00:00What is a boat doing in the middle of a desert? You would expect to find a seagoing vessel closer to shore.
00:05This is the question archaeologists have been asking for decades.
00:09In 1988, there was a storm near one of the most important archaeological sites in ancient Egypt.
00:16A wooden structure emerged from the sand. It was hollowed out by termites.
00:20Scientists were determined to solve its mystery.
00:23In 2000, they began excavating the site near Abydos, Ubaidos.
00:28An American team of experts soon discovered a boat that was 70 feet long, and it wasn't alone.
00:34In total, there were 14 boats neatly resting next to each other.
00:38It was impossible to completely dig out the boats because of their poor condition.
00:42Luckily, the wood was preserved enough to get a sample.
00:45Analyses revealed that the boats were around 5,000 years old, the oldest fleet in human history to this date.
00:53The time of their construction predates the pyramids at Giza by half a millennium.
00:57Each ship of the fleet rested in a vault that matched its dimensions.
01:01The room was roughly a third of the size of a tennis court.
01:04It had mud-brick walls that featured more than 120 drawings of boats.
01:09Ancient Egyptians incised them on whitewashed walls that were excellently preserved.
01:14Scientists have known about these mysterious chambers for well over a century.
01:181901, 1902
01:20A British archaeologist, Arthur Weigel, stumbled upon a strange structure west of the River Nile.
01:26His team caught a glimpse of the interior walls.
01:29Sadly, a section of the roof collapsed, so they had to call off further exploration.
01:35Researchers abandoned the site, but its location remained on the maps.
01:39The boats' position first led scientists to think that they rested on a bank of the mighty Nile.
01:45But there was a problem with this theory.
01:47Today, the river flows almost 7 miles west of Abydos.
01:52Further studies of the surrounding terrain showed the Nile didn't change its course throughout history.
01:57Also, if the boats floated near a dock, they would be in unstable positions.
02:02The 14 vessels at Abydos were perfectly parallel to each other.
02:06There was only one conclusion possible.
02:09Someone had deliberately placed them like that.
02:12They must have gone through a lot of effort.
02:14Each boat had enough room for up to 30 rowers.
02:17These vessels could really float.
02:20They weren't models, but scholars still don't know if they actually sailed any body of water in ancient Egypt.
02:26This doesn't diminish the importance of the find.
02:29Previously, archaeologists found only small-scale models.
02:32In King Tut's tomb alone, there were 35 boat models.
02:36For a long time, these figurines were the only clues as to how ancient Egyptian vessels looked like.
02:41The boats' design confirms that they were the real deal.
02:44They are the earliest surviving examples of something called built boats.
02:48Ancient people constructed primitive vessels by hollowing out large tree trunks.
02:52The alternative was reed that was tied together to form a raft.
02:56The boats at Abydos had planks tied together.
02:59This was a major breakthrough in shipbuilding.
03:02During their lifetime, the boats must have seemed impressive.
03:05Timber was a valuable commodity at the time.
03:08There was no wood in the desert.
03:10Cedar had to be imported from Lebanon.
03:11The only person who could afford such luxury was the pharaoh.
03:15Studying the area around the ancient fleet provided more answers.
03:19Scientists discovered a mud-brick structure where Egyptians worshipped the pharaoh.
03:24Its approximate date of construction matches that of the wooden boats.
03:28The same bricks out of which this building was made were used to encase the fleet.
03:32At the time of their construction, the rooms they were stored in had a ceiling.
03:37That's the section that archaeologists stumbled upon in the early 20th century.
03:41Just like mummies in coffins, these marvelous ships rested inside splendid vaults.
03:47The exterior of these rooms was also impressive.
03:50The outer walls originally had a plaster of white limestone.
03:54It reflected sunlight.
03:56In the desert sun, the structure housing the boats must have shone from miles away.
04:00Ancient Egyptian builders used the same technique to cover the pyramids 500 years later.
04:05Today, their surface looks jagged.
04:08But it wasn't always like this.
04:10When they were constructed, the pyramids had a top layer of fine white limestone.
04:15Their surface was smooth and it gleamed in the sunlight.
04:18Instead of stairs, the outer layer of the pyramids was more of a sleek ramp.
04:23Archaeologists were left with one final question.
04:26Which pharaoh owned the fleet?
04:28The answer lay just a mile from the site.
04:30This is where the tomb of a pharaoh from the 5th dynasty rested, King Senwosret III.
04:35Its time and style of construction matched the ones of the chambers with boats.
04:40The very end of his rule might explain how the boats ended up in the middle of the desert.
04:44The pharaoh probably passed away in northern Egypt.
04:47Then his body was transported down the Nile to Abydos in a marvelous procession of decorated boats.
04:56The vessels were later lowered to chambers near the final resting place of their owner.
05:01This had a symbolic meaning.
05:02In the ancient Egyptians' belief system, ships played a key role.
05:07Their supreme deity was Ra.
05:10He traveled through the sky during the day in the form of the sun.
05:13At night time, he sailed through the netherworld in a solar boat.
05:17The pharaoh identified himself with Ra.
05:19That's why he needed boats in the afterlife.
05:22That was the only way to regenerate himself.
05:24Just as the sun rises every day above the horizon.
05:27This belief existed for thousands of years.
05:30The more famous pharaoh Khufu also had a ship.
05:34Scientists found it 1954 next to his pyramid at Giza.
05:38It is some four centuries younger than the fleet at Abydos.
05:41But Khufu's ship was almost two times longer.
05:44The Great Pyramid of Giza and King Tut's tomb are some of the most famous archaeological finds in Egypt.
05:50But there are many more secrets hiding beneath the endless sands of the Sahara Desert.
05:55Recently, 2020, archaeologists found a lost city there.
05:57They have labeled it as the most important discovery since King Tut's tomb 1922.
06:04The city of Aten is some 3,000 years old.
06:07Historians hope it will give them a unique insight into the everyday life of ancient Egyptians.
06:12The famous archaeologist and Egyptologist Zahi Hawass proclaimed the site a lost golden city.
06:19Aten sits some 300 miles south of Egypt's capital Cairo.
06:23It is close to the famous Valley of the Kings.
06:25Archaeologists first found sections of mud brick walls that spread out in all directions.
06:30They discovered complete rooms with tools of everyday life inside.
06:34The research team unearthed a bakery, a residential neighborhood, and an administrative district.
06:41They all date back to the time when the Egyptian civilization was the wealthiest in its long history.
06:47They were also the first to make objects from iron.
06:49In 1911, scientists found a set of iron beads near a village in Lower Egypt, El Gertza.
06:55These are the earliest known iron artifacts.
06:58The discovery is literally out of this world.
07:01Ancient people made them by beading into shape a piece of a meteorite.
07:05The nine beads were once part of an ornate necklace.
07:08They are now blackened and corroded, which is perfectly normal for a piece of jewelry that is over 5,000 years old.
07:13They consist of an iron-nickel alloy.
07:16Researchers were impressed by the skill of ancient jewelers who processed the beads.
07:21Their craftsmanship is more impressive when you think that they didn't know the stellar origins of the material.
07:27The Great Pyramid of Giza also has a remarkable feature.
07:31An international research group investigated the electromagnetic response of the structure to radio waves.
07:38They found that the pyramid has the ability to concentrate electromagnetic energy inside it.
07:43This occurred inside its chambers as well as under the pyramid's base.
07:48It contains an underground, unfinished chamber.
07:51It seems that the electromagnetic response is connected with the properties of limestone,
07:56the Great Pyramid's main building material.
07:59The research results might have a practical application.
08:02The way solar cells and nanosensors function could be improved by this remarkable find.
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