All language subtitles for Unearthed.2016.S09E02.Valley.of.Egypts.Queens.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-HiNGS_track3_[eng]

Narrator:
The valley of the queens,

The burial site of some of

The most powerful women in
Ancient egypt.

Mummies and parts of
Mummies have

Been found
All over the valley.

Narrator: this vast necropolis
Contains dozens more tombs than

The valley of the kings

On the other side
Of these cliffs.

And that's why
The valley of the queens

Was chosen to be here,
In this location.

Narrator: and it conceals some
Of egypt's greatest wonders.

Ismail:
This is an incredible tomb.

It's like the sistine chapel
Of ancient egypt.

The colors are so vivid.

Narrator:
Today, investigators venture

Deep into these dark tunnels
And uncover

Long-lost clues to unlock
The secrets of egypt's

Powerful leaders.

She really was this great ruler
In a male-dominated society.

Narrator: what does this
Enigmatic necropolis reveal

About the queens of
Ancient egypt?

To solve these mysteries,

We unearth this royal valley
From the mountains of luxor

And digitally reconstruct one
Of the finest tombs ever built.

We uncover millennia-old clues
Buried in the sand

And reveal the hidden story
Of an all-powerful

Female pharaoh

To discover the golden age of
Egypt's queens.

Straddling the mighty river
Nile, 300 miles south of cairo,

Are the ancient temples
Of luxor and karnak

And the valley of the kings.

This is where to tutankhamun

Discovered 100 years ago,
Buried with

Extraordinary riches.

But only a mile west
From his tomb lies a second

Huge and more enigmatic
Burial site,

The valley of the queens.

Who was buried here,
And why?

The valley of the queens
Is much

Bigger than
The valley of the kings,

And there's so many queens
Buried here.

There's so many burials,
It's so massive in size.

Narrator: cut into
The limestone landscape

Are more than 90 tombs.

Steep passageways descend
Into the mountainside,

Some of them over 60 feet deep.

Complex subterranean palaces

Are carved into the rock to
Keep mummies with their

Treasures safe for eternity.

These are some of
The most lavish

And richly-decorated tombs
In ancient egypt.

Each hides clues of mysterious
And powerful queens.

What can new discoveries in
This sprawling

Necropolis reveal about the
Female rulers of ancient egypt?

Aliaa ismail
Is on a mission to

Discover why the queens
Are buried here.

She uses an old map created

By past explorers to
Investigate the site.

The map reveals
The tombs of many of

The most eminent queens
Of the new kingdom.

Aliaa wants to find the very
First tomb in the valley.

She follows the map to
The most likely suspect.

So this is
A very simple shaft tomb,

And, as you can see,
It's a shaft,

And it goes into
A little chamber

Where she would
Have been buried there.

Narrator: the first explorers
Here find a mummy and other

Items inside
The tomb that reveal

The identity of the owner.

This is the tomb of
Princess ahmose and probably

The first person to be buried
In the valley of the queens.

Narrator: princess ahmose died
3,500 years ago.

Aliaa believes this date is
Highly significant.

Princess ahmose was buried in
The valley of the queens

Right about the same time that
The first king was buried in

The valley of the kings.

So the valley of the queens
Was not an afterthought,

But rather it happened right
At the same time

As the valley of the kings.

Narrator: the valleys
Of the kings and queens

Are created together
Around 1550 b.C.,

Equal partners in
A new royal design.

They marked the beginning of
The new kingdom of egypt,

The last of
The three great periods

Of egyptian might
And unity.

Ismail: both of these sides show
How the tradition has

Changed dramatically for
Burying royals

In the new kingdom.

They have moved from
Being buried

Under pyramids to being buried
Under mountains.

Narrator: why do the ancient
Egyptians break

So radically from building
Tombs under pyramids?

Ismail:
Mountains have more security.

Mountains are hard to break in

And are easy to hide
A tomb inside.

Narrator: the pyramids are
The envy of the ancient world,

But they also identify
The pharaoh's buried treasures,

An easy target
For ancient robbers.

Ismail: in a mountain,
In the solid rock,

It's much more hidden.

It's much harder for robbers
To find it,

And if you can't find it,
You can't rob it.

Narrator:
The valleys sit on either side

Of the tallest peak
In the hills,

The distinctive pyramid-shaped
El qurn.

In the valley below
The mountain of el qurn,

Pharaohs carved 64 tombs
Deep into

The rock over the course of
Five centuries.

They hope that their bodies
And treasures are safe,

Hidden away in these
Underground graves.

Just across the theban hills

Lies another
Similarly-shaped valley.

The pharaohs bury their wives
Here in the same way.

Why are the kings and queens
Buried so far apart?

Ismail: previously,
It would have been

A grand pyramid for the king
And a smaller one

For the queen
And his children around him.

But that completely changes.

Now we have three queens with

Their children buried together,
And the kings

Away from them
In a different valley.

Narrator:
The valley of the queens marks

A new era in ancient egypt.

Here, for the first time,

Royal women have their own
Special necropolis.

Could it be a sign of the rise
Of the queens?

Clues may lie
Beneath the ground,

Where archaeologists make
A surprising discovery.

Cut into the rock
Nearly 3,500 years ago,

Explorers unearth a steep
Staircase that leads down to

The most spectacular tomb in
The valley of the queens.

Seven chambers
Are adorned with

Over 5,000 square feet
Of decoration.

On the ceiling is
A sky blue canopy

Covered in thousands of stars,

So the deceased queen's soul
Is free to fly.

On the walls are images of
A young woman.

Wearing a white dress,

She is covered in gold on her
Journey through the afterlife.

Who is this mysterious queen?

Why is she buried in this
Incredibly rich tomb?

Visits to this fragile tomb
Are strictly limited

To protect it,

But aliaa has been granted
Unique access

To examine its wonders.

She believes the exquisite
Paintings across

The walls could hide
Vital clues.

Ismail:
This is an incredible tomb.

It's like the sistine chapel
Of ancient egypt -- so amazing.

The colors are so vivid.

Narrator:
She searches for the name of

The tomb owner and finds it
Emblazoned in gold.

Ismail: the oval shape has
A name inside of it.

Nefertari, meaning
Beautiful companion.

She was queen consort.

Narrator: queen nefertari
Is married to

The great ramesses ii,

The most powerful
Pharaoh in egyptian history.

Here at the entrance to
Her tomb,

You have all her titles listed.

The most notable title here is
"Great wife."

A king in ancient egypt
Had many wives,

And that's why a chief wife
Would have been

A very important title.

But aliaa finds another of
Nefertari's titles,

Which reveals an astonishing
Rise to power.

Another title here is mistress
Of upper and lower egypt.

That's an important title.

Narrator: this evidence suggests
Nefertari has real

Influence as queen.

She has political and
Religious authority

Over all of egypt.

She is much more influential
Than previously believed.

Could mysterious
Grave goods found

In her tomb reveal
How she rises to power?

And can elaborate
Paintings reveal

More about her life
And death?

Narrator:
The valley of the queens,

The final resting place
For the wives

Of the most
Formidable pharaohs in history.

Among them -- nefertari,

Queen of the mighty
Ramesses ii.

Inscriptions inside her tomb
Reveal her power

Extends over all of egypt,
Politically and religiously,

But the ancient queens
Don't normally have

So much influence.

Why does nefertari?

When archaeologists
Open her tomb in 1904,

They aren't the first to
Go inside.

The queen's treasures are
All gone,

Leaving behind just
Her mummified legs

And a pair of reed sandals.

But nearby, they find
A strange ceramic object,

Glazed blue with copper salts
And decorated with

The cartouche of
The pharaoh ay.

Some egyptologists believe it
Could be a family heirloom.

Is nefertari descended from

This pharaoh
Or another royal lineage?

Can further clues
Within the tomb

Reveal if nefertari
Is born into power?

Among her titles,
"Hereditary noble woman" --

That shows that she was from

The highest echelons
Of society,

And that would have been
Important to ramesses.

Nefertari's family
Connections may matter,

Because she is
A native of thebes.

Ramesses has total rule over
Egypt, but his family comes

From a northern power base,

An ancient rival to
The capital, thebes.

Marrying into theban
Nobility can

Unite the city's powerful
Priests behind him.

When ramesses
Is crowned king,

Nefertari becomes
The great royal wife.

How much power does
This new role give her

In the governing of egypt?

Aliaa finds important
Evidence in the antechamber.

Nefertari faces
The god thoth, god of knowledge,

And she's facing him
With a scribal palette.

This is evidence that she can
Read and write,

And that she's very proud of
Her education.

Narrator: alongside it, aliaa
Finds another important clue.

So here we have
Nefertari wearing

An earring that does not
Look very egyptian.

Narrator: the distinctive
Earring is a greek style

Not normally seen in
Ancient egypt.

It appears to be
A gift reflecting

Nefertari's diplomatic
Contacts with

Foreign dignitaries.

It is evident
That nefertari achieved

A whole new level
Of queenship.

Narrator: but aliaa suspects
That nefertari's

Power and influence
Extend even further.

A majestic construction in

The south of egypt
Reveals more clues.

Next to the great temple at
Abu simbel is a second temple.

Standing guard outside

Are four colossal
Statues of ramesses

And two of nefertari,

Each towering 33 feet high.

Inside, depictions of
The queen cover the walls on

Every side, stretching
Deep into the mountain.

And in the center,
Goddesses anoint her

With a sacred crown.

What can this temple for

The queen reveal about
Her power over egypt?

In abu simbel, there are
Many interesting features.

Of these is a statue of
Nefertari of

The same size as that of
Ramesses ii.

Narrator:
In ancient egypt,

Depictions of the same size
Are highly significant.

Ismail: the equal size means
That they were equal

In power and stature,
And it's there

For the whole world
To see it.

Narrator: the iconography
At abu simbel is clear.

Nefertari shares power with
The most formidable pharaoh in

The ancient world,
Ramesses ii.

But the depictions of
Nefertari with a sacred crown

Reveal an even higher status.

At abu simbel,

Nefertari
Becomes a goddess,

And there's no greater
Honor for a queen.

Narrator:
Ramesses has eight wives,

Who bear him
Over 100 children,

But nefertari is his first
Wife and favorite queen.

During their 24 years
Together,

She gives birth to four sons,

Who become high priests
And army commanders.

Nefertari plays an active role
In egypt's state religion,

Performing sacred rituals at
Festivals and ceremonies.

She even engages in diplomacy,

Sending letters and gifts to
Foreign queens

To maintain peace
Between nations.

Clues inside the valley
Of the queens reveal

That egypt's queens can reach
Remarkable levels of power.

Ismail: compared to other
Countries in the ancient world,

Women have more rights
In ancient egypt.

They could own property and
Have the right to divorce.

Also, queens had a real
Political role with power.

Narrator: in her lifetime,
Nefertari is a formidable queen.

Does her burial
In the valley of the queens

Make her powerful
In the after life, too?

Or do some special privileges
Only apply to the king?

Narrator: the queens of ancient
Egypt are buried in

Majestic tombs inside
The valley of the queens.

But how do their tombs
Compare to the kings?

Will they be reunited with
Their husbands in an afterlife

Among the gods, filled with
Power and royal privileges?

The most splendid tomb
In the valley belongs to

Queen nefertari,

Great wife to the mighty
Pharaoh ramesses ii.

It is an ancient masterpiece,

But the elaborate paintings
Aren't just for show.

They are a tool for her to use
To get to the afterlife.

The tomb was designed to be
A magical machine to

Transform the deceased from
This world to the next,

And for that to happen,

Religious texts
And spells had to be

Present to aid the deceased
On this mission.

Narrator: what do the spells
Reveal of nefertari's afterlife?

Ismail: the deceased needs to
Pass through the knives of

The gatekeepers
In order to pass the gates

Or be lost forever.

Narrator: the spells help
Ensure her safe passage.

The tomb,
It's covered with spells

From the book of the dead.

It's a dangerous journey to
The afterlife,

And nefertari needs all
The help she can get.

In a large tomb like this,

Nefertari has space for
All the spells she needs.

Narrator:
What do all these spells say?

Ken griffin is an expert
In decoding magical

Hieroglyphs at the university
Of swansea in wales.

A secure storeroom
Holds many

Precious artifacts from
Ancient egypt,

Including an original shroud
Dating from the era

Of ramesses.

Ken thinks
It might hold a clue.

Here we have this really
Rare textile shroud that

Would have covered the body of
A man called hapi.

We have chapter one of
The book of the dead,

In which we have these four
Individuals who are carrying

A boat containing the body of
The deceased hapi.

So these shrouds are
Similar to

What you get in the time
Of nefertari.

Narrator: the drawings come
From the same scripture

As the paintings
In nefertari's tomb.

So the chapters
That we have here is

All part of
The book of the dead.

Narrator:
How does the book of the dead

Help ancient egyptians
Reach their afterlife?

Ken examines mummy bandages
That are covered in

Ancient texts.

They are a guide for
The deceased

On how to face
Knife-wielding demons.

The deceased has to pass
By a series of mounds, which

Are guarded by these really
Scary demons

With their large knives.

These demons don't
Look like you or me.

They have the heads of
Different animals,

Some animals that don't
Make sense.

For example, this one has
The head of two snakes.

The egyptians believed that
By knowing the name of

The guardians was enough for
You to have power over them.

Narrator: they hope their
Journey will lead to eternity

In a paradise called
The field of reeds.

Only those that deserve it
Will succeed.

Nefertari's vast tomb

Is spacious enough to
Accommodate hundreds of spells,

Giving her great protection in
Her journey to the afterlife.

Her tomb is covered
With over

5,000 square feet
Of paintings and spells,

Equivalent to over 1,000
Mona lisa's in area.

But how does her tomb

Compare to those in
The valley of the kings?

There, the grandest
And most lavishly

Decorated tomb is seti I's,

Father of ramesses the great.

Seti's master engineers carve
17 rooms on two floors,

All immaculately decorated
With raised relief

Paintings like in
Nefertari's tomb.

Its many chambers are
Decorated with sacred texts,

But the book of the dead
Is nowhere to be seen.

What are these texts,
And why

Are they different from
The queens'?

How do they help the king
Reach his afterlife?

Ken investigates the writing
On seti's walls to find out.

The tomb of set I

Contains a number of
Religious texts, such as the

Amduat, the book of gates,
And the litany of re.

Narrator: ken analyzes
What these spells say.

Griffin: the amduat relates
To the sun god, re's,

Journey through
The 12 hours of the night.

Narrator: each hour holds
A different challenge

That the deceased king
Must face.

In the seventh hour,
The sun god

Has entered
The mysterious cavern.

His arch enemy, apophis,
Who takes the form of a snake,

Tries to swallow the sun god
Every evening to defeat him.

And apophis is subdued with
A series of daggers in his back.

Narrator: the texts are like
An instruction manual for

The deceased pharaoh to travel
Through the afterlife.

The book of the heavenly cow
Instructs the king to follow

The example of
The sun god, re,

And depart earth
For the realm of the gods.

The amduat names all gods
And monsters of

The underworld so the king
Can ask them for help

Or use their name
To destroy them.

The book of gates
Names the 12 goddesses

Guarding the gates
Of the underworld

So the king
Can pass unharmed.

And the litany of re shows all
75 forms of the god,

Which the king
Must recognize to join re

On his journey
Through the sky.

Griffin: so the point
Of these texts is to

Ensure that the deceased king
Can be resurrected

Just like the sun god re is
Reborn again every morning,

And just as the sun rises
Every morning,

The egyptians believed that
Their pharaoh would do likewise.

Narrator:
Ken discovers that seti

Has a different afterlife
Promised to him

Because he is a pharaoh.

The special texts in his tomb
Can't be used by

Other egyptians,

Even the powerful queens like
Nefertari and others buried in

The valley of the queens.

Griffin:
In the valley of the queens,

You don't see the amduat,
The book of caverns,

The book of gates,
The litany of re.

Instead, what you see are
Different religious texts,

Mainly taken
From the book of the dead.

Narrator: while kings
Prepare for an after life among

The gods, everyone else,
Including queens,

Can only use
The book of the dead.

But there is one queen
Who breaks the barriers

And reaches the apex of power.

She is not buried alongside
The other royal wives.

Why is the tomb of
Egypt's most powerful

Queen missing from
The valley of the queens?

And what unexpected
Danger threatens

To destroy
These ancient chambers?

Narrator: the valley of
The queens shelters tombs

Of many of egypt's most
Powerful queens,

Like nefertari, wife to
The mighty ramesses ii.

But one important queen
Is not there. She is missing.

One mile away,
In the valley of the kings,

Archaeologists make
A startling discovery.

Among the tombs of
The great pharaohs,

Investigators unearth
A long shaft

That descends
Over 600 feet.

It leads to a pillared chamber

That contains the sarcophagus
Of thutmose I,

But behind the pillars

Is a second sarcophagus.

It is beautifully carved
From quartzite stone,

Covered in imagery of
Underworld gods.

The end reveals the cartouche
Of its owner, queen hatshepsut.

Why is a queen buried here in
The valley of the kings

And not with
All the other queens?

Aliaa thinks one of egypt's

Most iconic buildings
May hold clues.

Located between
The valley of the queens

And the valley of
The kings,

This is
The temple of hatshepsut.

It's a mortuary temple,

A place where priests keep

The deceased person's name
Alive for eternity,

And devotees can
Make offerings.

But this one is unusual.

Ismail:
Pharaohs have mortuary temples.

Queens don't
Have mortuary temples.

Narrator: aliaa searches
The temple for clues to

Why queen hatshepsut
Is honored in this way.

Here, we have a woman,
And this woman

Is hatshepsut's mother.

You can see here, the legs
Are intertwining.

Narrator: the faint red drawing
Shows hatshepsut's mother

Locked in an embrace with
A male,

But it's not her husband.

Who she's mating with
Does not really appear,

But the curly beard,
You know it's a god.

She is getting intimate
With the god,

And we can see here that
He is giving her the ankh,

Which is life.

Narrator: the curious image
Has a purpose.

Hatshepsut is telling us
That amun-re is her father.

Even kings do not claim
Divine birth.

So this is truly a bold move
For hatshepsut.

Narrator:
How can queen hatshepsut

Make such an audacious claim?

Another scene reveals the true
Extent of her power.

She is being crowned as king
Of upper and lower egypt.

Narrator: hatshepsut is missing
From the valley of the queens

Because she is, in fact, king.

Hatshepsut is
The daughter of king thutmose I,

Most the first who rules over
Egypt in the 16th century b.C.

When her father dies,
Hatshepsut's

Half-brother becomes pharaoh,
And she's forced to marry him

At the age of 12.

When her brother dies,

Hatshepsut rules
Alongside her baby stepson,

But slowly, she takes
Full control as king.

She builds a grand temple
In thebes,

Plastering her name and
Likeness over the monuments

To immortalize her rule.

She rules as king
Of egypt for two decades,

But the paintings on the walls
Reveal something intriguing.

So here we have
A man -- the kilt,

The beard,
The crowns,

But it's not a man.

This has to be hatshepsut.

She is depicted
As a man and a king.

Narrator:
Why is hatshepsut trying

To depict herself as male?

Is it impossible for
A woman to rule egypt?

Egyptologist ken griffin
Thinks there's more to

The story.

He investigates several
Depictions of

Hatshepsut from throughout
Her reign.

This is a statue of hatshepsut
From her very early years,

As the pharaoh -- we can clearly
See that she's female,

From the breasts,
From the long dress

That she wears
Down to her ankles.

Narrator:
But as her reign progresses,

The statues begin to change.

Griffin: gone are the long dress
Associated with females,

And this is quite
Extraordinary, really.

She is now shown wearing
A short kilt.

Narrator: by wearing a kilt,

Hatshepsut is choosing to be
Seen in male clothes,

But it doesn't stop there.

Griffin: so in the final image,
Her breasts are gone.

She wears a short kilt and
The divine beard associated with

The pharaoh.

Narrator: hatshepsut transforms
Her images dramatically

During her reign
From female to male,

And she is buried not with
The queens but

With the men in
The valley of the kings.

Griffin: hatshepsut is not
Doing this in order to

Show that she has to be male
In order to rule,

But it's a way to be recognized
By the egyptian people.

Narrator: hatshepsut uses
The familiar emblems of

Power to show
That she is king.

Griffin: the egyptians
Couldn't read and write,

The majority of them,

But they could identify with
The iconography.

Narrator: her depiction
As a male ensures that

Everybody understands that
She is egypt's supreme ruler.

Hatshepsut establishes
A solid

And successful reign
Lasting 20 years.

Hatshepsut was really one
Of egypt's greatest rulers.

If we look at her achievements,
From her expedition

To the land of punt,

Her building activities at
Karnak and deir el-bahri --

She really was this great ruler
In a male-dominated society.

Narrator: but at her temple,
Aliaa discovers

Surprising evidence that
Hatshepsut has enemies.

Ismail: the uraeus has been
Hacked out, and the beard,

Completely gone,

But you can only see
The trace of it.

Narrator: it is not
Just the statues

That have been attacked.

Ismail: she should be here
Making the offering to anubis,

But she has been completely
Chiseled out,

And here, we have the name
Of thutmose iii.

Hatshepsut's name
Has been erased.

We can only see
The traces of her cartouche.

Her name has been erased
From her own temple.

Narrator: why has hatshepsut's
Name been erased,

But thutmose's
Remains intact?

As king, hatshepsut treats her
Daughter, neferure, as queen,

Leaving her stepson,
Thutmose iii in the shadows.

But hatshepsut and neferure
Die first.

Thutmose finally
Becomes pharaoh.

He erases his stepmother
From history

To strengthen his claim to
The throne.

For centuries, her life has
Been a mystery,

But now, archaeologists are
Piecing together the evidence

To reveal her true identity

And the incredible
Story of her reign.

But just like
Hatshepsut's temple,

Many tombs in
The valley of the queens

Also show traces of destruction.

Some show evidence of
Catastrophic damage.

Can new research reveal

What causes such
Widespread devastation?

Are queens an easy target
For vengeful kings?

Narrator:
The queens of ancient egypt

Wield great control over
Their country.

Hatshepsut reaches
The pinnacle

Of power and becomes pharaoh.

But the temple she builds
To glorify her rule

Is badly defaced.

Tombs in the valley of
The queens are all

Hidden underground.

Is this enough to
Protect them?

The queens want their tombs
To survive for eternity,

Buried deep inside the rock

So their souls can
Live forever.

But when archaeologists
First enter,

They find signs of
Destruction everywhere.

Hundreds of paintings across
The walls lie in pieces.

Stone pillars are shattered,

And ceilings have caved in.

What is behind this
Catastrophic destruction

That erases many of
These queens from history?

Aliaa examines the inside
Of queen nefertari's tomb,

Scouring the walls for
The cause of the damage.

You can see here that the
Paint's coming off, and so is

The plaster --
You can see here

That this -- this is
The bedrock of the mountain.

The plaster's
Completely come up.

Narrator: but unlike
Hatshepsut's temple,

Aliaa believes this
Destruction is

Not caused by spiteful rulers.

This crack over here
Is definitely

Water damage and blackened
Around the edges.

Narrator: left unattended,
These paintings

Could be lost forever.

Aliaa suspects water gets in
Through the bedrock itself.

She heads outside
To investigate.

Ismail: here, you can see
The quality of the stone

That the valley of the queens
Is carved in.

You can see how weak
The stone is.

The water can get in
Easily and damage it.

Narrator:
Aliaa spots another defect.

The other problem
With this stone is it

Is so cracked on sloping --
It is so hard

To use ancient tools to get
A clean cut here.

Narrator:
Could the geology explain why

So many tombs have
Been destroyed?

To find out, khaled nassar
Designs an experiment

To investigate the process

Of carving limestone
In the valley of the queens.

Building material is
Obviously very

Important to what
You're trying to do.

It is very hard to work

With limestone, because
Structurally, it's very weak.

It's a very brittle material.

I can break it
With my own hand,

And that creates a lot of
Problems when

You're trying to use it
For structural purposes.

Khaled's team gets to work
With bronze chisels,

Identical to
The ancient workers' tool kit.

In order to carve and paint
Precision artwork,

Khaled needs a perfectly
Flat, smooth surface.

It's coming out in chunks,
And it's creating a surface

That is curved,

Sometimes slanted, and other
Times, it's very uneven.

It's not
As smooth as we want.

It's not as flat as we want it
To be, so we can paint on it.

Narrator: limestone is difficult
To carve accurately,

And weaknesses can compromise
The structure of the tomb.

Khaled believes that rather
Than solve the problem,

Ancient workers
Tried to hide it.

They add thick layers of
Plaster to create flush walls.

Nassar: this process is
Much quicker to achieving

A smooth surface
Than the chiseling,

And finally, getting a surface
That we can paint on.

Narrator: the plaster is ready
To decorate.

Now it has to last
For eternity.

Nassar: this plaster has been
Setting for a week.

As you can see,
It's pretty sturdy.

It's adhered pretty well.

It's hardened pretty well,

And it's created the smooth
Surface that's perfect

For painting.

Narrator:
But there's a huge problem.

Because the plaster
We have here is made up

Essentially of
Natural material,

Such a straw, it doesn't really
React that well with water.

Narrator: the valley of the
Queens sits under a mountain.

Rare dessert rains
Run quickly off

The slopes and can turn
Into flash floods.

Water seeps through
The salt-rich limestone

Into the tomb chambers

Or rushes in when floods
Break through the entrance.

Khaled modifies the block

To put the plaster to
The test.

He cuts channels
Into the top surface

To simulate water seeping
Through the bedrock.

When it reaches the plaster
Covering the vertical surface

At the front,

Khaled can immediately see
The impact.

Plaster that is used
Is made of natural material

That absorbs a lot of water

And absorbs
A lot of water quickly.

But it's also made
This material so brittle

That it comes off in my hand
Very easily.

Narrator: but as more water
Seeps in from the rock,

It has more
Disastrous consequences.

Nassar: you can see that there's
A crack forming already

Because of the water that soaks
Through to the surface of

The plaster.

As more and more plaster soaks
More and more water,

The plaster becomes saturated,
And large chunks

Will fall off very easy.

Narrator: over time,
This process leads

To widespread destruction

Of the tombs in
The valley of the queens.

This is quite a large piece of
Plaster that

Has fallen off after it got
Saturated with water.

And it's quite possible
That parts

Of the limestone
Actually fell off with it.

And this can spell disaster
For the tomb, for

The entire valley,
Because it can compromise

The structural integrity.

Narrator: the undoing of
The valley of the queens

Is the weak and porous
Valley rock itself.

Why do the queens choose
This water-damaged

Valley for their
Sacred necropolis?

What clues lie hidden
In this strange cavern

At the entrance to
The valley of the queens?

Narrator: some of the most
Magnificent tombs of egypt

Lie hidden away
Beneath the sands

Of the valley of the queens.

But here, the bedrock is weak
And difficult to carve.

So why do they choose
This location?

Aliaa investigates
The sprawling site.

She discovers
An intriguing rock formation

Overlooking the head of
The valley.

There's a niche
In the mountain.

Narrator:
Just below it,

She finds a curious feature.

Ismail: this looks like a wall,
But this is a dam.

We have a line here where
The wall of the dam

Would have been.

You can see from
The thickness of the wall,

That would have been
Very massive.

Narrator:
After rare desert storms,

Water from the mountain
Forms a cascade

That carves out
A cavernous space.

Inside the cavern itself,

Aliaa discovers
Ancient drawings.

Some of them even date back to
Prehistoric times.

Ismail: the most prominent
Of this graffiti is

A representation of
The goddess hathor

In her cow form.

Narrator: hathor is the goddess
Of women, fertility, and love.

In her human form, she wears
A hallmark cow-horned crown.

One myth tells that each night,
The sun god enters hathor's

Mouth to sleep
And comes back out at dawn.

In the new kingdom,
Egyptian men want to be reborn

As the god osiris,

But the women as hathor.

So the cascade and the cavern
With hathor's image are powerful

Symbols of femininity
And rebirth

For those buried
In the valley.

Aliaa believes
That this cavern is

The key to why this valley
Is chosen.

This is where the goddess
Hathor is represented,

Even in prehistoric times.

She's the goddess
Of motherhood.

She is the one who gives birth
And generates life,

And that's why
The valley of the queens

Was chosen to be here.

Narrator: the pharaohs
Changed tradition,

Hiding their tombs beneath
A pyramid-shaped mountain.

For their queens,

They choose a site fit for
The matriarchs of egypt.

The women are no longer just
An afterthought of

Their husbands.

Kings, they chose
To be buried in

A site alone, where they can
Follow the sacred journey.

But for the queens,
They chose

A site that's protected
By the goddess hathor.

Narrator: for almost 400 years,
The valley of the queens is

The exclusive cemetery for
The most powerful women in egypt

And their families.

Here, the elaborate tombs
Help the deceased queens

Make their journey to
The afterlife,

All the while protected
By hathor.

The new kingdom is
A golden age for women,

And there are so many names
That have survived from

This period.

Narrator:
The valley of the queens is

A vast burial site in
The mountains of luxor,

Showcasing some of the most
Magnificent tombs of

Ancient egypt.

Here, elaborate spells help
Queens do

Battle with monsters in
The afterlife.

These are the women
That shape ancient egypt.

The waters that draw them here
Also bring destruction.

But the surviving
Clues reveal

The truth behind egypt's
Most powerful queens.

*

*

*