All language subtitles for Lost.Treasures.of.Egypt.S02E03.WEBRip.x264-ION10

NARRATOR: Egypt...

the richest source of
archaeological treasures

on the planet.

MAN: Oh, whoa, look at that.

NARRATOR: Hidden beneath
this desert landscape

lie the secrets of
this ancient civilization.

MAN: I'’ve never seen
something like this.

NARRATOR: Now for a full season of excavations,

our cameras have been given
unprecedented access

to follow teams on
the front line of archaeology.

WOMAN: This is the most
critical moment.

[men grunting]

NARRATOR: Revealing
buried treasures...

WOMAN: Oh!

MAN: We were lucky today.

MAN: Wow, lots of mummies.

WOMAN: The smell is horrible.

NARRATOR:
And making discoveries

that could rewrite
ancient history...

MAN: We'’ve never had
the proof until now.

WOMAN: This is where
it all started.

MAN: My goodness,
I never expected this.

[clapping]

NARRATOR: This time...

KATHLEEN MARTINEZ:
We'’re going to start from here.

NARRATOR: Kathleen is in search of the lost tomb of Cleopatra.

KATHLEEN:
I have to go down and see.

NARRATOR: Calliope digs up
a city center

in the hunt for
the queen'’s capital...

CALLIOPE LIMNEOS-PAPAKOSTA:
Look how big it is.

NARRATOR: ...uncovering
heroes and kings.

CALLIOPE: Amazing.

Helmet and weapon
means a warrior.

NARRATOR: And in the ancient
Egyptian land of the dead...

BAHAA GABER: You feel
that something here.

NARRATOR: Bahaa and his team
move mountains...

BAHAA: It seems
it'’s still alive.

NARRATOR: ...in search
of lost pharaohs.

♪

♪

The floodplains
of the River Nile,

home to one of the longest-lived civilizations

of the ancient world,

and the burial ground of
pharaohs for over 3,000 years.

But not all of Egypt'’s rulers
built giant monuments

to mark their
final resting place.

Some tombs remain lost,

and there is one that the world is desperate to find.

The last resting place
of Cleopatra.

Last year, Dominican archaeologist Kathleen Martinez

discovered traces of a large
void beneath the ruins

of the northern Egyptian temple of Taposiris Magna.

KATHLEEN: Wow.
I'’m gonna cry, I'’m so happy.

NARRATOR: She believes
it could hold clues to,

or perhaps even be, the lost
tomb of Egypt'’s final pharaoh.

KATHLEEN: We have this temple

which was dedicated
to Osiris and Isis.

It could be the final resting
place of Queen Cleopatra,

because she was the human
representation of goddess Isis.

It fit perfect with
Cleopatra'’s story.

NARRATOR: At the time
of Cleopatra'’s death,

Taposiris Magna had been
a religious sanctuary

for more than two centuries.

Thick walls protected an area
the size of a city block.

Egyptians would come
to the temple complex

to worship Isis and Osiris.

Here archaeologists unearthed
broken statues of Isis,

the goddess
Cleopatra most admired.

They also discovered
an alabaster bust

of the legendary queen,

and a broken mask resembling
portraits of her lover,

the Roman general, Mark Antony.

Could this mean
the Taposiris Magna

is Cleopatra'’s
final resting place?

It'’s a theory Kathleen has been meticulously building

for more than a decade.

KATHLEEN:
The last queen of Egypt

was an extraordinary woman.

She was a goddess, she was
a warrior, she was a queen,

she was a mother,
and she fascinates me.

NARRATOR: To excavate down to
the void beneath the temple

would mean destroying

2,000-year-old
Egyptian heritage.

But Kathleen believes
there may be a better route.

KATHLEEN:
One of the main objective

when I came to Taposiris Magna

was to discover possible
tunnels, passages underground

that might lead me to the tombs.

Right now I have 14 tunnels
discovered and seven chambers.

I believe one of those tunnels

will lead me to the tomb
of Queen Cleopatra.

NARRATOR: Only a few sections
of the 14 underground tunnels

have been explored;

any of them could lead
Kathleen to her target.

But she can only access
the subterranean network

via precipitous shafts.

With a potential drop as deep
as an eight-story building,

she can'’t take any risks.

KATHLEEN: There is a big problem

because the way they'’ve placed
the ladder, it'’s crazy.

This is like committing suicide.

We risk our lives every day,

trying to solve the secrets
of Taposiris Magna.

NARRATOR: Without
a long enough ladder,

Kathleen'’s team can'’t
get to the tunnel

she hopes to explore.

She needs to extend the ladder, but that requires a blacksmith.

KATHLEEN:
I say I need it in one hour,

they say, "Well, maybe two,
we are discussing."

MAN: One hour.

KATHLEEN: One hour, but.

[laughs]

When we go down,
we'’ll find Cleopatra.

[laughing]

NARRATOR: If she can'’t get
a longer ladder,

the secrets below ground
will remain out of reach.

30 miles to the east is
one of Egypt'’s busiest cities:

Alexandria.

This was Cleopatra'’s capital,

the center of power
for her family line,

known as the Ptolemies.

Calliope Limneos-Papakosta has
been unearthing the treasures

of Ptolemaic Egypt
for more than 10 years.

Among them,
an incredible statue

of the legendary conqueror
of the ancient world,

Alexander the Great.

CALLIOPE: This is the most
important moment of my life,

the discovery of this statue.

When I took the soil
out of his face,

I was sure I faced
Alexander the Great,

the founder of the city
of Alexandria.

The hero of the Greeks, the hero
of the Egyptians after that.

The hero of all the nations
that he conquered.

NARRATOR: Alexander'’s city was
a Mediterranean powerhouse.

It flourished for almost
300 years under the Ptolemies

until rule passed to
the dynasty'’s final queen.

Born in 69 BC,

Cleopatra was the daughter
of King Ptolemy XII.

Her father died
when she was 18,

and Cleopatra became queen.

But she had to share the throne with her 12-year-old brother,

and also marry him.

He sent her into exile,

but she smuggled herself

into the company of
Roman dictator Julius Caesar

and persuaded him to help
reinstate her as queen.

Educated in the famous
library of Alexandria,

Cleopatra spoke
several languages

and became known
for her intelligence

and political skill.

She led Egypt'’s forces
into battle

and kept the country
independent

right up to her death.

Cleopatra'’s capital once
boasted unimaginable wealth.

Today its remains are buried.

Calliope'’s mission is not
to dig up Cleopatra'’s body,

but to uncover her life.

Her target is Cleopatra'’s home, the ancient royal quarter.

It could hold long-forgotten
secrets of the Egyptian queen

as well as her ancestors.

CALLIOPE: In the area
of the royal quarter,

Ptolemy IV constructed
a huge mausoleum.

All the Ptolemies were buried
in this mausoleum,

except one: the Queen Cleopatra.

NARRATOR: Calliope hunts
in Alexandria'’s equivalent

of Central Park,
Shallalat Gardens.

It'’s here that she discovered

her marble statue
of Alexander the Great.

But this dig is
no walk in the park;

it'’s a fight against nature.

CALLIOPE: Our target is
the Ptolemaic level,

and this level is lower
than the water table.

It'’s a huge project, pumping
the water now 24 hours per day.

But we believe that this area

has a lot of secrets
to be revealed.

NARRATOR: If the pumps fail,
the site will be drowned,

destroying an entire season'’s
progress in a matter of hours.

400 miles south of Alexandria
is Luxor,

site of the ancient
capital of Thebes.

This was the heart of
the ancient Egyptian culture

that Cleopatra inherited
and ruled over.

The city was the seat
of Egypt'’s pharaohs.

Their tombs are scattered

throughout the nearby
Valley of the Kings.

But like the tomb of Cleopatra, many have never been found.

BAHAA: We can remove
this debris from here.

NARRATOR: Bahaa Gaber and
his team are here to scour

the mouth of the valley

on the mountain site
of Dra Abu el-Naga.

BAHAA: Oh, wow, this is linen!

It means that
we should have a mummy!

NARRATOR: And he has
a particular

lost pharaoh in mind.

BAHAA: We are missing one of the
tombs in Valley of the Kings,

the tomb of a king
called Amenhotep I.

We are thinking that
this king had been buried here

in Dra Abu el-Naga.

NARRATOR: Amenhotep I
was among the early kings

of the famous 18th dynasty.

His successors,
including Tutankhamun,

were buried nearby.

It means this mountain could be a prized burial ground.

BAHAA: The ancient people carved
the tomb on the bedrock,

that'’s why we are
cleaning the mountain.

We divided the area
into three different sites,

each one of those groups,
they are looking for a tomb.

NARRATOR:
After three years of digging,

his team may be
closer than ever

to their dream
of finding a king.

Archaeologist Ahmed El-Taayeb
investigates

a corner of the site where
workers are uncovering a wall.

In the dust they find clues
that it might enclose a tomb.

NARRATOR:
On this desolate mountain,

at the base of a rock wall,

this shard of wood
can only be one thing.

NARRATOR: It'’s barely 8:00 AM
on the mountain

at Dra Abu el-Naga,
but Ahmed'’s crew is buzzing.

A coffin could be the clue

that leads him and fellow
archaeologist Mohamed Beabesh

to a lost pharaoh'’s tomb.

They pick up the pace.

NARRATOR: What at first looked
like a fallen piece of wall

could be a woman'’s gravestone.

NARRATOR: If the tomb marker
and the coffin fragments

go together, it'’s a good sign.

This could be a noble'’s burial.

The king might not be far away.

BAHAA: Oh, Mohamed, I think you
feel there'’s something here.

MOHAMED: I feel it,
I just feel it, I just feel it.

BAHAA: We keep going,
we keep going and see.

MOHAMED: Okay.

NARRATOR: At the temple complex of Taposiris Magna,

Kathleen Martinez and her team
have moved tons of earth

in search of Cleopatra.

The result of all that labor

is a breathtaking network
of ancient chambers.

Underneath
the beautiful temple,

there'’s a labyrinth of tunnels
holding many secrets.

In one shaft, Kathleen
found the remains

of a pregnant Greek woman,

clutching a bust
of Alexander the Great.

In another shaft,
80 feet below the ground,

she found two people,
thought to be priests,

buried in the fetal position
and adorned with jewelry.

These burials build
Kathleen'’s case

the Taposiris Magna was
a very important site,

with plenty of places for
Cleopatra to lie hidden.

But this season, unprecedented
storms have hit the site.

The rains have taken days
off her dig schedule,

throwing her plans into chaos

and threatening all her work.

Kathleen'’s team has been using
tomb two for storage,

but rain dripping
through the rock

has entirely submerged
the lower chamber,

putting her carefully excavated ancient remains underwater.

KATHLEEN: This is
a rescue archaeology.

We are trying to rescue
the human remains

that has been flooded.

And we need to do something.

NARRATOR: While the team
bails out the storage area,

Archaeologist Linda Chapon
turns her attention

to an unexcavated corner of the tomb that escaped the flood.

The burials here
could hold clues

to other secrets
hidden at the site

and help steer Kathleen'’s
search for Cleopatra.

LINDA CHAPON: I think that
it has been disturbed

because the skulls
are not placed

in their original position.

NARRATOR: The bones
are scattered.

Whoever they were, these bodies had something worth looting.

But even though robbers
have ransacked the corpses,

clues still remain.

KATHLEEN: This one is
very well preserved.

LINDA: Yeah.

KATHLEEN: It looks like a woman.

She has beautiful teeth.

Only people which were very rich
would take care of themselves,

and they had beautiful teeth.

NARRATOR: Wealthy burials
strengthened Kathleen'’s case

that the site
could hide royalty,

and they date to the end
of the Ptolemaic period:

Cleopatra'’s dynasty.

LINDA: Sometimes I wonder,
did these people meet her?

Were they friends?

If these people are from
the time of Queen Cleopatra,

that'’s a very important
discovery for us.

NARRATOR: Kathleen has built up six seasons'’ worth

of precious human remains
backing up her hunch.

But too long underwater, and
her evidence will fall apart.

In the center of Alexandria,

Calliope has been
holding back floodwaters

for more than a decade.

CALLIOPE: If we stop pumping,

this area is like a lake,
becomes a swimming pool.

NARRATOR: She'’s searching for
the royal quarter of the city

and clues to Cleopatra'’s life.

Exactly where she discovered
Alexander the Great'’s statue,

her team uncovers
a further tantalizing clue.

CALLIOPE: Amazing.

You recognize this?

[laughs]

The right hand holds a weapon;

helmet and weapon
means a warrior.

This is the third head
of Alexander we find.

NARRATOR: Alexander the Great
was revered

right up to Cleopatra'’s time,
almost 300 years later.

The royal quarter would have
been filled with artworks

and monuments to
the city'’s founding hero.

MAN: Go ahead, one meter.

NARRATOR: But Calliope
also uncovers evidence

at a much greater scale.

CALLIOPE: Look how big it is,

and we have not
arrived to the end.

So, I believe this is the
external wall of this building.

NARRATOR: The foundations of
the newly unearthed building

are laid on bedrock.

It means Calliope can
date the structure

right back to
the founding of the city.

The building'’s sheer size

means it can'’t be a workshop
or ordinary dwelling.

CALLIOPE: We have
an enormous building

that possibly was one of
the famous public buildings

of the royal quarter
of Ptolemaic Alexandria.

NARRATOR: It'’s evidence
she'’s digging

in the right part of town.

In 365 AD, a huge earthquake
hit ancient Alexandria

and leveled most
of its buildings.

As people rebuilt the city,

all traces of Cleopatra'’s
royal quarter disappeared.

But the geographer Strabo
had written

a detailed first-hand account

of Alexandria'’s original layout before the quake.

Strabo states that Cleopatra'’s
palaces and temples

were all gathered around
Alexandria'’s main crossroads.

Calliope believes the ancient
layouts Strabo described

is the basis for
the modern city plan.

If so, the foundations
she has discovered

are in the right place.

CALLIOPE: We are very close
to the main street

of modern Alexandria.

This is a good sign, because
the monuments, the buildings,

the royal cemetery,
supposed to be around here.

NARRATOR: But she needs
to find evidence

of the ancient crossroads,

if she'’s to pin down

Cleopatra'’s palaces
and temples.

It'’s the final few days
of the field season

at Taposiris Magna.

Kathleen is running out of time

to find a route to the cavity
beneath the temple

that she hopes
is Cleopatra'’s tomb.

But news has come in

from the team working on
access to the tunnels.

KATHLEEN: They told me
the ladder arrived,

and I'’m going to look
in the shaft now

to see if it'’s possible
to go down.

NARRATOR: Lashed together
with some rope,

she decides the ladder system
should hold.

But the greater risk may await
in the shaft itself.

KATHLEEN:
I have a very shaky ladder,

and down in the shaft,
it'’s full of snakes.

This is the situation
I have right now.

NARRATOR: Kathleen hopes
bags of Bedouin herbs

will ward off
the venomous reptiles.

But all this preparation
might still be in vain

if her team'’s suggestions

of chest-high floodwaters
are true.

KATHLEEN: The water is
more than one meter,

and so they think
it will cover me completely.

I have to go down
and see anyway.

NARRATOR: Kathleen'’s high-risk
game of snakes and ladders

is finally underway.

KATHLEEN: Oh.

NARRATOR:
This could be the shaft

that leads her
to Cleopatra'’s tomb.

Her tallest worker, Saber,
is already down,

testing the floodwaters

and hanging the Bedouin
anti-snake herbs.

But he returns with an entirely unexpected problem.

KATHLEEN: Huh? A mouse?
SABER: Yeah.

NARRATOR: The rotting rodents
are unpleasant,

but the unusually deep water
is dangerous.

One slip in the darkness
could be fatal.

NARRATOR:
Until the floodwater subsides,

Kathleen won'’t be able
to follow the passage.

KATHLEEN: I could not stand up
even in the tunnel.

The rats that live there die,
and they are decomposing.

It smells horrible.

NARRATOR: There'’s no way
the tunnel will dry out

before Kathleen
has to close the site.

KATHLEEN: That'’s it
for the tunnel this year,

there'’s nothing else we can do.

NARRATOR: With
the underground route flooded,

Kathleen needs to find another
way to the underground void

she hopes holds Cleopatra.

In the city of Alexandria'’s
Shallalat Gardens,

Calliope has dug down 30 feet

in the hunt for
Cleopatra'’s royal quarter.

CALLIOPE: If we find
the crossroads,

it will make us become closer
to the location

of the burial place
of the Ptolemies.

NARRATOR:
But she faces a problem.

CALLIOPE: The death of Cleopatra

is the end of
the Ptolemaic dynasty,

and also it'’s the end of
a whole era, historical era.

Romans come after that, and
things change in Alexandria.

NARRATOR: The conquering Romans built over Cleopatra'’s capital.

20 feet down,
Calliope discovers

what seems to be a highway
running across her dig.

CALLIOPE: So, these black stones
are not just stones,

they'’re precious stones,

and when we see black stones,
we know we have a Roman road.

NARRATOR: The Romans may have
leveled the city,

but Calliope believes
their engineering

could be
a blessing in disguise.

CALLIOPE: Most of the Roman
streets we find in Alexandria

have earlier
Ptolemaic streets underneath.

NARRATOR: Calliope thinks
the Roman road network

mirrors the road layout
of ancient Alexandria

at the time of Cleopatra.

Calliope'’s plan is to excavate
her small Roman road

until she finds the main road
that cuts across it,

which might then lead her
to the ancient city center

where Cleopatra'’s
royal quarter once stood.

CALLIOPE: We are in
the right location.

We are near the crossroad,

but, for sure, there is
a lot of work to be done.

NARRATOR: The trouble is

there is still
2,000 years'’ worth of debris

between Calliope and
the ancient road network,

and her route to
Cleopatra'’s royal quarter.

At Dra Abu el-Naga,

near the mouth of Luxor'’s
the Valley of the Kings,

Bahaa'’s team is searching for
the pharaoh Amenhotep I.

They'’ve discovered a grave
marker and coffin fragments.

This could be a collapsed tomb.

AHMED EL-TAAYEB:
Call to the director, the chief.

[yells]

BAHAA: They are calling us.

NARRATOR: A flash of color
in the dry desert sand

could confirm this
as a burial place.

BAHAA: It'’s good news, oh, wow.

NARRATOR: The faces
on male coffins

nearly always had facial hair.

This casket almost certainly
belongs to a woman.

BAHAA: Look at the eyes,
it seems it'’s still alive.

NARRATOR: This is Bahaa'’s
first opportunity

to pin a date on the tomb.

BAHAA: The stone that
we found this morning,

and then we found the face,
the wooden face.

MOHAMED: Wonderful work.

BAHAA: This is the style
of the late Egyptian period.

NARRATOR: The find dates
to hundreds of years

after Amenhotep.

Their discovery proves
this was a cemetery then.

Now Bahaa is on the hunt for
proof it was a burial ground

in the time of
the pharaoh himself.

BAHAA: When you find
some stuff like that,

it'’s a sign that you are
going to find something!

So we are very close
to an amazing tomb.

NARRATOR: At the northern
Egyptian temple

of Taposiris Magna,

Kathleen needs every piece of
evidence the site can provide

to back up her theory

that this is the last
resting place of Cleopatra.

The human remains
she'’s unearthed this season

provide crucial data,

but the catastrophic flood
in the storage tomb

threatens her dream.

KATHLEEN: In that tomb,
in one niche,

we have 10 human remains,
we have so much.

LINDA: We are trying to dry them
with a hair dryer.

Better than to
leave them in the sun,

the sun has
very bad effect on bones.

And it'’s working, so.

NARRATOR: Linda now has
the thankless task

of assessing the damage
and sorting the remains

for the second time.

LINDA: This one,
part of a mandible.

This is part of the foot.

This is part of the pelvis.

Vertebras.

NARRATOR: With some
gentle blow drying,

the bones will survive
their immersion.

It'’s a much-needed boost
for Kathleen.

KATHLEEN: The thing that
keeps me very optimistic

is that these human remains

are from the time
of Queen Cleopatra,

and this keeps
my theory together.

NARRATOR: With just one day
left of the field season,

it'’s now too late to excavate
the void beneath the temple.

So Kathleen brings forward

plans to use
an experimental technology.

KATHLEEN: We'’re going
to start from here.

NARRATOR: And prove
the cavity is a tomb,

without even breaking ground.

In the city center
of nearby Alexandria,

Calliope is working on
a new area of excavation,

in line with the Roman street.

She'’s following the road

towards Cleopatra'’s
royal quarter

and the tombs of
the queen'’s ancestors.

But with the ancient
structures hidden

below 30 feet of mud and stone, it'’s heavy work.

CALLIOPE: We have arrived
one meter and a half

from the surface of the ground.

We are still very high,

our target is maybe
another eight meters.

NARRATOR: 2,000 years of
destruction and rebuilding

have jumbled
the archaeological record.

Any of these stones
could have been

part of Cleopatra'’s
palace or temples.

The team must document
every single one.

CALLIOPE: We go slowly, slowly,

and we hope the result
will award us.

Be careful if it'’s black.

Give me the brush.

All these quantity of big stones
is debris,

but the fact that we find
black stones among them

is a very good sign.

NARRATOR: The rock'’s color
and texture show

it'’s not from the local area.

It could be the black stone the Romans used for their roads.

If this proves to be a continuation of the Roman road,

it could lead her to
the ancient royal quarter,

the epicenter of power
in Cleopatra'’s Egypt.

♪

♪

Just over a mile

from the famous tombs
of the Valley of the Kings,

Bahaa'’s hunt for
the pharaoh Amenhotep I

at Dra Abu el-Naga is
producing tantalizing clues.

But he needs to determine
whether the necropolis

was already in use by the time
Amenhotep'’s reign began,

at the start of Egypt'’s
18th dynasty of pharaohs.

Further down the mountain,

the team'’s foreman reports
a cluster of intact pots

emerging from the sand.

For ceramic specialist Mohamed, it'’s an exciting prospect.

It'’s a clue that
could date the site

to a time before Amenhotep I.

NARRATOR: The pot suggests that

by the time of
Amenhotep'’s 18th dynasty,

people already came here
to commemorate the dead.

[cow moos]

Each year after the harvest,

the people of Thebes held
a celebration of the dead

called the Beautiful Festival
of the Valley.

They carried statues
of Thebes'’ three main gods

in a grand procession
out of Karnak Temple

east of the river.

They crossed the Nile
on ceremonial boats,

following the sun'’s journey
from the east bank,

the land of the living,

to the west,
the land of the dead.

The procession ended
at the tombs and temples

on the west bank, where people
had laid offerings,

including pots of food,
at the graves of the deceased.

The ritual ensured the dead
had provisions for eternity.

These pots mean a tomb
should be very close.

NARRATOR:
The roughly carved casket

appears to be buried
in a miniature tomb.

This is clearly no king,

but it'’s a vital clue
that he might be near.

NARRATOR: If the burial
does predate Amenhotep I,

it proves Dra Abu el-Naga was a cemetery by the time he died.

So he could be buried here.

But there'’s no way to tell

until this coffin
is out of the ground.

NARRATOR: Mohamed and Ahmed
have mobilized

a whole team of workers
to excavate the coffin.

It'’s their best lead yet

in the hunt for the missing
pharaoh, Amenhotep I.

MOHAMED: Now we have a coffin,
for a child, from one piece.

AHMED: One tree.

MOHAMED:
And it'’s a sycamore tree.

[speaking native language]

NARRATOR: A single dug-out
trunk is a key clue

that this burial predates
Amenhotep'’s reign;

a boost to their hopes

that the pharaoh was
buried in this cemetery.

But the proof will lie
inside the coffin.

It looks like the coffin
of a tiny infant,

but mummies of the time

were often stuffed into
ill-fitting tree trunks,

not stretched out comfortably
like later mummies.

NARRATOR: Opening a coffin
that has been closed

for thousands of years
is a delicate operation.

Any wrong move and they could
damage the body inside.

MAN: Slowly. Ease.

Yes.

NARRATOR: This is evidence
that the necropolis was in use

by the time Amenhotep I died.

NARRATOR: The hunt for royalty
at Dra Abu el-Naga goes on.

But Bahaa and his team
have confirmed

the cemetery'’s great age.

They'’re inching ever closer

to their goal of
finding the missing king.

♪

At the temple complex
of Taposiris Magna,

it'’s the last day
of the field season.

Kathleen is in a race to show

the cavity beneath her feet
is a tomb.

If she can,
it will help persuade

the Ministry of Antiquities to allow her to dig for Cleopatra.

MOHAMED GAMAL:
Can you start from here?

NARRATOR: She'’s thrown caution
to the wind and put her faith

in a promising but
experimental technology.

Mohamed Gamal sounds out
hidden cavities in the rock

with a network of geophones.

KATHLEEN: I want to check
all these rooms.

MOHAMED: I'’m very excited to see
are we going to be able

to succeed to see what'’s
hidden from us or not.

This is a challenge to us.

NARRATOR: The technique
relies on acoustic imaging.

Mohamed'’s ultra-sensitive
equipment records sound

caused by micro-tremors
in the earth'’s crust.

He can analyze the signal
to create a subterranean map,

including every crack
in the rock, every void,

or any tomb that might
conceal a lost pharaoh

or a hiding queen.

But with the team
deep into their work,

Kathleen spots a problem.

The scan has begun, but she has no way of mapping the results.

KATHLEEN: Whenever they are
doing the profile,

I need the beginning
and the end.

I need to know where
are we doing the profile.

If not, it'’s not
gonna work for me.

They were not putting any marks.

MOHAMED: Let them do it,
let them do it.

NARRATOR: If she'’s to prove
to the Egyptian authorities

that it'’s worth damaging
the ancient structure,

she needs to know exactly where the geophones are placed.

She needs to know where to dig
down to the nearest inch.

KATHLEEN:
This is the only day I have,

it'’s the last day of the season,

and we lost a couple of hours.

NARRATOR: Kathleen is within
touching distance

of a discovery
that could eclipse

even that of Tutankhamun.

But it will be some time before Mohamed has fully mapped

the temple'’s
underground labyrinth.

She faces an anxious wait
for the survey results.

NARRATOR: In Alexandria'’s
Shallalat Gardens,

Calliope'’s team has discovered

a black stone in
a newly opened excavation.

It could be the clue that
points her in the direction

of Cleopatra'’s royal quarter.

CALLIOPE: Let'’s start
removing the debris.

NARRATOR: To get there,
she needs to find

the main crossroads
of ancient Alexandria.

BILAL: This is three pieces,
this one.

CALLIOPE: It'’s black, yes.

And what about this one?

We have four black stones here,
so maybe we are in

a part of the continuation
of the Roman street.

NARRATOR: The stones
are covered in a layer

of white mineral after
centuries buried in the soil.

But they were once smooth, dark Roman street cobbles.

CALLIOPE: Also, Bilal, this way,
clean also this way. Yes.

We found another one,
so I don'’t believe it is random.

You don'’t understand how
a person can be happy,

finding just a black stone;
this is archaeology.

NARRATOR: As the workers haul
the stones out of the ground,

Calliope spots
a potentially crucial clue.

They'’re much larger
than the cobbles

on the Roman road
she'’s following.

CALLIOPE: These black stones
are very big,

so maybe they belong to
the big street, not to this one.

I'’m very excited by the fact
that these stones could belong

to the main latitudinal
street of Alexandria.

And this will be great,
because this is our goal.

NARRATOR: If this is really
one of Alexandria'’s

two Roman main highways,

Calliope just needs to trace it

to where it meets
the other one.

And she will find
the crossroads

where the ancient royal quarter once stood.

Calliope will have to wait
for next season

to open another excavation.

CALLIOPE:
And this is black, too.

NARRATOR: But for now,
she'’s one more step

along the road
to Cleopatra'’s royal home.

CALLIOPE: It'’s a stone,
but it'’s not just a stone.

Everything has a meaning.

I think this is
the beauty of archaeology.

♪

NARRATOR:
At his laboratory in Cairo,

Mohamed has has finished
processing the acoustic survey

of Taposiris Magna.

With the dig season over
and the site closed,

Kathleen has returned home.

But the subterranean map of the temple is finally ready.

MOHAMED: Kathleen.

KATHLEEN: Hello!

MOHAMED: How do you do? Hello.

KATHLEEN: How are you?

MOHAMED: Fine, thank you.
I have good news for you.

KATHLEEN: Really?
MOHAMED: Yes.

KATHLEEN: I'’ve been waiting,
I'’m dying to hear from you.

MOHAMED: We found
something at Taposiris.

KATHLEEN: Where?

MOHAMED: At the guard room,
room number two,

is making like
a very big resonance to us.

NARRATOR: Mohamed'’s geophones
have confirmed the presence

of a large chamber-sized void
beneath the temple.

But there'’s more.

MOHAMED: You can see my finger?

KATHLEEN: Yes.
That is the one.

MOHAMED: This is the place
which is most promising to us.

It looks like this small place
is a hidden entrance.

There is very big resonance,
like it'’s a connected place to

under a subsurface room
or an entrance

or a corridor or
something like this.

KATHLEEN: This is exactly
what I'’ve been looking for.

I am thrilled. I am...

This is one of the happiest
days of my life.

This is something
that I believe,

and now we have this
scientific evidence.

Thank you so much.

NARRATOR: Not only does
Kathleen have a hidden void,

she has a secret entrance,

and now she knows exactly
where to excavate.

MOHAMED: If we found
the mummy of Cleopatra,

it would be a great discovery
in this century.

KATHLEEN: My heart is
beating so hard now.

So strongly.

I don'’t know how I'’m going
to control myself

during this month,
until I get the permission.

I'’m so excited.

NARRATOR: Cleopatra has
bewitched historians

and archaeologists
ever since her death

and the Roman conquest
of Egypt.

Now the centuries-long hunt
for the last pharaoh'’s tomb

may have entered
its final stage.

When she gets back on site,

Kathleen could be just
a day'’s digging away

from the greatest discovery

since Tutankhamun
100 years ago.

Captioned by
Side Door Media Services