All language subtitles for Unearthed.(2016).S04E02.Mystery.of.the.Cursed.Pyramid.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-Cinefeel_track3_[eng]

Narrator: the bent pyramid,

Egypt's most mysterious
Ancient megastructure,

The ambitious dream
Of a godlike pharaoh.

Woman: at this time, the bent
Pyramid would definitely

Have been the biggest
Construction project

Egypt had ever seen.

Narrator: why is
The bent pyramid

Such a bizarre shape?

Well, we can't really look into
The minds of these people.

We have to go on the clues
Left behind.

Narrator: today, archaeologists
Dig beneath the sand

And explore inside crumbling,

Age-old tunnels
To discover its secrets

Man: this place was terrifying
When we first come in here.

There were stones
Hanging from the ceiling.

Narrator: was this huge pyramid
Always meant to look like this,

Or did something go
Catastrophically wrong?

Man: we are undoubtedly looking
At a major dislocation

In the structure.

Narrator: the only way to solve
This mystery

Is to raise the ruins
Of egypt's strangest pyramid,

Blowing it apart stone by stone,

Lifting its temples
Out of the desert

And exploring
Hidden burial chambers.

We'll uncover how this bizarre
Monument paved the way

For the age of the pyramids.

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Narrator: egypt --
The land of the pharaohs.

More than 100 pyramids line
The nile valley.

One stands out from all others,

The bent pyramid of dahshur.

There isn't another pyramid
In egypt that looks like this.

Narrator:
Named after its crooked profile,

It baffles archaeologists.

It is the first pyramid with
Smooth sides ever completed,

And the only one whose shape
Changes dramatically halfway up.

Why?

Woman: I think the bent pyramid

Is probably
The most mysterious pyramid.

Narrator:
Did this bizarre construction

Alter the course of
Egyptian architecture forever?

The bent pyramid is
A 4,600-year-old megastructure,

Built to last for eternity.

Hidden inside, two passageways
That lead to a pair

Of traditional burial chambers.

Each chamber
Is seven stories tall.

Encased in over 3 million tons
Of limestone blocks,

It is almost a classic pyramid,
Except for its angled summit.

Was it designed this way,
Or is its bizarre appearance

The result of
A catastrophic disaster?

♪♪

The bent pyramid was the second
Of three pyramids

Built by the pharaoh sneferu
In the third millennia bc.

Most archaeologists believe
That sneferu wasn't buried here,

But in a neighboring pyramid.

So why did he build
This strange monument,

And why did it take this shape?

♪♪

Archaeologist daniela rosenow
Believes clues lie

Buried in the surrounding sand.

We're standing in front
Of the bent pyramid here,

But it's important
To keep in mind that the pyramid

Is only one element
Of a pyramid complex.

Narrator: daniela thinks that
The first step

Towards understanding sneferu's
Grand vision for this pyramid

Is to resurrect the whole
Of this ancient area

In all its glory.

Rosenow: it's just really
Fantastic to be able

To bring this site to life.

Narrator: over 4,000 years ago,
The bent pyramid was covered

By a blanket of finely
Polished casing stones.

It formed the centerpiece
Of a large religious complex.

At its southern side,
A smaller satellite pyramid

Stood about 96 feet tall.

A holy shrine was flanked by two
Standing stones

Inscribed
With the pharaoh's name,

All enclosed behind
A thick limestone wall.

A causeway provided
A monumental entrance.

What can this complex reveal
About the pyramid

And the bizarre shape it took?

♪♪

Today, daniela investigates
An area half a mile

To the northeast
Of the pyramid.

Narrator: here, her team
Uncovers the remains

Of a mysterious building
Lost for thousands of years.

Rosenow: we're situated on
The desert plateau here,

And there can be
Quite harsh gales,

So sometimes
When you clean something,

It has disappeared
Half an hour later,

So you have to be very quick.

Narrator: today, only a small
Section of the building

Is still visible,

But a geophysical study
Using radar to map the site

Reveals that a grand structure
Once stood here.

Rosenow: when we had a look
At the results

Of the geophysical survey,
We realized

That there is actually
Quite a large settlement.

It's actually a settlement even
Bigger than the pyramid itself

And covers an area
Of about 350 by 200 meters.

Narrator: daniela and her team
Try to piece together

What this vast building
Might have been.

Rosenow: what we see here is one
Of the walls of the building

Covered
By a nice layer of mud

And then a beautiful layer
Of white lime plaster.

It wasn't there at all to make
The building any stronger.

It was just there
To make it prettier.

Narrator: as daniela's team
Removes sand

Built up
Over thousands of years,

They unearth ancient rooms
Alive with color.

Rosenow: we have discovered
Quite a large amount of tiles,

Which probably decorated
The walls

Or the floor of the rooms,

And you can imagine it must have
Been a really beautiful contrast

With the white walls
And then the turquoise tiles.

Narrator: the sheer quantity of
Rooms here, and their quality,

Suggests that this was once
A very impressive residence.

Why was such a luxurious house
Built in the shadow of a tomb,

And who lived here?

So, the pottery
We have discovered so far

All dates exclusively
To the reign of sneferu.

Narrator: the date and
The location of this structure

Leads daniela
To a surprising conclusion:

This could have been home to
The architect

Of the bent pyramid.

Rosenow: it really makes sense
To think

That whoever lived here
Was somehow connected to

The building process
Of the pyramids.

Narrator: this entire complex
Was worthy of a king.

The villa and the surrounding
Buildings spread across an area

50 times the size
Of the white house.

Rosenow: you just get an idea

Of what a really
Prestigious project

Pyramid building
Was at the time.

Narrator: the royal architect

Held one of the most powerful
Positions in ancient egypt.

He not only supervised
The construction,

But also the logistics
Of building a pyramid.

Projects could take decades
To complete,

So the architect
Of the bent pyramid

Probably lived
In a splendid home.

Here, he worked among a lavish
Tree-lined garden oasis,

Surrounded by servants
To comfort and shade him

As he monitored the progress.

The royal architect enjoyed
Luxurious meals

And maybe even a visit
From the pharaoh himself.

♪♪

All the evidence suggests
That building the bent pyramid

Was of great importance
To sneferu.

The pharaoh clearly intended
This tomb

To be his final resting place.

It was the first pyramid with
Smooth sides to be finished,

And it was the largest
So far attempted,

Almost twice the size
Of earlier pyramids.

Rosenow: at this time, the bent
Pyramid would definitely

Have been the biggest
Construction project

Egypt had ever seen,
Possibly even the world.

Narrator:
Sneferu spared no expense

In his plans for
The afterlife --

So why was he
Never buried here?

Did he simply change his mind?

Or was this pyramid's strange
Shape not what he intended?

And what can a buried temple

Reveal about sneferu's plans
To cheat death and live forever?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: the bent pyramid,
Egypt's strangest megastructure.

It was the biggest
Building project

The country had ever seen.

♪♪

But what explains
Its strange shape?

Was it designed this way,

Or was there
A construction disaster?

Its inner core
Could hold the key.

Inside the pyramid hides
Evidence of the techniques

That ancient engineers
Used to build it.

At the center, roughly cut
Limestone blocks

Are piled many stories high

And filled with rubble
And mortar.

♪♪

But on the outer edges,

The blocks are positioned
At an angle.

They lean towards the heart
Of the pyramid,

Piled on top of each other,
Layer after layer,

Creating a gentle outer slope.

Can these layers help explain
The pyramid's strange shape?

♪♪

The answer could lie six miles
North, here in saqqara.

This royal burial ground is home

To egypt's oldest
Pyramid-shaped structure.

It's called the step pyramid.

It was built for a pharaoh

Who reigned over 30 years
Before sneferu.

Specialist engineer dennis lee
Has spent almost a decade

Trying to decode the mystery
Of how this pyramid was built.

It's amazing that a structure
Like this,

4,500 years old,
Is still standing.

It may look rough and ready,

But standing back,
It's a pyramid.

The pyramid shape is there.

Narrator: dennis believes this
Monument might have inspired

The builders
Of the bent pyramid.

Could it reveal the reason
For its strange shape?

At first sight, the two
Structures look very different.

The pyramid at saqqara is made
From gigantic steps,

Unlike the bent pyramid
Which has smooth sides,

But both have a core where rows
Of stone lean inwards.

Dennis thinks these layers
Reveal that the two pyramids

Shared a common ancestor.

They both evolved from egypt's
Very first burial mounts,

Called mastabas.

Egypt's earliest rulers
Were buried in simple tombs

Dug into the ground,

Sealed by layers
Of stone blocks.

Step-by-step,
These mastabas grew,

As more and more layers
Of tilted stones were added

Until a rough pyramid emerged.

This same construction method

Could be at the heart
Of the bent pyramid,

A primitive stepped core might
Be hidden inside the monument.

But there's a problem --

The step pyramid is
In danger of collapsing.

So, could the bent pyramid have
Similar structural issues

If it was built in the same way?

And could this explain
Its strange shape?

Dennis and his team climb down
Narrow passageways

Into the heart of
The step pyramid

To strengthen it with
21st-century reinforcements.

At the end of
A 90-foot-long tunnel,

They emerge into a huge
But crumbling burial chamber.

Lee: this place was terrifying
When we first come in here.

There was stones hanging from
The ceiling

You didn't touch or brush.

If you brushed against
The ceiling, mud fell off.

It was a frightening experience.

Narrator: today, dennis and his
Team use the latest techniques

To fortify and stabilize
The chamber's ceiling.

It's falling down one block
At a time.

They install steel anchors
To pin the stones together.

Whoa, that was a hard
Front stone.

The work is painstaking
And nerve-racking.

Lee: I was very nervous
Drilling the hole.

It's a lot of pressure.

There's millions of tons
Of stone above us

At this very minute right now.

Sometimes you have to put out
Of your mind them,

Blank out how much weight
Is actually above us now.

With that weight of stonework
On top of you,

Just try and forget it
While you're working in here.

Narrator: what's going on

Inside this
Ancestor of the bent pyramid?

Dennis thinks that the burial
Chamber here

Once had a flat ceiling
Held up by wooden beams.

This simple design was copied
From the early mastabas,

But it wasn't nearly
Strong enough

To cope with the crushing weight
Of a pyramid.

Lee: what you see is left is
A natural arch that's fallen

Where the stones
In the middle collapsing.

This couldn't handle the weight
Of the stones on top of it

And the wood that was
Supporting it disintegrated

Or collapsed down
Onto the sarcophagus,

Which is 23, 24 meters below us.

Narrator: the builders of
The step pyramid

Followed the traditional
Mastaba tomb design

And supersized it.

They had no idea that this would
Cause the entire structure

To start collapsing
In on itself.

Lee: there was no blueprint
For a pyramid in those days.

The pyramid
Hadn't been started then,

So they were making this up
As they went along.

Narrator: the builders of
The step pyramid

Had exceeded their knowledge.

Could the strange shape
Of the bent pyramid

Be the result
Of a similar mistake?

And can it explain why this
Pyramid is completely empty?

♪♪

Narrator: on the desert plain of
Dahshur, in egypt,

Stands the unique bent pyramid.

It was built by
The great pharaoh sneferu

Over 4,000 years ago.

It was the first complete
Pyramid in the world

To have smooth sides

And the only one
To have this strange shape.

Did something go terribly
Wrong during its construction,

Like it did with
The step pyramid in saqqara?

Engineering geologist
Colin reader

Believes that pyramid's
Crooked outline

Might actually be
An ancient attempt

To prevent a fatal disaster.

Reader: we're here at
The bent pyramid at dahshur,

And we're investigating whether
There's any signs of movement

Or settlement
Within this pyramid.

Narrator:
Colin thinks the bent pyramid

Might have suffered
From even more damage

Than its stepped predecessor.

♪♪

Underneath
The cracked outer stones,

The bent pyramid has
Far bigger problems

Than just a crumbling ceiling.

Inside the northern passage
Is a fracture.

This indicates a dangerous
Fault line

That caused part of the pyramid

To slip under
Its colossal weight.

Sneferu's builders encountered
Similar problems

In the western passage,

Forcing them to seal
And abandon the entrance.

How serious was this damage,
And did it force the builders

To change the shape
Of this pyramid?

♪♪

Colin examines the exterior.

Here, the damage
Looks superficial.

Reader: they're all cracks.

You can see from the casing
Around us

That there are cracks
Running through it,

But that shouldn't be unusual.

Buildings like this will move
As they're constructed.

The ground will settle.

Narrator: but colin soon spots
Something more serious.

As we've come up
To the entrance door,

This seam in the casing seems
To drop around the entrance.

We look over there.
It's flat.

It's horizontal,
As all the joints are.

As we get to this point
Over the passageway,

The casing drops down,
Runs horizontally

And then rises up again.

That might be superficial.

We perhaps have to look at
Whether that goes

Any distance
Inside the structure.

Narrator: colin heads down
A narrow passageway.

Just a short way inside
The northern entrance,

He finds other stones
Have also slipped.

Reader: we're at a point about

10 meters inside
The northern passage,

And at this point, we've got
Quite a major movement.

This block here has dropped
About 20, 25 centimeters.

Narrator:
This crack, running right across
The passageway, concerns colin.

What this big drop tells us
Is that,

That dip we saw
On the casing,

Just by the entranceway,
Isn't superficial.

It runs the full length
Of this passageway

For about 10 or 11 meters.

We are undoubtedly looking
At a major dislocation

In the structure
As it was being built.

Narrator:
What does all this mean?

Colin believes that the pyramid
Has split in two.

One section, 32 meters thick
And weighing thousands of tons,

Has cracked and slipped down.

He thinks this is because
The pyramid

Was constructed
In two different stages.

The bent pyramid started
As a stepped pyramid,

But in the pharaoh's
Quest for perfection,

Workers added a second layer
To cover its huge steps.

It gave the pyramid smooth
Sides,

But with nothing
Locking the steps

And the outer shell together,

The layers began to split
And slip down.

Was this enough to change
The shape of the pyramid?

The damage is severe,

But it seems to be limited
To just a few places.

That disturbance of the casing
We saw over the entrance,

Though, suggests to me
That this is localized;

This movement here is
The passageway only.

Taking it all together,
It doesn't seem to be evidence

For a dramatic collapse.

Narrator: so did the builders
Catch the problem here

Just in time and save the rest
Of the structure?

♪♪

Colin travels 30 miles south of
Dahshur to meidum

To hunt for further clues.

♪♪

Here, he discovers
What would have happened

If the builders
Of the bent pyramid

Had ignored
The first signs of damage.

♪♪

Meidum is the first of the three
Pyramids sneferu built.

Archaeologists
Believe that it was started

Just before
The bent pyramid,

Using similar
Construction techniques.

Reader: what we've got from this
Pyramid at meidum

And also at the bent pyramid
Is mason's marks,

Graffiti that were painted
By the quarry gangs

Or the builders
Of the pyramids,

And that graffiti
Is quite similar.

Some people have suggested
That it's so similar,

That the two pyramids
Were built at the same time.

Narrator: colin suspects that if
He can work out

What happened here,
It might explain

What went on at dahshur.

Like the bent pyramid,
Meidum has a stepped core,

But this is the only
Part of it that remains.

The huge pile of rubble
Around the pyramid

Is its crumbled outer layer.

Sneferu intended to build
A smooth-sided pyramid here,

But it went terribly wrong.

The angle of the pyramid
Was too steep.

The top was too heavy,

And the slides slipped off.

Reader:
Just as the evidence suggests,

This pyramid collapsed during
The last phase of building,

Taking that stepped structure

And converting it
Into a smooth-sided pyramid.

Narrator: colin thinks
What happened here

Terrified the architect
Of the bent pyramid

Who was building it
In a similar way.

Reader: what they intended to
Build at the bent pyramid

Was a true,
Straight-sided pyramid,

But with collapses here,
They might have been concerned

Something was going to go wrong
At the bent pyramid.

Narrator: disaster at meidum may
Have forced the builders

Of the bent pyramid to
Radically change their design.

At first, the bent
Pyramid's cracks

May not have looked too serious.

Then the meidum pyramid
Collapsed catastrophically.

Fearing the same fate,

The architect
Designed a much safer,

But shallower summit.

This gave the bent pyramid
Its strange shape.

By reducing the angle
At the top of the pyramid,

Making the whole
Structure more stable,

It reduced the possibility
Or the likelihood

That yet another pyramid
Was going to collapse.

Narrator: sneferu had invested
Over a decade

Constructing the bent pyramid
At dahshur.

He wasn't about to let his
Eternal resting place implode

Into a pile of rubble,

But if the egyptian stonemasons
Worked out

How to reach the top safely
By building

Upwards at a shallower angle,
Why didn't they go back

And change the bottom
Half to match it,

And did sneferu do much more

Than just revolutionize
Pyramid design?

Did he pioneer a new method
Of large-scale construction?

Narrator: the bent pyramid had
Finally reached its summit,

Finished with a gentler
But safer angle.

Why didn't the builders rework
The lower section to match it?

♪♪

Engineer colin reader heads into
The very heart of the pyramid.

♪♪

He thinks another flaw
Inside this giant tomb

Might hold the answer.

The bent pyramid is unique
For having two entrances.

One leads to empty lower chamber
Cut into the bedrock.

A roughly finished tunnel
Connects them to the main

Royal burial chamber.

Its tapered ceiling rises
Over 52 feet high,

Bridging the enormous void
With a series of gradual steps,

But this chamber
Was left entirely empty

Before being sealed shut.

Can this abandoned burial
Chamber reveal why sneferu

Decided to keep
This pyramid's angled summit?

Colin investigates the first of
Two unoccupied burial chambers.

Reader: at this time,
And let's not forget,

We're talking about 2500 bc,
They couldn't close a roof

Across such a big, big space
As this,

So they took
Each step of masonry,

Or each layer of masonry,
And stepped it in slightly.

One step at a time,
Like a series of staircases

Meeting high up
Above our heads.

Narrator: this style of ceiling
Is called corbelling.

The first pyramid ever built,
The step pyramid,

Only had
A simple wooden ceiling,

Far too weak to hold
The enormous weight

Of the pyramid above,

So inside the bent pyramid,

Sneferu used an ingenious
Corbelled ceiling

To spread the weight
And prevent it collapsing.

In the lower chamber,

The ceiling is finished
To perfection.

Reader:
The edges of these corbels,

The edges of these steps,

Are really neatly formed,
Neatly carved,

A most accurately
Built corbelled ceiling.

Narrator: colin must crawl
Through narrow tunnels

To investigate the most
Important room in the pyramid,

The main upper burial chamber.

Inside, the finds
Something very different

From the beautifully carved
Ceiling he saw lower down.

Here, the stones are jagged
And rough.

Reader: the corbelling seems to
Have been reworked, attacked,

Cut away, so we've got
This irregular finish.

Narrator:
What happened here?

Colin thinks the builders wanted
To enlarge this burial chamber

By hacking into
The stepped stones,

But it didn't go
According to plan,

And the ceiling was ruined.

Reader:
They've put the corbel back.

They've chiseled away at it,
And once you get to that point,

There's no going back.

You can't... It's like if you
Cut someone's hair too short.

You can't glue it back on again.

Narrator: this pyramid was
Destined to hold

The body of sneferu,

But once the ceiling
Was damaged,

It was no longer fit to be
The pharaoh's eternal home,

So all the chambers
Were left empty.

Reader: you'd expect this to
Have been the burial chamber

For sneferu, but when,
Eventually,

People got into here,
There was no sarcophagus,

No evidence it had been
Used as a burial.

Narrator: one crucial mistake
Meant more than a decade of work

Had gone to waste,

But sneferu was determined
To give it another try.

It looks that they abandoned it.

They gave up here,
And they started again.

Narrator:
Over a mile to the north

Stands sneferu's third
And final attempt,

The red pyramid,
The world's first true pyramid.

This time, both the sloped walls

And the ceiling of the burial
Chamber would be perfect.

In the bent pyramid,
Masons tried to enlarge

The burial chamber
During construction,

But damaged the ceiling
Beyond repair.

Finally, in sneferu's
Red pyramid,

Masons built a higher,
Steeper ceiling

Right from the start,

And created
A tomb worthy of the pharaoh.

At last, sneferu had achieved
The perfect tomb,

Inside and out, and all thanks
To his earlier mistakes.

It seems they took everything
They learned

From the construction
Of the bent pyramid

And applied it to the
Construction of the red pyramid

Several hundred meters
To the north.

We can only assume that was
The final resting place

Of sneferu.

Narrator: but a mystery remains.

Despite its obvious flaws,

Sneferu still covered
The bent pyramid

With egypt's finest limestone.

If the red pyramid was now
His tomb,

Why go to this
Huge needless expense?

And can a mysterious temple
Reveal how this mighty pharaoh

Planned to life forever?

Narrator: the bent pyramid,
A construction disaster

Built by one of egypt's
Greatest pharaohs, sneferu.

Why was it finished
With expensive limestone

When it would never be used?

Could sneferu's quest
For immortality be a clue?

Rosenow: the afterlife was
A very important

Concept in ancient egypt.

Every egyptian wanted
To have a tomb

And wanted to be
Remembered eternally,

But it was obviously
Only the king

Who could actually end up with
Something as big as a pyramid.

Narrator: sneferu spent years

Trying to build
The perfect tomb.

The red pyramid saw his dream
Finally come true,

But could sneferu have always
Had far bigger plans

Than just creating
The perfect resting place?

This causeway links
The bent pyramid

To the nile valley.

At the end of it stands
The remains of an impressive

And mysterious temple.

Daniela thinks it could
Provide a clue

As to why sneferu
Completed the bent pyramid.

These crumbling stones were
The start of a valley temple,

Aligned along the royal axis,
North to south.

It would have been a place
To worship a dead pharaoh.

Flanking the entrance
Were four rooms,

And beyond, an open courtyard,

With two rows of pillars
At its end.

Inside the holy sanctuary
Were six niches that housed

Larger-than-life-sized
Statues of the pharaoh.

Building this impressive temple
Was an enormous job.

What can it reveal about why
The bent pyramid was finished?

Very little is known about

The valley temple's
Decoration or function.

When the temple was discovered
In the early '50s,

Obviously it was not
A standing temple anymore.

Narrator:
Its stones eroded over time.

Robbers destroyed what was left.

But a surprising discovery
Deep under the desert sand

Suggests the pyramid

And the temple may have been
Used in an unexpected way.

Rosenow: one of the
Archaeological methods we use

Is conducting drillings.

We realized that there is
Another huge structure

Buried under
2 to 3 meters of sand,

A road made of limestone blocks.

Narrator: daniela discovers
That this road dates back

To about 1,000 years
After the pyramid was finished.

She carefully documents
Its paving slabs.

She thinks this road was built
Out of material

From a demolished building.

Rosenow: the weird thing is that
We actually found

Decoration on these blocks,

And, of course, normally, a road
Is not made of decorated blocks.

This rather hints at the fact
That the blocks here were reused

And originally belong
To another building.

Narrator: daniela has no doubt

About which structure
They come from.

Rosenow: putting all of this
Evidence together,

The material,
The style of the carving,

We were very sure
That these blocks

Originally come from the valley
Temple of the bent pyramid.

Narrator: a millennia after
Sneferu's death,

The valley temple
Was dismantled.

Workers reused its stones
To build a road,

But daniela quickly recognizes
The scenes

These carvings once depicted.

♪♪

Rosenow: this small fragment,

We actually
Learn about a much,

Much bigger scene.

This is actually the hand
Of the king

Holding the hair of one
Or several of his enemies.

This belonged to a scene called
"Smiting the enemies,"

Where pharaoh is depicted
Holding a mace in one hand

And with the other hand,

Grabbing one
Or several of his enemies,

And he is shown, basically,
Exactly in the moment

Before he is striking.

Narrator: one particular pharaoh
Appears in these images.

Rosenow: we found some blocks
With inscriptions

Which gave us
The name of king sneferu.

Narrator: the high-quality
Carvings reveal sneferu

Finished the bent pyramid's
Temple to the highest level.

Rosenow: so the blocks give us
Quite a good idea

About how the valley temple
Would have looked like

When it was completed.

Narrator: why did sneferu
Complete both this pyramid

And its temple,
Even though he had no intention

Of being buried here?

Daniela believes it was
Part of sneferu's bigger goal,

To create a new form of worship

That would grant him
More power in the afterlife.

♪♪

Early egyptian burial grounds
Were desolate places.

Known as the land of the dead,

They were separated
From the world

Of the living
On the banks of the nile.

Sneferu's valley temple
Was a design pharaohs

Would follow for centuries.

It used a causeway to bridge

The gap between
These two worlds.

The valley temple shows carvings
Of sneferu

Receiving bountiful offerings

Brought from every region
Of his kingdom.

After his death,

The temple remained
An active place of worship,

Immortalizing his name forever.

At the end of the day,
The pyramid has been not

The only thing
Sneferu left behind.

He also left behind

This beautifully
Decorated valley temple.

Narrator: sneferu wanted to
Ensure he achieved immortality.

The bent pyramid still served
A useful purpose.

Rosenow: it clearly shows that
The whole project

Was very close
To sneferu's heart,

And, indeed, the pyramid
And the whole complex

Stayed a place of worship
For many generations.

Narrator:
Despite its crooked profile

And its ruined burial chamber,

The bent pyramid was celebrated
As part of sneferu's legacy.

He created a pioneering template
For construction pyramids

That was followed by egyptian
Pharaohs for hundreds of years.

Rosenow: there were actually no
Valley temples before sneferu's,

So what we have here
Are the remains

Of the very first valley temple
In ancient egypt in history,

And that's why every scene
We discover is so important

Because many of the scenes
That later on become standard

In these kind of temples
Appear here

For the very first time.

Narrator:
Sneferu's bent pyramid complex

Was far more important
That once thought.

It launched a whole-new
Tradition of ritual buildings

And worship,

But did his innovations go far
Beyond religious architecture?

What can new discoveries right
Next to the greatest pyramid

Ever built reveal about how
The bent pyramid turned egypt

Into a superpower
Of the ancient world?

Narrator:
The bent pyramid of dahshur,

A giant hulk more than
300 feet high,

One of the largest man-made
Objects of its time.

Did it play a bigger role
Than once thought?

Did sneferu's legacy go far
Beyond construction techniques?

Just over 10 miles north,
At giza,

Three giant pyramids tower
Over the landscape,

Among them,
The great pyramid of khufu,

The last-surviving wonder
Of the ancient world.

Just how much does it owe to the
Builders of the bent pyramid?

Archaeologist mark lehner
Has spent

Decades excavating at giza.

He believes that sneferu's
Bent pyramid

Didn't just transform
The way pyramids were built,

But the whole
Of egyptian society.

Sneferu started big.

Khufu comes along and builds
Even bigger here at giza.

Narrator: giza's pyramids were
All commissioned

By sneferu's heirs.

They wanted to surpass
Their famous ancestor,

But to achieve this, they needed
A supporting infrastructure

On a massive scale.

Before the time of sneferu,

Egypt was mostly made up
Of small villages.

Mark's excavation,
Half a mile from the pyramids,

Suggests this was all
About to change.

Lehner: we clear away the sand
Over an area

Of about seven football fields
And find houses and barracks.

Barracks, through time,
Have been mostly for men

And mostly for young men,

And we think that's probably
Who occupied these barracks.

Narrator: he finds what looks
Like a settlement

Housing up to 20,000 people.

Its buildings date back to
The same time as the pyramids.

This was a place with a purpose.

Lehner: one of the things we
Find all across the site

Are these heavy
Dolerite hammer stones

That the egyptian masons
And quarry people

Used to basically
Smash the rock away,

To carve out channels
To define huge blocks of stone.

The fact that we find these
Dolerite hammer stones

All over the site
Is just one of many indications

That workers and pyramid
Builders were living here.

Narrator: tens of thousands of
Laborers were brought together

To build these pyramids.

Their settlements gave rise
To the first cities

And paved the way for egypt

To become a superpower
Of the ancient world.

Mark thinks it all began
With the bent pyramid.

Lehner: the excavations of
The settlement now at dahshur,

The settlement contemporary with
The building of those pyramids,

That is the precedent
For everything

That we have found here at giza.

Narrator: to build his pyramids,
Sneferu likely developed

A method of bringing
Huge workforces together,

A system his heirs would copy
To build their tombs.

Lehner: if you add up the total
Volume of all the pyramids

That sneferu built,

It exceeds that of
The great pyramid of khufu

By a significant amount.

He actually did more pyramid
Piling up than his son khufu.

Narrator: sneferu's pyramids may
Not all have been perfect,

But his invaluable experience
Was passed on

To the next generation.

Lehner:
This was the culmination

Of a long
Research-and-development program

Carried out largely
Under sneferu.

Narrator:
Without the bent pyramid

And sneferu's determination,

Our world might not have
The great pyramid of giza.

I imagine that if sneferu
Could come back and see that,

Especially when it was complete
With all its elegance,

Massiveness and perfection
Shining on the horizon,

He would have been very proud
Of his young son khufu.

♪♪

Narrator: sneferu's desire
For immortality

Led him to build bigger
And higher than ever before,

But his plans
Almost ended in disaster.

His grand vision drove him
To finish this pyramid

With a safe
But imperfect summit.

An opulent valley temple
Completed the ritual complex

And ensured that sneferu's
Name would live on forever,

Not just in stone, but in
The new society he left behind.

His hard-won triumphs combine to
Earn sneferu his rightful place

As the king of
The pyramid builders.

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