00:00Egyptologists have been digging around every inch of the Great Pyramid for ages, yet somehow
00:06they overlooked this stunning pink granite bathtub buried a few miles next to it.
00:12And here's the deal.
00:13This mysterious oval tomb lying next to the Khufu Pyramid for years may provide evidence
00:19that the Egyptians built the pyramids not only for monumental purposes, but also to
00:24generate electricity.
00:27The Giza Plateau is famous for its three pyramids, Khufu, Khafre, and Mancare.
00:41But there are also two smaller foundations next to them, the unfinished North Pyramid of
00:46Zayat el-Aryan and the Lair Pyramid.
00:50Some researchers say these buildings were never finished, while others think they were destroyed
00:54for more mysterious reasons.
00:58One of these reasons might have to do with the original usage of the Giza pyramids, the
01:02idea that they were used as an electricity generator.
01:06To connect these dots, we need to go back to the beginning of the 20th century.
01:11That's when an Italian architect and Egyptologist named Alessandro Barsanti decided to examine
01:17the Zayat el-Aryan pyramid.
01:20Near the site, he noticed something unusual, scattered granite fragments.
01:25To a casual passerby, these might have seemed insignificant, but Barsanti recognized the signs.
01:32You see, ancient Egyptians often used sites to prepare stones before transporting them
01:37to their final destinations.
01:39Hmm.
01:40The fact that there was granite on the ground intrigued him.
01:43Granite was a more expensive material than the limestone typically used for pyramids, which
01:47suggested that it might have been intended for an important and possibly hidden structure.
01:54At a depth of 68 feet, they encountered a huge pink granite block.
01:59He kept going with the excavations, and they revealed ancient inscriptions carved into the
02:04stones.
02:05They sent the drawing to experts, but no one could decipher what they meant.
02:10Were they instruction sets to something?
02:13That's when Barsanti made his biggest discovery.
02:16He found an oval-shaped vat carved from pink granite and polished to a mirror-like finish.
02:23The thing is, the vat had been carefully sealed.
02:26When they opened it, they found a thin black residue along the walls.
02:31I'm thinking something in the lines of a black oily substance.
02:35This discovery raised many questions for him.
02:38It didn't make sense to him that ancient Egyptians would go above and beyond to seal
02:42and protect this strange vat.
02:46By 1911, Barsanti had to abandon his effort to figure out what was the deal with that mysterious
02:52pit.
02:53But his findings intrigued researchers all over the world, and they've got their own opinions
02:58about it.
03:00One of these modern theories suggests that the other pyramids could have been used as
03:03a part of a bigger hole.
03:06It suggests that the Khufu pyramid was actually used as a water pump designed to irrigate the
03:11desert area.
03:13Apparently, the pyramid's internal chambers would function as a hydraulic system.
03:19In the 1990s, an engineer took this theory seriously and studied the pyramid's subterranean chamber.
03:25Surprisingly, he found actual signs of water damage.
03:30Apparently, the pyramid generated powerful compression waves, aka pulses, that could create electricity.
03:38This raised an important question.
03:40Could the ancient Egyptians have used the pyramids as a generator in order to produce electricity?
03:46On paper, that was proven to be possible.
03:49But hey, agreeing on the original use of the pyramids is probably one of the most difficult
03:53things in the world.
03:55So we're still not 100% sure about this.
04:00Apart from that, Egypt is a playground for important discoveries regarding humanity's past.
04:06I mean, scientists have just discovered what looks like a cosmic command center, similar
04:11to that room from the Doctor Strange movies.
04:15They discovered an L-shaped astronomical observatory measuring around 9,000 square feet, dating back
04:22to the 6th century BCE, definitely the first and largest of its kind from that era.
04:30The mud-brick structure housed tools used for calculating dates related to ancient Egyptian
04:35rites, royal coronations, and agricultural plans.
04:39This observatory is located in the archaeological site known as the Temple of Vuto, just 50 miles
04:46east of Alexandria.
04:47It's pretty impressive.
04:49The structure was designed so that you'd get inside the room through an east-facing entrance.
04:55This way, you'd get to see the sunrise.
04:58Once inside, you'd find a pretty huge shadow clock, used to tell time by tracking the movement
05:03of shadows inside the room.
05:06This variant of a sundial clock was nearly 16 feet long.
05:09That was quite an exciting discovery.
05:12Another interesting one was that scientists and Egyptologists have discovered the first
05:16ever pregnant mummy.
05:18Now, even if we know quite a lot about mummification processes, we keep making discoveries that open
05:24new doors into the lives of ancient Egyptians.
05:28It took so long for someone to find out this mummy was expecting at the time she was embalmed
05:34because she was placed in a male's coffin.
05:37More specifically, a male priest.
05:40Historians say that during the 19th century, a lot of traders mixed coffins up in order to
05:45sell them.
05:46Yes, that means they opened them and switched mummies to please their buyers.
05:51It was a complete surprise because they were hoping to study more about ancient health issues
05:56when they opened this coffin up, but they had another special research on their hands, prenatal
06:02practices in ancient Egypt.
06:05This mummified woman who lived about 2000 years ago was from 20 to 30 years old when she
06:11passed away.
06:12She was found in thieves and her remains were incredibly well preserved.
06:17You see, mummification recipes varied across Egypt.
06:22In this woman's case, researchers could tell she was a member of the high society since
06:27she was buried with special amulets.
06:30But since mummification methodologies differed so much between cities and time periods, they
06:35still have to dig further to understand why she was embalmed along with her baby.
06:41Speaking of mummies, scientists were digging up a final resting place in Saqqara, also in Egypt,
06:47they unearthed two embalming workshops.
06:50One was for humans and the other for sacred animals.
06:54Apparently, the workshops date back to about 2,400 years ago.
06:59They were equipped with stone beds, clay pots and ritual vessels, everything you needed
07:04to mummify.
07:06But that's not all.
07:08Archaeologists also stumbled upon cheese stored in jars behind tombs that were over 3,000
07:14years old.
07:17This shows that the ancient Egyptians were pretty savvy when it came to preserving food
07:21too.
07:22They knew how to store stuff for the long haul, not just the mummies.
07:27It really shows how they applied their preservation skills to both food and bodies, giving us
07:32a glimpse into their impressive technological know-how.
07:37Scientists have also found one of Egypt's oldest complete mummies.
07:41And to their surprise, it was completely covered in gold.
07:45You see, Egyptian mummies covered in gold are already a rare thing, but they weren't expecting
07:51it to be the oldest one ever found.
07:54The mummy was quite well preserved and they could identify that it was the remains of a
07:58wealthy man called Heka Shepes.
08:01Many symbols show that he was important and wealthy, like the band he wore on his head and
08:07the bracelet on his chest.
08:09He was also dressed in a tunic wrapped with a belt, which was a way to preserve the good
08:13appearance of a person after they passed away.
08:17To reveal it, they had to open the final resting place with mortar.
08:21Basically, it was like they were opening a time machine, just as the ancient Egyptians did
08:264,300 years ago.
08:29If you think about it, it's almost like entering a time capsule.
08:33Enough about mummies.
08:35Scientists also found something very exciting hovering above the pyramids.
08:39They had to use a fancy top-notch radar known as LARID, aka Low Altitude Long Range Ionospheric
08:48Radar, which can see these invisible waves far away into the sky.
08:54LARID helped them discover giant plasma bubbles floating in the air above the pyramids.
09:00These bubbles are called plasma bubbles, and they wreak havoc on modern technologies.
09:05I mean, they can disrupt GPS and phone signals for hundreds of kilometers in diameter from where
09:11they're located.
09:13These bubbles are massive, sometimes as big as cities.
09:16They're caused by the sudden depletion of charged particles in the ionosphere.
09:21So instead of spreading out evenly throughout the ionosphere, they stick together in this
09:26wave-like form.
09:29This was a pretty important discovery, because it can help scientists understand how to prevent
09:34these waves from messing with our technology.
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