1 00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:05,960 Among the robbed-out pyramids of Ancient Egypt, 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:08,680 archaeologists explore 3 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:11,280 one of the last unexcavated burial chambers. 4 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:16,000 Beneath the rubble of the collapsed roof, 5 00:00:16,080 --> 00:00:18,800 lie the remains of a tomb raid gone wrong. 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:22,560 This is the most dangerous part. 7 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:25,520 And perhaps the body... 8 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:28,600 ...of a pharaoh himself. 9 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:33,160 If there’s any king still resting in his sarcophagus, 10 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:37,040 I believe that it will be King Sahure. 11 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:43,600 We are now very close to finding out the truth. 12 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,440 The West Bank of the River Nile. 13 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:05,400 Here, for 3,000 years, 14 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:09,760 the elites of Egyptian society were laid to rest in tombs. 15 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:14,760 From mighty pyramids, 16 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:18,000 to ornate chambers carved into the rock. 17 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:22,000 But throughout history, 18 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,680 Egypt's Land of the Dead attracted the attention of thieves... 19 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,280 on the hunt for buried wealth. 20 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:35,360 Now, archaeologists 21 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:37,800 are scouring these ancient cemeteries 22 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:40,880 trying to understand who robbed the graves 23 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:42,600 of Egypt's kings and nobles... 24 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:48,080 ...and how they carried out their daring heists. 25 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:56,400 In the Royal Necropolis of Abusir, 26 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,640 Egyptian archaeologist Mohamed Ismail Khaled 27 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:02,520 has the rarest of opportunities 28 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:06,920 to excavate a pyramid burial chamber for the very first time. 29 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:09,840 Last season, 30 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:12,960 Mohamed's team dug deep into the collapsed interior 31 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:14,680 of the king's tomb. 32 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:20,040 He found oil lamps dating to the Ottoman Era, 33 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,440 and even human remains, 34 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:27,760 evidence of a robbery some 700 years ago. 35 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,280 But the dangerously unstable ceiling above 36 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:35,240 forced him to call a halt. 37 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,280 Now, with the ancient stone secured, 38 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:46,120 Mohamed is within just a few yards of realizing his dream. 39 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,600 What we are doing right now is to continue the excavation. 40 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:54,080 Everything is fine, everything is secured, 41 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:55,240 but you never know, 42 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:57,600 we have to be prepared for everything. 43 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:00,600 Yeah it's perfect, let's start. 44 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,640 Six years on from Mohamed's first steps 45 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:07,560 into the pyramid's entrance passage, 46 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:11,320 the potential reward for his patience is huge. 47 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:14,760 This pyramid complex 48 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:18,240 is the only pyramid complex in Egypt 49 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:19,680 that we believe 50 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:24,160 that was never robbed during the pharaonic time. 51 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:29,280 And we believe that the king was still in his burial place, 52 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:30,760 in his sarcophagus, 53 00:03:31,640 --> 00:03:35,000 waiting, hopefully, for us to find him. 54 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,560 This pyramid was built for King Sahure, 55 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:43,000 a ruler associated with 56 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:46,120 the ancient lion goddess of healing, Sekhmet. 57 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,480 The pyramid's mortuary temple became a cult center 58 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,480 where priests received offerings to the king 59 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,400 and delivered medical treatments to heal the people. 60 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:01,840 The cult was so popular, 61 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,360 it lasted until the Ptolemaic Period, 62 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,440 over 2,000 years after Sahure's death. 63 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:13,640 The presence of priests watching over the temple for two millennia 64 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,520 could have protected the dead king and his treasures 65 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:18,200 from would-be thieves. 66 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:24,480 Mohamed knows the Ottoman Era tomb raiders 67 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,680 dragged the lid from Sahure's basalt sarcophagus 68 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:29,360 in search of riches, 69 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:31,680 shattering it into pieces. 70 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:35,600 But the fact that the sarcophagus was intact 71 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:38,880 when these robbers entered is fuel to his theory 72 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:42,320 that Sahure escaped ancient raids. 73 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,520 So, we are keeping, of course, 74 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:49,080 discovering small parts of the lid of the sarcophagus. 75 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:51,160 I hope that it all comes from the lid, 76 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:53,920 not from the body of the sarcophagus itself, 77 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:55,760 because we have a big hope 78 00:04:55,840 --> 00:04:58,080 that we will find the body of the king. 79 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:02,400 So... I hope that our dream will come true, 80 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:06,680 but at least we are now very close to find out the truth. 81 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:12,120 If the king's sarcophagus remains unbroken beneath the rubble, 82 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:15,560 Mohamed could be the first archaeologist ever to see 83 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:19,560 a complete Old Kingdom pharaoh face to face. 84 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,040 At nearby Saqqara, 85 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:29,320 Egyptologist Chris Naunton has come to the ancient necropolis 86 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,600 of some of Egypt's most powerful pharaohs. 87 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,560 He wants to explore how kings like Sahure 88 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:41,080 sought to protect the vast riches they piled high inside their pyramids. 89 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:46,240 The pharaohs who built these pyramids 90 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,200 were fantastically wealthy 91 00:05:48,280 --> 00:05:51,400 compared to the ordinary people in society. 92 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:53,360 So, pyramids like these full of treasure 93 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,560 would've been a massive temptation to a robber. 94 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:00,080 All the robber had to do was find a way in. 95 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:04,720 The perfect place to investigate 96 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:06,360 the pharaoh's defenses 97 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:10,160 is the pyramid of Sahure's predecessor, Userkaf, 98 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,200 where clues to the battle between tomb raiders 99 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:15,480 and tomb builders 100 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:17,800 can be found at every turn. 101 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:22,400 Today, the fine, white, limestone casing 102 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:24,680 that once concealed the pyramid's entrance 103 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:27,200 is all but disappeared. 104 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:28,960 But scattered among the rubble, 105 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:33,880 Chris finds evidence of the king's hidden security system. 106 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:38,680 This is red granite, 107 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:43,680 and it's a tremendously dense kind of stone, 108 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:47,720 it's much harder and much heavier than the limestone 109 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,680 that was used to build most of the rest of this pyramid. 110 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:54,840 And this is Userkaf's key line of defense. 111 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:57,400 If you think of the pyramid as being like a kind of 112 00:06:57,480 --> 00:06:58,920 a bunker for the dead, 113 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,560 then this is the sort of reinforced concrete 114 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:03,360 that provides him with a plug 115 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:05,320 to stop the robbers from getting in. 116 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:11,280 The pharaoh's burial chamber and storeroom 117 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:13,560 were cut deep into the bedrock 118 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:16,280 and then covered up with limestone blocks. 119 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:22,640 Userkaf had the only entrance blocked with a large granite slab 120 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:26,280 that was lowered down like a portcullis to seal the tomb. 121 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:30,120 To secure the access corridor, 122 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,280 workers plugged it with huge lumps of granite, 123 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:37,480 and the nearly seamless layer of casing stones 124 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:41,360 completely concealed all signs of where to find the entrance. 125 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:44,800 Together, these defensive measures 126 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:47,760 were meant to keep Userkaf's body and treasures 127 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:49,840 safe for all eternity. 128 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,040 Despite the pharaoh's precautions, 129 00:07:55,120 --> 00:08:00,040 a gaping hole in the pyramid shows raiders found a way in. 130 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,480 Unfortunately, every pyramid known to archaeologists 131 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:06,520 was robbed at some point. 132 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:09,400 This pyramid is particularly useful 133 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,120 in helping us to understand that process, 134 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:16,400 because the robbers left behind a series of clues 135 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:19,840 that allow us to play detective in this heist. 136 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:23,120 So, the question we want to answer 137 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:26,760 is how did they get past all the king's defenses? 138 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,440 To find out, Chris has gained special permission 139 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,760 to enter Userkaf's crumbling tomb. 140 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:38,960 And break down the thieves ancient smash-and-grab. 141 00:08:39,560 --> 00:08:41,320 Wow. 142 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:46,920 In the city of Aswan, 143 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:51,360 Spanish archaeologist Alejandro Jimenez-Serrano 144 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,880 is back at the riverside cemetery of Qubbet-el-Hawa, 145 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:58,960 searching for southern Egypt's ancient elites. 146 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:02,040 And my point of view, 147 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:04,640 this is the most beautiful site in Egypt. 148 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:10,680 I've been here, working for 18 years. 149 00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:12,760 Getting old. 150 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:17,880 This necropolis 151 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:20,720 has proven a rich archaeological hunting ground. 152 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:22,920 Across two decades, 153 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:26,240 Alejandro has uncovered dozens of burials, 154 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:28,000 some of them unrobbed. 155 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:31,920 Ooh! I never seen something like this. 156 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:33,960 But his investigations suggest 157 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:37,000 the nobles of Aswan were no less a target 158 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:39,840 than the pharaohs in the north. 159 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:44,120 Seven years ago, in this monumental tomb, 160 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,960 cut 130 feet deep into the sandstone cliff, 161 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:53,640 Alejandro's team dug into a series of shafts and tunnels 162 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:55,880 that led to a hidden burial chamber. 163 00:09:57,200 --> 00:09:59,480 The sarcophagus of the tomb's owner, 164 00:09:59,560 --> 00:10:02,480 Governor Sarenput I, was missing, 165 00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:04,400 looted and destroyed. 166 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:09,760 This season, Alejandro is excavating pits in the hall 167 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:11,160 close to the entrance. 168 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:15,080 If he can find another burial, 169 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:19,000 it might hold clues to how this heist played out. 170 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,560 Sarenput's tomb is a crime scene. 171 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:33,440 Alejandro just has to hope the trail hasn't gone cold. 172 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:35,280 It's difficult to know 173 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:37,600 before the excavation what we are going to find. 174 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:41,960 This area was an exclusive burial ground. 175 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:46,960 What we would like to know is who was buried there. 176 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:52,000 It is amazing to know that you are going to find new things, 177 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:53,920 new pieces of evidence. 178 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,160 Today, Alejandro focuses on a shaft 179 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:02,560 in the hall's northwest corner. 180 00:11:04,680 --> 00:11:07,400 A burial so close to the governor's chamber 181 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:09,360 should belong to an important elite. 182 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:13,680 The early signs are promising. 183 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,720 When a shaft has been severely looted, 184 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:22,400 you do not find so much concentration of debris, 185 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:24,120 you find more sand. 186 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,480 The presence of debris, in, in these levels, 187 00:11:29,560 --> 00:11:32,000 means that the layers that are under 188 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:34,000 will be probably intact, 189 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:36,120 and there we can find 190 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:39,680 part of the burial equipment of the deceased. 191 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:44,400 If the shaft had been robbed clean, 192 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:46,800 it would be full of windblown sand. 193 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:51,760 This shaft contains exactly the type of loose rock 194 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,160 Ancient Egyptians used to seal burials. 195 00:11:56,480 --> 00:11:59,720 The original occupant might still be inside, 196 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:03,120 just inches from Alejandro's trowels. 197 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:07,600 Now, it begins the exciting moment. 198 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:13,240 At Saqqara... 199 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:16,840 Chris is exploring the ancient struggle 200 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,640 over the pharaoh's afterlife riches. 201 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:23,600 He wants to see how robbers executed their daring raid 202 00:12:23,680 --> 00:12:25,640 on King Userkaf's treasures. 203 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,040 The passage's granite ceiling is cracked, 204 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:32,560 but shows no sign of a breach. 205 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:35,320 At the end of the entrance passage, 206 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,240 Chris finds the king's final line of defense, 207 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:41,400 the solid granite portcullis. 208 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:43,240 A-ha! 209 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:48,240 Oh, wow. 210 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:56,840 This piece, which would've been suspended up there somehow, 211 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:59,360 would've been lowered down into position 212 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:02,120 to stop anybody getting through, 213 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:06,120 but, there's a great big hole in it. 214 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:11,040 In the cavity above here, 215 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:14,160 there's another hole in the wall, 216 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:19,480 which leads off into the core of the, the pyramid a-above. 217 00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:22,040 I reckon that's where they came in. 218 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:27,920 Hmm... caught, just, um, 219 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:30,960 what, four and a half thousand years too late. 220 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:37,440 The robbers seem to have tunneled into the portcullis cavity 221 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:39,320 and broken in from above, 222 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:42,000 to gain access to and empty out 223 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:43,880 the king's storage chambers. 224 00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:47,040 - Oh! Woah! 225 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:49,040 - What is it? - It's a bat. 226 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:51,800 Just flew very close. Wow. 227 00:13:56,760 --> 00:13:58,320 Chris pushes deeper 228 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:00,480 into the pyramid's tight passages... 229 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:05,520 right under the structure's central point. 230 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:10,320 Ah, I think the light's gone. 231 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:12,320 Okay, thank you. 232 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:15,720 He finds Userkaf's burial chamber. 233 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:18,800 Wow. 234 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:25,560 Losing my big light makes this feel even more eerie. 235 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,400 The, uh, sarcophagus lid is still largely intact, 236 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:35,480 but otherwise it's just... fragments. 237 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:38,960 Though, of course, the robbers would probably have known 238 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:42,720 that, um, the king's body would have had jewelry, 239 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:45,120 amulets, placed on it. 240 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:49,440 The robbers did a very thorough job. 241 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:57,520 The robbers seemed to have known 242 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:00,240 where the hidden entrance was 243 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:02,560 and avoided its granite plug. 244 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:06,440 Instead of attacking the hard granite, 245 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:09,560 they tunneled through the soft limestone above 246 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:11,960 towards the void in the pyramid's center. 247 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:17,120 When they reached the granite portcullis, 248 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:19,240 they chiseled a hole in it 249 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:22,480 for a clean run to Userkaf's burial chamber. 250 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:28,120 They made off with the pharaoh's buried riches, 251 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:30,600 leaving the chamber entirely bare, 252 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:34,960 in a raid conducted with surgical precision. 253 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:43,040 Wow. 254 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:45,080 That was very interesting. 255 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:49,440 One thing that's really clear, really striking, 256 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:51,080 is that there's no way 257 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:53,400 that this was a kind of lightning strike, 258 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:55,240 couple of guys, middle of the night, 259 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:57,720 few tools, smash-and-grab, 260 00:15:57,800 --> 00:15:59,960 you know, take the treasure and run. 261 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,360 This would've had to have had men working on this, 262 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:03,720 planning it, 263 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:07,120 executing it over quite a considerable period of time. 264 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:08,760 So, you've got to ask yourself, 265 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,200 how can this have been allowed to happen? 266 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:13,040 The burial chamber 267 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,040 was not only protected by physical barriers. 268 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:19,920 Like Sahure's pyramid, there was a temple attached. 269 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:24,760 Userkaf's treasures should've been safeguarded by priests. 270 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:26,720 It's impossible to think that all that could've been 271 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:28,600 happening while this temple was in use. 272 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:30,560 Much more likely that happened 273 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:34,280 only after the temple had been abandoned. 274 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:38,360 The precision of the raid suggests the raiders had some knowledge 275 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:40,840 of the interior structure, 276 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:45,200 and executed their heist once the pyramid lay unguarded. 277 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,360 So, how did later pharaohs deal with the possibility 278 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:52,360 that their tomb might become a target? 279 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:56,320 To find out, Chris travels to investigate 280 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:58,560 a very different type of pyramid. 281 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:06,120 In Abusir, 282 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:08,600 Mohamed's team carefully searches 283 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:10,840 for Sahure's sarcophagus. 284 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:14,920 If the pharaoh himself is still buried in the rubble, 285 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:19,000 he will be the first king ever found in his pyramid. 286 00:17:20,360 --> 00:17:23,800 And now, the team has reached a critical point. 287 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:26,840 The pyramid's loose limestone core 288 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:29,960 is piled precariously above them. 289 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:33,320 If they dig out the chamber beneath, it will collapse. 290 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,720 If they're to reach the end of the burial chamber, 291 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:38,840 they have to remove the threat. 292 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:41,160 This is the most dangerous part 293 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:42,680 that we have to secure. 294 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,400 And once it's secured, 295 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:47,360 and it will take a couple of days, 296 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:50,800 then we will able to reach the sarcophagus. 297 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:55,880 The realization of Mohamed's dream, 298 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:59,880 to gaze upon the face of a 4,500-year-old pharaoh... 299 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:04,640 ...could be less than eight feet away. 300 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:13,400 In Aswan, 301 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:16,240 Alejandro is ready to take his first look 302 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:21,120 in the shaft tomb inside Sarenput I's funerary complex. 303 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:25,680 But his hope of finding an intact burial has been dealt a blow. 304 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:28,800 Beneath the rubble of the original filling, 305 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,280 his team finds a layer of sand, 306 00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:34,040 a telltale sign of robbery. 307 00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:37,800 So, we have here in this level, sand, 308 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:39,080 which was-- 309 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:41,320 which deposit after the looting. 310 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:43,920 And here, perhaps what we have here, 311 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:45,680 is the original filling. 312 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:47,200 It appears the looters 313 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:50,800 shifted the original filling to the entrance of the tomb, 314 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:53,200 obscuring their crime. 315 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:56,320 For us, this is not frustration 316 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,480 because it is always interesting 317 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:00,720 to follow the steps of the tomb raiders 318 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:04,200 and to try to see what they were looking for. 319 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:11,440 Alejandro's workers 320 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:15,040 must keep a keen eye on every shovel full of dirt, 321 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:17,840 looking for clues that could help them 322 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:22,120 piece together the robbers' methods and motives. 323 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:25,480 Here. 324 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:30,680 We have just found a fragment of a coffin, 325 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:32,840 12th Dynasty coffin, 326 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:38,720 and, uh, it means that we are in the level of the plundering. 327 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:42,840 It is exciting to, to know that 328 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:45,200 now we are going to work in an intact layer. 329 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:49,280 The coffin fragment proves Alejandro has found 330 00:19:49,360 --> 00:19:52,640 an original burial from Sarenput's time. 331 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:56,520 And to an archaeologist turned crime scene investigator, 332 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,480 it offers a rough date for the robbery. 333 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:02,040 Look at the holes that are left 334 00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:03,520 by the termites. 335 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:08,640 In this area, even today, the termites are very active. 336 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:11,080 Immediately after the burial, 337 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:13,800 they begin to eat the coffin. 338 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:19,560 However, they did not have time to eat all the coffin. 339 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:23,160 It means that the looting happened short after the burial, 340 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:25,480 a couple of years, three years later. 341 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:29,800 If the time between burial and robbery 342 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:31,160 was any longer, 343 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:33,920 termites would have fully consumed the coffin. 344 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:36,800 When the raiders moved the filling material, 345 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,680 they protected the fragment from further destruction. 346 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:45,080 It's vital evidence that the robbery was almost immediate. 347 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:49,200 The tomb raiders probably knew who was buried in the shaft 348 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:52,240 and potentially what the burial contained. 349 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,960 Alejandro may be closer to identifying the perpetrators, 350 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,080 but who was the victim? 351 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:10,760 Wow. 352 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:13,360 This is a clapper to make a clapping noise, 353 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:16,680 probably during the funerary ceremonials. 354 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:18,680 Typical from the 12th Dynasty. 355 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:22,720 And this piece is perhaps one of the best 356 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:24,800 that we have, uh, ever found. 357 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:27,520 Fashioned from cow bone, 358 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:30,880 the musical instrument is shaped like a woman's forearm, 359 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:33,520 its hand missing its fingers, 360 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:36,480 one half of an ancient set of castanets. 361 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:41,400 Now, clues are coming thick and fast. 362 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:52,800 In Abusir, 363 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:54,960 Mohamed's team have spent two days 364 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:58,920 shifting dangerous, loose rock from the top of the rubble pile, 365 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:00,880 looking for any hidden clues. 366 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,520 Their work has revealed a surprise. 367 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:10,520 Wow. 368 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:17,720 The west wall is completely intact. Wow! 369 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:20,880 Fantastic. 370 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:25,520 The intact ancient ceiling slabs 371 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:27,680 suggest this end of the chamber was protected 372 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:29,680 from the worst of the collapse. 373 00:22:30,360 --> 00:22:33,400 The western wall is exactly where Mohamed hopes 374 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:35,200 to find Sahure's mummy, 375 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:37,560 in a giant basalt sarcophagus. 376 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:40,160 If it's still in one piece. 377 00:22:44,120 --> 00:22:46,120 Ahmed! 378 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,320 We found another part of the basalt, 379 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:53,720 but unfortunately, this might come from 380 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:55,440 the body of the sarcophagus, 381 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:58,880 because this could be the inner part, smooth part, 382 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,440 and this could be the outer smooth part. 383 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:04,000 If this chunk of basalt 384 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:06,400 is part of the sarcophagus wall, 385 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,600 it could destroy Mohamed's hope of finding the king. 386 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:15,960 But the team's restorer, Ahmed Abdelnaby, 387 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:18,600 has been piecing together the shattered lid, 388 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:20,760 and he has another theory. 389 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,720 We are making one experiment, you can follow us if you'd like. 390 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:34,960 So, Ahmed is suggesting that this may come from this part, 391 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:37,680 you know, the continuation of the part of the lid. 392 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:41,120 That means that the body of the sarcophagus is intact, 393 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:44,320 and, of course, I'm hoping that Ahmed is correct. 394 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,680 Not only has Ahmed reconstructed the lid, 395 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,200 he's found evidence that could help solve the puzzle 396 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:53,400 of the Ottoman Era raid: 397 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:56,280 scars left by iron chisels. 398 00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:02,200 They were using this kind of iron wedge 399 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:03,880 in order just to cut 400 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:06,440 and to completely destroy the lid. 401 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:08,760 For Mohamed, the abandoned tools 402 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,560 could be evidence that the raid was cut short 403 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:13,640 before the job was finished. 404 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:17,520 It's very clear that they were still destroying, 405 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:19,800 but something happened. 406 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,640 Maybe, the pyramid start to collapse 407 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:26,800 and they left everything and they ran away. 408 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:28,600 The question for Mohamed is, 409 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:30,760 if the Ottoman Era tomb raiders 410 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:33,000 were interrupted by the collapse, 411 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:36,200 had they already plundered the sarcophagus? 412 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:43,160 In Abusir... 413 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,360 ...Mohamed is hoping Sahure's burial chamber 414 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:50,520 collapsed before the raiders 415 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:52,760 reached the king in his sarcophagus. 416 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:59,200 His team carefully searches the rubble pile for clues. 417 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:08,720 Oh! 418 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:13,080 Got some bad news? 419 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,960 Well, definitely yes, it's, uh... 420 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:21,880 ...bad news because it's-- 421 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,880 it could be a part of the body of the sarcophagus, 422 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:27,280 a large one. 423 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:31,400 Not only is the chunk clearly smashed, 424 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:35,240 it's several feet away from the back wall 425 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,960 where the pharaoh's sarcophagus should stand. 426 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:43,280 Ah! Oh my goodness. 427 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:52,520 So, it's almost one meter. 428 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,600 That means it's one-third of the original sarcophagus. 429 00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:59,640 So, maybe we have only one part out 430 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:01,880 and the rest could be there. 431 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:04,040 We shall see. 432 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:10,160 With the body of the sarcophagus broken up, 433 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:12,960 Mohamed's dream of finding a pharaoh's mummy 434 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:14,920 now hangs by a thread. 435 00:26:17,360 --> 00:26:20,080 There's still a chance Sahure's body lies hidden 436 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:21,840 in the five feet of rubble 437 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,320 between Mohamed and the chamber's back wall. 438 00:26:27,360 --> 00:26:30,000 The sarcophagus chunk is too heavy to move, 439 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:33,000 so he decides to cover it and carry on. 440 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:37,920 This is archeology. 441 00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:41,440 Archeology, it's ups and downs. 442 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:44,360 But we still have hope 443 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:47,400 that we will find the mummy of King Sahure. 444 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:51,080 And I hope that I will have the chance 445 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,280 to see the face of the king for the first time. 446 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:05,200 In Aswan... 447 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:09,920 Alejandro's workers scour the shaft 448 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,920 in Sarenput I's giant tomb. 449 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:16,240 Any clue the looters dropped, 450 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:19,480 could reveal the original occupant's identity, 451 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,160 and what the tomb raiders were after. 452 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:33,720 Amazing. This is the type of art-- 453 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:35,920 artifact that we were looking for. 454 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,680 This is a miniature of a calcite vase... 455 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:47,040 that probably was used to contain something very precious. 456 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,360 This is only available for people belonging 457 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:53,360 to the high class of Egypt. 458 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:57,080 The quality of the work is amazing. 459 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:02,920 Outside in the light, Alejandro is able to take a closer look. 460 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:07,160 This miniature vessel, 461 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:10,320 it is very common to find in cosmetic boxes 462 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:13,320 and concretely, this one would contain the kohl 463 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:16,440 to paint the eyes, the famous Egyptian eyes. 464 00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:23,280 The cosmetic boxes are common in the female burials. 465 00:28:23,360 --> 00:28:26,920 So, I should say that 85% of possibilities 466 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,400 that the person buried there was a woman. 467 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:31,880 In Ancient Egypt, 468 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:35,640 imported cosmetic products were highly valuable... 469 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:40,280 precious enough to make them a prime target for tomb raiders. 470 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:45,240 As far as we have seen 471 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:47,240 during these last years, 472 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:49,920 the looters were looking for mainly perfumes, 473 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,040 oils, that accompany the mummy. 474 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:59,000 All the pieces of evidence that we have found 475 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:00,280 seems to point 476 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:04,040 that the original person who was buried here 477 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:05,840 was a woman. 478 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:07,640 The date is the 12th Dynasty, 479 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:11,280 we cannot precisely say if it's contemporary to Sarenput. 480 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:13,760 But, if so, it seems likely 481 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:17,880 that she might be a member of his family. 482 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:24,240 Alejandro has zeroed in on possible culprits and their motive. 483 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:30,080 He's even worked out who the victim might have been. 484 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:34,520 The only thing his crime scene is missing... is a body. 485 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,480 In Aswan... 486 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:50,400 ...with his workers' safety his top priority, 487 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:52,520 Alejandro installs a winch 488 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,760 to help remove debris from the shaft tomb. 489 00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:58,760 If he can recover the victim, 490 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:02,720 he might be able to reconstruct the raiders' crime. 491 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,800 As the workers clear the last buckets of sand, 492 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,840 the final clues emerge from the dust. 493 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:13,840 Most of the material that is 494 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:18,160 coming out now is, uh, part of the body, 495 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:23,040 of the skeleton of the original person who was buried here. 496 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,720 Instead of finding a carefully wrapped mummy, 497 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:35,600 Alejandro's team finds only scattered bones. 498 00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:48,080 Well, we have just found the skull 499 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,400 of the original occupant of this chamber. 500 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:54,600 At the end, this is like a crime scene, 501 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:56,760 we do the work of the policemen. 502 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:04,080 So, now we begin to know how the tomb raiders act. 503 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,360 They were not interested at all in the head of the mummy, 504 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:10,960 so they keep it inside the burial chamber 505 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:15,480 and they took probably the rest of the body in the shaft, 506 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:18,720 perhaps because they could breathe much better, 507 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,240 and there would be less dust. 508 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:26,640 They open the bandages, trying to look for, uh, jewelry, 509 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:30,120 amulets, or whatever this person could have. 510 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:34,640 After plundering the dead woman's 511 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:36,400 cosmetics collection, 512 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:38,720 it seems the raiders pulled the body 513 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:42,240 from its degraded coffin and robbed it clean, 514 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:45,400 before throwing it back and refilling the shaft. 515 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:51,920 Imagine the conditions here 516 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,160 for the tomb raiders. 517 00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:57,280 The quantity of dust. Almost no light. 518 00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:00,760 Five, seven guys shouting, 519 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:02,560 "Get me more, get me more! 520 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:05,000 It's a woman. Take the money!" 521 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:10,200 I can feel how the process of looting should happen. 522 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:14,720 Unlike the organized raids on the pyramids, 523 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:18,120 this robbery was a lightning strike burglary. 524 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:20,440 An opportunistic attack 525 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:22,960 on a vulnerable elite tomb. 526 00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:27,720 But like the heists on the pharaohs, 527 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,280 the evidence suggests the perpetrators here 528 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:32,440 relied on insider knowledge. 529 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:35,720 In Egyptology, we used to say, 530 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:40,080 always, uh, the tomb raiders were possibly those 531 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:42,440 who participated in the construction of the tombs, 532 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:45,800 so they know the structure of the, the tomb. 533 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:50,680 The excavation of this burial apartment 534 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:53,360 has provide us with another piece of evidence. 535 00:32:57,040 --> 00:32:59,320 With his dig season winding down, 536 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:02,400 Alejandro will have to wait to excavate the rest 537 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:05,360 of the shafts in Sarenput's funerary complex. 538 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:09,520 Perhaps next time, he'll find one 539 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:11,200 the tomb raiders missed. 540 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:18,040 At Dahshur, 541 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:22,200 Chris wants to explore how the pharaohs reacted 542 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:24,800 to the constant threat of tomb raiding. 543 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:27,960 Priests only protected pyramids 544 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:30,400 as long as the king's cult was active. 545 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:35,000 What safeguards did later pyramid builders put in place 546 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,960 nearly 600 years after Userkaf's tomb was raided? 547 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:45,520 Today, the pyramid of Middle Kingdom Pharaoh Amenemhat III 548 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:47,480 is barely recognizable. 549 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,000 Reduced by weather and time 550 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,240 to a crumbling mudbrick core. 551 00:33:57,200 --> 00:33:58,800 Okay. 552 00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:01,240 The pharaoh sought savings above ground 553 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:02,760 with cheaper materials. 554 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,840 But below, he spared no expense. 555 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,840 Previous kings built simple substructures, 556 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:15,640 a single passage leading to a single burial chamber, 557 00:34:15,720 --> 00:34:18,160 protected by a portcullis. 558 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:20,440 Wow. 559 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:22,880 Huh, and... 560 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:27,400 I have a choice to make... 561 00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:30,200 Amenemhat seems to have chosen 562 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:31,880 a different strategy. 563 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,560 It's really not obvious which is the right way. 564 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:42,960 He didn't just dig one passage. 565 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:44,240 Up here... 566 00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:45,680 His pyramid contains 567 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:50,360 around 440 yards of tunnels, dead ends, and drops. 568 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:52,760 The burial chamber of the king 569 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:54,040 must be here somewhere. 570 00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:55,560 But every time you, 571 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:59,600 you turn down another kind of narrow, dark passageway, 572 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:02,880 it's harder and harder to hold in your mind where you've been. 573 00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:05,680 And you've gotta think that if a robber was doing this, 574 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:08,160 it's all very well thinking that you could get the treasure, 575 00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:10,120 but you've then gotta find your way out again, too. 576 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:14,560 So, let's try... this way. 577 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:21,480 Oh, wow. Hello. 578 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:25,720 That's not something I was expecting to see. 579 00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:30,880 This is a canopic chest, um, 580 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:35,440 so it's a great big piece of really beautiful alabaster, 581 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:37,400 translucent alabaster, 582 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:40,480 which you can see through if I shine my light. 583 00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:43,600 These would have received the mummified internal organs 584 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:47,000 of the deceased, somebody, perhaps the king. 585 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,680 Amenemhat's tight, maze-like passages 586 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:56,480 seem to have saved at least one valuable treasure from theft. 587 00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:59,240 So, where's the burial itself, I wonder? 588 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:07,120 In Abusir, 589 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:09,800 Mohamed's team have spent several days 590 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:11,400 clearing tons of rubble 591 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:14,160 from around the broken chunk of sarcophagus. 592 00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:17,800 But the king is nowhere to be found. 593 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,640 And the full extent of the Ottoman treasure hunters raiding 594 00:36:23,720 --> 00:36:25,400 is now clear. 595 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,520 Oh, we have found another big piece 596 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:31,600 of the body of the sarcophagus. 597 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:36,640 Mohamed's job is no longer a search for Sahure. 598 00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:39,600 It's to step into the shoes of an Ottoman looter 599 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:41,880 and reconstruct the raid. 600 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:44,200 What's really interesting, 601 00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:49,680 that we have found the full, complete western wall, 602 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:51,440 except for this part. 603 00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:55,480 This part, the tomb raiders were, uh, cutting it. 604 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:57,960 Maybe they were thinking that behind this part 605 00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:00,720 they would find another secret passages. 606 00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:07,480 Beside the hacked-out western wall, 607 00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:11,600 Mohamed's team clears the ground where Sahure's sarcophagus once stood. 608 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:17,720 They cut the floor 609 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:20,320 thinking maybe that they would find 610 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,000 something under the sarcophagus 611 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:25,360 that leads them to some treasures or something like that. 612 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:29,200 That's why we have here this cut. 613 00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:33,600 After six years of planning and excavation, 614 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:36,600 Sahure's story can finally be told. 615 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:43,760 When the Ottoman Era tomb raiders entered 700 years ago, 616 00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:46,000 they found an intact sarcophagus, 617 00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:48,880 perhaps even complete with the pharaoh's mummy. 618 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:54,520 They shattered the lid with their iron chisels... 619 00:37:56,680 --> 00:37:59,000 taking what they could from the King's body. 620 00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:04,880 Knowing little about the pyramid structure, 621 00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:06,880 they destroyed the sarcophagus... 622 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:10,000 but found nothing beneath. 623 00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:15,440 They attacked the walls in search of secret chambers, 624 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:18,040 but succeeded only in bringing down the ceiling. 625 00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:27,320 He may not have found the mummy of a king, 626 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:30,080 but Mohamed has revealed a new chapter 627 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:32,040 in the history of tomb raiding. 628 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:37,520 It's a mix, actually, of feeling, 629 00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:40,040 I have different emotions. 630 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:43,640 Really, they destroyed everything. 631 00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:50,040 Frankly speaking, I hate tomb raiders, 632 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:54,640 but sometimes when they did some destruction, 633 00:38:54,720 --> 00:38:58,760 they help us to understand the full story. 634 00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:01,280 Sahure's enduring cult 635 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:04,600 might have protected his pyramid during ancient times, 636 00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:07,800 but an unguarded tomb was vulnerable. 637 00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:09,880 So, how did pharaohs adapt 638 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,360 if they couldn't rely on their priests? 639 00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:16,600 At Dahshur... 640 00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:19,440 Okay, it's not that way. 641 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:23,880 ...Chris retraces his footsteps 642 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:26,640 deep within one of the last great pyramids 643 00:39:26,720 --> 00:39:28,280 ever built by Egyptians. 644 00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:34,520 This really is a, a very confusing place. 645 00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:37,000 It's difficult not to think that 646 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:39,200 maybe part of the purpose here 647 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:41,880 is to deter or stop robbers. 648 00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:45,120 When you think of the earlier Old Kingdom pyramids, 649 00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:47,720 they were so much more straightforward. 650 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:51,360 It's an extraordinary place in here, 651 00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:53,240 absolutely extraordinary. 652 00:39:56,600 --> 00:40:00,040 It seems Amenemhat III's protective innovation 653 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:04,280 was to make his tomb as difficult as possible to navigate. 654 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:11,320 Ha-ha-ha! 655 00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:15,160 Wow. 656 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:19,360 At the southern end of the last tunnel, 657 00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:23,200 Chris finally arrives at the king's burial chamber 658 00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:27,160 and Amenemhat's sarcophagus. 659 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:33,640 There's a pair of really exquisite 660 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:36,960 Udjat eyes, amuletic eyes. 661 00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:43,120 The idea is that these eyes allow him to, to see out, 662 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:45,040 you know, perhaps to ward off evil spirits 663 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:47,480 or guard against robbers, even. 664 00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:51,480 The eyes face east to the rising sun, 665 00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:54,360 and Amenemhat's eternal afterlife. 666 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:57,480 But the king's eyes failed to deter raiders. 667 00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:00,560 Like almost every chamber in the tomb, 668 00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:02,880 the sarcophagus is empty. 669 00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:07,360 This is, along with the alabaster canopic chest, 670 00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:12,800 just about the only object that's still left inside this pyramid. 671 00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:17,520 Too big, too wide, too heavy to move. 672 00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:20,320 So, the sarcophagus is still here, 673 00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:24,360 but just about everything else has been taken by the robbers. 674 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:30,040 Amenemhat's tomb 675 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:32,520 was one of the last pyramids ever to be built. 676 00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:36,960 Perhaps their biggest weakness was not their security, 677 00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:39,000 but their visibility. 678 00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:44,040 The pharaohs of the pyramids' age 679 00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:47,760 thought that their power would be everlasting, even in death. 680 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:51,000 But no amount of granite blockings, 681 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:53,480 portcullises, winding passageways, 682 00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:56,120 would be a match for the tomb robbers 683 00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:58,080 who just knew where to look. 684 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:06,400 The raiding of pyramid tombs 685 00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:09,200 proved the final straw for the pharaohs. 686 00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:13,480 The age of giant monolithic burial monuments was over. 687 00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:17,840 Amenemhat's father, Senusret III, 688 00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:20,440 chose to be buried not in a pyramid 689 00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:23,480 but a tomb dug deep into a cliff face. 690 00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:30,840 And pharaohs like Thutmose I went even further, 691 00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:33,960 building their tombs in a top-secret site, 692 00:42:34,040 --> 00:42:35,960 the Valley of the Kings. 693 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:41,160 For nearly 500 years, pharaohs believed their tombs, 694 00:42:41,240 --> 00:42:43,000 deep inside the mountain, 695 00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:45,800 would be safe from raiders for eternity. 696 00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:52,520 Pyramid kings had relied on the visibility of their tombs 697 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:54,360 to project their greatness. 698 00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:59,280 Vast, undecorated monoliths, signaling the pharaoh's power. 699 00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:02,600 Now forced to hide their tombs, 700 00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:05,720 Egyptian kings and nobles found new ways 701 00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:08,360 to mark themselves out in death. 702 00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:13,200 Instead of building big, they built beautiful, 703 00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:15,360 transforming their tombs into 704 00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:17,960 opulent, underground galleries, 705 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:21,880 recording Egyptian life in artwork and script. 706 00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:27,000 A legacy more valuable to archaeologists than mere treasures. 707 00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:31,840 Tomb raiders, in fact, changed elite burial practices 708 00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:33,480 in Egypt forever. 709 00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:37,480 So, maybe, we in fact have good reason 710 00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:39,640 to be thankful to the tomb robbers. 711 00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:44,840 Were it not for the raiders, 712 00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:46,800 the stories of Ancient Egypt 713 00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:49,720 might never have been preserved at all.