1 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:05,400 In the heart of modern Cairo... 2 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:10,000 ...an expert team of archaeologists 3 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:11,160 and scientists... 4 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:17,120 ...is about to perform a high-resolution CT scan... 5 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:19,400 This is my oldest patient. 6 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:21,960 ...to forensically analyze one of the oldest, 7 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,480 most complete mummies ever discovered in Egypt. 8 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:27,440 Boss! 9 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:29,160 That must be remains of the brain. 10 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:30,280 Yes? 11 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,040 And bring us closer than ever to the lives 12 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:35,240 and deaths of the Ancient Egyptians 13 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,440 who shaped this powerful civilization. 14 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:40,280 This is a definite proof 15 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:42,960 how one person can change the course of history. 16 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,040 For 3,000 years, 17 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,520 Egypt was the land of the pharaohs. 18 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:03,000 All powerful rulers... 19 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:08,560 famed for their extraordinary tombs... 20 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:13,720 and colossal monuments. 21 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,640 What were the origins of this great kingdom? 22 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:26,400 And who forged the mold for the iconic role of pharaoh? 23 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:33,640 Today, archaeologists are searching for evidence 24 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:36,440 of how the first pharaohs rose to power... 25 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:42,560 propelled themselves to the status of immortal gods... 26 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:48,560 and built one of the world's first and longest-lived civilizations. 27 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:54,640 In ancient Hebenu, 28 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:57,640 once the rural hinterlands of Ancient Egypt... 29 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,280 are the remains of a mysterious pyramid. 30 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,520 This season, German archaeologist 31 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:16,920 Richard Bussmann and his team will investigate the pyramid 32 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,920 to understand why it is here and what it can reveal 33 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,880 about Egypt's first pharaohs. 34 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:27,040 The pyramid has not been researched very well, 35 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,400 so we would like to understand better the building history. 36 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:33,360 This is, up to the present day, unknown. 37 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,760 Richard believes this pyramid was inspired by Egypt's first, 38 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,120 Djoser's Step Pyramid in Saqqara. 39 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,680 This miniature copy stood 35 feet tall 40 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:52,280 and was constructed from four levels of limestone blocks. 41 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:57,680 Why did the Ancient Egyptians build it here 100 miles south 42 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:00,840 of the pyramid fields of Saqqara and Giza, 43 00:03:00,920 --> 00:03:03,400 and on the opposite side of the Nile? 44 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:09,600 All the pyramids in Saqqara and Giza 45 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,360 are the colossal tombs of early kings. 46 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,440 Richard wants to investigate inside this pyramid 47 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:18,600 to see if he can find a burial chamber. 48 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:22,760 We'll leave the scaffolding and tools here for now. Come with me. 49 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:26,440 His foreman, Alaa, is responsible 50 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:29,400 for ensuring it's safe to work inside the pyramid. 51 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:32,960 So, we need to make sure we enter here safely. 52 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,240 They enter via a looter's tunnel. 53 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:39,840 We have all the scaffolding here. 54 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:41,920 But the blocks are unstable 55 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,640 and the whole thing could collapse easily. 56 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:46,200 Be careful when you're going down. 57 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:47,360 This is dangerous. 58 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:51,280 Come through here, boss. Slowly. 59 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:56,840 Carefully, Richard and Alaa 60 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:58,760 make their way inside the pyramid. 61 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:04,160 Carefully. 62 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:06,160 Be careful. Watch your head. 63 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:07,560 Come, come. 64 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:10,840 Don't touch anything. Be careful, boss. 65 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:14,640 The workers have erected a wooden scaffold 66 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:18,360 to try and stabilize the hollow core of the pyramid. 67 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:20,680 So now, we are inside the pyramid. 68 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:24,480 It's a little bit difficult here really to work, 69 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:26,640 because the more we walk around, 70 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,080 the more we remove of the stability of the pyramid. 71 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:34,320 Richard has discovered some features 72 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:38,000 which are a sign that there was once an internal structure. 73 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:40,200 Here, we can see an aisle... 74 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:46,160 and the aisle seems to lead to this pit in the center. 75 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,040 Richard wants to investigate the pit 76 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:52,040 to see if there's any evidence of a burial. 77 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:54,600 We can't work here at the moment. 78 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:56,480 We need to develop a strategy 79 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:00,840 for stabilizing the structure. 80 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:09,200 The workers build a scaffold as a platform on top of the pyramid 81 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:12,160 so they can work above the hole in the roof 82 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,240 and raise debris directly from the pit below, 83 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:18,160 without dislodging the loose stones. 84 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,640 But even clearing the pit will be risky. 85 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:25,720 We don't want to remove too much of this material 86 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,000 so that the stones start moving. 87 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:29,640 Once the stones start moving, 88 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:31,440 it becomes dangerous for us to work. 89 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:34,000 To avoid a catastrophic collapse 90 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:35,160 of the pyramid... 91 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:37,320 It's dangerous here. 92 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:39,560 ...Richard will need to find evidence 93 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:42,680 indicating whether the pit was a burial chamber 94 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:46,640 without removing all the fallen stone and debris. 95 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:53,920 In the ancient city of Abydos... 96 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,320 Egyptologist and vintage clothes enthusiast 97 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:07,440 Colleen Darnell is in search of Egypt's very first pharaoh. 98 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,280 She has come to the temple of Seti I, 99 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,640 one of Egypt's later kings and father of Ramses the Great. 100 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:22,880 Seti I left a remarkable record on the walls of his temple 101 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:25,880 which has survived for over 3,000 years. 102 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:31,000 Wow, this is it! 103 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:33,640 This is the Abydos King List, 104 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:36,840 a historical catalog of previous kings. 105 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,520 Seti recorded the names of 76 kings 106 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:43,640 stretching back nearly 2,000 years 107 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:45,400 before his own rule. 108 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,360 Before the pharaohs controlled Egypt, 109 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:51,920 the Nile Valley was a very different place. 110 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:57,920 Long before the pyramids, 111 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:00,800 early Egyptians were nomadic people, 112 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:03,280 roaming the fertile banks of the Nile. 113 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:11,280 Over the course of centuries, they developed agriculture, trade, 114 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:15,000 and established city states ruled by tribal chiefdoms. 115 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:22,720 Two powerful realms took shape: upper and lower Egypt, 116 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,880 each with their own king and signature crown. 117 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,200 Whoever could unite the rival factions 118 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:33,880 would become king of all Egypt. 119 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:41,640 Colleen scans the list 120 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:44,440 for who this great unifier might have been. 121 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,640 The Egyptians were exceptionally good record keepers. 122 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:52,440 They loved to record historical events, 123 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:54,480 and they knew the number of years, months, 124 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,560 and even days that previous kings had ruled. 125 00:07:57,640 --> 00:07:59,760 And at the very beginning, 126 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:02,920 we see a cartouche that writes "Mene," 127 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:05,600 often called in Greek, "Menes." 128 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:09,560 By putting Mene first in the king's list, 129 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:13,200 Seti is acknowledging that Mene was the king 130 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:16,080 who unified upper and lower Egypt. 131 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:20,280 So, he gets prime position at the beginning of the list. 132 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,120 Colleen is now on the trail of Mene... 133 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:31,200 to understand who he was and how he unified Egypt. 134 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,000 Three hundred miles north in modern Cairo... 135 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:46,560 behind the scenes of the Egyptian Museum... 136 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:52,680 Miroslav Barta and his expert team of radiologists 137 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:56,840 are about to undertake a rare forensic operation. 138 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:59,560 They could just put it on this, down. 139 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:02,880 On the 4,500-year-old mummy 140 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:06,960 of a high-ranking official called Ptah Shepses, 141 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:10,480 who served in the Royal Court of four early pharaohs. 142 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:13,640 It is by all means a big day. 143 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:17,680 I arrived, uh, this morning in order to attend this procedure, 144 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:20,440 the CT scanning of this unique mummy, 145 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:24,040 because it's been more than a year since the discovery. 146 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:31,480 When Miroslav and his team first entered Ptah Shepses' tomb... 147 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:36,080 they discovered the complete mummy 148 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:38,880 still inside his stone sarcophagus. 149 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:41,960 And he was sitting there. 150 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:43,840 It was as if were waiting for us to come 151 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,880 and saying, "Took some time, gentlemen." 152 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:50,520 So, that was my first personal encounter with this guy. 153 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,560 The CT scan offers Miroslav a unique glimpse 154 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,360 of how the art and meaning of mummification 155 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:02,600 developed during the early years of Ancient Egypt. 156 00:10:02,680 --> 00:10:06,320 It's a very important mummy, one of the first mummies 157 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:11,400 displaying very, um, elaborate way of mummification. 158 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:16,960 With Ptah Shepses in position... 159 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:20,200 the team goes to the control room 160 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:22,880 where they will be protected from the radiation 161 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:25,440 emitted by the CT scanner. 162 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:27,760 Doctor, can we start? 163 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,920 I hope he's got, um, a load of stories to tell us. 164 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:37,880 In ancient Hebenu... 165 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:42,200 Richard is investigating the ruins 166 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:44,120 of this mysterious pyramid 167 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,280 built during the reign of the early pharaohs. 168 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:48,880 This shaft is dangerous, boss. 169 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:51,400 The team is gradually extracting sand 170 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:53,760 from the pit inside the pyramid. 171 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:56,520 The work in the pyramid is, of course, delicate 172 00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,640 because everyone has to know where to step 173 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:01,640 and which stones to avoid. 174 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:05,320 But the workmen are experienced, 175 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:09,120 and we have built a, uh, robust scaffolding. 176 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:13,360 Their plan is to remove samples of sand 177 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:15,240 from different depths of the pit... 178 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,800 and sieve each bucket for ancient remains 179 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:23,840 that could indicate to Richard if this was a burial chamber. 180 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:25,960 How's it going here, boss? 181 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:30,720 Can we see the bottom of the pit? 182 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:35,440 Very interesting. 183 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:38,440 Richard's method has worked. 184 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:40,040 He now has a theory. 185 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:43,360 So, we have here three different samples 186 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:44,880 of mortar. 187 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:48,080 These are probably, um, different periods. 188 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:52,400 The yellow one very likely is from the original pyramid, 189 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:54,480 that means from the Old Kingdom. 190 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:58,200 The black and the white one, 191 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:01,480 this might be later, this might be Roman. 192 00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:03,800 The more recent mortar from the pit 193 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:08,720 is evidence that the structure isn't part of the original pyramid design. 194 00:12:10,560 --> 00:12:12,360 It's a hypothesis at the moment 195 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:14,400 that the pit was built in the Roman period 196 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:16,520 and plastered in the Roman period, 197 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:19,560 uh, inside the pharaonic monument. 198 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:21,960 Richard thinks the Romans that lived here 199 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:26,120 over 3,000 years later might have constructed a system 200 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:28,640 inside the pyramid to store water. 201 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:33,320 It means there's no evidence that it was built as a tomb. 202 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,400 There are no bones, there is no burial equipment, 203 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:40,800 so very likely this is not a, um, a burial chamber. 204 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:44,440 It's a puzzling mystery that leaves Richard 205 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:47,040 with even more questions about this place. 206 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:50,480 If this was not a burial, 207 00:12:50,560 --> 00:12:52,920 what was the function of the pyramid? 208 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:56,600 He now needs to look beyond the pyramid 209 00:12:56,680 --> 00:12:59,880 and search for clues in the earth that surrounds it. 210 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:03,880 Maybe the ground on which we stand currently, 211 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:06,680 there might be more evidence, there might be more material 212 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:09,080 that shows what was going on here. 213 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:15,880 Just a few feet beneath the surface, 214 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:18,400 workers unearth a skull. 215 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,240 In the ancient necropolis of Abydos... 216 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:33,480 Colleen is tracing back through Ancient Egypt's rulers 217 00:13:33,560 --> 00:13:36,800 to find the true origins of this great civilization. 218 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:40,800 She wants to understand how the first king 219 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:45,120 unified upper and lower Egypt and became the archetype 220 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:47,360 for what it meant to be a pharaoh. 221 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:49,760 This is Umm el Qa'ab, 222 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:52,520 a place that I have always wanted to visit. 223 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:57,160 It is a royal necropolis that dates almost 2,000 years 224 00:13:57,240 --> 00:13:59,160 before the Valley of the Kings. 225 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:01,720 Long before pharaohs 226 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:04,680 constructed the great pyramid tombs of Giza 227 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:08,080 or the rock-cut tombs in the Valley of the Kings, 228 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:12,040 this was where Egypt's earliest rulers were laid to rest. 229 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:16,000 The stones on the ground mark the outline 230 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:18,640 of one of these simple, early royal burials. 231 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:24,160 Colleen believes this is the tomb of King Narmer, 232 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:27,480 thought by most Egyptologists to be another name 233 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:29,120 for King Mene. 234 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,520 He is Mene of the king's list at Abydos. 235 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:36,160 These are sand filled, mudbrick chambers 236 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:38,720 which is where King Narmer was buried. 237 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,160 He chose this sacred location 238 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:45,240 because it had already been a burial place for earlier kings 239 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:47,600 before the unification period. 240 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:52,920 One hundred miles south of Narmer's burial, 241 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,520 in Hierakonpolis, archaeologists discovered 242 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:01,240 an extraordinary piece of ancient art depicting King Narmer. 243 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:04,480 This is the Narmer Palette, 244 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:06,960 one of the world's oldest historical documents, 245 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:10,240 and one of the most important for the early history of Egypt. 246 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:13,560 The Narmer Palette records the moment 247 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,520 that Ancient Egypt as we know it began, 248 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:19,680 and depicts how Narmer won himself the title 249 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:22,040 of its founding king. 250 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:25,600 On one side, we see King Narmer wearing the white crown of upper Egypt, 251 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:29,360 smiting an enemy-- probably one of the last kings 252 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:34,080 holding out against his authority in lower Egypt. 253 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:36,280 Then, on the other side of the palette, 254 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:39,360 Narmer is wearing the red crown of lower Egypt, 255 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:42,600 and we even see his decapitated foes 256 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:44,360 lined up in front of him. 257 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:47,400 This is a powerful, symbolic statement 258 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:51,240 of Narmer's unification of upper and lower Egypt. 259 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:55,880 The palette is not only a testament 260 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:58,880 to Narmer's victory in uniting Egypt, 261 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,200 but also the template for how future pharaohs 262 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:06,080 would style themselves for the next 3,000 years. 263 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:08,480 This icon of the smiting pose 264 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:12,400 symbolizes his unification of upper and lower Egypt. 265 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:19,200 It is the ideal to which all future pharaohs will strive. 266 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:24,560 Every pharaoh would follow Narmer 267 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:29,040 and seek to reinforce their rule over both lands, 268 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:33,000 and merge the two crowns as a symbol of unity. 269 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:38,520 By bringing the people of Egypt together as one kingdom, 270 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,960 Narmer founded a powerful country and paved the way 271 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:45,080 for one of the world's greatest civilizations. 272 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:50,120 Yet he wasn't buried in a grand tomb or pyramid like later pharaohs. 273 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:55,080 Colleen is now on the hunt for Narmer's successors 274 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:57,480 to see how they used their death and burial 275 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:00,680 to elevate themselves beyond mortal kings. 276 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:05,800 In ancient Hebenu... 277 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:08,280 Maybe we can start with taking a measurement. 278 00:17:08,360 --> 00:17:10,800 ...Richard has expanded his investigation 279 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:13,120 to search the perimeter of the pyramid 280 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:15,640 in his hunt for clues that could tell him 281 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:19,400 what the pyramid was for, and why it was built here 282 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:21,960 in the time of the early pharaohs. 283 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:26,320 Do you want to check this out? 284 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:28,320 One of the workers hits something 285 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:30,240 just feet from the pyramid. 286 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:31,440 Oh! 287 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:34,120 This looks like a burial. 288 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:37,280 This is really a fantastic find. 289 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:44,240 It's not long before the team 290 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:47,360 finds skeletal remains throughout the whole trench. 291 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:56,200 We have almost ten burials alone 292 00:17:56,280 --> 00:17:58,000 in this, uh, square. 293 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:01,440 So, really, the people were buried one next to the other. 294 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:04,200 The team has uncovered 295 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:07,160 part of an ancient cemetery 296 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:09,840 which seems to extend under the pyramid. 297 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:16,800 This burial was hid by the foundation blocks 298 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:20,040 when they were placed here for building the pyramid. 299 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:23,640 It means the cemetery was already here 300 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:25,840 before the pyramid was built. 301 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:29,440 This is the ribs here. 302 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:31,680 - And this is the... - Right. 303 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:33,480 ...where the ear would have been. 304 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:35,320 - Mm-hmm. -So, you're kind of-- 305 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:37,840 we're turning more towards facing north 306 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:39,240 -rather than west here. -Right. 307 00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:42,320 These here are all facing east? 308 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:46,960 Possibly, some are a little bit like this, some a little like this. 309 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:48,400 Not all. 310 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:51,760 Uh, we are discussing, uh, 311 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:54,640 where the body was placed, 312 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:56,520 whether the head was in the north 313 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:58,480 or the head was in the south, 314 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:02,320 but not all individuals had the same body position. 315 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:06,040 The style and depth of the graves 316 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:08,520 beneath the foundation level of the pyramid 317 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:12,560 tells Richard that these are predynastic burials, 318 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,360 the resting place of the people that lived here 319 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:18,480 5,000 years ago, just before Narmer 320 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:21,520 unified Egypt and became the first pharaoh. 321 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:24,800 It's a rare opportunity to learn more 322 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:28,800 about Egyptian society just before the first pharaohs. 323 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:31,360 It’s a gully. 324 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:33,360 I can see pottery. 325 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:35,960 And next to the pottery, is that a skull or pottery? 326 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:37,160 It's something beautiful. 327 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:38,280 Oh! 328 00:19:38,360 --> 00:19:40,840 As the team uncovers more of the burials, 329 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:43,240 they begin to reveal grave goods. 330 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:46,240 It's a bit shiny. 331 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:47,720 - Hmm. 332 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:50,640 Richard now wants to decode the burials 333 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:54,360 and understand what beliefs these people had about death 334 00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:57,600 in an age before mummies and pharaohs. 335 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:06,160 In the center of modern Cairo, 336 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:08,200 at the Egyptian museum... 337 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:12,000 Miroslav and his team are scanning the mummy 338 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,680 of the high priest Ptah Shepses. 339 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:17,800 The discovery of his mummy 340 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:20,280 completes one of the most detailed portraits 341 00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:23,520 of elite life in early Ancient Egypt. 342 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:26,200 Around the 1860s... 343 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:29,760 archaeologists unearthed the chapel 344 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:32,400 that sat above Ptah Shepses' tomb. 345 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:37,000 On the western wall was a limestone carving, 346 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:40,080 painted pink to look like granite. 347 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:45,640 Green hieroglyphics engraved on the stone tell the life story of Ptah Shepses, 348 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,360 who served four early pharaohs, 349 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:51,920 married a princess, and lived into his 70s. 350 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:57,920 We will know about him more than we happen to know 351 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:01,680 about our predecessors three generations back. 352 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:03,400 I mean, this is-- 353 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,680 this is really what makes Egyptology so fascinating. 354 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:09,840 I simply love it. 355 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:13,800 They are starting with the head to see 356 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:17,360 what they can learn about how Ptah Shepses was mummified. 357 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:24,160 Miroslav won't have to wait long to see what secrets the mummy is keeping, 358 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,720 as the CT scans start to appear on the monitor. 359 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:30,600 -Boss. - So that-- 360 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,920 that must be, uh, remains of-- of the brain, yes. 361 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:35,400 Remains of the brain. 362 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:42,280 Tomás Belsan is an expert radiologist. 363 00:21:42,360 --> 00:21:45,720 He analyzes the scans in more detail. 364 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:52,240 We don't find any artificial hole into the head 365 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:54,480 to remove the brain. 366 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:56,440 So, during the mummification process 367 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:58,920 the brain simply dried out? 368 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,480 Isn't it unique, really, even for you to see that? 369 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:04,800 Never ever, in humans. 370 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:05,960 Mm. 371 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:08,040 This is my oldest patient. 372 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:12,200 Miroslav and Tomás can see from the scan 373 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:15,400 that no attempt was made to remove the brain, 374 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,080 as it was in most other Ancient Egyptian mummies 375 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:19,960 that have been discovered. 376 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,440 Instead, the brain has dried out 377 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:25,280 during the 70-day mummification process 378 00:22:25,360 --> 00:22:27,600 and been preserved inside the skull. 379 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:34,240 For now, it remains a mystery exactly why the brain was left. 380 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:36,160 Be careful with that. 381 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:40,480 It's a delicate operation to reposition Ptah Shepses 382 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:44,360 so they scan his chest and reveal what's inside. 383 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:51,000 In ancient Hebenu... 384 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:56,800 Richard and his team of archaeologists have discovered a predynastic cemetery 385 00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:00,920 right at the foot of the pyramid they've been investigating. 386 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,520 Now, we have found 17 burials, 387 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:10,160 well-preserved, intact, un-looted, uh, tombs 388 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:13,040 uh, which really, um, is an exception. 389 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:17,120 Now, they want to examine the grave goods 390 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,760 to understand what early Egyptians believed about death 391 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,280 long before the extravagant burials of the pharaohs. 392 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:30,080 Now, we have just found another, uh, jar 393 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:32,800 in front of this skull. 394 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:36,960 So, the situation here is similar to the other burials 395 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:38,600 that we've found here, 396 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:42,280 skull plus pottery, skull plus pottery. 397 00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:44,520 Maybe this is really for food provision, 398 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:46,440 for eating and for drinking. 399 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:52,800 These grave goods hint at an early cultural tradition, 400 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,200 a shared belief that the dead required sustenance 401 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:58,600 so they could live on in the afterlife. 402 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:03,880 Right beneath the foundation stone of the pyramid, 403 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,520 Pia and Isabel uncover a striking burial. 404 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:13,200 In the grave at the moment, we have an upside-down bowl, we have another bowl 405 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:15,320 that has a very nicely preserved shell in it. 406 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:18,480 And yeah, actually... 407 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:21,720 hmm... 408 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:24,200 Pia spots a feature on the bones. 409 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:26,680 I see another long bone, which is here, 410 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:28,800 and the epiphysis. So, the bone ends 411 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:32,200 of the long bones, they are not fused yet. 412 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,720 And if it's unfused, that means we have a child. 413 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:42,720 It's kind of, um, setting in how young this individual is. 414 00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:48,000 As they brush more sand from around the bowl, 415 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,160 they make a profound discovery. 416 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:53,320 Oh, oh, oh! 417 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:55,760 That looks bony. 418 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:57,640 Maybe that's the hand. 419 00:24:57,720 --> 00:24:59,800 - Be holding onto the bowl. 420 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:01,720 You mean literally cr-- oh! 421 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,440 It looks like the-- the child 422 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,440 is literally holding the bowl and cradling it. 423 00:25:16,360 --> 00:25:20,320 The mother-of-pearl shell probably came from the Red Sea, 424 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:23,000 over 100 miles away to the east. 425 00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:26,520 It would have been a prized object. 426 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:28,720 They really took some care to make sure 427 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:30,840 that they are going to have a nice afterlife, 428 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:33,840 and it's really touching to see. Really. 429 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:38,040 Although it would be more than 500 years 430 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,760 before the practice of mummification was developed... 431 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:45,960 these grave goods reveal the early origins of a belief in an afterlife. 432 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:48,960 After the rise of the pharaohs, 433 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,800 these beliefs would grow increasingly complex. 434 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:56,080 We are excavating here a predynastic cemetery, 435 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:58,880 but 1,000 years later, 436 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:02,920 uh, there are very interesting, so-called letters to the dead. 437 00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:07,360 Ancient Egyptians believed the dead lived on 438 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,080 in an afterlife, and could control the earthly world 439 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:12,760 from beyond the grave. 440 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:17,120 People feared that if the deceased were unhappy 441 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,040 in their afterlife, they could bring disease 442 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:22,920 or times of hardship to those left behind. 443 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:26,480 To appease the dead, 444 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:28,960 Egyptians wrote them letters on jars, 445 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:33,240 bowls, and plates, asking for forgiveness and protection. 446 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:36,280 And when they buried their dead, 447 00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:40,320 they would leave these letters alongside offerings of food. 448 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,480 So, when we talk about social relationships in Ancient Egypt, 449 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:49,640 it's not only the relationships between the living, 450 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:53,000 it's also the relationship between the living and the dead. 451 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:55,960 The beliefs that started 452 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,040 amongst small communities in predynastic Egypt 453 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:02,040 would expand dramatically in the first centuries 454 00:27:02,120 --> 00:27:04,120 of pharaonic rule, 455 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:07,160 coming to define Ancient Egyptian society 456 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:10,040 and underpin the power of the pharaohs. 457 00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:19,520 In Abydos, Colleen is uncovering how Egypt's first kings 458 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:23,120 leveraged the widespread belief in an afterlife, 459 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:26,560 to project their power and authority beyond death. 460 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:29,560 This is incredible! 461 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:32,440 It's the tomb of Den, and even though he ruled 462 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:34,600 only a few decades after Narmer, 463 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,800 the scale has completely changed in this royal tomb. 464 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:44,520 The floor was paved with pink granite all the way from Aswan. 465 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:49,120 Clearly, Den wanted to harness the power of his kingship 466 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:52,680 in order to make a statement about his authority 467 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:54,520 through monumental tomb architecture. 468 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:57,920 The belief in an afterlife, 469 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:00,720 which had existed before the first pharaohs, 470 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:03,280 was now a central focus for the king. 471 00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:10,120 Den designed his monumental tomb to ensure his legacy extended beyond death 472 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:15,080 and paved the way for evermore complex funerary architecture. 473 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:22,360 Just one mile away is a vast mudbrick structure 474 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:27,920 built around 300 years later by one of Egypt's first master architects. 475 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:32,760 I've never been here before, and it is absolutely massive. 476 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:36,000 It is the funerary enclosure of the last king 477 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:40,400 of the Second Dynasty, a man named Khasekhemwy, 478 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:44,440 literally "The Two Powers Have Appeared in Glory." 479 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:48,440 Khasekhemwy's name 480 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:53,440 signified how he united the warring gods Horus and Set, 481 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:58,000 displaying his power both on Earth and in the realm of the gods. 482 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:00,680 He was the first pharaoh 483 00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:03,520 known to have had statues of himself carved 484 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:06,400 to preserve his image into eternity. 485 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:13,520 In Abydos, he dug his tomb in the royal cemetery of his predecessors. 486 00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:16,640 It was bigger than any before him, 487 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:20,720 with 58 rooms to store his possessions for the afterlife. 488 00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,560 Whilst the separate funerary enclosure was a public space 489 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:27,760 designed for rituals and ceremonies 490 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:31,880 celebrating the king as he lived on in the afterlife. 491 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,080 Other First and Second Dynasty kings 492 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:40,080 had constructed enclosures here, 493 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:42,360 but they were on a much smaller scale. 494 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,800 This is unprecedented in its size. 495 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:51,160 Egypt's first pharaohs 496 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:55,600 had begun a tradition that elevated them far beyond mortal beings. 497 00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:01,080 These funerary enclosures were temples to the kings, 498 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:03,600 where long after their death, they would be worshipped 499 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,200 as eternal living gods. 500 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,400 The Ancient Egyptians believed that if your name 501 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:12,000 was remembered, you lived forever. 502 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:14,320 With this monumental enclosure, 503 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:18,560 Khasekhemwy has guaranteed his immortality. 504 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,520 Not only is he proclaiming the religious significance 505 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:24,320 of his reign, he is setting the stage 506 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,920 for a revolution in monument building. 507 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:29,960 Colleen is now on a mission 508 00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:32,880 to uncover how Khasekhemwy's successor 509 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:36,680 wielded religion as a tool to consolidate power, 510 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:40,800 and used it to command and control the entire nation. 511 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:49,320 In the heart of Cairo... 512 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,160 behind the scenes of the Egyptian museum... 513 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:55,880 We just need to scan the-- the pelvis. 514 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,520 ...Miroslav's team is looking for signs 515 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:02,560 of preserved organs inside Ptah Shepses' chest 516 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:04,960 without having to unwrap the mummy. 517 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:10,320 He traveled almost 5,000 years to get here. 518 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:13,840 So, we are doing everything we can. 519 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:16,640 There's the technology to get the best for him. 520 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:20,720 As they scan millimeter by millimeter 521 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,480 through the body, the radiologists 522 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:26,240 start to build a picture of what's inside. 523 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:29,600 They think that there is a good chance to believe 524 00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:33,320 that even the heart is still in place. 525 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,040 But then, they spot something on the scans. 526 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:39,480 Looks like heart. 527 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:40,760 Heart, yes. 528 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:43,120 It's on the opposite side. 529 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:45,120 It's just a filling of linen? 530 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:47,920 You mean like resin pads? 531 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,080 The team expected that, like the brain, 532 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:53,040 the heart would have been left intact. 533 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:56,480 But closer inspection reveals that the chest 534 00:31:56,560 --> 00:31:58,200 is full of linen. 535 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:03,120 For Ancient Egyptians, it was essential to maintain 536 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:05,120 the physical appearance of the body. 537 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:08,440 Miroslav believes the embalmers 538 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:12,040 filled the chest cavity with linen soaked in resin, 539 00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:15,440 which would set hard and preserve the shape of the body. 540 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:20,120 This mummy is, uh-- and this is without doubt, 541 00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:23,240 um, a new stage in the mummification process. 542 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:26,560 It's possible that Ptah Shepses, 543 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:30,440 as a senior figure close to four of the early pharaohs, 544 00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:34,720 was one of the first people to receive this level of mummification. 545 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,880 And seen together with the decorations of his tomb 546 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:44,200 suggests he was a pioneer of what today is the definition 547 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:46,560 of an Ancient Egyptian burial. 548 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:52,240 An inscribed wall in Ptah Shepses' tomb 549 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:57,200 features the first known spell to Osiris in a non-royal monument. 550 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:02,880 In the ancient myth, Osiris died fighting his brother Set, 551 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:06,360 who cut his body into pieces and threw them in the Nile. 552 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:10,280 Anubis reassembled Osiris' body 553 00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:14,200 and wrapped him in bandages to bind him in human form 554 00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:17,760 so he could be reborn as a god in the underworld. 555 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,720 Embalmers preserved Ptah Shepses in the same way, 556 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:27,320 stuffing his body with linen and resin to keep his human shape, 557 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:29,680 and wrapping him like Osiris 558 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:32,760 so he could be reborn in the underworld. 559 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:38,320 His burial marks a significant step 560 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:41,760 in the development of funerary practices, 561 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:46,160 linking the myth of Osiris with the belief in resurrection and the afterlife. 562 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:51,720 This is a definite proof how a single person, 563 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:55,040 one person can change the course of history. 564 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:58,000 And if you want someone from the Fifth Dynasty, 565 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:01,240 from Ancient Egypt, it's him. 566 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,280 Imagine if somebody would remember my or your name 567 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:07,680 after 4,000, 5,000 years. 568 00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:11,080 It's very unlikely. He made it. 569 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:20,880 In Saqqara... 570 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:27,240 Colleen is tracing the path of Egypt's early pharaohs. 571 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:32,840 Like Khasekhemwy before him, 572 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:37,600 King Djoser wanted to construct a monument that had the power to immortalize him 573 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:42,040 and reflect the strength and prosperity of his kingdom. 574 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:48,240 Djoser was inspired by the architectural form 575 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:51,720 and religious significance of earlier monuments, 576 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:55,080 but he wanted to create a more permanent expression 577 00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:56,640 of his kingship. 578 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:02,840 What Djoser created was Egypt's first pyramid. 579 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:09,920 This is Djoser's monument to immortality, 580 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:14,800 a tomb and complex in stone meant to last forever. 581 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:19,560 This pyramid is the first monumental stone structure 582 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:21,360 anywhere in the world. 583 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,000 Djoser spared no expense 584 00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:39,920 in ensuring he lived on. 585 00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:44,680 Oh, my goodness! 586 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:48,000 This-- this is stunning, 587 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:50,600 to think of these massive blocks 588 00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:53,560 being transported all the way from Aswan, 589 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:56,400 and to make the sarcophagus. 590 00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:59,440 The king is harnessing resources 591 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:04,520 in order to lavish that expense on his own burial. 592 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:09,280 Not only has he made a statement with the step pyramid 593 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:11,920 and its complex being constructed in stone, 594 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:14,880 but using the costliest materials 595 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:17,480 for his own sarcophagus. 596 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:22,240 To embark on such a colossal building project, 597 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:25,120 the likes of which the world had never seen before, 598 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:28,000 was about more than just personal wealth. 599 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:33,440 Djoser is making an even bigger statement about his control, 600 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:37,680 the ability to marshal the mineral wealth of Egypt. 601 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:40,680 Compared to mudbrick constructions, 602 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:43,760 monumental stone buildings like the step pyramid 603 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:47,760 would have taken a whole new level of bureaucratic efficiency, 604 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:51,000 and the dedication of agricultural resources 605 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:53,320 to feed all the workmen 606 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,880 that would have done the actual moving and quarrying of the stones. 607 00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:00,400 Plus, you needed more scribes to keep the records, 608 00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:03,000 to keep the work going smoothly. 609 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:07,920 The pyramid took at least 20 years to build 610 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:10,120 and would have provided a lifetime's work 611 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:12,240 for those involved in its construction. 612 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:17,400 It's testament not only to the power and wealth of the king, 613 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:20,720 but to the creation of a highly organized society 614 00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:22,760 that now surrounded the pharaoh. 615 00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:30,840 In ancient Hebenu... 616 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:35,720 Richard and his team are exploring the remains 617 00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:37,800 of a small pyramid 618 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:41,520 built less than a century after Djoser's pyramid tomb. 619 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:45,000 They have unearthed a cemetery beneath it, 620 00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:48,760 which means there was a settlement here before the pyramid was built. 621 00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:53,040 But this pyramid wasn't built as a tomb. 622 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:56,400 Its true purpose remains a mystery. 623 00:37:57,480 --> 00:37:59,960 What has not been clear at all 624 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,840 is the space in which the pyramid was placed. 625 00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,480 Richard is hoping that in the area around the pyramid, 626 00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:09,840 they can find clues about what else was happening here 627 00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:11,760 when the pyramid was built. 628 00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:13,800 Something? 629 00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:16,280 Close to the burials, 630 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:19,400 one of the workers finds a deposit of mudbricks. 631 00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:22,720 Oh yes! 632 00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:29,400 Look, it's intact. It's good. 633 00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:32,120 These ancient building blocks 634 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:33,920 have been discarded here, 635 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:36,960 perhaps left over from a nearby building project. 636 00:38:37,720 --> 00:38:40,200 The pyramid itself is not built from mudbricks. 637 00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:42,360 The pyramid is built from stone. 638 00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:44,840 So, the mudbricks might derive from a building 639 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:46,800 that was attached to the pyramid. 640 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:50,160 As the workers excavate the mudbricks... 641 00:38:50,240 --> 00:38:51,680 Oh, what is that? 642 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:53,640 ...they discover the whole pit 643 00:38:53,720 --> 00:38:56,280 is densely packed with ancient ceramics... 644 00:38:57,640 --> 00:39:00,600 that could unravel the mystery of the pyramid. 645 00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:05,920 In ancient Hebenu... 646 00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:12,280 Richard's team has unearthed a rubbish pit thousands of years old. 647 00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:15,600 Oh, this is a nicer one, yeah. 648 00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:17,720 It's full of broken pottery, 649 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:19,640 dumped here around the same time 650 00:39:19,720 --> 00:39:21,640 as the pyramid's construction. 651 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:28,280 One of the workers has identified a piece 652 00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:31,160 that reveals something about what might have happened here. 653 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:35,760 This piece looks as if it was a piece 654 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,520 of overheated pottery. 655 00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:41,320 So, if the temperature is too high 656 00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:44,120 and there is sand inside it, 657 00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:47,200 uh, the sand almost, uh, transforms 658 00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:49,640 into a glass-like structure. 659 00:39:49,720 --> 00:39:53,520 So, this is why you find this, um, shiny surface here. 660 00:39:54,760 --> 00:40:00,800 That would mean that the pottery was actually made somewhere here. 661 00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:03,280 As the team pieces together the fragments, 662 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:06,880 they identify the pottery as beer jars. 663 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:08,560 The idea for the beer jars 664 00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:10,920 was not to make a nice beer jar, 665 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:13,360 but to produce quickly a lot of them. 666 00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:16,440 And it's a type of pottery that appears, 667 00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:19,720 um, in the early phase of the Ancient Egyptian state. 668 00:40:20,720 --> 00:40:22,760 It's crucial evidence for Richard 669 00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:25,120 that could solve part of the mystery 670 00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:26,920 behind the pyramid's construction. 671 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:32,280 And beer, was a-- a major type of ration 672 00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:36,400 given by the, um, pharaonic state to the workmen. 673 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:38,480 This is where we see what happens 674 00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:42,520 when a central administration appears in-- on the landscape. 675 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:45,120 They need to have a standardized ration 676 00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,640 that they can give to the workmen. 677 00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:49,280 So, what might have happened here 678 00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:52,120 is workmen were provisioned with beer, 679 00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:53,680 the beer was consumed, 680 00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:56,200 and after the work has been completed, 681 00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:58,600 the beer jars were deposited here. 682 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:02,480 It could be that this is rubbish 683 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,640 left by the workers who were employed by the king 684 00:41:05,720 --> 00:41:07,320 to build the pyramid. 685 00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:12,040 We haven't found any royal inscription, 686 00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:15,640 but we believe that one of the successors of Djoser 687 00:41:15,720 --> 00:41:19,360 commissioned the work here for the, uh, pyramid. 688 00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:22,240 And the pyramid very likely was a symbol 689 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:25,800 of royal representation, of royal authority 690 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:27,960 here in the provinces of Egypt. 691 00:41:29,240 --> 00:41:34,280 Djoser's step pyramid tomb was such a bold statement of royal power, 692 00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:36,240 his successors may have harnessed 693 00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:39,320 this distinctive architecture for another purpose. 694 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:46,560 Richard believes around 2600 BCE, 695 00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:50,480 King Sneferu, first ruler of the Fourth Dynasty, 696 00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:53,440 may have commissioned this small step pyramid. 697 00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:58,880 It's possible that the pyramid was a symbol of royal power... 698 00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:03,760 a landmark that stamped the king's ownership 699 00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:06,080 and control on this settlement. 700 00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:13,400 King Sneferu and his predecessor King Huni 701 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:16,800 built a total of seven near-identical pyramids 702 00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:20,320 in other small towns scattered along the Nile Valley. 703 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:28,640 With the arrival of the Old Kingdom, 704 00:42:28,720 --> 00:42:30,280 the population grew, 705 00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:32,960 not least because we see the pyramid here, 706 00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:36,800 it means that the site was already important 707 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:40,680 and the king chose this site to build a pyramid. 708 00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:42,360 But of course, also the pyramid 709 00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:46,280 might have stimulated more people to come here. 710 00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:49,920 This town prospered in the Old Kingdom. 711 00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:55,960 Richard's excavations here reveal how Egypt's first pharaohs 712 00:42:56,040 --> 00:42:59,040 had to innovate ways to project their authority 713 00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:00,800 across the country, 714 00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:03,120 to hold this fledgling kingdom together. 715 00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:09,800 The first pharaohs set Egypt on a course that would all build to this. 716 00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:15,320 The age of the pyramids... 717 00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:18,840 building projects that would demand the wealth 718 00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:20,600 and labor of the nation... 719 00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:25,200 solidify the divine image of the pharaoh, 720 00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:28,080 and define this country for millennia. 721 00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:33,920 Without the impressive achievements 722 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,160 of the first pharaohs, Ancient Egypt as we know it 723 00:43:37,240 --> 00:43:39,040 would not have existed. 724 00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:44,560 From the unification of the two lands 725 00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:48,160 through the rise of complex mummification rituals, 726 00:43:48,240 --> 00:43:51,720 to the construction of the first pyramids, 727 00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:55,200 Egypt's founding pharaohs forged the identity 728 00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:57,640 of one of the world's most enduring 729 00:43:57,720 --> 00:43:59,880 and iconic civilizations.