All language subtitles for Unearthed.(2016).S08E08.Egypts.Floating.Pyramid.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-Cinefeel_track3_[eng]

Narrator:
An egyptian pyramid

That's like no other.

This makes you understand
What a pyramid is all about.

Narrator: surrounded
By a strange trench,

This is the only pyramid
Ever built

To look like it floats
On water.

Wow, that is amazing.

Now, our cameras
Have exclusive access

To venture inside
This bizarre megastructure

For the very first time,

Exploring tunnels hidden
Deep below ground.

We follow investigators
Using pioneering

Drone scanning technology
And forensic analysis.

Wow!
[indistinct]

Narrator:
To decode the secrets of

A pharaoh locked away
Inside for 4,000 years.

This is the real
Burial chamber.

Narrator: we will digitally
Deconstruct the pyramid's

Star-shaped inner skeleton,

Reveal its hidden tunnels,

Unearth its unique,
Astonishing engineering secrets,

And uncover
Long-lost treasures

To solve the mystery of
The strangest pyramid of all.

Over 100 pyramids rise
From the sands

Of the egyptian desert.

All are huge tombs for

The pharaohs who once ruled
This ancient kingdom.

The great pyramid of giza is
The most famous,

One of the seven wonders
Of the ancient world.

But 50 miles south,

There's a more recent
And much stranger monument,

The pyramid of lahun, dating
From egypt's middle kingdom,

An era consumed by war.

This is a tomb like no other.

Oh, wow.

This makes you understand what
A pyramid is all about.

It dominates the landscape.

There's nothing else
For kilometers around,

But here it stands
In its full grandeur.

Narrator:
This is the brainchild of

A pharaoh called senusret ii.

Built around 1870 b.C.,
It's a mighty monument

Clad in gleaming limestone
That rises 160 feet above

The desert --
At the top,

A black granite capstone makes
A connection to the heavens.

Next to it, a smaller pyramid
For the pharaoh's queen,

And eight stone
Mastaba memorials,

All enclosed by a huge mud
Brick wall.

Senusret's
Grand funerary complex

Is said
To be surrounded by water,

Seemingly floating in
The desert.

♪♪

Why is the pyramid built
In this extraordinary way?

Now our cameras have
Been granted

Exclusive access to explore
This remarkable complex

For the first time.

Salima ikram has been
Investigating the mysteries

Of ancient egypt
For over 30 years.

Ikram:
What a sight that must have
Been for people,

To look at something like that,

This mountain of a pyramid
Encircled by water.

Narrator: the pyramid stands
In egypt's vast western desert.

So why is it surrounded
By water?

We're in the middle of
A desert, but in the distance,

You can see that there is

Actually lots of greenery
And vegetation,

So there is water out there.

Narrator: this is a fertile
Area of the desert,

Known as the fayoum oasis.

So the fact that
There's a lush oasis here

Means that there is
A constant supply of water.

Narrator: salima wants
To find out if this

Explains the water that once
Encircles the monument.

Oh, my god.

Narrator: she uses
A high-resolution drone

To survey the landscape
From above.

Oh, wow!
You can see that

This vegetation stretches
For miles and miles.

It's amazing, and beyond that,
There's this channel of water.

And then there's the nile.

Narrator:
The pyramid is built

About 10 miles
From the river nile.

In ancient times, the annual
Nile floods inundate

The barren land with life-giving
Water and minerals.

A huge canal, constructed
By an earlier pharaoh,

Also channels water from
The mighty river

To the fayoum.

This large water channel that
Connects to the nile is one of

The main sources of water for
This whole area near

The pyramids.

Narrator: salima thinks
The nile and the canal

Are not the only sources
Of water.

The weather in ancient times

Is also very different
From today.

I wonder what it would have
Been like 4,000 years ago

When it was much wetter,
It rained much more,

And there were even more
Powerful floods.

Narrator: back then,
This whole area is much wetter.

The amount of water here
Makes it a bit curious

That someone should choose
This site to build a pyramid.

Senusret ii could
Have bean buried

With his father several miles
To the north of here.

But he actively came and sought
Out and chose this place.

So he must have had a very
Good reason to do that.

Narrator: salima thinks a reason
May be found nearby

In a centuries-old dam.

What's really interesting is,
If you go all the way down,

This dam is built on the
Foundation of senusret ii's dam.

This is the first dam
Ever built in the fayoum,

And that he used, really,
To tame this region

And turned it into
An agricultural sort of

Treasure trove.

Narrator: the pharaohs
Before senusret

Dig out a waterway from
The nile to the fayoum,

Creating a massive
Lake and oasis.

Senusret himself builds dikes
And irrigation channels

To distribute water to
The surrounding desert.

Drawing water from the oasis,

Senusret creates
17,000 acres

Of new farmland near lahun,

And he builds his pyramid
Right next to it,

To commemorate his achievement
And life's work.

♪♪

Ikram: what makes
The positioning of this pyramid

Particularly poignant
Is that senusret ii

Is the one who is responsible
For all of this

Agricultural work.

With this pyramid,
You can clearly see the land of

The living,
All of that vegetation.

And then here, the king is in
The land of the dead,

Looking over for eternity,
All of this greenery

And all of this life.

Narrator: the pharaoh
Wants his tomb next

To the paradise he creates.

Water gives life,
But it's also a threat.

How does the pharaoh
Prevent water

From damaging his pyramid?

There are clues hidden in

A trench that runs
Around the pyramid.

Carved 10 feet deep into
The limestone bedrock,

It's filled with tons of
Crushed stones

And a thick layer of sand.

It looks like the moat
Around a medieval castle.

In 1870 b.C.,
It sits right at

The bottom edge
Of the pyramid.

This mega trench is unique.

No other pyramid
Has anything like it.

What is it used for?

Ezzeldin yazeed has been
Solving the puzzles

Of ancient egyptian
Engineering for three decades.

Ezz uses a hydrology simulator
To measure

The amount of water
The trench absorbs.

He thinks the trench stops

Water from damaging
The pyramid's foundations.

The simulator releases
25 gallons of water over half

An hour onto a bed
Of sand and gravel

That matches the materials
Lining the trench.

Narrator:
Two inches of rainwater

Falling in just
30 minutes is enough to

Cause devastating flooding
Around the base of the pyramid.

Ezz fits drainage pipes
Beneath the simulator.

If the sand and gravel
Don't absorb the water,

It will run through
And fill the pipes.

30 minutes later,
It's time to check the result.

The drainage pipes are empty.

The sand and gravel
Absorb the water.

Narrator: scaled up,
The trench will easily contain

The worst of egypt's winter
Storms and flooding.

Narrator: ancient engineers
Create an extraordinary-looking

Pyramid and also find
A way to keep

It safe from floodwaters
For thousands of years.

But what are the strange
Stone structures inside?

Can they explain
How the monument

Seems to float on water?

Narrator:
The pyramid of lahun,

An extraordinary ancient
Megastructure from egypt's

Mysterious middle kingdom that
Appears to float on water.

Pharaoh senusret ii
Builds his tomb in

An area of egypt called
The fayoum oasis,

Complete with 500 square miles
Of waterways,

Lush palm trees,
And agricultural pastures.

It's like new land
Is being conquered

And opened up
By the great king.

Narrator:
How does the pharaoh construct

This huge structure
On such wet, marshy ground?

Salima ikram investigates.

Before this pyramid
Is erected around 1870 b.C.,

All egyptian monuments
Are built from limestone,

Including the most famous
Of all,

The great pyramid of giza.

Its foundations sit
On solid bedrock,

But its lahun cousin is
Very different.

Salima thinks that traditional
Building techniques inspire

The pharaoh to create a new
Kind of lightweight structure.

Mud brick is one of the basic
Building materials in

Ancient egypt,
But they tended to use these

And houses rather than
In their tombs.

Narrator: workers
Blend mud, straw,

And sand to make mud bricks.

They're dried in the sun
Or fired in a kiln.

This building method
Dates back millennia.

The pharaoh's engineers
Used these traditional

Methods to devise
A technological breakthrough.

So here I am, sitting on
And absolutely surrounded

By mud brick,
And this is

All what the pyramid
Is basically made of.

Narrator: senusret's pyramid
Is the first

To be built from mud brick.

Ikram: if he was worried
About weight

And subsidence of the site,

Then the mud brick would have
Been lighter than stone,

And therefore,
You can make

This impressive,
Monumental pyramid,

But it's less dangerous
For your foundations.

Narrator: using mud brick,
It's now possible

To build on the marshy
Fayoum oasis,

But that's not
The only challenge

The pharaoh must overcome.

Ikram: the big problem with
The mud brick is no matter

How well made it is,
When it rains,

And if they are torrential
Rain, it starts to melt.

And that's why you have
This wash where

The thing is eroded
Over and over again.

Narrator: can clues found
Inside the monument shed

Light on how the pharaoh
Solves this problem?

Blowing away the mud bricks

Reveals a structure
Hidden inside.

A star-shaped set of
Limestone walls

Radiate out
From the center.

In the time of senusret,

This limestone backbone
Stretches all the way

Through the pyramid.

The skeleton
Is designed to hold

The mud bricks in place
During construction

And make sure the shape
Of the pyramid is perfect.

But how does the pharaoh
Protect the mud bricks

From the elements when
The building is finished?

Salima believes
Fragments of limestone

Found here offer clues.

Although there's not
Much of this left,

It's probable
That this was part of

The casing of this pyramid,

So you wouldn't see the mud
Brick or the stone skeleton.

Narrator: ancient engineers
Cover the exterior

In a layer of tough,
High-quality limestone.

Workers transport it here from

The pharaoh's quarries at tura,
Near cairo.

This limestone is the finest
Limestone in egypt,

So the pyramid looked like
A white shining monument,

Just like the giza pyramids
Used to.

Narrator: but even the finest
Limestone is not foolproof.

How can the builders prevent
Water from

Seeping through any gaps
Between the blocks?

It takes hundreds of
Huge white limestone blocks

To fully encase
Senusret's pyramid.

Butterfly connectors inscribed
With the king's name

Pull the blocks
Tightly together.

A socket cut into the bedrock
Locks in the bottom

Row of blocks and provides
A solid foundation

For the cladding.

When it rains,
The water runs off

The slick limestone skin
Into the trench,

Keeping the mud brick
Interior dry.

This marvel of
Ancient engineering

Can withstand water,

Allowing the pharaoh
To build an oasis.

But the greatest challenge
That faces all pharaohs

Is how to prevent their tombs
From being raided.

What ingenious technology
Does the pyramid conceal

To safeguard the pharaoh's
Body for eternity?

Narrator:
Investigators want to find out

How senusret ii's engineers

Apply their technological
Know-how

To prevent grave robbers from
Looting the pharaoh's tomb,

Deep inside the floating pyramid
Of lahun.

Ikram: this is a really
Puzzling pyramid.

Narrator: archaeologists unearth
A chapel on the monument's

North side,

The traditional way in,

But it's a dead end
That leads nowhere.

On the east face,

They find a second chapel,

But its walls are also solid.

There's no way in here either.

Finally, on the south face,

They discover
A buried narrow shaft

That leads deep underground.

Is this the entrance
To the tomb?

Salima ikram examines
The southern end of the pyramid,

Where investigators discover
The strange shaft.

Now that is more like it.

Here's a shaft right near
The pyramid,

And this is more likely
To be the entrance

Even if it is the south face
Of the pyramid.

Narrator:
She measures the shaft to see

If it's a possible way in.

Ikram: it's really hard
To tell how deep this is,

So we're using a very
Traditional way of finding out.

There's rope
That's knotted at

Every meter, and there's
A weight at the bottom,

And it just keeps on going.

Still a bit more.

No, I think that's it.

Narrator:
The shaft is 50 feet deep.

It's also extremely narrow.

It's possible that it was
Something that the workers who

Were building the subterranean
Structure did,

Because there really is no way
You can get a king's

Sarcophagus down something
This narrow.

So obviously, this is not
The official entryway.

There must be another entry.

Narrator: investigators unearth
The entrance beneath

The tomb of one of
The royal children.

Salima has rare access to

Explore this labyrinth of
Underground tunnels.

They've only recently been
Excavated by archaeologists.

Wow, this is amazing.

Narrator: it's the very first
Time that cameras

Have been allowed inside this
Astonishing megastructure.

It's amazing to be
In these tunnels.

Up to about almost a year ago,
They were filled until here

With sand and rubble and dirt.

Narrator: the pyramid is
Built six centuries

Before the invention of
Iron tools.

Workers use soft
Copper chisels to

Carve the tunnels out of
The bedrock.

Ikram:
It's really quite spectacular.

You can see the chisel marks
Cut into the bedrock over here.

It's fantastic,
Because these tunnels go

On for ages,
And they're so deep.

Oh, wow.

So this -- ha!

Narrator: a few yards in,
Salima stumbles on

The bottom of the shaft
She was measuring.

It comes all the way down
Here, and it does lead to what

Was made to look like
A burial chamber,

Because it's got this
Arch roof over here,

Which is typical
Of burial chambers.

So if robbers had come
In here,

They would have thought,
"Oh, wow. Great. This is it."

The chamber is designed to
Throw tomb raiders

Off the scent.

But they wouldn't
Have found anything.

Though it's so cleverly done --

There's even a niche here,

As if this is where
The canopic chest that had

The internal organs would have

Been placed, so they really
Would have bean fooled.

Pharaoh senusret goes to
Extraordinary lengths

To protect his final
Resting place.

Clearly, senusret's
Architect's and senusret

Were trying to make sure
That robbers didn't get into

His tomb and loot it the way

They'd done for everyone else
Before him.

Narrator: this decoy chamber
Lies at the edge of the pyramid.

But beyond it,

There's a hidden passage that
Leads to a second chamber

With shafts that stretch deep
Below ground.

The tunnel continues,

Looping through the pyramid,

And finally leads
To a majestic room --

The pharaoh's burial chamber.

Do senusret's many decoys

Keep his body and treasures
Safe from intruders?

[gasps]
It's the burial chamber,

And this is the real
Burial chamber.

It's got a vaulted roof,

And it is, though, made out
Of pink granite

Brought from aswan all
The way from the south.

This is fabulous.

Here, you've got
The true burial chamber

With the sarcophagus
Still here,

And it's been polished.

You can see this wonderful
Sheen on it.

Narrator: but the body of
The pharaoh is no longer here.

So what happens to it?

A clue comes from
A priceless

Object that belongs
To the pharaoh.

When archaeologists unearth
Senusret's tomb,

They find it looted.

But in a corner buried
In sand,

They discover one treasure

The robbers leave behind --

A solid gold figure of
An egyptian cobra.

It's a uraeus, a precious
Ornament that identifies

The wearer as the pharaoh.

The uraeus represents
The snake goddess wadjet,

The divine protector of egypt
And the river nile.

It adorns
The pharaoh's headwear.

Only he can wear it.

Do the tomb raiders leave

The uraeus is behind
By accident or design?

I'm sure the robbers
Didn't notice, because

They had so much other loot
With them, no doubt.

Narrator: the uraeus
Remains undisturbed

In the pharaoh's
Mighty pyramid

For almost four millennia.

All that remains on
The sarcophagus are

A few haunting reminders of
Where the pharaoh once lay.

Ikram: uneven marks.

Like to imagine these are
Smears left over from the body.

Narrator: senusret's body
Has long gone from his final

Resting place, violated
In the search for treasure.

Now can clues hidden in
A mysterious desert

Structure reveal more about
The secrets of egypt's

Strangest pyramid?

Narrator: 4,000 years ago,
Pharaoh senusret ii

Builds his pyramid in
The fayoum oasis.

Nearby, archaeologists
Unearth a mysterious find --

A second massive construction.

Are the pharaoh's final
Resting place

And these strange ruins
Somehow linked?

It's an insight
Into life, into work,

Into religion,
Into play that

We simply don't get
From other states from egypt.

Narrator: to the east of
Senusret's pyramid,

Investigators discover
The remains of a walled

Settlement over a million
Square feet in size.

The western part is crammed
Full of small, narrow houses.

To the north,

A larger building
Towers over them.

Nearby are more big houses,

Some measuring over
20,000 square feet.

Price: when we think of
Ancient egypt,

We think off pharaohs,
We think of gold.

We think of death.

Lahun is
None of those things.

It is about living people.

Narrator:
Campbell price investigates

The purpose of
This enormous site,

Hidden by the desert
Sands for millennia.

He believes
Answers may be found here,

At the manchester museum
In england

In this 19th century map,

Drawn up by the first
Archaeologists

To explore at lahun.

It shows the breakdown
Of houses in the town,

Which were planned,
Which were mapped,

And which were reproduced
On this document.

Narrator: the streets are laid
Out in a regular pattern.

Most of the buildings are made
From mud brick.

It's a fair assumption that
These are the smallest

Dwellings in the entire town,

And they belong
To the least important people,

The ordinary workers.

Narrator: the pyramid and town
Date to the middle kingdom,

A little-studied era of
Egyptian history.

The central section contains
Larger buildings,

Possibly for
Commercial purposes.

The third
And final area is perhaps

The most intriguing of all.

Up here, what
The archaeologists first called

The acropolis, a raised area,

There seem to be larger,
More impressive

Villa-type dwellings.

Narrator: campbell suspects
That the biggest villa

Is reserved for
A very special visitor --

The pharaoh, senusret.

Campbell wants to know
If the pharaoh's

Visits help explain
Why he builds this town.

An object found at the site
May offer clues.

This small stone weight is
Known as a plumb bob,

Which would be attached on
The end of a string,

Tight and straight.

This would allow precision
In architecture,

And it allows straight lines
To be followed

In the building of
A major monument.

Narrator: campbell believes
That this major

Monument is
The pharaoh's pyramid,

Which is being constructed
Just 800 yards from the town.

It throws light on why
The town is built.

It wasn't something
That grew gradually.

It was planned in advance
By the state

To be occupied by people
Involved in the building

Of the pyramid.

The town is called
Hat-hetep-senusret,

Or "King senusret
Is at peace."

The pharaoh fills it with
Workers and engineers

And gives them the latest
Tools to complete

His grand project.

But the discovery of a strange
Statue leads investigators to

Wonder if this is
More than just a place

For the pharaoh's
Builders to live.

It's made of limestone,
And it

Depicts a very distinctive
Divine entity.

She is one part hippo.
One part lion,

One part crocodile.

The statue is of
A goddess called taweret.

She's associated with
Fertility and childbirth.

Price: she comes from a village,
Probably from a house,

So she's probably not set up
In a temple.

She comes from
A domestic setting.

Narrator: campbell believes
That the houses on the map

Provide clues to help explain
The mysterious statue.

I think when we look
At these houses,

They don't indicate
The dwellings of slaves.

So these are simply
The houses of

The less well off members
Of the free community.

Narrator: pyramid builders
Are paid workmen,

And they bring their wives
And children with them, too.

The town was not just
A town of builders,

But was a fully fledged
Family community.

Narrator: investigators believe
That the pharaoh plans

The town to have a life

Long after his death.

Now, can the discovery of
A huge cache of papyrus texts

In the town reveal the extent
Of his plans for eternal life?

Narrator:
The pyramid of lahun,

Built 4,000 years ago during
Egypt's middle kingdom.

Now, investigators
Want to know if

A remarkable discovery in
The nearby town

Can shed light on the pharaoh's
Plans for immortality.

Buried among the ruins
Of the town,

Archaeologists unearth
A treasure trove of

Papyrus scrolls.

It's one of the largest

Collections of ancient texts
Ever found.

What can they reveal of
The pharaoh's

Plans for eternal life?

Glenn godenho has
Been deciphering

The lahun papyri
For a decade.

Godenho: we haven't just got
One or two fragments

Of these lahun papyri.

We've got hundreds of them.

They're more like letters
Or emails that we might

Send to each other,
The unofficial stuff.

We've got communications
Between people,

Maybe over business,
Maybe private matters,

And they comment on absolutely
Everything you can imagine.

Narrator: the letters are
Written onto papyrus

Using a reed pen.

They're not
Written in hieroglyphs.

Instead, what we use is
A cursive handwritten

Form of hieroglyphs, and this is
Called hieratic.

It's the way people would
Communicate with each other.

Narrator: glenn believes
The papyri offer clues

To senusret's long-term plans.

The only way for
A dead pharaoh to survive

In the afterlife is to be
Remembered by the living.

You can't survive in
The afterlife just by

Slowly decaying in a hole
In the ground.

Narrator: one of
The ancient texts found in

The town throws light
On why it's built.

Godenho: a document like this
Reminds us

What the lahun
Was set up to do,

To look after the cult
Of senusret ii,

And they're continuing
To do that even after he's dead.

Narrator: it is the job of
The town's priests

To keep the memory
Of senusret alive.

Glenn believes one of
The papyri offers clues to

The extent of the pharaoh's
Ambitions for eternal life.

This is a transfer deed
Or a will from lahun.

This one survived really well.

The ink has survived really,
Really clearly on this,

So it's a really nice example.

Narrator: the document is
Written by a man called

Mery, who is transferring
Property to his son.

This is the oldest
Legal manuscript

On papyrus ever discovered
In egypt.

The property that
He's transferring is his office.

It's his job.

So it's kind of like his
Retirement plan, he's coming up

For retirement, and his role
Will be passed on to his son,

And his son will be able to
Look after him in his old age.

Narrator: the job that mery
Is passing on

Is controller of a group
Of priests.

The document reveals part
Of senusret's

Elaborate plans
To achieve eternal life.

To make sure his soul
Lives on after his death,

Senusret builds a temple
In the town.

This is where the priests
Come to worship the pharaoh

And service his cult
So that he remains eternal.

Groups of priests take turns,

Each spending a month in
The service of the dead king.

They hold festivals with
Dancers and music,

Keeping the pharaoh's
Memory alive,

Ensuring he lives in
The afterlife.

But glenn believes that's not
How it works out.

Godenho: after a certain
Amount of time,

Things move on,
Memory starts to wane.

New pharaohs have come
Into place

And died and are being buried.

And so it's quite natural
That after a period of time,

A pharaoh's cult
Will stop being serviced.

Narrator: the cult of senusret
Slips into oblivion.

Godenho: after about 100 years,
Lahun is abandoned,

And these documents stop
Referencing senusret ii,

So it looks like
That's the point

At which his memory's
Starting to fade.

Narrator: can the end of
The pharaoh's cult

Also explain why
His pyramid lies in ruins?

Narrator: the pyramid of lahun,
Built by

Pharaoh senusret ii,

A megastructure like no other
In ancient egypt.

Its exterior is once
Gleaming and white,

Made from the finest limestone.

What you see here is not what
Was originally built.

So although it's still
Very impressive,

This is not
The magnificent monument

That senusret ii
Had intended.

Narrator:
Surrounded by water, it seems
To float above the desert.

The pyramid's original
Limestone casing has long gone,

Exposing its mud brick
Interior to the elements.

Salima ikram investigates
What happens to it.

Ikram: if there'd been a major
Disaster like an earthquake,

And it had a lot fallen off,

You would see large blocks of
It everywhere, but you don't.

Instead, we've got
These teeny weeny shards

Scattered over the place.

Salima wants to know why.

So it looks as if the pyramid

Must have been
Very skillfully robbed

For all of this limestone
To vanish.

Narrator: the limestone has
Been deliberately removed

Not by robbers,
But by officials.

It was really taken away
Deliberately, the skilled

Workmen systematically stripped

This pyramid
Of its limestone

And carted it off somewhere
To use it for something else.

Who orders such
An act of vandalism?

For answers,
Salima examines accounts

Of the first explorers.

She finds an intriguing piece
Of evidence --

A cartouche,
An oval-shaped hieroglyph

That contains the name of
A pharaoh.

In this account, over 100 years
Old, it says that

The cartouche of ramesses ii

Was found scrawled
Across the surface of a joint.

Narrator: ramesses ii --
One of

The greatest pharaohs
In egyptian history.

He rules egypt
In its golden age,

500 years after
The death of senusret.

Ramesses glorifies his rule
By building

A huge number of
Astonishing monuments.

Luxor,

Karnak,

Abu simbel.

But for these,

He needs a lot of stone.

Ikram: ramesses ii was one of
The most prolific builders of

All the pharaohs,

And one of the reasons
He could do this was because

He stole material
From his predecessors

And also usurped
Their monuments.

Narrator: ramesses makes
No attempt to hide his theft.

Ikram: ramesses ii probably
Just put his cartouche there so

Everyone would know who had
Taken the material, because he

Didn't think he was doing
Anything wrong, and because,

In fact, what he was doing was
Linking himself with senusret ii

As his ancestor.

Narrator: and yet the legacy of
Senusret does live on.

Farmers still grow huge
Amounts of crops

In the fayoum today,

The area the pharaoh irrigates.

Ikram:
His reign was marked

By wonderful innovations
That really turned egypt

Into an even more
Agriculturally rich area.

And he leaves us with
A stunning memorial --

His pyramid,
Built 4,000 years ago,

Still overlooking the fayoum.

It still towers above us
And dominates

The surrounding landscape.

Narrator: the pyramid at lahun
Is egypt's strangest,

Once encircled by water,
So it appears to float.

And deep inside,
A maze of

Tunnels and decoys
To deter tomb robbers.

This ancient engineering
Marvel of mud brick

And gleaming
White limestone

Is an everlasting memorial
To pharaoh senusret ii.

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