All language subtitles for Unearthed.(2016).S04E06.Egypts.Lost.Skyscrapers.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-Cinefeel_track3_[eng]

Narrator: the giant stone
Obelisks of ancient egypt.

Majestic and mysterious
Shards of granite

Rising from the heart
Of its greatest temples.

Quarried from a single,
Massive block of stone,

Some soar over 90 feet
Into the air.

Narrator: what were these
Mighty needles for?

-oh!
-oh.

Narrator: and how did
The ancient egyptians

Raise them into the sky?

Now, a team of archeologists
Risks life and limb

To rediscover the lost
Building techniques

Of the ancient egyptians.

And solve the mysteries of
These enigmatic monuments.

♪♪

To unearth the answers,

We'll deconstruct these
Towering stone goliaths

And reveal how ancient
Workers raised them.

Why were egypt's
Obelisks so important

To the mighty pharaohs?

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Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

Narrator: luxor, in the heart
Of southern egypt.

Two towering obelisks
Pierce the sky.

They have stood here
For over 3,000 years.

Rare survivors of
An ancient religion.

The pharaohs erected dozens

Of these mystifying monuments,

But many have fallen
Or been moved overseas.

More now stand in distant
Cities like paris,

London, and new york,

Than remain in egypt.

These ancient stones
Are the most enigmatic

Of the pharaohs' monuments,
But what were they for?

And how were they built?

3,400 years ago,
These two obelisks

Stood in one of egypt's most
Important religious sites.

♪♪

Karnak, a huge
Temple complex built

By generations of pharaohs.

♪♪

Its imposing gateways,
Called pylons,

And enormous covered halls

Were dedicated to egypt's
Chief god, amun ra.

♪♪

At its center, stood
Spectacular giant obelisks.

♪♪

How and why did
The pharaohs build

These extraordinary
Granite needles?

♪♪

This obelisk at
Karnak is the tallest

Still standing in egypt.

The pharaoh hatshepsut
Placed it here

During the era of
The new kingdom.

It is carved from
A single block of granite,

Weighs over 300 tons,

And soars 97 feet into the air.

♪♪

Adel kelaney is
An egyptian archeologist.

He wants to find out why
This obelisk was built

And how hatshepsut's
Workers raised it.

Narrator:
But why give a giant needle

As a present to a god?

Narrator:
These towering columns

Were a reminder of
The creation of the first land,

And the origins of
The egyptian people.

They are among the most
Ancient egyptian monuments.

The pharaohs erected
Them in temples

Throughout their land, to
Honor this idea of creation.

♪♪

They raised their largest
And most impressive

Obelisks in karnak.

Six dominated the center
Of the temple complex.

The tallest soared
Over 118 feet high.

All were made from
Super-tough granite

To prevent them from snapping.

The tips were covered in gold
To reflect the sun's rays

And connect the earth
And the heavens

Through the sun god, ra.

But what huge
Resources did it take

To move these monster
Blocks of stone?

And how were they erected?

♪♪

Adel kelaney is preparing
For a dangerous experiment

That he hopes will finally
Solve these mysteries.

He will use only the tools
The ancient egyptians had,

To move and raise this
Three ton replica obelisk.

He thinks this will
Reveal how they erected

Full-sized ones
Thousands of years ago.

His audacious plan
Relies on sand.

Narrator: to remove the sand,
Adel has installed

Two bricked-up windows
On each side of the room.

Narrator:
To strengthen the walls,

Adel applies a plaster
Coating of mud.

The room will need to
Hold 35 tons of sand,

And if the walls collapse
When he pours it in,

The experiment will be over.

Adel's next challenge is
To build the giant ramp

He will use to move the obelisk

To the top of
The mud brick room.

A pharaoh's huge workforce

Would have done this
With simple tools.

Narrator:
To speed up the process,

Adel brings in some
Heavy equipment.

♪♪

To build a ramp for
A full-sized obelisk,

It's been calculated that
The ancient egyptians

Would have needed over three
Million cubic feet of sand.

♪♪

With the ramp and the mud brick
Room complete,

Adel's next challenge will be
To move the obelisk.

Narrator: the replica obelisk is
Molded from concrete.

The originals were carved
From super-tough granite.

How did the ancient
Egyptians quarry

And shape these
Extraordinary stones,

Using only primitive tools?

And how did egypt's
Pharaohs move them

Hundreds of miles
From the quarry

To temples all over the country?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: the oldest stone
Monuments standing in london,

Paris,

New york,

And istanbul,

All started life over
3,000 years ago here,

In this quarry,
At aswan, southern egypt.

♪♪

Its pink granite was perfect
For building obelisks.

The pharaohs considered
These stone needles

To be the ultimate
Offering to the gods,

And placed them in temples
Up and down the country.

A giant, unfinished
Obelisk still remains

In the aswan quarry.

Ancient workers abandoned it
When the stone cracked.

♪♪

It took extraordinary skill
To create the perfect obelisk.

Craftsmen carved
The base with great accuracy

To ensure it would
Stand upright,

Without any cement.

Each face was ground smooth,

Inscribed with
Intricate hieroglyphs,

And painted in dazzling colors.

Its pyramid-shaped tip
Was capped in real gold.

It had to be perfect to
Do justice to the gods,

But how did ancient
Workers carve

These towering
Columns so precisely?

♪♪

Master stonemason antoine garric

Wants to find out
How the egyptians

Would have worked this
Extremely hard stone.

Narrator:
Egypt rulers usually erected

Obelisks in pairs.

Next to the pharaoh hatshepsut's
Surviving obelisk,

Lies its twin.

Workers carved both
From single blocks

Of aswan pink granite
In about 1470 b.C.

♪♪

Antoine investigates
How they got them

Out of the ground
And carved them.

Narrator:
How did ancient workers

Cut through this
Tough granite rock?

♪♪

At that time, the egyptians
Were unable to smelt iron.

They depended on bronze
And copper tools.

These worked well on soft rocks,

Like sandstone and limestone.

But they couldn't cope
With much harder granite.

Narrator: antoine thinks that
Instead of chisels

They used a stone even harder
Than granite, dolerite.

But would this have worked?

To find out,
Antoine attempts to cut

A test area in a granite block.

Narrator: to work out how
Long it would take

To extract an obelisk
From a quarry,

Antoine pounds
The granite for an hour.

♪♪

Narrator: one cubic meter is
About 35 cubic feet.

At that rate, 500 workers
Could extract an obelisk

In seven months.

Narrator: antoine has shown
That dolerite stones

Are tough enough
To carve granite.

But how did ancient workers make

The sides of
The obelisk so smooth?

Antoine thinks
They did it by grinding.

Narrator:
But the abrasive sand

Is even more effective
When mixed with water.

♪♪

Narrator:
But the biggest mystery

Is how the egyptians
Would have carved

The detailed inscriptions.

On the pharaoh
Hatshepsut's obelisk,

The hieroglyphs
Described how she made it

With a loving heart,
For her father, the god amun ra.

The craftsmanship is sublime.

♪♪

Antoine is setting
Up an experiment

To see if copper tools,
Combined with sand,

Can grind away granite
Precisely enough

To make such fine carvings.

[ speaks indistinctly ]

Narrator:
Antoine thinks ancient workers

Would have carved
These inscriptions

By first hammering
The granite with stone punches

To make small grooves.

Then, they cut out
The hieroglyphs

With copper tools
And an abrasive.

Using resources
They had in abundance,

Labor and sand,
The ancient egyptians quarried,

Polished, and carved
Their imposing obelisks,

Creating masterpieces
That people

Would continue to
Marvel at for centuries.

But this was just the beginning

Of a phenomenally expensive
And dangerous operation.

Next, the pharaohs had to move

The obelisks to the temples,

Some hundreds of miles away.

This required
Extraordinary ingenuity

And huge resources.

Investigators believe
The egyptians dug canals

Deep into the landscape,

So water from the nile would
Flow towards the quarry.

The obelisk was
Suspended over the water,

Then a boat was weighed
Down with stones,

So that when it was emptied,
It would pick up the obelisk

And carry it down the nile.

♪♪

But egypt's great river would
Only take it part of the way.

♪♪

To move the obelisk from
The ship to the temple,

They needed to
Carry it over land,

Without damaging
The precious stone.

What was their
Ingenious solution?

Any method of transporting
It would have required

Vast amounts of labor.

How could the pharaohs
Feed this huge workforce

In an arid desert that receives

Only a fraction of
An inch of rain per year?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator:
For over a thousand years,

Egypt's pharaohs erected
Extraordinary giant obelisks

Outside their temples.

These were the most precious
Offerings to their gods.

The tallest tower
Over 98 feet high

And are among the largest
Stones ever quarried.

But how did ancient
Workers move and raise

These giant monoliths?

In aswan, archeologist
Adel kelaney is conducting

A dangerous and pioneering
Experiment to find out.

[ indistinct conversations ]

Narrator: so far, he has
Constructed a mud brick room

And a long ramp.

His plan is to haul the obelisk

To the top of the room,
Fill the room with sand,

And then slowly release the sand

To tilt the obelisk
Into position.

But first, he must
Pull it up the ramp.

Weighing three tons,
It is heavy enough

To cause serious injury if
The experiment goes wrong.

♪♪

To reduce friction,
Adel lays a wooden track

For rollers to
Carry the obelisk.

It's a method based on
Evidence from excavations.

Narrator:
Because this is dangerous,

The team will use modern rope.

Ancient workers would have had

A similar hauling
Line made from reeds.

Adel has calculated
That he will need

30 people to pull
The obelisk up the slope.

But first, he tests
It on level ground.

Narrator:
But there's a problem.

The team is soon
Struggling to keep

The long, thin needle on course.

Narrator: the team shows

It can move the obelisk
On level ground.

How will they fare on the ramp?

[ shouting in foreign language ]

♪♪

Narrator: little by little,

It rolls up the slope.

Narrator:
It's a titanic battle

To haul the obelisk to
The top of the ramp.

[ shouting indistinctly ]

Narrator: adel believes that
To move a full-sized,

320 ton obelisk the same way,

Would require about
1,000 workers.

[ shouting in foreign language ]

Narrator:
At last, they reach the top.

The first stage is complete,

But now they must try to move
The obelisk into position.

So the next step is to
Prepare the mud brick room.

Narrator:
But will the room's thin walls

Be strong enough to
Hold 35 tons of sand?

♪♪

As the level of sand
Approaches the top,

Adel's carefully laid
Plan starts to fall apart.

Narrator:
It looks like the mud brick room

Could collapse.

Narrator: to prevent the walls
Falling down,

Adel quickly orders the loader
To pile sand on the outside.

♪♪

He improvises extra support.

Narrator: adel hopes this frame
Will enable the walls to support

The extra weight of the obelisk.

He's about to find out.

[ shouting in foreign language ]

Narrator: the mud brick walls

Have taken the strain,
For the moment.

But there's a problem.

The obelisk's weight
Has created more cracks.

The safety engineer
Is not happy.

Narrator: in a makeshift attempt

To prevent the mud brick room
From collapsing,

Adel adds more timber
To support its walls.

But will it be enough?

And in a desert country
With almost no rain,

How did they grow the food
To feed the vast army of men

It took to create
These stone giants?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: the towering obelisks
Of luxor, southern egypt.

♪♪

The pharaohs erected these
Ancient granite skyscrapers

Nearly 3,500 years ago.

This was the era
Of the new kingdom,

A golden age when
The country prospered

After driving out invaders.

The greatest obelisks were
Built during this time.

♪♪

These were taller, heavier,
And more finely carved

Than any that had gone before.

To quarry and raise
These mighty monoliths,

Thousands of people had
To work for months on end.

♪♪

But most of egypt
Is in the sahara,

Its climate is hostile,

Rainfall is less than
A fraction of an inch per year.

So, how did the pharaohs feed
This vast army of workers?

♪♪

Half a mile away from
Karnak's obelisks,

At the temple of mut,

Excavators find new clues that
Could reveal the source

Of ancient egypt's
Vital food supply.

We have this layer of pottery,

You can hear it when I hit it,

And it's lying actually
On this surface.

♪♪

Narrator:
This circle of mud bricks

Shows that this
Was once a granary,

A storage silo for grain.

During the harvest,
Workers would fill it

With wheat or barley,

To provide food
Throughout the year.

♪♪

It was accessed using steps
That led up to a hatch.

But how many people could
These granaries feed?

And where did this
Grain come from?

♪♪

American archeologist
Betsy bryan thinks

This excavation could
Reveal the answers.

All of this area
That we're working in

Is an industrial area,

And so, they were making bread,
They were making beer.

Narrator:
Granaries were essential

For running the economy.

There were no coins or money
In the time of the new kingdom.

Instead, workers
Were paid in grain.

So, how many workers could
This granary support?

♪♪

Betsy takes measurements
To find out.

So, these granaries,
They're mostly

About 3.8 meters in diameter.

We've unearthed at least six

And we have indications
That they actually have

The ability to have
Supported up to 4,000 people

With the amount of
Grain being stored.

Narrator: how could they
Grow so much grain

In these arid conditions?

In egypt's desert climate,
The amount of land available

For growing wheat
And barley was limited.

Most of the fields of egypt

Were actually planted
Within two miles

Of the nile river itself,

In an area that
Was a flood plain,

More than 1,000 miles
Of it along the nile.

And so, the grain
Would be grown,

It would be harvested
And put onto large barges,

And the barges would
Be brought upstream

And then unloaded
In large amounts

And stored in granaries.

Narrator: when the nile flooded,

It would fertilize
The nearby land.

Meaning, egyptian
Farmers could harvest

A rich crop of wheat and barley.

The state and religious
Temples controlled the grain,

And used it to pay
The obelisk workers.

♪♪

Thanks to the nile,
The pharaohs had

Plenty of food to feed
The huge workforce

Needed to erect the obelisks.

But how did ancient builders
Tilt them into position?

♪♪

And why did so many of
Egypt's sacred columns

End up in the major cities
Of distant countries?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: 3,400 years ago,
The pharaoh hatshepsut

Erected this 320-ton obelisk
As a gift to the god amun ra.

♪♪

But how did ancient workers
Raise it into position?

♪♪

In aswan, adel kelaney
Is undertaking a huge

And dangerous
Experiment to find out.

By releasing sand from
Under a replica obelisk,

He plans to tilt it upright
Inside a mud brick room.

But cracks in the walls

Threaten to
Derail the operation.

Safety engineer
Rami aransa is worried

The mud brick room
Could collapse.

Narrator: with workers watching
The walls to check that no more

Cracks appear, adel begins
The raising operation.

Narrator:
Workers pull out the bricks

From two of the windows

Of the mud brick room to
Start removing the sand.

This should lower
The base of the obelisk,

And pivot it until
It's nearly upright.

From there, the team should
Be able to pull it vertical.

♪♪

Adel must carefully control
The release of the sand

To maneuver the obelisk
Accurately

Onto the plinth below.

Narrator: little by little,
The workers remove the sand

From the sand box.

Oops. Op.

Narrator: the obelisk is only
Moving very slowly,

So adel decides to
Speed up the process.

Narrator: the team pulls out
More mud bricks

To create another two openings.

♪♪

The obelisk is moving faster,
But there's a hitch.

It's not going in
The right direction.

Narrator: instead of pivoting
And dropping,

The obelisk is sliding
Across the mud brick room.

Narrator:
It's a serious set back.

If the obelisk continues to
Slide, it will end up lying

At an angle that will make it
Impossible to pull upright.

Narrator: to get the obelisk as
Vertical as possible,

Adel shovels away the sand

From immediately
Under the center of it.

But supported only at its base,

The obelisk makes a sudden move.

Narrator: safety engineer
Rami calls a halt.

[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator: from outside the room,
The team carefully removes sand

Until the obelisk settles
Into a stable position.

♪♪

It takes three hours to maneuver

The obelisk within one
Foot of the plinth.

To raise hatshepsut's
97-foot-tall obelisk

The same way,

Adel believes ancient workers
Would've needed a mud brick room

98 feet high

And around a month
To take away the sand.

Narrator: now, adel and the team
Must pull the obelisk upright.

♪♪

It's a tricky operation.

If they use too much force,

They could tip
The obelisk right over.

[ men speaking
Foreign language ]

♪♪

Narrator:
After a nerve-jangling wobble,

The obelisk settles on its base.

♪♪

[ cheering ]

Narrator: adel and the team have
Successfully shown

That the sand box method works.

Narrator: the obelisks were
The crowning glory

Of the new kingdom pharaohs,

An astonishing achievement that
Inspired awe and wonder.

♪♪

But of the dozens of
Obelisks the pharaohs raised,

More now stand in cities
Of other countries

Than remain in egypt's temples.

So how did so many obelisks
End up in distant lands?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: from these quarries in
Aswan, southern egypt,

The pharaohs extracted
Dozens of granite obelisks

And erected them in
Temples across the country.

♪♪

Today, fewer than
10 of these large, stone needles

Remain standing in egypt.

But elsewhere in the world,
You can see over 20.

♪♪

How did so many obelisks
End up overseas?

♪♪

The temple of karnak once
Boasted at least 13 obelisks,

Including some of the most
Impressive ever raised.

The tallest was
Over 118 feet high.

Today, in the center of
The temple, only two remain.

In their shadow,
Archeologist benjamin durand

Unearths new evidence
That could reveal

What happened to some
Of the missing obelisks.

♪♪

At the temple of pata,
Just 600 feet from

The remaining ones,
Benjamin uncovers a clue.

Narrator: in the laboratory,
Restoration expert lucy antoine

Attempts to reveal any
Details in the coins

That will shed light on
What happened to

The temple complex of karnak
And its missing obelisks.

Narrator: this softens
The outer corrosive layer,

Enabling lucy to clean it
Away with a micro-motor.

♪♪

[ speaks indistinctly ]

Narrator: the cleaned surface
Reveals this coin's origins.

Narrator: constantine's name on
These coins shows that

The great temple
And its obelisks

Had fallen to the romans.

In 30 b.C., the last pharaoh,
Cleopatra, committed suicide

And the powerful roman empire
Took control of egypt.

♪♪

In the center of karnak,

Antoine garik is only now
Repairing the damage

The romans caused when
They looted the temple complex.

Narrator: whenever the romans
Invaded a country,

They liked to seize
Its monuments

And re-erect them
In their capital city

As a dramatic display of
Their might and power.

♪♪

Around 335 a.D,
Constantine I ordered

The removal of two
Of karnak's obelisks.

The romans shipped one to
Constantinople, now istanbul.

♪♪

They transported
The other to rome.

At 105 feet tall,

It's the largest ancient
Obelisk in the world.

The romans filled
Their city with

Eight large and 42 small
Egyptian obelisks.

♪♪

Much later, in the 1800s,
After diplomatic requests,

Egypt's ottoman rulers
Gave away three more of

These giants stones nicknamed
Cleopatra's needles.

♪♪

The first was shipped to paris

And re-erected in
The place de la concorde.

The second was placed in
London beside the thames.

And the last was raised in
New york's central park.

Here, they still stand,
Majestic reminders

Of the extraordinary
Society that built them.

♪♪

To the ancient egyptians,
These sky-piercing columns

Played a vital role
In their religion.

They connected
The earth and the heavens

Through the sun god ra.

And now, through archeology
And experiment,

They are revealing
Their final secrets.

The great civilization
That created these

Sublime spires of granite
Has long since disappeared.

But through these
Extraordinary monuments,

It will continue
To be remembered.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪