All language subtitles for Mistérios das Pirâmides - S01E02

'All across the globe,

'pyramids represent the power
of ancient civilisations.'

That's a big sarcophagus.

'I'm on a journey
to explore the mysteries

'behind these jaw-dropping
megaliths.

'And you find me
in the realm of the pyramid -

-Egypt"

This incredible structure
is the Great Pyramid at Giza,

the zenith of all pyramid making,

and people gazed for thousands
of years in awe at its precision,

the effort
and the sheer scale of it.

But this, like all pyramids, failed.

They failed in the one task
they were set to achieve.

I call this episode
Pyramids: You Had One job.

Oh. That's incredible.

'We're exploring an arms race
that raged around the pyramids.'

You've got as much innovation
on the robbers' side

as you have on the builders' side.

It's one of the biggest ironies
of history.

That? In the glass case?
Yes.

'And as usual, speculation is rife.'

It's not what the Sphinx is.

It's what's underneath the Sphinx
that has me interested.

They just carved it into the ground.
Exactly.

Yeah, it's completely cut
from the bedrock.

This is incredible.
This feels like a substantial build.

'I have archaeologist
Raksha Dave...'

If somebody catches you,
you're gonna die.

Oh, wow. This is majestic.

'..and Egyptologist
Dr Chris Naunton alongside me.'

There's certain point
in the construction,

cracks start to appear.

'We'll explore
the secret passageways

'designed to keep
the dead pharaohs safe.

'And we'll come face to face with
the most famous Pharaoh of all.'

So join me as we explore
the mysteries of the pyramids.

'I'm starting my investigation
not in some dusty, ancient tomb,

'but here at Khan el-Khalili,

'Cairo's famous, vibrant bazaar.

'Boasting some of the most
expensive,

'expertly crafted
and gilded treasures,

'Egyptian tomb artefacts
have long been sought after

'from the moment they were placed
in the sealed chambers.'

Of course,
the Ancient Egyptians believed

that not only did the pharaoh
go into the afterlife,

but things they had with them
could go into the afterlife as well.

And so they'll be buried
with treasures

like you'd see here in the market.

But the problem is,
if you're going to do that,

people know about it.

And that makes it very tempting

for people who want to steal
those treasures.

'I'm with Egyptologist
Chris Naunton,

'who's arranged for us
to go and explore the mystery

'of how the Ancient Egyptians began
to tackle the problem

'that plagued the pharaohs -

'tomb raiding.'

So, Chris, we're going to Saqqara
now. Yes, we are.

Ancl Saqqara is the site
of the first pyramid.

Will we also get a better sense
of how to break into a pyramid?

Yeah.
So the only thing that's as old

as monumental tomb construction
in Egypt is tomb robbery.

So you've got, more or less, as much
innovation on the robbers' side

as you have on the builders' side.

'Before pyramids
were even thought of,

'the Ancient Egyptians
used simpler structures,

'known as mastabas,
to entomb their nobility.

'These flat-roof stone buildings
found here at Saqqara

'incorporated basic
anti-theft measures.

'However,
they proved wholly inadequate

'in thwarting tomb raiders.

'In response, the Ancient Egyptians
devised a new solution.

'Enter the pyramid.'

This is the very first pyramid.

Built by Pharaoh Djoser as his tomb.

'King Djoser ruled
around 2,660 years BCE,

'which makes this pyramid
nearly 5,000 years old.'

So, they used to be buried under,
like, a platform,

a large, flat building.

Er, and then it was
this particular Pharaoh who said,

"Why don't we put another platform
on top and another platform...?"

Because it does seem to be as if
it is just a series of smaller

and smaller platforms.
Yes.

And, of course, eventually, you
know, you're reaching up to the sky.

Hey, presto, you have a pyramid.

'Djoser's step pyramid
would have not only been

'the final resting place
of the King,

'but also all
his worldly possessions.

'And more importantly
for the tomb raiders, his treasures.

'Anywhere a pharaoh
was laid to rest,

'gilded coffins
and amulets of precious stones

'all proved too tempting
for the thieves.

'When embalmers began to include
amulets of gold or silver

'within the mummy wrappings,

'even the King's corpse
came under threat.'

If you were caught tomb raiding,

you could be dismembered
as a punishment,

losing your nose or your ears.

Or you could be impaled,
you know, to death.

Nowadays,
the illicit antiquities market

is the third largest black market
in the world,

after narcotics and guns.

And the punishment these days
in Egypt for tomb raiding -

a lifetime in prison
and a million-dollar fine.

But hey,
at least you don't get impaled.

'But despite the high risks,

'the allure of treasure
kept drawing tomb raiders in.

'So it's no wonder the Ancient
Egyptians went to such lengths

'to fortify their pyramids.'

So, I mean, it's going to be dark,
presumably.

It'll be darker than out here, yeah.

'The step pyramid owes its creation
to the ingenuity of lmhotep,

'the King's esteemed advisor,

'who is widely regarded
as the first-ever architect.

'lmhotep, who also served
as a priest and physician,

'later achieved divine status
among the Greeks

'and even found his place
in Hollywood's spotlight.

'Chris has managed to secure
special government permission

'for us to explore his masterpiece

'via a passageway that most tourists
don't ever get to see.'

Absolutely labyrinthine, and
I'm not even completely confident

I'm gonna be able to navigate our
way directly to the burial chamber.

Fabulous (!)
But we'll have some fun...

Oh, good. ..by the way..
I love a maze.

'And it doesn't take long
before we encounter

'some of Imhotep's
anti-tomb-raider devices.

'Imagine doing this
in the pitch darkness

'with just the light of a candle
or two.'

If you put blind corridors,
dummy chambers,

the more complex you can make it,

the harder it is gonna be
for the robbers to get around.

Can I pause to say
how much I'm enjoying this?

How much fun this is?
Yeah.

just absolutely...
I know, mm, history,

mm, history, I'm learning,
but this is just great fun.

Oh, is this a fork?

Yeah.
Oh, interesting.

Dilemma for the Egyptologist.
CHRIS LAUGHS

Are we going left or right?
I think we're going left.

OK. Left it is.

Oh, my God, yeah.

This is vast!

Steep steps.
OK.

A-ha, OK, we've got
another decision to make here.

I think we're going this way.

'I don't know
about the tomb raiders,

'but lmhotep has certainly
outfoxed me and Chris.'

Are we going this way?

We're gonna go this way and left
and then hopefully come back round.

This way, do you think?
Yeah, let's go... Let's try it.

I have played too many
first-person video games.

CHRIS LAUGHS

'Believe it or not,

7,500 miles away,
at roughly the same time,

'step pyramids
were also being built,

'this time, by Ancient Peruvians.

'The largest of these,
known as Pyramid Mayor,

'stands nearly 30 metres tall,

'with a base that covers an area
of roughly three football fields.

'The purpose of this pyramid
is hard to determine,

'though knotted ropes
known as quipu,

'an early Andean method
for recording numerical information,

'have been found here,

'suggesting
a highly structured society,

'with complex mathematical
understanding.

'Radiocarbon dating on
organic matter throughout the site

'has revealed it to be
roughly the same age

'as the Great Pyramid of Giza.

'Two advanced civilisations

'building pyramids
at sort of the same time

'is a coincidence that has
blown the mind of some people,

'leading to wild speculation.

'I'm going to talk to Nick Pope,

'who worked for 20 years
on the mod's UFO desk.'

The idea that they did this
repeatedly at different points

around the planet at the same time

is the idea that, rather
than this being just a sign that

humans like to assemble,
humans like to build,

that, somehow,
it's proof of an outside force.

Yes, I think the alternative
belief theorists here say

that these are often cultures

that had no direct contact
with each other.

So they theorised that there
must have been a common link,

either
a mysterious lost civilisation,

or it's extra-terrestrials
coming down and, of course,

easily able to visit people
all around the world

at a time when those cultures
were not in contact with each other.

And that's how they say
all these structures

that look remarkably similar
have cropped up independently.

While I enjoy the ideas
that some of these have,

and I enjoy the fun
of this to a certain extent,

does it not obscure a more
interesting sort of human fact that,

you know, at a...
even at a primitive level,

we enjoy building and stacking,

and pyramids
are a fairly fundamental shape?

Yeah, this is what
the mainstream scientists

and academics say,

that if you wanted
to build something,

this is, really, the fundamental
shape that you would choose.

And then there are simply people
who say,

"Well,
we couldn't build the pyramids now."

It seems like it's too much
of a happy coincidence,

but to back it up requires
a fantastic universe of invention.

'Back at the step pyramid,

'and we've still not found
the burial place of the Pharaoh.'

At some point, you're going to
have to be right about this.

Yeah, no, eventually. Yeah.

I mean, that's the nature
of labyrinths, right?

I mean... Yeah.
Everybody knows that in the end,

you get to the right place.
You appear eventually. Yeah.

Oh, wow! This is majestic.
DARA GASPS

Oh, my God.

Right.
Oh, I wasn't expecting that.

This is the burial chamber.

I'm just... I wasn't expecting that.

That's astonishing.

I'm within the...
within the pyramid.

No, that's the level of the ground
above us.

Oh, we've come down that far?

We've come down that far,
yeah, exactly.

This is entirely
cut into the bedrock.

So, this whole shaft is underground.

Ancl what's at the top of the shaft?
That's the mass of the pyramid.

Whoa. Yeah.
That is incredible.

So, they built this hole.
Yeah.

They put his burial chamber
within the hole. Yeah.

And the entire pyramid
is essentially a capstone

on top of the hole.

Yeah. It's to provide
an enormous kind of barrier

between would-be robbers
and the good stuff inside.

There was a circular hole
in the top of the burial chamber

cut into these blocks.

That's where
all the burial equipment

and the body of the King
are introduced into the chamber.

Ancl then that hole is sealed
with this massive six-tonne block.

So it should have been impenetrable.

And turned out to be as penetrable
as anything else.

I cannot recommend that enough,
by the way.

A morning spent scrabbling around
in tunnels underneath the pyramid.

It is the most fun,
but also learning, mm.

Learning about why they built
those labyrinths down there

and why they put his burial chamber

at the bottom
of an incredibly deep hole

and put a pyramid on top of it,
all to stop the grave robbers.

But it didn't work.

But the important thing is this -

King Djoser had fired
the starting gun

on the greatest period of building
the planet had ever seen.

After this came Giza, came
a whole era of giant stone pyramids,

all of which started
because of this -

the step pyramid in Saqqara.

'Next...'

What about the workers?

What about the lads
who are out in the midday sun,

pulling the ropes and moving
the bricks and shifting the stones?

What's in it for them?

I mean, I like it,

but I feel it's not
what they're aiming for.

CH RIS CH UCKLES
Yeah.

Yeah, I think it's fair to say
that this probably wasn't

how the pyramid designers originally
intended this pyramid to look.

But I think this is
pyramid design innovation

in progress.

'Chris has brought me
one hour south of Cairo

'to a place called Dahshur to see
how the early pyramids evolved

'to counter the threat
from tomb raiders,

'from step pyramids
to the iconic shape we know today.

'But it wasn't all plain sailing.'

Then a certain point
in the construction,

cracks start to appear
in the burial chamber. Oh!

Underneath, we think, you know,
the huge weight of the pyramids,

so rather than carrying on skywards,

they decide,
"We'd better cut a corner here."

'It should have been
a super-sleek-sided pyramid

'with the steepest possible angle,

'moving beyond the function
of tomb protection

'and aspiring
for mathematical perfection.'

This was built by Pharaoh Sneferu.

He was also the builder
of at least two other pyramids -

one a long way south at Meidum,

the other one is also here,

the Red Pyramid, just behind us.

So, in fact, this one does go wrong.

But we think that, eventually,
he gets it right.

And he gets it very right.

I mean, the Red Pyramid is,
I would say, like,

it was... it's...
chef's kiss pyramid.

It's perfect. It's absolutely ideal.
Absolutely.

He's really the great innovator,

and if you look at the evolution
of these three pyramids,

the Meidum pyramid
is a stepped monument

that has been kind of made into
a true-sided pyramid. Yeah.

The bent pyramid,
had they succeeded,

probably would've nailed
the true pyramid design.

But he has another go,

and in the case of the Red Pyramid,
he does nail it.

Things go wrong.

I mean, you know,
bad preview, great show.

This is the... the dodgy preview.

This is the one
that didn't quite work out. Right.

'The Egyptian pyramids evolved in
an explosion of building and design

'over a very short period of time.

'But it wasn't like that
everywhere.

'Two millennia later,
and 12,000 kilometres away,

'it was quite the opposite.

'The Great Pyramid of Cholula
in Mexico holds the title

'of being the biggest pyramid
in the world.

'But you wouldn't know
to look at it.

'It's actually four times larger

'and twice the volume
of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

'However,
its largely subterranean structure

'obscures its monumental scale.

'And unlike the Egyptian pyramids,
this one took 1,000 years to build

'and reflects
the different ethnic groups

'that controlled it over this time.

'Using adobe bricks,

'it became known
as the Handmade Mountain,

'and at one time was the centrepiece
of a city of 50,000 people.

'Although a church now sits
at its peak,

'Cholula was once a centre
of worship for Quetzalcoatl,

'one of the Mayan's
most important gods.

'Over 2,000 years before this,

'in Egypt,
a pyramid revolution was underway,

'spearheaded by a single man.

'Pharaoh Sneferu, the visionary
genius of Ancient Egypt,

'achieved his ambition
of constructing the true pyramid

'within just 30 years.

'And once the blueprint
was in place,

'his descendants ran with the idea.

'In a period of around 120 years,

'they cut, moved and built
with 35 million tonnes of limestone,

'granite and a bit of basalt.

'The achievements of the Ancient
Egyptians are truly astounding,

'so I find it frustrating
when credit for their work

'is attributed to aliens.

'Paranormal researcher Laura Rowton
takes a different view.'

I think the ancient aliens theory
that a lot of people subscribe to

about structures
like the Great Pyramid,

whilst at first glance
may be laughable,

I think once you start to dig
a little bit deeper

and think about
these so-called entities

in terms of a broader tapestry
of belief,

particularly religious belief,

and how people have believed in
deities of all sorts,

across all time,
it starts to look less silly.

If people can believe
in the Christian God,

then why not in extra-terrestrials?

It's a similar sort of concept

that we as human beings
are looking outside of ourselves

for enlightenment
as to our purpose and origin.

'Well, let's agree to disagree.

'The facts are
that for thousands of years,

'the Great Pyramid stood

'as the tallest manmade structure
in the world.

'And the pyramid's white cladding
and golden capstones

'must have appeared magnificent,
elevating the kings

'they were constructed for
to god-like status.'

It's easy to see
why the Pharaoh enjoyed the idea

of these grand schemes,
or his architect.

But what about the workers?
What about the lads?

What about the lads
who are out in the midday sun,

pulling the ropes and moving
the bricks and shifting the stones?

What's in it for them?

It's hard to imagine this is how
they imagined their lives to be,

especially given that history,
for a long time,

told us that they were doing this
at the business end of a whip.

'After all,
in the centuries-long battle

'of pharaoh versus tomb raider,

'these workers were the army,

'without which
the pharaoh was powerless

'to get safely into the afterlife.

'For further insight,
I have been summoned back to Giza.'

Hello, Raksha.
You took your time.

I know, I'm so sorry.

But what a lovely place
you've found to wait.

'just by the pyramids,

'Raksha has some extraordinary
excavations to show me.'

So, the people
who built the pyramids,

were they slaves or not?

No, they weren't,
and that's a common misconception.

They weren't at all.

Ancl I think we get this notion
of slaves building the pyramids

because of Hollywood.

But I can tell you,

there's not a single Charlton Heston
in sight here.

'In recent decades, archaeologists
have uncovered a village

'where the 30,000 workers
who built the pyramids lived.

'This settlement was home
to three generations of artisans

'and their families 4,500 years ago,

'and they buried their dead in tombs
near the royal pyramids of Giza.'

This cemetery
and the bones that are found in here

kind of show us the real life
of the workers that worked here

and how much they were revered
and looked after.

This is incredible.

I mean, this feels like
a substantial build.

Well, it is.

Even, like, by our standards,
our modern standards,

this is quite extravagant
as a mausoleum,

and this is just for the artisans.

Yeah, you're right.
You know, this is basically made

in the image of how the pharaohs
were being buried.

The burial chambers, yes.
Yeah, absolutely.

Ancl why wouldn't they?

They were the artisans
of the pharaohs,

why wouldn't they pimp up
their graves? I would.

'I'm still staggered by the huge
explosion of pyramid-building

'that happened here 4,500 years ago

'over an astonishingly short
period of time, just 120 years.

'And visiting the tombs
of the people

'whose skill, ingenuity
and hard work made that happen

'is quite an experience.'

So, this is the ordinary lives
of the workers.

What do we know about
just the day-to-day of their lives?

I think there was
quite a lot of banter

and camaraderie amongst them

because we do find graffiti
in and around Giza,

and there's a famous one,

a gang calling themselves
the Drunkards of Menkaure.

So they're having a good time.
And is it in the pyramid itself?

In the pyramid itself.

History books are about the winners
and the survivors,

but archaeology is about
the normal people like me and you.

'All this huge communal effort

'to get the pharaoh
safely to the afterlife.

'But you can't help wondering
if the building of the pyramids

'achieved more
than the structures themselves.

'I have a theory
I want to try out on Chris.'

Can I ask
what I call the Teflon question?

Sure. I mean,
I don't know what you mean, but...

I'll explain.

If I think of a large
national effort to do something,

I think of the Space Race.
OK. Yeah.

Now, the Space Race
got humans to the Moon,

but it also gave us
better frying pans.

HE LAUGHS
OK, OK.

So did this have the same effect?

Did this accelerate
Egyptian science,

Egyptian architecture, Egyptian art?

We know that
they're innovating constantly

in terms of, you know,
architecture and design.

This is something that
they would then continue to do

for the next 2,000 years and more.

The other thing, which is kind of
admin and bureaucracy,

I'm gonna have to go
to the quarry man and say,

"|'m gonna need how many blocks?"

You know,
and somebody's got to then go,

"OK, look, so, it's 100 there,
times 100,

"Multiply that up by..."

This has all got to be written down,
right.

"Hang on.
Do we have a system of writing

"that's sophisticated enough?

"Well, if we haven't,
then we better have one, right?"

That then endures,
that sets Ancient Egypt up

to be this huge, successful,
high-functioning, enduring society.

It's reassuring to know that,
despite myths,

those things
were not built by slaves,

that, in fact,
the people who built them

were well fed,
were well looked after,

and had a sense of camaraderie
with their co-workers.

But still they knew
they were building a burial chamber

filled with riches
beyond their wildest imaginations.

That must have been tempting.

'Next, I explore the ancient world's
most iconic sculpture

'and ask whether it was designed
to deter tomb raiders.'

They just carved it into the ground?
Exactly.

Yeah, it's completely cut
from the bedrock.

Now, of course, clambering over
the pyramids is a great deal of fun,

but it does tend to make the culture
look a little desolate

because they're all empty,

when, of course, at the same time
as the pyramids were being built,

there was a huge explosion
in arts and crafts and sculpture.

Now, we've come
to the Egyptian Museum

to see some of that,
but also, hopefully,

to put a face
to some of those pharaohs.

'To make sure I know
who and what I'm looking at,

'I've arranged to meet
Egyptologist Arto Belekdanian.'

Arto, thank you for bringing us
into the legendary Egyptian Museum.

I'm delighted to see
so many treasures here.

Oh, this place is full to the brim.

There's just so much here that
there's barely any room for more.

Which is one of the things
about the pyramids,

cos the pyramids themselves
are so bare

that everything is
out of the pyramids,

and they're here.

This is none other than Djoser.

Oh, of the Step Pyramid.
Exactly.

Hey, good memory.
Thank you very much.

Inside the pyramid,
in the substructure,

you had all kinds of things
in there,

pottery vessels full of things
the King wanted to have

in the afterlife as well.

I mean, is it general rule
that stuff that was inside

was intended to... that they would
bring it with them to the afterlife?

Exactly.
Yeah.

In spiritual form,

they would actually have access
to these things.

'These tomb raiders
may have desecrated sacred sites,

'but the guilty truth is,

'we might never have seen
these amazing items had they not.'

Oh, my God, that's incredible.

It is.
That's very beautiful.

That statue over there,
in my opinion,

is not only one of the finest
pieces of sculpture

made in Egyptian culture,
but in human culture, ever.

This is King Khafre,

the builder of the second pyramid
on the Giza Plateau.

The one that still has some of
the limestone at the very top.

Yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes.

Son of Khufu,
who built the Great Pyramid. Yeah.

'The three large pyramids of Giza

'were built for three generations
of Egyptian kings -

'Khufu, his son, Khafre,
and his grandson, Menkaure.'

If you just look at this statue,

the way his confident features
are just emanating power,

the way he gazes off
into the distance,

almost looking into the hereafter,

the idea is
this is a representation of you,

an anchor for your soul forever.
Yes.

Ancl for obvious reasons,
you'll want to show yourself

in the prime of life.

Important I leave
a good-looking corpse.

And for those of us who've passed
that point, you know...

You're not there yet.

No, I still think I'd go
for the statue of me at 25,

rather than this, but yeah...

OK, so we've seen builders
of two of the pyramids,

but not builders
of the greatest pyramid of Giza.

So this, are we building up
to something amazing here?

Yes, we are.
Yes.

Absolutely amazing,
but not necessarily impressive.

How so?

Because that statuette right there
is Khufu.

That tiny thing.
That in the glass case?

That minuscule thing?
Yes.

Khufu, who built
the greatest of all the pyramids...

It's one of the biggest ironies
of history

that the only confirmed
three-dimensional

representation of Khufu
that has survived to this clay

is this tiny 7.2cm-tall statuette.

That is astonishing.

I'm sorry, just as a sign
of how small it is,

for the first time in the show...
ARTO LAUGHS

Wow.

'But Khufu wasn't the only one
in the region building pyramids.

'In nearby modern Iraq,

'the Sumerians built
the Great Ziggurat of Ur

'just 400 years later.

'But unlike the Egyptian pyramids,

'the ziggurat functioned
as both an administrative centre

'and a shrine
dedicated to the moon god Nanna,

'patron deity
of the city-state of Ur.

'The structure, whose base is built
from 750,000 mud bricks,

'has undergone cycles of ruin
and restoration.

'Initially rebuilt
in the sixth century BCE

'by King Nabonidus,

'it was then lost
and later rediscovered

'by British archaeologist
William Loftus in 1850.

'Restored by Saddam Hussein
in the 1980s,

'it then suffered damage
during the Gulf War of 1991.

'Back in Giza,
there's another famous monument

'that has been reassessed
in modern times -

'the Sphinx.

'This half man, half lion
giant sculpture

'spent an age almost lost
beneath those sands,

'only to be reborn
in the late 18th century.

'But its very presence
seems to entice speculation.'

The Sphinx is one of the most
intriguing aspects

of the Giza Plateau.

It's really the symbol, you know,
along with a Great Pyramid,

of the whole of Egypt.

Obviously, the head
doesn't appear to be original.

There's lots of different theories
about how it was created,

but some people have suggested

that water kind of created
the erosion around the Sphinx area,

and that wouldn't have happened
until around 10,000 years ago.

One of the ideas
that I kind of find intriguing

is the fact that it's facing east,
watching Leo rise.

At the time of the equinox,
sunrise towards the east.

Ancl when Leo was rising there,

that would have been
10,500 or so years ago.

It's just incredibly majestic.
Yeah.

It's brilliantly serene.
Yeah.

It's utterly unique as well.
Yes, it is. That's important.

And yet there's loads of it missing.

Yeah, there are parts missing.

Having said that, though, you know,
it's been here for 4,500 years.

I think it's survived pretty well.

Importantly,
human activity of any kind

always leaves behind traces,

detritus of one kind or another,
typically pottery.

Ancl the ceramic evidence,

the inscriptional evidence,
where we have it,

the evidence of the other buildings
we have,

it's all confined to the period

the conventional view
says it should be.

I mean, it's supposed to look like
one of the pharaohs, isn't it?

Yeah, no, exactly.

So, you can tell
it's the Pharaoh from the headgear,

so there's no question
this is meant to be the King.

'The most iconic emblem
of Ancient Egypt,

'the Great Sphinx
has become as famous

'as the pyramids themselves.

'But its purpose is unknown,
adding to its mystery.'

It wasn't to scare off robbers,
was it?

HE LAUGHS

Well, in some sense, you know,

it does look kind of like
a guardian animal,

but honestly, I think
when you think that we know about

all the elaborate
engineering innovations

that the Egyptians built
into pyramids to deter robbers,

the idea that somebody thought,

"|f you just put a big statue
in front

"then the robbers are gonna be like,

" 'Whoa, let's definitely
not rob this,

" 'there's a scary statue...' "
Big cat'll get you.

The truth is, you know, this is
another one of these monuments

that's incredibly
well scrutinised and studied

about which we still don't know
very much.

Here's the thing
that's amazing about it,

when you visit here,
you hardly see it

because it's really low,
because it's not rock...

It's not like they are,
no rocks brought in.

They just carved it into the ground.
Exactly. Yeah.

It's completely cut
from the bedrock.

We think that
this was being used as a quarry

for building the pyramids
or the temples here,

but it's not impossible that
actually somebody sort of notices,

"Well, hang on, guys. Whoa, stop."
Looks a bit like a sphinx.

"Looks a bit like a sphinx.

"You know, if we just cut it here
and there a little bit,

"we could create a giant image
of the King as the sun god."

'It's all speculation,

'but the lack of solid information
about the Sphinx

'has given rise, yet again,
to a host of colourful theories.'

It's not so much what the Sphinx is,

it's quite possibly
what's underneath the Sphinx

that has me interested.

So, for a very long time,

people have spoke about
the Sphinx guarding something,

acting as a gateway
to something else.

Various people have suggested
that there are tunnels,

possibly chambers below the Sphinx,
underneath the Giza Plateau.

They used ground-penetrating radar
which revealed suggestions

of hitherto unknown tunnels
and chambers,

particularly beneath
the paws of the Sphinx,

and it was never excavated,

but they claimed
that there was something there.

'It was an American clairvoyant
called Cayce in the 1930s

'who announced
that underneath the Sphinx

'there was a Hall of Records,

'a sacred library
containing ancient knowledge

'from the survivors of Atlantis.

'In 1978, an international team
of archaeologists

'mapped the bedrock
surrounding the Sphinx

'and detected no secret chamber.'

People have looked and looked
and looked.

There's nothing there?
There's nothing.

'I find the pyramids jaw-dropping

'because of the sheer scale
of the building project

'and also the communal human will
required to create them.

'Can you imagine living
at that time?

'Standing next to them,

'and that mixture of pride
and insignificance,

'marvelling at their size.

'So it's particularly sad
that suddenly there was a time

'when they were consigned
to history.'

These buildings
are undoubtedly magnificent,

but they didn't work.

And it didn't matter
whether you put the burial chambers

underneath the pyramid,
or built them into the pyramid,

or whether you built
a half man, half cat

to protect the pyramid,
the robbers still got in.

It had to change,
and it changed completely.

'Next, I head
to the most famous valley in Egypt

'and meet the one pharaoh

'who managed to evade
the tomb raiders for 3,000 years.'

He turned round and he said,
"Inside, I see beautiful things."

'After over 1,000 years
of losing the battle

'between tomb raider
and pyramid builder,

'the powers that be
finally got the message.

'Pyramids were out.

'Instead, this remote hidden valley
over 600 kilometres from Giza

'became the preferred spot
to lay their dead pharaohs to rest.'

I'm in the Valley of the Kings,

and there isn't a statue
or a temple

or a pyramid to be seen.

I mean, there are burial chambers,

but they're stashed
deep underground,

because after 1,000 years of having
all the burial chambers looted,

the elders in Egypt
must have realised,

"Hang on, we're not really
helping the pharaohs here

"on their final journey.

"|f anything,
we're advertising where the loot is

"by building a big triangle
above it."

So the plan was changed
to something far more stealthy.

They came here, to a valley
hundreds of miles from prying eyes,

and they built a secret cemetery
for deceased pharaohs

for their journey to the afterlife.

'I'm heading
into the tomb of SETI I,

'a Pharaoh who ruled Egypt
some 3,000 years ago.

'It's one of the deepest
and most lavish

'in the Valley of the Kings.

'So, did it escape
the clutches of the tomb raiders?'

Sadly, it did not.

Tomb raiders broke in
and stole everything,

even the mummy,

which, in their haste,
they managed to decapitate.

The mummy was, however, later
recovered and hidden away again,

and then finally rediscovered
in 1881,

reunited with its head,

and Seti's final resting place
is in a museum in Cairo.

The one thing
the raiders couldn't steal, however,

were these incredible interiors.

'Walking through
yet another empty tomb,

'I can't help but think
that something is going on.'

So, this is an ongoing pattern here,

which makes you think
that all these robberies...

What? I mean, were they inside job?

You're bang on the money there.
It was completely an inside job.

Now, we have to remember,

as with the pyramids,
you had workers.

These workers in
the Valley of the Kings were secret.

So this whole complex was secret,

guarded clay and night.

Now, when the Pharaoh died
and there was a new King,

they needed money,

so what they would do is
they would ask some of the workmen

who knew exactly where
the tunnels were and the tombs

to go in
and do the robbing for them.

So it was state-sponsored.

So we shouldn't be as quick
to judge the grave robbers

as history might have been?

So, basically,
they would recirculate the wealth

back into the economy again.
Exactly.

They're like, "Well, he's dead now,

“he doesn't need a“ of that bf tog,
does he?

"|'m gonna have it for myself

"cos I need to go and have a war
with the Persians over there."

But there is a danger element to it

because if somebody catches you
and they're not in on the job,

you're gonna die.

This looks incredible now.

Imagine how much more incredible
it would have looked

when it was filled to the brim
with gold and jewels and chariots.

But all of that is gone.

All that is always gone.

'But there's one notable exception.

'A Pharaoh whose humble status might
have consigned him to obscurity,

'yet a twist of fate
has transformed him into an icon.

'He's the only Pharaoh
buried in the Valley of the Kings

'to have evaded tomb raiders
until the 20th century.

'The Boy King Tutankhamun.'

He was a lesser-known pharaoh
because he had such a short reign,

his father was disgraced
and he lived a really short life.

'Tutankhamun's name was nearly
erased from historical record

'by the Egyptians who came after.

'Over time, his short reign
was all but forgotten,

'with another pharaoh's tomb
being constructed

'almost directly on top of his.

'This fortunate turn of events

'kept Tutankhamun's tomb
and all its treasures undisturbed

'for thousands of years,

'making its eventual discovery
the find of the 20th century.

Everybody goes nuts for Tutankhamun.

Absolutely bonkers.

So much so,
it influences the Art Deco movement.

So, the Chrysler Building itself
has Egyptian motifs on it.

People are just completely taken
with it, aren't they?

This boy king,
all of these treasures,

all of these goods,

because there is nothing else
in the world like it.

'British archaeologist Howard Carter

'gave an exclusive
to The Times newspaper,

'leaving the rest of the press
feeling pretty frustrated

'at not getting their scoop.

'So much so that they needed
to create something else

'to sell their papers.

'The Pharaoh's Curse was born

'and became a worldwide
press sensation.

'Stories spread about a curse

'on anyone who dared
to break into a pharaoh's tomb.

'When Lord Carnarvon,
who paid for the dig,

'died a few months later,
the rumour mill went into overdrive.

'And the idea of a curse
still persists to this day.'

This whole tunnel,
completely full of rubble,

so they had to unpick their way
through here.

They got to this door,
and he chipped away.

He had a candle,
and he peered through.

He turned round and he said...

"Inside, I see beautiful things."

The famous Tutankhamun's tomb?
Yes.

And markedly different
to Seti's tomb.

Isn't it smaller?
It's much, much smaller.

Well, the idea is,
is that he died before his time.

There's no carving into the walls.
Oh, there's no reliefs.

There's no reliefs,
just straight on,

slapped a bit of paint on the walls,

and then put him in here
and shut the door.

So it's all very mysterious.

Why the rush? Why the hurry?

Well, this is the eternal mystery
of Tutankhamun, nobody knows.

And because
it was pretty much untouched,

we got a real sense

of how much riches
the pharaohs were being buried with.

Yeah, I mean, can you imagine

when Howard Carter
came down these stairs?

This was full of beds, chariots,

clothes, baby chairs,

because people didn't know,

when you were reborn
into the afterlife,

how you would be born.

Would you be a child?
Would you need food?

So they packed everything inside.

Ancl that's why we know about
the pharaohs and their afterlife,

it's because of the items
inside this tomb.

'We actually know quite a bit
about this boy king.

'He had a large overbite,

'and the fact that he was buried
with lots of walking sticks

'suggests he may have had a limp
of some kind as well.

'We even know
he was married to his sister

'and lost two babies,
who have been buried here with him.

'The Boy King
who became Pharaoh at ten

'and died suspiciously at 19

'lived a short and difficult life.'

Ultimately,
it's just a very sad story,

because in the end,

his tomb did get desecrated
by Howard Carter.

His coffins were prised open.

His body was unravelled.

Do you think it's right that
the body has been returned to here

so the body still rests in the tomb?

Yeah, absolutely.

Don't you think
that's, like, a fitting thing

to happen to somebody?

To be reunited
with their final resting place.

Hello, Tut.

You're the most popular,
did you know that? Oh, yeah.

That's the way history works
sometimes.

You're the one everyone knows.

'We would all like to think

'that our final resting place
will be peaceful.

'But for some, it was also
their route to immortality.'

Now, one could do
individual fingers wrapping.

But today,
we're going to do a mitten.

Oh, that's nice.
Yeah.

The most important thing...
Of course.

...is the head.
Yes.

Can you breathe?
Yeah, I can.

I don't wish to be responsible
for your death. No, no, no.

Then I'd have to mummify you
properly. Yeah.

That's it. Good.
OK.

Then take you to the tomb
for the final rites. OK.

You're still there, aren't you?
Salima? Salima?

Salima? Salima?

At the start of this episode,
I made a throwaway comment about,

"Oh, pyramids,
you only had one job,"

as if the one task
these buildings were designed to do

was to keep out tomb raiders,

something they singularly failed
to do.

Yeah, the robbers won that battle.

But actually, these buildings
had a whole other purpose,

which is to make the pharaohs
immortal.

In fact, in Egyptian society,
the worst punishment of all

was to have your name stricken off
so that you'd never be remembered.

But thanks to these incredible,
precise, huge, ridiculous buildings,

the names of Menkaure, Khafre,
Djoser and Khufu

will live on forever.

Well done, lads. Good job.