Original subtitles

Egypt, the richest source of archaeological treasures on the planet.

Oh, that's a fabulous one.

Beneath this desert landscape,

lie the secrets of this ancient civilization.

Wow, you can see why the Pharaohs chose this place.

Now, for a full season of excavations,

our cameras have been given unprecedented access

to follow teams on the front line of archaeology.

I'm driving so fast because I'm so excited.

It's an entrance, we can see an entrance.

Revealing buried secrets...

I have just been told that they have found something.

Oh my gosh.

A sphinx!

And making discoveries that could rewrite ancient history.

This time...

Egyptologists are in search of the secrets of the afterlife.

Alejandro's team discovers a 4000 year-old sealed burial chamber...

- Oh my God! - Bingo!

John and Colleen decode an ancient guide to the underworld...

The texts and the scenes and the hieroglyphs,

all make this tomb a resurrection machine.

And Suzanne makes a shocking discovery.

Someone put their fist through

in order to get into the cavity.

Ancient Egypt.

One of the most sophisticated societies in history.

They built the great pyramids and giant temples,

driven by one obsession:

They dedicated their entire lives to preparing for death.

For centuries, archaeologists have been trying to decode

the rituals and techniques

that the ancient Egyptians used to enter the afterlife.

Dr. Colleen and Professor John Darnell

are heading to the Valley of the Kings.

We're interested in the study

and the understanding of the past

and bringing it into the present, really making it live again.

There is as of yet no real substitute for the field work.

For the past 250 years,

the Valley has attracted generations of archaeologists.

The 19th century was a prolific time.

Over 40 tombs were discovered,

each revealing more clues about the ancient Egyptian afterlife.

The sky is so blue today.

In 1817, one explorer uncovered something remarkable,

the Tomb of King Seti the First.

To understand the ancient Egyptian afterlife,

you have to study the hieroglyphic text and scenes.

And the tomb of Seti the First is perfect for understanding

the foundations of the Egyptian belief in the afterlife.

Beneath the Valley of the Kings,

Seti's tomb stretches 450 feet down into the mountain.

It's the deepest tomb in the Valley.

Ten chambers,

and seven ornate corridors,

are carefully decorated with elaborate scenes on every wall.

These paintings, combined with this immense tomb,

played a crucial role in the survival of the Pharaoh's soul after death.

Wow!

It's incredible to see how well preserved all the hieroglyphs are.

The discovery of Seti's tomb was a turning point in Egyptology.

At the time, experts were just learning to decode hieroglyphic text,

and this tomb gave up a wealth of secrets.

They found the structure of the tomb itself

played a role in guiding the Pharaoh down to the underworld.

This descending passageway is probably

one of the most important elements of the tomb.

We have depicted on the walls

a text that shows and describes the sloping passage down

that would propel the dead into the other world.

The tomb of Seti the First is so deep in the cliffs,

it perfectly mimics the architecture of the netherworld.

Seti the First reigned for 11 years,

expanding his empire by crushing Middle Eastern and African rivals.

He died unexpectedly in his 30s,

but despite this, Seti's preparation for the afterlife was exceptional.

He poured his wealth and power into building

the most elaborate tomb in the Valley,

and quickly too.

It's really important to keep in mind

that this entire tomb was excavated, decorated, painted in 12 years.

Scribes wrote entire books on these walls,

instructions that would help Seti make it through the underworld.

"Calling This Great God

by The Netherwordly Gods."

And that's exactly what we see depicted here, the Sun,

this great God as they refer in the hieroglyphic text,

being hauled by, and the hieroglyphs are even repeated here.

The Netherwordly Gods.

The images on these walls

reveal Seti the First's route map through the afterlife.

The ancient Egyptians believed that immorality could be achieved

by following the Sun God, Ra,

who was born in the East every day,

and died every night and entered the underworld.

If Seti's soul could successfully navigate

the treacherous underworld with the Sun God,

he, too, would be reborn again every morning in an eternal cycle.

So, his tomb contained all the tools

and detailed instructions for the perilous journey.

We have arguably one of the best examples

of transitioning into the afterlife.

Hidden in the inscriptions,

Colleen finds evidence that it's not only Pharaohs

who can make this journey into the Netherworld.

Here people from the North East of Egypt,

Nubians from the South, and Libyans from the West.

Apparently, no matter where you came from,

you could enjoy the same blessed afterlife as even the Pharaoh of Egypt.

But to find out how Seti would transition into the afterlife,

the Darnell's will need to decode

the inscriptions inside the burial chamber itself.

140 miles south of the Valley of the Kings in Aswan,

a Spanish archaeological team is excavating another ancient necropolis.

Qubbet El-Hawa was a burial site for elite members of society.

These 4,500 year-old tombs offer vital clues into burial rituals,

and how the ancient Egyptians prepared for the afterlife.

It's the team's tenth season working here,

but Egyptologist Martina Bardoñová

is still getting used to the 5:00 AM starts.

I go to bed about midnight or 1:00 AM

and now I have to switch.

It's another kind of jet lag about it, the working jetlag.

You are here because you love the job, so that's it.

You wake up.

This season, Martina is focusing on a new tomb.

I'm doing the miner.

She hopes this shaft might lead to a burial chamber.

And now I took the upper part,

I want to excavate the lower part.

And I'm now thinking where is the best way.

All the wall is full of termites.

That's actually why I kept excavating here in the middle of the shaft.

Termites are only found near a food source, usually wood.

So, these insects are a sign that there may be something behind the rock wall.

Across the hill, Martina's Mission Director,

Professor Alejandro Jimenez-Serrano,

is taking a break.

Probably is one of the best moments of the day.

Tell me what's going on.

Martina's found a sealed chamber at her site.

Bingo!

It seems that we have, uh, another intact chamber,

uh, where Martina is digging.

Let's go!

Egyptian tombs have been ransacked by robbers for millennia.

Finding an untouched tomb

would be an exceptional discovery for the team.

What do you see?

Ah-ha-ah-ho. Can I step on here?

Yes, you can. This is okay.

We have here a wall made of stones with plaster.

And it seems that it is sealing something.

I had my suspicions, but I didn't tell you.

Because I wasn't sure.

If this is an intact chamber,

it could contain mummies and burial offerings.

Nobody in the last 4,000 years

has seen what is behind this wall.

Alejandro now faces a challenge:

He can't risk smashing open the wall to the burial chamber,

there may be precious artifacts behind it.

Tell Jose to bring the computer and the camera.

But he does have a plan!

This big drill we use to inspect

before opening any inter-chamber

because we do not know what we are going to find.

He thinks it's about 16 inches thick.

It seems easy, but it's not.

Uh, Jose.

This is a small camera with lights,

and we are going to put it inside

to check if we have any information about what is behind the wall.

Slowly.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Debris. It's debris.

There is no material, there's no pottery, or...

It looks rather like a corridor.

Yeah, I think that we have not reached the burial chamber.

Most of the time, archaeology is frustrating,

because you do not find what you are expecting to find,

but, well, it's part of the game.

The real prize is to get to the burial chamber.

We have to take out all this material

and probably, we will find another wall.

So, we need to work a bit more.

Yeah.

Alejandro can't see how far this chamber extends,

there could be tons more debris to remove.

In the Valley of the Kings,

Swiss Egyptologist Professor Susanne Bickel

is returning for her tenth dig season.

Today, the team are reopening a tomb

last excavated in the 1970s, Tomb Number 61.

There's a certain excitement,

a certain expectation.

Susanne hopes to find the original owner of the tomb.

It could shed new light on how ancient engineers

tried to propel the dead into the underworld.

Oh, this one is not very good.

Extremely small, and clearly not finished.

It is just in the middle of being prepared.

Now why did they not finish it?

As long as you don't touch it, it doesn't move by its own.

But erm, err, oops, oh it does.

But I think getting out would be a good thing.

The whole package will come down.

It's really bad.

The team must now try to make the tomb safe,

before they continue excavations.

Professor Bickel has excavated 11 tombs across the Valley.

In the on-site lab, they are documenting and analyzing their finds,

including human remains.

Now that's great. That's a fabulous one.

Professor Salima Ikram, from the American University in Cairo,

is an expert in mummification.

She's investigating how Egyptians prepared for the afterlife

by performing this technique.

There are certain things that we already know about mummification

from different periods, but of course it's a learning process.

- 1, 2... - Yeah.

And see over here how this goes under.

I think they wrapped the toes separately,

and then they put a bigger piece of textile on it,

and then they wrapped it together.

Yeah.

These body parts provide vital new evidence

on how mummification techniques evolved over time.

The embalmers didn't always stick to hard and fast rules,

because sometimes things would be trendy for a while,

they'd die out, then they'd come back.

You would get different styles of mummification.

The ancient Egyptians believed that after death,

the soul needed to return to the body.

But if the corpse decayed,

it would become unrecognizable and the soul would be lost for eternity.

So, the elite of Egypt were mummified.

Embalmers ritually washed the deceased, then removed internal organs,

and used bundles of salt to dry out the corpse.

They removed the brain through the nose, but they left the heart in place,

where they believed the soul would live on.

Finally, they wrapped the mummy in linen, and coated it in resins,

to ensure that its features would remain recognizable for eternity.

So, this is an excellent example of mummification

where you can see that this leg looks, you know like a living fat leg

and that's because they made cuts into the flesh and then stuffed it.

They were making a statue of yourself,

so after you're dead and you were being disembodied,

you're all hollow cheeked and sunken,

and this gives you your full body back

and to make you in a more permanent and more statue-like better way.

After a day of excavation, Tomb 61 is now clear of rubble.

It's now safe for Egyptologist Elina to examine it up close.

I think they started and then they realized no,

it's not safe to put any coffins in.

And so, they haven't done,

and they went away and looked maybe for another place.

Tombs needed to last for an eternity in the afterlife.

In some parts of the Valley,

the fine-grained limestone was the perfect material,

but flaky limestone like this is unstable.

As sophisticated engineers,

ancient tomb builders would have soon realized

this site was unsuitable.

With their excavation of the tomb complete,

the Swiss team pack up and move on to another site in the Valley.

In Aswan, Martina's spent two days digging out this shaft,

in the hope of finding an intact burial chamber.

I've got down...

No, no, no because its small, you are big.

Beyond the rocky debris, something catches Martina's eye.

I see a... it's a lid.

It's a lid?

I see part of the coffin like this.

Coffin?

What Martina first thought was a corridor,

is actually the burial chamber.

It looks nice, but the debris is over the coffin.

But I can't touch, it's too far to touch.

It's a terracotta coffin,

and the big stone is not a stone.

It's the lid of the coffin.

Something like one meter long,

50 cm wide.

And the guy would be in the fetal position.

Or it was a child.

This is the burial chamber.

Yes its...

So, we have to proceed in a different way with much care.

Congratulations!

It's a very nice discovery because you have not documented any kind of err,

burial like this.

And he's not eaten by termites.

The coffin is extremely fragile.

Moving the rocks surrounding it could make it collapse,

but it's the only way to see if there's a body inside.

Okay, let's continue.

North of Qubbet el-Hawa is the necropolis of Qurna.

It dates from 1500 BC.

There are over 300 tombs here,

the resting place of high-ranking ancient Egyptian officials.

Egyptologist, Laurent Bavay has been excavating this tomb

for the last eight years.

At the bottom of a 60 foot deep shaft,

he's made a remarkable discovery:

A rare document called a papyrus, vital for the deceased in the underworld.

Some of the fragments of this papyrus

have been found in the room here.

Other fragments have been found along the wall in the first room.

The papyrus sat next to the body of the deceased in the coffin.

The tomb is now empty,

and Laurent is piecing together the fragments,

so he can analyze this mysterious text.

We have here one of the,

of the most interesting and exciting discoveries.

A papyrus that is actually a book of the dead.

The Book of the Dead

is an ancient travel guide through the underworld.

This is the document that is placed in the coffin

next to the mummy to be ready for use,

like a GPS for a car, it will lead you to the way to your destination.

The images in this 3,500 year-old Book of the Dead

depict crucial spells.

These helped the deceased pass tests and challenges

on their journey through the underworld.

In life, an ancient Egyptian could buy chapters of the book,

to make up their own personal copy.

There were workshops producing books of the dead,

and then leaving in the column of text,

they were leaving a blank, where the person would complete his name.

This example is written for a woman, the title and name, Renena,

mentioned here, which in itself, is very exceptional.

She must have had a very important role in this, in this family.

You never know what you will discover,

and this makes the thrill of the work here in the field.

For Laurent, the most exciting phase is just beginning

as his team prepares to analyze the text and publish their findings.

In Aswan, at a cemetery for the rich and powerful,

Martina is preparing to open her newly-discovered coffin.

Well, now I will take this, and I will see.

We've pulled part of the coffin on the floor and so on,

we don't want to break or whatever.

But first, Martina has to get to the tomb.

A Saharan sandstorm is blowing in from the South,

these can last up to five days.

We have a very nice sandstorm outside.

We cannot work outside,

but we have what we have, and we'll do what we can.

The windspeed is picking up, so Martina makes the call to leave now.

The way there is going to be worse,

because we're going against the sand.

So we prepare, guys, it's going to be very ugly.

As the sandstorm reaches gale-force,

even the 600 foot journey to the burial shaft is a battle.

Ouch!

Oh no!

We are in a very risky moment

because we have to extract the human remains

and we want to continue.

In the shelter of the tomb,

the team can now carefully remove the lid of the terracotta coffin.

It's very heavy.

Oh my God!

Careful, ay.

Careful.

This is the first time anyone has seen inside the coffin

for 4,000 years.

Careful. Oh my God!

It looks like a scary movie.

If this mummy is moving, I'm going as fast as you can.

A very ugly Mummy.

Well it's not mummy, it looks that it was simply put, but not well bandaged.

The terracotta coffin contains no mummy,

but a skeleton shrouded in black material.

As the sandstorm blows over, the team removes a single pot,

the only object discovered with the body.

Archaeological mysteries.

It's not all jewelry in Egypt.

The team will now analyze the pot,

to identify its contents.

It may reveal crucial information

about this person's preparations for the afterlife.

It's amazing.

This body's tattered remains suggest it was not fully mummified.

So why in this necropolis for the rich and powerful,

is there such a modest burial?

Now the research begins.

I'm excited to have time to look for this answer.

Just outside the Valley of the Kings,

in Dra' Abu El-Naga',

American Egyptologist Suzanne Onstine

hopes studying mummification methods will reveal

how the physical body would play a vital role in the afterlife.

Every day when I come into the tomb,

I'm reminded of my responsibility for it

so that we can consolidate and preserve what's there for future generations.

So far, Suzanne has found the remains of over 200 bodies here.

When a man named Paneshy and his wife Tarenu built the tomb,

they intended it just for them.

But what we found is that

about 1,000 years of other people used the tomb

for their place of burial as well.

Suzanne spots something remarkable in the body parts:

They've been skewered with wooden dowels.

The stick has been inserted into the spinal column

in order to help them to stand up straight in the afterlife.

Arthritis would have been a problem,

so the afterlife they wanted to be free of that,

and this is how they address that situation.

But it wasn't only corrective surgery

that was performed after death.

This is a false limb.

These are prosthetics for the afterlife.

What they've done is they've mummified a bundle of sticks

in order to replace an arm.

In the afterlife, you wanna be whole and complete,

that's the whole point of mummification,

is so that your body can be recognized by your soul

and so that it's free of ailments.

This is a really good example of how far they're willing to take this practice.

Perhaps this person had a congenital birth defect

and was missing an arm,

but for the afterlife, he has one.

Suzanne's discovery reveals the lengths

that the ancient Egyptians went to

for an improved life after death.

You know that the embalmer talked to the family

and the family said, you know,

"Dad had some really bad arthritis,

could we do something to help him out in the afterlife?"

They're taking care of their loved ones.

- Oh... - That fits.

DR. - Very nice.

Suzanne has found another burial ritual that aided the deceased.

The tombs were filled with objects that would come to life in the underworld,

magical servants called Shabti's.

When you go to the afterlife, you want it to be easy and beautiful,

but if there's work to be done, someone has to do it

and that's this guy, the Shabti figure.

It was the custom to include about 365 of these figures,

and all of these figures then

would have been part of a regular burial assemblage.

Shabti's would often be inscribed with the name of the departed.

This made them the eternal servant of the deceased.

They also have working implements

for doing the agricultural labor.

So, this guy is ready to go to work at a moment's notice in the afterlife.

But almost every one of the Shabti figurines

has been smashed to pieces,

along with the mummies themselves.

This can only mean one thing: grave robbers.

In Aswan, Martina is investigating the burial

of an unknown ancient Egyptian.

The grave is small and unadorned,

highly unusual for burials on this site.

She's hoping a forensic analysis of the skeleton

will reveal more information.

So right now, the work, taking off the bandages,

registering what's there.

Martina!

Yeah.

It's a mature woman.

Can you tell me the age?

The age I'm not sure, but more than 70.

Wow.

The average age or life expectance was about 25,

and because far more many women died during the childbirth.

When you have someone who's over 70 it's...

I don't want to say a surprise, but it's nice to know

and it's nice to get, finally, someone who was really old.

I'm the first person after 4,000 years

to see the face of this woman.

It's amazing.

This woman lived an exceptionally long life,

but it's a mystery why she's not been properly mummified.

They carefully remove the bones,

so analysis of the skeleton can continue in the lab.

We know the age, the sex, the size...

Now, I assume the cause of death is infectious disease...

maybe.

Now the team must find more clues

to figure out why in a cemetery for the rich,

this lady had such a simple burial.

Back at base, it's a rare opportunity to relax.

For Alejandro, it's a chance to call home.

Hello.

Hello!

How are you doing?

I got an eight!

An eight in French? Good, well done!

Dad, look.

Each year, Alejandro spends four months away from home.

You miss home, obviously but I have the privilege, err,

to work in something that many millions would like to,

to work, and I'm not going to complain,

but at the same time, it's hard.

I missed the birth of my eldest daughter

and this is something that my wife will not forgive me,

and I will not forgive myself.

Never mind.

Just outside the Valley of the Kings,

Suzanne and her team are cataloging a collection of mummies

that have been ripped apart by ancient looters.

There would have been probably up to 200 individuals

who were buried here in coffins

and very nicely laid out and cared for by their families, err,

and in the, the looting process this was all dismantled.

Ancient Egyptians believed that to enter the afterlife,

the body must survive whole, but for tomb robbers nothing was sacred.

The looting process is really, really devastating.

Bodies were destroyed, ripped apart, unwrapped and left higgledy-piggledy

everywhere in the tomb.

These tomb raiders were hunting for something very precious.

The ancient Egyptians believed that magical amulets could help

the deceased's soul reach the afterlife.

One of these was shaped like a Scarab beetle,

vital for surviving the trials of the underworld.

Here, the God Anubis would test the dead's worthiness,

weighing their heart against a feather.

If the heart was heavier, it was evidence of an evil life,

and would be devoured by a crocodile-headed monster,

trapping the soul forever.

But the scarab amulet could help.

If priests placed it inside the mummified body,

it would ensure success in the heart-weighing trial.

In trying to protect the body for the resurrection,

they would have put all these magical symbols inside.

But for robbers,

this made the mummies highly-profitable targets.

They know exactly what should be inside,

and they went right for it.

Suzanne has evidence of a particularly gruesome looting attack.

This individual demonstrates the looting process

in a very personal way,

and you can see it's the torso of an individual

just with part of the leg attached,

and there's no bandages left on him.

This jagged side is where someone put their fist through

in order to get into the cavity and take out any amulets.

This poor soul may no longer have protection in the afterlife,

but for Suzanne,

the looting has created a unique opportunity.

While its devastating, the amount of information that we can get

from bodies that are already unwrapped

is far greater than if they are wrapped

because it allows us to have a really good chance

at visual examination.

Her remarkable discovery of corrective surgery after death,

and mummified prosthetic limbs, is one of the biggest of its kind.

It reveals new levels of obsession with living a better life after death.

In the Valley of the Kings,

deep within the tomb of Seti the First,

experts in ancient inscription, John and Colleen Darnell,

are examining the elaborate hieroglyphs.

They want to find out how Pharaoh Seti planned to reach the afterlife.

This is a great text here.

Each text plays a specific role on the journey.

Yeah that's great.

Yeah, "then those who are in this gate scream

when they hear the door slam shut."

They've found one of the most important texts

for safe passage through the netherworld,

called the "Book of Gates."

This is one of the gates in the Book of Gates,

and this shows something of how

Egyptian religious texts really often work.

Absolutely crucial for literally navigating the netherworld.

The images of the afterlife texts reveal

just how treacherous Seti's voyage through the underworld could be.

The journey is split into 12 gates,

representing the 12 hours of the night.

Each holds a challenge the dead must overcome.

The Pharaoh's soul uses spells and passwords inscribed on the walls,

to continue his journey.

Without the right guidance,

Seti's soul could be cast into a sea of fire,

to endure an eternity of torment.

Everything that these texts are talking about is

ensuring the eternal existence of the King.

They've now made it

to the most sacred of all the chambers in the tomb,

where the Pharaoh's body was finally laid to rest.

So here we're in the sarcophagus room

in the tomb of Seti the First.

We're in the final major architectural element of the tomb.

This, for the ancient Egyptians is the equivalent for the soul

of sort of a spacecraft,

it gets you out of the terrestrial realm

and puts you beyond into this other reality.

Pharaoh Seti the First, built his tomb deep underground,

so that his soul could traverse the netherworld.

Religious texts carved on the walls of the tomb,

ensured the King had the passwords he needed

to travel into the afterlife.

Inside the burial chamber, a giant stone sarcophagus.

This was inscribed with the Book of Gates,

and held Seti's mummy and amulets.

These gave him the guidance needed to pass through the gates,

and achieve immortality.

For the Egyptians, you have to know all of this information

but then you have to use it, you have to say the spells,

you don't just read the book, you enact it.

And you don't just have the amulet, you use it in the right way,

to get the dead King into the afterlife.

And the text and the scenes and the hieroglyphs

all make this tomb a resurrection machine.

The ancient Egyptians would love the fact

that modern people were so interested in what they did and what they thought.

They really believed that the memory of the dead,

thinking about the dead would improve the future existence of the soul.

As a Pharaoh, no expense was spared

to grant Seti safe passage to the afterlife.

But even ordinary Egyptians made sure they were prepared.

In Aswan, Martina and the team

have finished analyzing the contents of the pot

discovered with the elderly lady.

We found little stone chips,

and fragmented insects and that's all.

The insect remains indicate it could have contained food,

as an offering to the deceased.

The offerings were usually placed near the head.

It can provide the deceased with the liquids

for its use in the afterlife.

The remains of bone and fabric

show this person was only partially mummified.

Alejandro has a theory about why,

in a graveyard for the rich, there was such a modest burial.

Royal tombs are...

in the Valley of the Kings are fully decorated with rich and great goods.

But the absence in this burial seems to indicate

that this person did not belong to a high position in the, in this society.

She might be a person who worked for important people

and perhaps her position was to continue

assisting those people after the death.

The elderly lady may have been a servant or a nurse

for one of the powerful families buried here.

We are working to understand the past.

The discovery of the intact chamber, it's always a moment to remember.

But now we have to study all the material that we have,

and this is exciting, at least for me.

Rich or poor, ancient Egyptians did everything they could

to prepare for the afterlife.

The relics, rituals and remains they left behind

are now giving archaeologists

an insight into this extraordinary society,

unraveling the mysteries of the afterlife to this day.

Captioned by Point.360