All language subtitles for Egypts Unexplained Files Part 2 Curse of the Crocodile Queen 1080p

Narrator:
Pyramids, temples, tombs --

these ancient wonders promise
even greater secrets

still to be found
under the sands of egypt.

Now, cutting-edge science
finally decodes

the mysterious land
of the pharaohs.

With modern technology,
we are gaining an insight

into the way
the ancient egyptians lived

and the manner
in which they died.

Narrator: This time,
unraveling the mysteries

of ancient egypt's elite.

Can cutting-edge technology
locate the lost tomb

of the legendary priest imhotep.

It's quite difficult to separate
the man from the myth.

Narrator:
Will a strange, fragmented
statue finally shed light

on the mysterious
crocodile queen?

What was she?
Who was she?

How did she achieve
what she did?

Narrator: And can modern
dna analysis reveal

how a pharaoh saves
his people from extinction?

Surviving 100 years-worth old
drought,

how's that even possible?

Narrator:
Ancient clues unearthed,
long-lost evidence re-examined,

precious artifacts brought into
the light of the 21st century.

These are egypt's
unexplained files.

-- Captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

imhotep, the famous
ancient-egyptian priest,

has eluded experts
for centuries.

The location of the tomb
of imhotep

is perhaps one of egyptology's
biggest mysteries.

It's quite difficult to separate
the man from the myth.

Narrator: Can archaeologists,
using new technology,

finally make a breakthrough?

Cutting-edge science may have
found something very exciting.

Narrator: 170 different pharaohs
rule over ancient egypt,

yet, surprisingly,
one of the most revered elites

never sits on the throne --
the mighty priest imhotep.

Imhotep is massively famous.

In the modern world,

he pops up as a character
in popular culture.

In "the mummy" movies,
he's the ultimate villain.

Narrator:
Despite his hollywood infamy,

egyptologists know little
about the real man,

and what they do know
is largely based on myth.

Legend even has it that
imhotep started off as a priest.

He's credited with being
the designer

of the first step-pyramid,

a healer,
developing the calendar.

Narrator:
Hieroglyphs in temples are
the only concrete evidence

that experts have to go on.

And they seem to suggest that
imhotep is worshipped as a god.

Reliefs and text talk
about the god imhotep,

the god imhotep.

So we know he's someone
very important,

and entire temples
are built in his honor,

especially at
the site of saqqara.

Narrator:
Yet, details of imhotep's life
are nowhere to be found.

Over the course of 4,000 years,

the real man behind
the legend is lost.

If imhotep is to be found
anywhere, it's at saqqara,

where he's believed to have
built the step-pyramid.

And it's here in the 1920s
that the first evidence emerges.

A british archaeologist
called cecil firth

is excavating buildings
around the step-pyramid,

and he uncovers the base
of a statue of joseph.

Very unusually
for such a monument,

it mentions the name
of a non-royal person,

and that is imhotep.

This is showing him to have been

a very high-ranking
individual --

a high priest of the sun god ra,
chancellor of the king --

and powerful
and important enough

to have had his name inscribed
on a statue of the king.

The statue base makes
archaeologists realize

that the divine imhotep is also
actually a historical person.

Narrator: Archaeologists hope
to find imhotep's tomb

because they believe it could
provide an invaluable insight

into ancient egyptian
medical practices.

Imhotep is a man of writing
and scholarship,

connected with medicine
and healing.

But there's a problem.

What's strange is that nowadays
we do not know

for sure where he was buried.

We assume it was somewhere
in saqqara,

the site he's associated with,
but otherwise, it's a mystery.

Narrator:
For decades, egyptologists scour
the ancient cemetery at saqqara.

British archaeologist
walter bryan

emery becomes obsessed
with finding imhotep

and makes it his life's work
to solve the mystery.

He referred to it as the quest
for imhotep and committed to it.

In his scientific reports,

he was looking for
this tomb in particular.

Narrator:
Emery goes out to saqqara.

And in 1964, his team uncovers
mysterious clues

buried beneath the sand.

He also discovers a number of
strange models of body parts.

Narrator:
At first, emery is puzzled
by the macabre objects.

When he examines them closely,

he makes an exciting
connection to imhotep.

These aren't parts of statues,
but they're donated by pilgrims

hoping for healing of ears
or eyes or arms.

Because imhotep
is a god of healing,

emery then thinks,
"well, hang on a minute.

This may be his tomb."

narrator:
When emery begins to dig into
the sand beneath the models,

what he uncovers defies belief.

Emery finds the beginning
of a labyrinth of catacombs.

A vast, underground network
of tunnels

filled to the brim
with different animal mummies.

Room after room after room
of sacred animals --

baboons, cats, falcons, bulls.

Put in these galleries
as offerings to the gods.

Narrator: Among thousands
of animal mummies,

emery finds a vital clue
in the hunt for imhotep.

Hundreds of pots containing
sacred mummified ibis birds.

This is a smoking gun
for emery because

imhotep is known
to have the title

"chief one of the ibis."

emery's team excavate
this ibis shaft.

He finds another clue.

He finds a box,
which is inscribed with the name

imhotep, the great.

Narrator: Emery believes
he's hit the jackpot.

This inscription is a really
important clue that implies that

imhotep's tomb
could be nearby.

Emery must be thinking
he's getting close.

Narrator:
Yet seven years pass,
and emery finds nothing more.

Then tragedy strikes.

Emery suffers a stroke.

He's found collapsed
in the dig house at saqqara.

He's taken to a hospital
in cairo nearby,

and a few days later, he dies
never having found the tomb

that he spent the last few years
of his life looking for.

Narrator:
In 2007, an international team

of archaeologists
picks up the trail

in the hunt for imhotep's tomb.

This time, they take
an entirely different approach.

They apply revolutionary
ground-penetrating radar

to the entire desert

and create a map of everything
unseen below the sand.

On the geo-physical plan,

we can see up to five meters
into the surface of the ground.

Narrator:
What they find is astonishing.

We discover two very
large structures.

One -- 90 meters in length.

One next door --
70 meters in length.

Narrator: To experts,
this can only mean one thing.

The size and position of these
features in the map

indicate strongly
that they're tombs.

Narrator:
Researchers realize the
large size of these tombs

means they are
important burials.

And when they date the tombs,

an extraordinary connection
to imhotep materializes.

They may belong to the third
dynasty, when he lived.

Could these be the evidence
that we are looking

for of the tomb of imhotep?

Narrator:
Experts are hopeful, but there's
still a long way to go.

Only once they get permission
to dig

can they identify the tombs.

We still don't have that
clinching evidence

that allows us to say,
"this is where he was buried.

This is his tomb."

only active digging would show
if they do belong to imhotep.

Narrator:
This cutting-edge technology
takes us closer to finding

imhotep than ever before.

But until we dig
beneath the sands of saqqara,

the precise location of his tomb
remains a mystery.

♪

one pharaoh's genius
guides his people

through a biblical catastrophe.

Exactly how remains unknown.

Surviving 100 years-worth old
drought,

how's that even possible?

Now, dna evidence from cattle
bones is finally revealing

how ancient egypt
prepares for disaster

while other civilizations
fall apart.

Ancient egyptians battled
climate change --

something we can't even
do today.

Narrator: Egypt, 1250 bce --

the ancient world
is on the brink of collapse.

An extreme drought ravages
the land.

Multiple civilizations
face extinction.

The drought, as far as we know,
lasts 150 years.

It brings once-great empires
to their knees

because of the lack of food.

Narrator: Experts know about
this dark period of history

from the discovery of
an extraordinary clay table.

Written by a nation
called the hittites,

rivals to the ancient egyptians
3,000 years ago.

It's an s.O.S. Letter
to the great egyptian pharaoh

ramesses the second
begging for help.

The queen of the hittites
rights and says,

"there are no grains
in my country."

"we're basically starving.

There's a famine.
There's a drought."

"please, can you help?

We're facing
a humanitarian crisis."

narrator: Researchers believe
the drought the desperate queen

describes must be severe.

Why would a queen
of the hittites reach out

in their time of need
to ramesses the second,

who was, in principal, an enemy?

The drought has made that even
old enemies have to pair up

and help each other out.

Narrator: Experts believe
this letter reveals that

during the reign
of ramesses the second,

egyptians are unaffected
by the drought.

They begin to question,

"do the egyptians know
these droughts are coming?"

and how do they survive
when so many others perish?

The egyptians were able to
actually help

their arch-enemies
by sending grain.

They were actually able
to sustain their empire

for a long period of time
in the face of drought.

Was it adaptability on the part
of the ancient egyptians,

or was it survival
through great leadership?

Narrator: Egyptologists begin
to search for evidence

of how the great pharaoh guides
his people to overcome a century

and a half of drought.

Many believe clues lie
in what the egyptians eat.

Could it have been the nature
of the ancient egyptian diet

that helped the egyptians
survive so long?

We understand that the elites
had a more protein-rich diet,

but what are
the commoners eating?

The answer remains a mystery
until 2013,

when scientists uncover
critical evidence.

Carbon from food
is preserved

within the tissues
of ancient egyptian mummies.

Different levels of carbon
are stored in the body

by different foodstuffs.

So by analyzing these levels
in the evidence of the mummies,

we can work out
what people ate.

Narrator:
Scientists analyze the carbon

within the mummified remains
of common people

from the time of the drought.

The results reveal that
ordinary egyptians

have a radically different diet
to that of their rulers.

New carbon-isotope data
tells us that actually fish

and meat were not a large part
of the ancient egyptian diet.

They're mostly harvesting
and eating wheat and barley.

The ancient egyptians,
by and large,

seem to have been vegetarian.

Narrator: Experts believe
a vegetarian diet

gives the ancient egyptians
a critical advantage

through even
the most severe drought,

because crops require
far less water.

Meat-based diets
require more land,

more irrigation, more resources.

A plant/vegetable-based diet
is easier to sustain

in a drought.

Narrator:
But a question remains --

exactly how they consistently
grow crops

in over a century
of drought remains unclear.

Clues emerge
from an usual source.

In 2013, scientists working
at the sea of galilee

collect fossilized
pollen samples.

They date the pollen to the time
of the new kingdom.

When they analyze it further,

the samples reveal
something revolutionary.

The ancients are
genetic engineers.

Pollen samples show
that crops are being bred,

which are more resistant.

Maca: They were experimenting
with new types of grains

that could survive
really long droughts.

Narrator:
And it doesn't stop there.

During the reign of ramesses
the second, ancient egyptians

take their preparation
to another level.

Researchers now believe
that they track the extent

of the droughts, year on year,

using a device
called a nilometer.

A simple device, very akin
to a kind of climate science

for ancient egypt.

Narrator: The nilometer
is a stone structure

with a series of lines
carved into its wall,

which measures the depth of the
nile during the annual floods.

They measure the nile and know
whether a harvest

can be expected
to be good or bad.

16 stripes, it was ideal.

14 stripes, not all the land
can be flooded.

12 stripes, hunger.

Narrator: But something still
puzzles experts.

If the egyptians are preparing
for droughts

by tracking water levels
and using heat-resistant grains,

then they still need cattle
to plow fields

in extreme temperatures.

And the cattle the egyptians
traditionally use

are not adapted
to these conditions.

In 2017, at the sight of megiddo
in the far reaches

of the ancient egyptian empire,

archaeologists make
a breakthrough.

At the site of megiddo,

archaeologists find evidence
of cattle bones.

Narrator: To shed light on
the precise breed

of cattle the ancients use,

scientists sequence dna
from the 3,000-year-old bones.

The results reveal
something astonishing.

They were breeding cattle
that could basically

survive a drought.

Narrator: The cattle are not
a pure, domestic breed

but a cross-breed,
with a cow called a zebu

that have evolved
to tolerate extreme heat.

If you are preparing
for a drought,

you will want to breed in more
of these arid-living cattle dna

into your common stock,

and this is exactly
what the egyptians were doing.

It's one of the first
really great examples

of kind of bio-genetic
engineering.

Narrator:
To experts, it's now clear how
the ancient egyptians survive

the drought while civilizations
around them fall apart.

And egyptologists have
an explanation

for the hittite queen's
s.O.S. Letter

to the great egyptian pharaoh,
ramesses the second.

She's asking for help
from the only civilization

that has mastered
their environment.

Maca: The ancient egyptians'
preparation in the face

of a widespread drought
allowed the egyptian empire

to continue well beyond many
of these other societies

and civilizations.

Narrator: The egyptians conquer
the drought for over a century,

but the extreme conditions
intensify.

Eventually,
they become too severe

for any civilization
to survive.

It wasn't enough.

Ultimately,
the new kingdom falls.

Narrator:
Yet, it's their resilience
in the face of disaster

that endures.

The new kingdom
is still thought of

as a great golden age
of egyptian history.

The egyptians' response
can teach us lessons.

Climate change can have a huge
impact on civilization,

on society,
but we can prepare for it.

♪

out of 170 ancient egyptian
rulers, only four are women.

And yet, the first recorded
female pharaoh sobeknefru

is a figure
shrouded in mystery.

People know the names
of cleopatra and hatshepsut,

but they don't know
the name of sobeknefru.

Why not?

Narrator: Now, can the discovery
of a fragmented statue

finally shed light
on the forgotten female

pioneer strangely known
as the crocodile queen?

Who was she? How did she achieve
what she did?

This discovery is telling us

about what happened
thousands of years ago.

Narrator: The 200-year quest
to uncover the true identity

of egypt's first female ruler,

the crocodile queen,
starts at luxor in 1820.

An italian antiquities collector
bernardino drovetti

makes a remarkable discovery.

An ancient papyrus known
as the turin canon

which contains the most
extensive list of egyptian kinds

ever discovered.

Yet, among the famous pharaohs
is a name no one recognizes --

sobeknefru.

She's the daughter
of a very important

pharaoh of the middle kingdom,
amenemhat the third.

The last living family member
of the great dynasty 12.

Narrator: Researchers analyze
the king list

and realize that sobeknefru
is more than just royalty.

She's a female pioneer.

Sobeknefru is very significant

because not only
is she in the turin canon,

but she is the first
recorded female pharaoh.

Narrator:
Sobeknefru is the first
female pharaoh in history,

so experts begin to wonder,

could this mean
she's the most powerful?

The first step for researchers

is to explore the turin canon
for more clues

as to how, against the odds,
she comes to power.

It reveals
that sobeknefru's brother

amenemhat the fourth inherits
the throne before her.

She remains in his shadow.

10 years later,
amenemhat the fourth dies

without a male heir
to the throne.

The ancient egyptians would
rather allow a woman to rule

than have warlords duke it out
and destroy egypt from within.

Narrator: Sobeknefru
becomes the first woman

to ascend the throne of egypt.

But the turin canon reveals
that sobeknefru's reign lasts

just four years.

And beyond that,
there is little information.

Egyptologists have long known

that some pharaohs adopt
new names under which they rule.

So they turn to analyzing
her name for clues

as to what kind
of pharaoh she is.

Sobeknefru's
name is very unusual.

Sobek is the crocodile god,
and nefru means beautiful.

So she is the beauty
of the crocodile god.

Narrator:
But why would sobeknefru rename
herself after the crocodile god?

Experts believe it could be
a strategic move.

In ancient egypt,
crocodiles are greatly revered.

They're big, they're strong,
they're fierce.

So sobeknefru may well want to
be named after the crocodile god

because it really does give
an aura of power and of might.

Narrator:
Her strategy not only pays off,
it leaves a lasting legacy.

After sobeknefru's death,
the next dynasty starts up.

But what's interesting
is they keep her name.

Many of them adopt sobek,
the name of the crocodile god.

They're not only showing
respect to the god,

but also to the queen.

Narrator: Yet, for researchers,
the trail goes cold.

The turin canon yields
no further clues

to the real woman
behind the crocodile queen.

Then, archaeologists digging
at the ancient city

of avaris
unearth something remarkable --

a detailed sculpture
of the crocodile queen.

And experts notice something
unusual about her depiction.

She doesn't adopt the same
strategy

that other female pharaohs
use to rule in a man's world.

The later female pharaohs,
they're shown flat chested,

almost as pseudo-men.

Ikram: Hatshepsut, who reigned
much later than sobeknefru,

turned into showing
herself as a man.

Narrator:
But the crocodile queen

looks very different
from her successors.

Cooney:
She's dressed as a woman.

She has a dress with straps
that go over her breasts.

She has a trim waist, full hips.

She doesn't morph into
a male-looking pharaoh.

Narrator: This ground-breaking
find reveals that far

from hiding her gender,
this female pharaoh flaunts it.

She was able to blend
female clothing

with the standard regalia
of a traditional pharaoh.

The wrap-around kilt,
the dagger tucked into the belt.

She didn't give up
her female persona.

She probably had the army
behind her,

her advisors to support her,

and it was no different for her
than it was for a male pharaoh.

Narrator:
After decades of research,

this statue reflects the
crocodile queen's true power.

Unlike hatshepsut,
who conceals her femininity,

or cleopatra,
who dies because of it,

the crocodile queen manages
to create a feminine image

so powerful that
she's revered for centuries.

♪

experts know how ancient egypt's
elite prepare for the afterlife,

but the burial practices of the
common man remain a mystery.

How did the ordinary people
prepare for death?

Are they buried straight
into the sand or in a tomb?

We simply don't know.

Narrator: Now, at an ancient
egyptian quarry,

can new evidence finally reveal
the afterlife

is more than just
a rich man's club?

A cemetery consisting
of families,

including adults and children.

The items buried
beneath the sand tell us

an entirely different story.

Narrator:
Nearly all mummies belong
to the ancient egyptian elite.

What most people don't realize
when they see egyptian mummies

is that,
for the most part,

those people are the wealthy,
the rich people.

Narrator: It means almost
everything we know about death

and the preparations
for the afterlife

comes from the tombs
of the elite.

And this poses
a significant problem.

Because it was the elite that
could afford good mummification,

we have a much better
understanding of them

than we do
of the ordinary people.

Narrator: Experts are puzzled.

In a society of millions

obsessed with preparing
for death,

why are the remains of ordinary
egyptians nowhere to be found?

For most of ancient egyptian
times,

the population fluctuated

between one
and two million people,

which begs the question,
what happened to the millions

of other
less-wealthy poor people?

How did these ordinary people
prepare for their death?

Narrator:
The search for answers triggers
a century-long quest

to find the graves of egypt's
common man

and uncover their secret
burial practices.

Researchers' first step is
to analyze

the egyptians' belief
in the afterlife

for clues as to how poor,
working egyptians are buried.

In the first place,

the afterlife
was like an exclusive club

for egyptian royalty only.

The status that you occupied
in society

was reflected in the position
in which you were buried.

Narrator: Experts believe that
the working poor

simply didn't have
the means to be buried in a way

which gives them access
to the afterlife.

Do they have simple tombs?

Are they pit tombs?
Are they mass burials?

We tend to think everyone
is equal in death,

but this is not the case.

Narrator: The graves of the
working poor remain a mystery,

but egyptologists
do have a few examples

of non-elite burials to study.

In the early 1900s,
at deir el-medina,

a perfectly preserved village
near the valley of the kings,

archaeologists find something
extraordinary --

a series of tombs
dating to the new kingdom.

When they go inside, they find
elaborate cave paintings,

valuable grave goods,
but the chambers are small.

Narrator: For experts,
the modest size of these tombs

means only one thing.

This is not a burial site
of the elite.

These small chambers tell us

that the owners
are fine artisans

that produced the tombs
of the royals.

Narrator:
It's clear these are not burials
of ordinary workers.

But egyptologists
analyzing the tombs

believe they reveal
something critical.

Over time, the afterlife seems
to have become less exclusive.

We can see a tomb
gets constructed,

and then perhaps
someone gets a promotion,

and suddenly there are
new titles being carved

in hieroglyphs on the walls.

There is some upward mobility
in ancient egyptian society.

It's a question of resources.

Narrator: If the skilled works
at deir el-medina built tombs,

then experts begin to wonder

if the very poorest in society
do the same.

Then, in 2015, near the ancient
egyptian stone quarry

of gebel el-silsila,

a swedish archaeology team
uncovers a stone doorway

cut into the rock face.

As they excavate the entrance,

they find something
entirely unexpected.

They discover a complex
series of tombs

consisting of over 40 chambers.

The tombs are modest.

They're cut very simply.

The decorations are not ornate.

Narrator:
The simple appearance of the
tombs excites archaeologists.

They begin to wonder if this
could be the workers' cemetery

they've been searching for

and whether they'll
find evidence of the poor

preparing for the afterlife.

As they begin removing sand
from the tombs,

what they discover
is astonishing.

Price: A cemetery consisting
of families,

including adults and children.

These are not
simply mass burials.

These are families put together.

You find some that are even
in wooden coffins.

Narrator: Archaeologists examine
the bones in detail,

looking for clues to confirm
who these people are,

and they notice a pattern.

Rose: The bones are covered
in a very similar

set of fractures -- all of them.

This pattern tells us
these are not fluke accidents.

This is what happened
to everybody during their life.

These people
have done hard labor.

Narrator: The proximity
of the tombs to the quarry

and the signs of hard labor

on the bones leads experts
to one conclusion.

These graves belong
to the quarry workers

of gebel el-silsila.

They've actually found the bones
of ordinary egyptians.

Narrator:
Archaeologists turn their
attention back to the tombs

and uncover
something unexpected.

They find all kinds of grave
goods, like painted pottery,

textiles, magical amulets,
even jewelry.

Narrator: The find points to
an extraordinary conclusion.

The poorest in society

are preparing
for life beyond the grave.

Rose:
There's no doubt these items
were place in these graves

for life after death.

So it must mean that these works
believe they, too,

could reach the afterlife.

Narrator:
Finally, the burial practices
of egypt's working poor

are no longer a mystery.

Despite being significantly
more modest than elite burials,

these tombs
and grave goods are proof

that even the poorest egyptians
are trying to give

their families a chance
of reaching the afterlife.

Workers weren't just shoved into
a mass grave when they died.

They, too, could aspire
to have their own tomb.

This just goes to show
that all ancient egyptians

had a pretty good shot
at salvation.

♪

narrator:
Karnak, one of the largest
religious sites in the world.

But few visitors realize

that three-quarters
of its temples lie in ruins.

Every time I go there,
I'm speechless.

It's 200 acres of rubble.

Narrator:
The spiritual events that
take place in these temples

for over 2,000 years
remain a mystery.

Now, one archaeologist
is on a mission

to digitally reconstruct karnak

and finally understand
the mysteries

hidden deep in the heart
of ancient egyptian culture.

What was the purpose
of all these buildings?

Narrator: Around 2000 bce,
mighty pharaoh

senwosret the first orders

the laying of the first stone
at karnak

to build a temple devoted
to the god amun,

but it doesn't stop there.

Every pharaoh after him
adds to the site.

The temple of karnak grew up
over a millennium,

and there was no boundaries
set out in the very beginning.

Bianchi:
Every pharaoh wanted to curry
favor of the gods,

and so building a monument
in karnak

ingratiated them
with the deities

to whom the temples
were dedicated.

Narrator:
Around 130 pharaohs later,
after 1,500 years of worship,

karnak becomes
the largest religious site

in the ancient world.

Karnak is a magical place.

The ancient egyptians
called it ipet-isut,

the most select of places.

Narrator:
And experts believe karnak's
temples could hold clues

to how the pharaohs change
religious beliefs over time.

Karnak was the religious
center of egypt.

It's a witness to how people
feel religion,

how they do religion.

Narrator: Thousands of years
since its construction,

large parts of karnak
now lie in ruins,

which poses a problem
for experts

trying to study
its religious past.

When professor wileke wendrich
from ucla

visits karnak for
the first time, she's puzzled.

I visited karnak,
and I got so confused.

You see an enormous field
of stone rubble

with huge walls sticking out.

A lot of it
is still very unclear.

Narrator: This experience sparks
a lifelong quest for wendrich

to make sense of karnak's ruins
and uncover how pharaohs

changed the religious
practices within its walls.

She begins by studying karnak's
most spectacular building --

the hypostyle hall.

Covered in hundreds
of religious scenes,

it's the largest and most
richly-decorated hall in egypt.

You have
this enormous complex that

is the heart of the religious
life of ancient egypt.

Narrator: Wendrich can see from
the hypostyle hall's hieroglyphs

that it dates to the new kingdom
and the reign of seti the first.

And what's clear from the number
of diverse hieroglyphs

is that the hall has been added
to by countless pharaohs,

resulting in a vast,
sprawling structure.

It is this massive forest
of 132 pillars.

It is immense.

Narrator: Yet, a crucial part of
the building once lay in ruins.

In 1899, french archaeologist
georges legrain

begins the gargantuan task

of rebuilding 11
of its collapsed pillars.

The reconstruction is really
focused on this area

of the temples
because it's so awe-inspiring.

Narrator: Legrain's team
have to meticulously relay

the foundations for each pillar
and rebuild them peace by peace.

It's a pain-staking process
that takes years to complete.

Now, at last, egyptologists,
like wendrich,

can study the hall
in more detail

and unlock
its spiritual significance.

The hypostyle hall
represents the cosmos.

You have the earth,
you have the sky,

and then you have
the papyrus thicket in between.

Narrator:
The columns are built by seti
the first to mimic papyrus reeds

and represent the primeval swamp

from which the egyptian world
is said to have been born.

Experts believe this hall
is the pharaoh's tribute

to the egyptian gods
who created the universe.

If you were an egyptian visiting
karnak and just looking at that,

words would not explain the awe.

Narrator:
In her quest to uncover more
of karnak's religious secrets,

wendrich runs into
a fundamental problem.

Some of karnak's temples
have been removed from history

by subsequent pharaohs.

It was extremely political,
this building.

Sometimes, they took
entire sections away

to erase the memory
of a particular pharaoh.

Narrator: In the 1920s,
archaeologists rebuilding a wall

at karnak notice
something strange.

It contains hundreds
of red granite blocks.

On each stone
are mysterious hieroglyphs.

Translations of the writings
reveal something astonishing.

The blocks do not belong
in this wall at all.

They are part of a chapel built

by 18th dynasty pharaoh,
hatshepsut.

Sometimes, monuments are
dismantled because a pharaoh,

like hatshepsut,
would fall out of favor.

Narrator: Having studied
karnak for decades,

wendrich realizes that to fully
uncover its religious past,

it's not enough to reconstruct
small sections

with bricks and mortar.

So in 2007, she applies
cutting-edge digital techniques

to bring the whole of karnak
to life virtually.

It's based on excavations,

on things we know,
things we can measure.

What we tried to do with this
model is make something

that represents
our state of knowledge.

Narrator:
The challenge is not simply to
reconstruct karnak's temples,

but to show how pharaohs
change them over time.

We can trace what happened to
all those different buildings.

We have created a time slider,

where you can slide through
the development of karnak.

Narrator: Using this 3-d model,
wendrich can see how pharaohs

begin to worship
different gods at karnak.

It's enables us to see that
there are changes in religion.

And even though this is a temple
to amun-re, through time,

we got osiris, who was
the god of the underwold.

He has his own buildings
in karnak

and becomes more
and more important.

Narrator:
This is just the beginning,

and creating a full picture
of karnak's religious past

won't be easy.

Now, this digital model
is revolutionizing

how experts
study karnak's temples

to finally shed more light

on the religious beliefs
of the pharaohs.

♪

how the pharaohs create
an entire civilization

from scratch
mystifies experts,

but they believe the great
pyramid could hold vital clue.

The level of the materials

manipulating to create
this project

is a massive,
massive undertaking.

I think it impacted
upon all areas of society.

Everyone believed they were
pulling in the same direction.

Narrator:
Now, can modern analysis of
the materials used at giza

reveal how building
the great pyramid

actually builds ancient egypt?

Narrator: On the outskirts
of cairo stands the last wonder

of the ancient world --
the great pyramid of giza.

Built for the fourth dynasty
pharaoh, khufu,

it has endured for 4,500 years.

It's still the largest
structure on earth.

Dash: It's an immense monument.

It covers 13 acres,
it's 140 meters tall,

and it's built
of three million stones.

Narrator: Building the world's
first mega monument

is a daunting proposition.

So experts consider, what
challenges do the ancients face?

What ingenious solutions
do they come up with?

And in building
this stone giant,

are they shaping
their own civilization?

It's a project manager's
nightmare,

and yet the egyptians
seemed to pull it off.

Narrator: Investigators
begin considering how,

in a time before people
know how to smelt iron,

the ancients carve out
the pyramid's estimated

2.3 million stone blocks.

The egyptians are capable
of working metals at this point,

but the use of metal
for things like tools

revolves around copper.

Narrator: Copper is a relatively
soft metal,

so copper chisels regular blunt
or break when carving rock.

And experts believe this poses

a significant
logistical problem.

Rose:
They're using so much copper,

but where's all
that copper coming from?

There is no copper
in the nile valley.

Narrator:
Now, scientists in europe
are trying to find the origin

of the ancient
stonemasons' copper.

Using isotope analysis
on copper artifacts,

they get a match
and pinpoint a potential supply.

Hundreds of miles from
the great pyramid at giza,

across the red sea
in the land of sinai.

The copper is actually
in the sinai peninsula,

so they would send
all their miners

there and import all that copper
back into the empire.

Narrator: This kickstarts
a mining enterprise

that not only supplies tools

to build pharaoh khufu's
great pyramid,

but also the tombs in the valley
of the kings centuries later.

By demanding elaborate
monuments, egypt's elite,

perhaps inadvertently, spark
a from of industrialization

that allows this
growing society to flourish.

Experts begin to think,

"do the great pyramid's
other building problems

spark different
technological advances?"

investigators consider
the problem the egyptians face

in transporting
huge quantities of stone

from quarries hundreds of miles
from the pyramids.

It must have been torture
to move these giant blocks.

A few hundred feet
is bad enough,

let alone a thousand miles.

Narrator:
Ancient records confirm

that there is only
one feasible method

to transport the stone --
on boats along the nile.

Naunton:
The nile is absolutely critical
to pyramid building.

It was the way
that the stone blocks

were conveyed to the site.

Narrator:
Experts now know the ancient
egyptians transformed the nile

into a sophisticated
transport network,

one that allows egypt's
civilization to thrive.

The nile couldn't have been
more important.

It was a communication artery.

It was a transportation artery.

There was a very elaborate
system of ports and harbors.

Maca: The egyptians,
for thousands of years,

they were mastered pilers
of waterways.

Narrator: From khufu's pyramid
project managers,

what emerges
from this vast network

is a large
and nation-wide workforce.

The great pyramid took about
20 years to build,

tens of thousands of workers
over that time.

Der manuelian: This wasn't
a localized building.

The great pyramid reached out

and effected all parts
of the country.

Even though people may have
been living away

from the actual construction
sites, they were involved.

Narrator: Experts believe
that in bringing together

this diverse work force
of every corner of his lands,

king khufu creates
the type of society

that supports ancient egypt's
enduring civilization.

Everyone believed they were
pulling in the same direction.

If you have a united work force
working towards a common goal,

you can achieve anything,

and that's what
the ancient egyptians did.

Narrator:
It's now clear that by mining
in sinai, mastering the nile,

and uniting
a national work force,

king khufu
creates a lasting legacy.

He builds more than
the great pyramid.

He builds the infrastructure
that allows ancient egypt

to thrive for more
than two millennia.