Original subtitles

Narrator: Ancient egypt.

This land of the pharaohs has captured our imaginations

For thousands of years.

Bettany: It's one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known,

And it's left us with some truly astonishing treasures.

I am professor bethany hughes.

I'm a historian and I spend my life travelling the world

To investigate the stories of the cultures and civilizations

Of the past and I love having the chance to share what I found with you.

Narrator: Last time in my top ten treasures of egypt,

We counted down from number 10 to number five.

First, at number 10, the mummy of ramesses iii, the pharaoh murdered by assassins.

At number nine, the famous rosetta stone,

Which gave us the knowledge to decode egypt's hieroglyphs.

Number eight, the massive temple of edfu,

Built by the incestuous family of cleopatra.

And number seven, we came face to face with the great sphinx of giza.

At number six, ramesses the great's colossal temples at abu simbel,

Rescued from oblivion.

At number five, we explored the city of the dead at saqqara,

Home to millions of mummies.

And on our next stop, let's go to one of the most famous places in egypt,

An ancient city on the banks of the nile, to discover treasure number four.

Over 4000 years ago, the pharaohs raised a new capital here next to the mighty river.

It grew to become one of the biggest and most magnificent cities in the world.

Today, it's known as luxor.

Bettany: As the beating heart of their capital, they built two new temples.

The temple of karnak, down there, and then connected by this amazing ceremonial avenue

That runs a mile and a half long and is lined with sphinxes, up here,

The temple of luxor.

Narrator: The complex was huge.

Twice the size of st. Paul's in london.

About the same length as three football pitches laid end to end.

It was so much more than just a temple.

Bettany: This was the place in luxor, um, the, kind of, capital of the capital.

The engine of the ancient egyptian world.

Narrator: For centuries, this was one of egypt's most splendid temples.

But if you're imagining somewhere silent and serious, think again.

This was party central.

Bettany: The really brilliant thing about this place, um, isn't just its architectural

Splendor but the fact that it would've been absolutely pulsing with life.

Um, so here you'd have had priests with their heads and their bodies shaved.

Um, all these columns, you can see some of the traces there,

They'd have been absolutely bright with a, kind of, riot of color

And then when you came out into the courtyards there were plates of electrum,

Which was a, a mixture of gold and silver that would've reflected back

The sun's rays, so it would've, kind of,

Ricocheted out as an extraordinary light show.

Narrator: During festivals, luxor was the ultimate party venue.

All of life was here indulging in wild drunken blowouts.

Singers, magicians and dancers like these gorgeous back-flipping acrobats.

So, what better place than luxor for the pharaohs of egypt to boast about their potency.

For the egyptians, power and sexual power were closely linked

And three pharaohs used this temple to show off about both.

Bettany: The first of these rulers was amenhotep,

Who was the original builder of this temple.

Um, and there's a rather startling clue as to

How he cemented his hold on power deep inside the complex.

Narrator: To boost his claim to the throne, amenhotep claimed that his mum

Had had sex with an egyptian god and that he was the result

And he had that juicy story recorded right here on the walls.

Archaeologist mina megalla is going to reveal how the ancient egyptians showed

The pharaohs mum making love with a god.

Bettany: Ahh.

Bettany: Yes.

Bettany: I mean, I think it's, it's quite explicit

Because some of the inscriptions tell us that she was suffused

With desire and that she cries out in delight and that her limbs stiffen

With love for the god. I mean, so it's, it's very sexy this.

The ancient egyptians were very good at, at just accepting the fact

That making love is a gorgeous thing.

Narrator: The second of our pharaohs to use this temple to show off about his potency

Was the most powerful man in egyptian history.

Ramesses the great.

He was the ambitious builder pharaoh who we've met once already

At the temple of abu simbel.

Ramesses was another ruler who wasn't shy of boasting about fertility.

He claimed to have fathered at least a hundred children

And rarely missed an opportunity to erect a monument to his manliness.

Bettany: He absolutely left his mark on this temple, um,

He put statues of himself everywhere and he built

This monumental gateway and set up two giant obelisks,

Although there's only one left now.

Narrator: Another almost identical obelisk stood just here for more than 3000 years.

But, in 1832, it was presented as a gift by the ruler of egypt

To the king of France.

The 250 tonne, 75-foot tall pillar made its way, by sea,

All the way to paris where today it stands as the centrepiece

Of the place de la concorde in the centre of the french capital.

But the story of luxor temple doesn't end there.

A thousand years after the age of ramesses,

A third great ruler of egypt carved his story into the temple of luxor.

He was alexander the great from ancient greece.

One of the most ambitious conquerors in history.

Alexander invaded egypt in 332bc, and we're told he chose to be crowned

On this spot in the heart of this mighty temple.

Bettany: So this is extraordinary.

So, this is alexander the great. Megalla: That's right.

Bettany: He's one of the most powerful men on earth

And he's being represented here as an egyptian.

Narrator: Even though alexander was greek, he was determined

To portray himself as a powerful egyptian pharaoh

And he knew that luxor was a great place to do that.

And, just look, he's standing next to a rather eye-catching egyptian fertility god.

A clever marketing ploy to boost alexander's image of manly virility.

Bettany: It does really tell you something about the magnetic pull of this place

That, that he's coming here, he's coming to this temple in luxor.

Bettany: Yeah. This place is a treasure for us,

But it was obviously a treasure for them too.

The temple of luxor makes it into our top ten because it is such a treasure trove

Of experiences and stories and because it's cast a spell

Over the powerful for centuries.

Narrator: We're now down to the final three of my top ten treasures of egypt.

We've already experienced some astonishing discoveries.

The mummy of a murdered pharaoh, the codebreaking rosetta stone,

The great sphinx of giza and the spectacular temple of abu simbel

Built by the all-powerful pharaoh, ramesses.

This time, we're leaving behind the great cities and heading into rocky mountains

Not far from luxor for treasure number three.

At first glance, this place seems rugged and remote,

But I'm tracking an old route to one of the most legendary locations in all of egypt.

Bettany: These paths haven't changed for thousands of years, um, um,

They were used in the ancient times, um,

A whole host of people would've come down here.

There'd have been craftsmen and traders and builders and even pharaohs.

Narrator: They came here to build something very special

Among the mountains in strict secrecy.

Bettany: Where they were heading, they called the place of truth

Or the great necropolis of millions of years of the pharaohs

And it's number three on our list of top treasures.

Uh, today, we simply describe it as the valley of the kings.

Narrator: From around 1600bc the mummified bodies of pharaohs were brought here

To be buried in tombs cut into the steep sides of the valley.

Bettany: This might seem like a, a rather remote, random patch of desert

To bury some of the most influential and powerful people on earth

But actually this place has huge symbolic and practical significance.

Um, you can probably see that the sun's just risen over there behind me in luxor,

Which means that it sets here behind these mountains, um,

And that really mattered to the ancient egyptians

Because this was where your mortal life ended

And your journey into the afterlife began.

The valley of the kings.

They include the tombs of the most famous pharaohs in egyptian history.

Tutankhamun, the boy king, ramesses the great, builder of abu simbel and our royal

Assassination victim, ramesses iii.

But the grandest tomb of all belonged to pharaoh seti I,

And that's the one I want to show you now.

Bettany: Seti was the father of our old friend ramesses ii, ramesses the great,

And he was a hugely successful pharaoh and his tomb is suitably magnificent.

Narrator: For years the tomb's been closed to make it safe for visitors.

Now, I'm being given special access to this spectacular resting place

By archaeologist bahaa gaber.

Bettany: Gosh you, I can already tell this is going really,

Really deep down indeed.

Bahaa: It's a very long tomb, it's about 138 metre.

Narrator: Not surprising, since seti I was one of the most powerful men on earth.

Bettany: I mean, it is incredible because everywhere you look there's a decoration,

There's painting, there's inscription,

It's an it's a huge amount of information actually. Bahaa: Yes.

Bettany: That's been given here. Bahaa: That's right.

And even the columns here,

You will see they have beautiful decoration representing the king

With the different gods and goddesses. Bettany: Yeah.

Bahaa: That is horus bettany: Yeah. Yeah.

Bahaa: The god, the son of isis and osiris. Bettany: Yeah.

Bahaa: And look at the relation between the king and the god himself.

He dreamed one day that he will be alive again bettany: Yeah.

Bahaa: With the god osiris. Bettany: Yeah.

You know, that's why these places are so important because people talk about

The egyptians being obsessed with death and they're not,

They're obsessed with continuing their life,

Only it's happening in an afterlife.

Bahaa: When they decided to build a tomb,

They cut the tomb out of rock to live forever.

So, he dreamed that his second life would be here.

All the inscription, all these beautiful details, talk about food, drinks, oh wow,

He said I will live here in my paradise.

Bettany: I love that.

I love the idea that this is an underground paradise here. Bahaa: Yes. Yeah.

Narrator: As we enter deeper into the tomb,

There are even more marvels inside seti I burial chamber.

Bahaa: Look at that. Bettany: Look at this.

It's extraordinary down here. Bahaa: Yes.

Bettany: That is incredible. It's just like a riot of,

Of colour and images, isn't it? Bahaa: Yeah.

Narrator: When explorer adventurers first discovered this tomb in 1817,

They were blown away by these paintings.

So fresh and vivid, they said, as if they'd been drawn yesterday.

They even found paint pots and brushes lying on the floor.

And, what's extra exciting about the valley of the kings is that there's still

More waiting to be discovered.

D'you know, we think that we found less than half of what was buried here.

Bahaa: We're working here on this beautiful mountain, inside the tombs,

Outside the tombs expecting every day that we'll find something.

Bettany: Please ring me. Bahaa: Of course.

Bettany: When you do. Let me be the first to be there because it's brilliant

Because they're all these treasures that we know about bahaa: Exactly.

Bettany: And these treasures that are waiting to be discovered.

Narrator: Sadly, some treasures will never be found including

The priceless possessions of seti I that once crammed this tomb.

They were all looted across thousands of years by tomb raiders.

Robbers were a key reason egyptians began to bury

Their rulers in this remote location.

Bettany: Up until now, um, pharaohs have been buried in great big pyramids a bit like

The step pyramid that we saw at saqqara, um, these were fantastic demonstrations

Of their might and their power but they were also huge signs saying that treasure

Was buried there so they were incredibly tempting for robbers and raiders.

Narrator: And that's why the ancient egyptians began to bury their kings far

From prying eyes in this valley.

So remote, they hoped it would keep them and their tombs safe forever.

But the robbers weren't put off even though they risked being brutally punished,

Sometimes executed.

It was a constant fight between the tomb builders officially keeping

The thieves out and the tomb raiders desperate to break in.

And there's one tomb in the valley where you can really see how that battle played out.

Bettany: Just up here on the cliff face, um,

Is the entrance to the tomb of pharaoh thutmose iii,

Uh, obviously in ancient times this, um, handy staircase wasn't there

So even if you knew where the entrance was, it would've been really,

Really tricky to get to.

Narrator: And this was just the start of the measures they took to keep thutmose iii

And his treasure safe.

B a'harr's given me special privileged access and has agreed to show me what lay

In store for would-be thieves.

Bettany: Thank you for making the climb.

Bahaa: Oh, it's a long way. Bettany: Up here.

It's a long way, but great to get here.

Narrator: We're now following in the footsteps of ancient tomb robbers.

Those robbers came here three and a half thousand years ago trying to reach the gold,

The jewels and the unique treasures buried here with the pharaoh.

But deeper in, the thieves found a trap straight out of indiana jones.

Bettany: Wow.

Narrator: The passageway comes to a sudden end above a deep dangerous pit.

Bettany: How far down does it go down here?

Bahaa: It's about six metres. Bettany: Oh, my god.

Oh, yeah, so it is. So, that's a sheer drop, bahaa: Mm-hmm.

Bettany: Down there.

Narrator: This room would've seemed to be a dead end, but across the pit,

The rest of the tomb lay hidden behind a false wall until it was smashed open

By ancient tomb raiders.

Bettany: That decoration would've originally gone just all the way along the wall?

Bettany: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

So, you'd arrive here, you'd think that that was just, you know,

It'd be impossible to get across, obviously,

There wasn't a walkway here originally.

So, how, how did they work out that you could actually, um,

Hack through an entrance up there?

How did they find that entrance?

Bettany: So, they would've been tapping on the walls then

Bahaa: Right. Bettany: To see if it sounded different.

Bahaa: Right. Bettany: Okay.

Can, can we get in there? Bahaa: Course. Let's go.

Bettany: After you. Bahaa: Yeah.

Just be careful. Bettany: Oh, thank okay.

It's getting much hotter, isn't it? Actually

Narrator: The tomb designers used every trick they could think of the deter the thieves.

Bettany: Is this, is this the burial chamber now?

Bettany: Oh, I see in the okay, so it's like a concealed staircase?

Bettany: Yeah.

Bahaa: Watch your heads. Bettany: Okay.

Bahaa: Okay.

Bettany: He really, really doesn't want to be found thutmose, does he?

Bettany: Okay. So, you've got to put in a real effort, bahaa: Yeah.

Bettany: To get this far if you're a robber.

It's beautiful, look at that ceiling, that's so lovely, isn't it?

Narrator: These simple sketches show the pharaoh standing alongside

One of his daughters and three of his wives.

I just love these images.

They feel as though the artist's brushes have just left the stone.

Bettany: You know, it's so moving seeing these sketches because

You really get a sense of, of the ordinary men

And sometimes women who would've made these.

I mean, that's an incredible thing.

Narrator: Tragically, the dead ends and false floors weren't enough to fool

The thieves who looted all the fantastic treasures that once filled this tomb.

Bettany: Amazing.

Narrator: But this treasure was just too heavy to shift.

The stone sarcophagus, which once contained the mummified remains of thutmose iii.

Bettany: What's it made of?

Bettany: Hmm. Was his body inside?

Bettany: Yeah.

Narrator: Thutmose iii was one of the mummies recovered from that shaft in the desert

Alongside number 10 in our countdown, the mummy of pharaoh ramesses iii.

Today, he rests with the others in cairo.

So, the robbers didn't make off with quite everything and, for sure,

There are many more treasures still buried here just waiting to be discovered.

Bettany: The valley of the kings makes it into my top three

Because there is nowhere else like it on earth.

You've got these incredibly rich tombs in this beautiful wild landscape and although

In theory what happens here is all about death,

It actually feels like a celebration of life.

Narrator: But there was one tomb in the valley of the kings that did escape

The attention of the tomb robbers.

What they found inside astonished the world and it's our treasure number two.

It's been a really hard job sticking to just 10 because ancient egyptians

Have left us with so many astonishing treasures.

From vast stone monuments to the mummified remains of powerful kings.

But there is one treasure that was always going to be as near as damn it

The top of the list.

We're staying right here in the valley of the kings for treasure number two.

Bettany: From the outside, this looks pretty much like any other tomb

In the valley of the kings,

But for thousands of years it was kept buried and secret

And it's what's inside that makes this number two on our top 10 treasures of egypt.

Narrator: When this tomb was first opened in 1922,

By the english archaeologist howard carter,

Very few had heard of the pharaoh whose body lay inside.

But he was soon to become a household name, tutankhamun,

And that was because unlike the other tombs in the valley,

This tombs treasures had been kept safe from thieves

And what fabulous treasures they are.

This is one of three spectacular gold coffins found here,

Each lying inside the other like russian dolls.

The outer two were made of wood covered in gold but the inner one was solid gold,

Weighing 100 kilos.

Today, that gold alone would be worth over three million pounds.

Bettany: Getting up this close, um, you really understand why they used gold,

Uh, to make these amazing coffins, um, because

The idea was that covered in gold the gods

Would realise that these pharaohs, these god-men, are actually divine.

Narrator: And inside the inner gold coffin lay the body of the pharaoh.

Bettany: So, here he is.

This is the mummified body of the teenager, tutankhamun.

Narrator: I really feel for him. He looks so fragile.

Mind you, he's the only mummy in the entire valley still in his original tomb,

Lying all alone in an empty chamber.

Bettany: But originally the rooms of this tomb were jam-packed with what carter

Described as wonderful things.

Narrator: When carter and his team first entered tutankhamun's tomb,

They took these photographs.

The chambers were stacked to the ceiling with royal treasure.

This was the greatest archaeological find of all time.

But to see this world-famous collection today we need to travel

To giza on the outskirts of cairo, where the treasures of tutankhamun are being brought

Together once more in a brand new museum.

I can't tell you how lucky I am to have been given special behind the scenes access.

Bettany: Amazing. Eissa: Yes.

Bettany: Amazing. And you're working on it right now.

Bettany: That's really delicate work, isn't it?

Eissa: Delicate work, yes. Bettany: Incredible.

Narrator: Any one of these artefacts on their own would be a priceless treasure.

4000 of them all together is hard to get your head round.

Today, conservation work is taking place to make sure every precious piece

Is ready for the museum's display.

Many show signs of use, quite possibly by tutankhamun himself.

Bettany: Look at that, the detail is amazing, isn't it?

So it's so fine the work.

This gold. I think they thought it was like the sweat. Eissa: Yes.

Bettany: Of, of the sun god. Eissa: The sun, sun god, yes.

Bettany: So, it was magical, they thought gold was magical

And the fact it didn't tarnish in the, in the ground.

Narrator: The boy king was buried with a dizzying array of treasures all,

Don't forget, close on 3500 years old.

Gilded furniture and no fewer than six fully functioning chariots.

Bettany: So, I don't know if you can see this,

It looks like this would definitely have been used,

This chariot, because it's, it's, the wood is slightly worn here

And that would've been the, kind of, friction

From the wheels as it was going around.

Bettany: Oh, my god.

So, imagine tutankhamun could've been in this chariot going out on a hunt

To prove his power to his people.

Or personal items that tut would need in the afterlife.

Doctor eissa zidan has agreed to show me some of them.

Bettany: This is the first time I've seen these, um, outside glass.

This is so extraordinary. Eissa: Yeah.

Bettany: I've got to put my glasses on to see it because it's just

I mean, my head is spinning with this because, I mean,

I've read so much about these things but just look at the detail on that.

Bettany: Yeah.

Bettany: That, sorry, I'm just my it's all coming to focus, so this incredible head,

Which is a, a big cat, is it a leopard or something? This, this,

Bettany: The face. Eissa: Yes. Yes.

Bettany: Because there are images of, of tut

And he would've worn a leopard skin, I think.

Eissa: Yes, yes, you are right.

Bettany: Yeah. It's so beautiful and this, he wasn't even,

Bettany: A particularly special pharaoh.

Bettany: It's very beautiful.

Narrator: The pharaoh was also buried with more practical items for the afterlife.

Bettany: Day beds.

Bettany: Gosh. So, he would've just had

A rest here or a nap in the middle of the day.

Bettany: Quite right he had ten beds.

You know, he is the pharaoh of egypt after all.

Narrator: The king was even provided with ready meals.

Bettany: So, this is, like, a box for a roast chicken?

Eissa: Yes.

Bettany: Oh, gosh. Look at that.

Eissa: Can you see? Bettany: Yeah.

It looks like there's some

There's definitely something else organic in there, isn't there?

That's I never thought in my life I would get to open tutankhamun's lunch box.

Narrator: Some of this stuff was clearly really personal.

Bettany: So, his actual toys?

Eissa: Yes, yes.

Bettany: That's just so touching.

His courtiers or he might even have asked for them,

Eissa: Yes. Bettany: To be,

To be buried with him for the afterlife. That's amazing.

Narrator: To everyone's surprise, they found well over a hundred walking sticks

In the tomb, supporting theories that tutankhamun had some form of disability.

Bettany: Amazing. Huh.

Bettany: It's beautiful.

That's so beautiful.

Bettany: Amazing.

Narrator: The greatest and most famous treasure of all wasn't discovered until 1925,

Three years after howard carter first entered the tomb of tutankhamun.

Once he removed the lid from tut's third and final coffin,

Carter came face to face with something truly extraordinary and that,

Today, takes pride of place in cairo's central museum.

Bettany: I'd say it's the most famous ancient treasure anywhere in the world,

It's the mask of tutankhamun.

Narrator: The mask is pure gold decorated with coloured glass and precious stones

And weighs more than 10 kilos.

On his forehead are a cobra and a vulture, symbols of royal authority.

Bettany: I remember first seeing this mask when I was just five, um,

At the amazing blockbuster exhibition at the british museum and being completely

Blown away, um, because suddenly all those fairy tales and myths about hidden tombs

And boy kings buried with gold and secret mysterious deaths, they were true.

They were staring back out at me and it's just beautiful, isn't it?

I mean, this truly is the most extraordinary treasure.

Narrator: Today, tutankhamun is a global megastar and the museum's top attraction.

Bettany: The tutankhamun collection is number two on our list of treasures

Not just because it's so exquisite and so remarkable,

But for another deeper reason too.

Howard carter's discovery of that tomb launched ancient egypt into the mainstream

And sparked a global passion for all things egyptian.

Um, you could argue that if tut had stayed buried then many of these people

Wouldn't be here, I wouldn't be a historian and you might not be watching this show.

Narrator: Coming up, I get privileged access to one of the world's most famous

Monuments, number one in our top 10 treasures of egypt.

Bettany: Oh, god.

From breathtaking monuments and the all- powerful pharaohs to gruesome tales

Of incest and murder.

At number three, we investigated the world's greatest burial ground,

The valley of the kings.

At number two, we got up close and personal

With the unforgettable treasures of tutankhamun.

Now it's time to finally reveal number one in our top 10 countdown

Of egypt's brilliant treasures.

We're going back to giza on the outskirts of cairo

For an egyptian treasure that never fails to impress.

Bettany: Number one on our countdown of egyptian treasures

Is the great pyramid at giza.

Narrator: Rising almost 150 metres out of the ground,

It remains one of the most gobsmacking constructions in the world.

Bettany: It took over 20 years, uh, to build this pyramid

And it's been estimated that each one of these blocks,

Which weighs between one and two and a half tonnes each,

Would've been put in place every two minutes every day of that 20 years.

Narrator: The stone was brought from all across egypt,

Including granite from more than 500 miles away in the south of the country.

The entire giza plateau would've been teaming with activity.

Over 10,000 workers toiling at the greatest building site the world had ever seen.

When the great pyramid was finally completed, it was the tallest man-made structure

Anywhere in the world.

A record it held for 4000 years.

Bettany: But the mad truth about this remarkable massive monument is that it was built

To house a body of just one man.

Narrator: Pharaoh khufu.

He made this, one of the biggest tombs in human history,

To keep his body and his treasures safe for eternity.

Bettany: So, in order to discover the secrets that are walled up here,

I've got to brave the actual interior of the pyramid.

Narrator: The original entrance was sealed four and a half thousand years ago.

After khufu's body was placed inside, no-one was ever meant to enter.

So, now we have to clamber in through a hole smashed open by medieval tomb robbers

And what you find inside is a labyrinth of secret passages and hidden tunnels.

After twisting and turning for 30 metres, you find this steep hallway.

Here the robber's tunnel meets the original access route,

Known as the ascending passage.

This then opens up into an amazing stairway, the grand gallery.

It's eight meters high and 46 metres long,

Leading up to the very centre of the pyramid.

This was all built not just to house the pharaoh's body,

But also his soul and his spirit was thought to roam

Around in these tunnels and chambers.

It's spooky even for me and I don't believe in the afterlife.

Bettany: So, this is the king's chamber where the king was buried

And it's always been considered the beating heart of this pyramid

But by the time that modern-day explorers came here in the 19th century,

This room had been completely stripped of all its treasure.

All that was left was this sarcophagus.

But I've got access to other secret spaces within the pyramid itself.

Narrator: Below the king's chamber, deep underground under the base of the pyramid,

Is a little known secret.

Accessible only down this narrow 70 metre long tunnel not normally open to visitors,

It's one of the most eerie and unsettling places in all of egypt.

Bettany: This is where it gets really interesting because you have to,

You have to crawl from here on in.

Narrator: Thousands of tonnes of rock were dug out by hand as the pyramid was being built

Above ground, an incredible task in what must've been appalling conditions

In this cramped tunnel.

Bettany: I can't believe I'm doing this because I'm very claustrophobic so, um,

I am doing this in the name of history.

Oh, god. Oh, god.

So, I've read about this place, but I've never been down here before.

I've just got to adjust for a moment because, um, we're 30 metres beneath

The surface of the bedrock here and there's 140 metres worth of pyramid above me,

So that is a whole lot of stone bearing down.

Perhaps the king's original burial chamber abandoned after a change of plan?

Or a decoy designed to fool tomb robbers looking for the real thing?

Or could it just be an underground kingdom for the dead pharaoh khufu to haunt?

Bettany: What an effort it must've taken to, to make this but we don't know why.

We don't know what it was for.

I mean, down here there's a shaft that goes down 30 metres,

No idea what they used this for.

Oh, god.

This, oh, apart from the fact the ceiling seems to be falling in on me here.

Oh, this is amazing.

So, everywhere here you've got thousands and thousands and thousands

Of these chisel marks and these were made by workers

Probably women as well as men, well over 4000 years ago,

So that is an amazing thing.

When I touch that, I'm touching where their hands were.

That is truly special.

That is something I'm going to treasure.

Narrator: And, elsewhere in the guts of the pyramid,

A brand new discovery has been made that transforms

Our understanding of the whole structure.

At the end of this long, low passage, hidden near the base of the grand gallery,

Lies a room that is out of bounds to most visitors.

It may hold the key to one of the pyramids greatest mysteries.

Bettany: Now, this is the queen's chamber, um,

But it's got nothing at all to do with the queen,

There was no queen buried here.

But, if anything, there's actually something even more exciting currently

Being stored here and what this is, is scanning equipment

And there's a team of international scientists

Who are collaborating on something called the scans pyramid project

And they are scanning the entire interior of this pyramid

And what they've discovered is truly remarkable.

So, directly above me, there's a whole central chamber

That we knew absolutely nothing about.

Narrator: The scans, taken in 2017, revealed this huge void thought to be

At least 30 metres long.

It's been described as the discovery of the century.

Bettany: And it is perfectly possible that stored in there,

There is still the treasure of the pharaoh.

It's just amazing.

Narrator: The chamber's surrounded by metres of solid masonry,

So it's unlikely that anyone will find out anytime soon.

It's an archaeological riddle waiting to be solved.

The new discovery is a reminder that even a monument as ancient and iconic

As this great pyramid still has deeply hidden secrets and surprises.

Bettany: The great pyramid at giza deserves to be our number one egyptian treasure.

For starters, it's the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world

That still stands intact.

It's wowed visitors for thousands of years

And it looks set to be here for a thousand years more.

Narrator: In our top 10, we've visited fabulous tombs and stunning temples,

We've cracked secret codes and witnessed gruesome murders,

Ending our journey with the soaring grandeur of khufu's great pyramid.

Bettany: Majestic and mysterious and mind-blowing,

The treasures of egypt are proof of the power of human imagination

And human achievement and they'll still be standing

Long after all of us have turned to dust.

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