don't know if it's a good sign 552 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:42,280 or a bad sign, 553 00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:45,240 but I hope it's a good sign, let's see. 554 00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:49,040 Despite the power cuts, 555 00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:51,840 the team progresses towards the king's chamber. 556 00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:54,840 I'm so excited. 557 00:36:01,720 --> 00:36:03,000 In Abusir... 558 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:10,200 Mohamed and his team are trying to reach 559 00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:13,040 the burial chamber of King Neferirkare. 560 00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:18,160 We are lucky, the light is back. 561 00:36:19,240 --> 00:36:21,560 I have to say it's not dangerous anymore, 562 00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:22,880 it goes very smooth. 563 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:24,800 As they dig, 564 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,760 something catches the archeologist's eye. 565 00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:34,560 Unlike the pure white limestone, 566 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:36,560 it has a creamy tint. 567 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:42,560 This piece of alabaster for me is very touching 568 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:44,800 because this was made specially for a king. 569 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:49,600 Alabaster is a soft, translucent stone, 570 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:53,040 perfect for carving into canopic jars 571 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:57,040 used to store vital organs during the mummification process. 572 00:36:58,240 --> 00:37:02,440 The king usually is buried with four canopic jars. 573 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:06,240 This small, tiny fragment, it proves 574 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:10,440 that Neferirkare was buried with some funerary goods 575 00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:13,480 which helped him to go safely in the afterlife. 576 00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:16,160 We are getting closer to him. 577 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:21,320 And then Mohamed spots what he's been looking for. 578 00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:25,080 Amazing. 579 00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:30,760 What I see there, a large piece of granite 580 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:32,560 and it's just there. 581 00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:34,200 This is part of the lintel. 582 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:38,640 This granite lintel is a crucial find. 583 00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:42,680 The heavy, tough rock marks the gateway 584 00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:44,720 to the king's burial chamber. 585 00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:49,560 It's good news for us because it's in original position, 586 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:52,120 it's very exciting. 587 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:56,400 The lintel is cracked and needs special reinforcement. 588 00:37:56,880 --> 00:37:58,760 It means it will be next season 589 00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:02,240 before the burial chamber reveals its final secrets. 590 00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:07,080 But Mohamed has got deeper into King Neferirkare's pyramid 591 00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:08,880 than anyone on record, 592 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:12,440 shedding fresh light on how these massive monuments 593 00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:15,000 were constructed during the era 594 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:17,760 when pyramid building was rapidly evolving. 595 00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:20,640 I never imagined that we will reach this point. 596 00:38:20,720 --> 00:38:23,680 We are beyond my estimation. 597 00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:28,080 Sooner or later, we will be on the floor 598 00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:29,960 of the burial chamber of the king. 599 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:35,480 At least now, we are preserving the pyramid of Neferirkare. 600 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:38,680 The wish of every Ancient Egyptian 601 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:42,680 is his name to be remembered, his tomb to be preserved 602 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,320 and his body to survive in the afterlife. 603 00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:58,920 At the Saqqara pyramid's necropolis, 604 00:39:02,240 --> 00:39:06,040 Kamil's team is digging its way towards what they hope 605 00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:08,600 is the mystery tomb owner's burial place. 606 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,240 Doctor. Doctor. 607 00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:13,240 Okay, they need, need me down. 608 00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:15,960 A rare find emerges, 609 00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:19,760 part of a wooden headrest for a body. 610 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:24,040 And this is very fragile. 611 00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:30,000 The wood is heavily eroded, but it retains its form. 612 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:33,760 So this is the middle part of the headrest. 613 00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:36,120 It had a flat base 614 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:38,920 and a curved upper part 615 00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:43,640 to support the neck of the lying person. 616 00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:48,760 This Ancient Egyptian equivalent of a pillow 617 00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:51,720 gives hope there is a body in the burial chamber. 618 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:56,520 Kamil decides to see for himself. 619 00:39:57,240 --> 00:39:59,080 I'll go down the shaft. 620 00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:02,240 Here we go. 621 00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:05,640 Secured by rope, 622 00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:10,160 he descends the now-empty 35-foot-deep shaft. 623 00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:26,640 So here is the burial chamber. 624 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,280 So evidently, the-the original owner 625 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:33,160 could not complete his tomb. 626 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:39,040 Unlike the carefully cut, straight, wide walls of the shaft, 627 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:42,800 the burial space is cramped and unfinished. 628 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:48,840 The original owner must have been 629 00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:51,360 unable to be buried here. 630 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:53,400 Maybe not allowed to. 631 00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:56,400 Maybe he was involved in 632 00:40:56,480 --> 00:40:58,320 some illegal business 633 00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:00,720 and that's why he was 634 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:02,960 deprived of the right to be buried. 635 00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:07,440 So the tomb stood empty, not used. 636 00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:09,800 If Kamil is right, 637 00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:12,200 that the person for whom this tomb was built 638 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:13,800 fell from royal favor 639 00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:17,280 and lost the chance of a burial at this prestigious site, 640 00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:21,320 it would explain the missing name at the tomb's entrance. 641 00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:26,240 But there's a burial pit, 642 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:28,640 and it is really huge. 643 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:32,720 Kamil spots something 644 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:34,600 poking up from the pit. 645 00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:40,320 Legs in the corner of the burial pit, 646 00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:42,680 standing upright. 647 00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:45,920 It seems that the body was mummified. 648 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:49,960 So the rest of the body might be under the debris. 649 00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:55,960 Kamil now has a suspicion who this body might be. 650 00:41:57,480 --> 00:41:59,760 It's not the original owner 651 00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:01,160 of the tomb, 652 00:42:01,240 --> 00:42:04,080 the man who started building it, 653 00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:06,720 but it might be Ptahhotep Ipi. 654 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:11,520 Ptahhotep Ipi is the royal bodyguard 655 00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:14,240 whose name is carved on the false door. 656 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:19,080 His job would have had lower social status than the original owner. 657 00:42:20,240 --> 00:42:23,040 It seems that instead of building his own tomb, 658 00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:28,240 Ptahhotep Ipi took over this unfinished, vacant tomb, 659 00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:32,320 gaining a rare and prestigious burial spot 660 00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:34,880 right next to Djoser's step pyramid. 661 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:39,040 It may not be very impressive 662 00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:40,320 at the first sight 663 00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:44,480 but when it comes to information, it's amazing. 664 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:49,520 Kamil's discovery sheds light 665 00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:52,840 on the step pyramid's power in Ancient Egypt. 666 00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:57,320 Even hundreds of years after its construction, 667 00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:01,120 when far more impressive pyramids stood not far away, 668 00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:03,840 people grabbed a chance to be buried 669 00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:05,960 close to the original pyramid, 670 00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:09,400 keeping Djoser's memory alive 671 00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:13,320 and perhaps inheriting a taste of his immortality. 672 00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:17,240 I would say that I'm satisfied. 673 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:23,040 What we have already found is not what we expected, 674 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:25,480 but putting the pieces together, 675 00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:28,920 we can reconstruct the past. 676 00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:35,800 The awe-inspiring pyramids 677 00:43:35,880 --> 00:43:37,360 are not just tombs. 678 00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:40,760 They are launchpads for an eternal life. 679 00:43:41,720 --> 00:43:45,320 Their incredible engineering has stood the test of time 680 00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:48,040 for four and a half thousand years 681 00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:51,040 and will likely last many more millennia, 682 00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:55,760 giving the kings and queens who created them 683 00:43:55,840 --> 00:43:58,560 a shot at the immortality they craved.