- 2 days ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Thirty-five hundred years ago, a glorious era dawned in ancient Egypt called the New Kingdom.
00:13With wealth pouring in from her conquests abroad, Egypt's builders and craftsmen achieved
00:21perfection in stone and gold. A line of pharaohs with memorable names ruled the
00:31land. Tutankhamun, Thutmose, Amenhotep, and most illustrious of all, Ramses the Great.
00:42The pharaohs believed themselves to be god-kings, and their greatest fear was to lose their place
00:54in the afterlife. In the quest for eternal life, the pharaoh had to ensure the preservation of both
01:03his body and his name. The fear of being forgotten was so strong that the pharaohs
01:12spent much of their lives creating memorials to themselves in stone.
01:18The most spectacular of these monuments were at Thebes, the heart of the New Kingdom.
01:42A thousand years earlier, the desire for immortality had led to the construction of the pyramids,
01:54but these mountains of stone were vulnerable to grave robbers. So the pharaohs of the New
02:00Kingdom hid their tombs in the isolated Valley of the Kings, below a pyramid-shaped hill. The passion for building on a gigantic scale
02:10was now directed to the creation of magnificent temples. The pyramid shape was not abandoned, just reduced in size and carved on top of a tall shaft of granite, the obelisk.
02:32These spires of stone represented rays of light. The pharaohs placed pairs of obelisks at the temple gate in praise of the sun god.
02:44Obelisks of 100 feet were formed from a single piece of granite, one of the hardest stones to work.
02:59The base of the obelisk balances on top of a pedestal stone, supported by nothing more than its own weight.
03:11How the ancient Egyptians created these mighty obelisks weighing 400 tons is a question that has mystified archaeologists for years.
03:23What's the name of the Надepad Cain?
03:25A ndepad Cain?
03:27The
03:49In his 1959 epic, The Ten Commandments, although he puts on an impressive spectacle, it's not
04:03clear how his several hundred ton obelisk bounces so obediently into position without
04:08breaking.
04:10To explore the reality of obelisk raising, Nova assembled a team with a variety of talents.
04:19Egyptologist Mark Lehner, stonemason Roger Hopkins, ancient technology buff Martin Eisler,
04:35and Ali El-Ghassab, Egypt's former specialists in the moving of heavy statues.
04:41Their plan is to test out theories of how ancient obelisks were made by raising one themselves.
04:48The team has come to Aswan, the granite capital of Egypt.
05:04Like the obelisk builders of old, Roger and Mark's first task is to find a decent piece
05:10of granite.
05:11One without cracks or fissures.
05:13Well, it looks like we finally found a good solid piece here, Mark.
05:18Yeah, it looks like a nice piece.
05:20Look at this down here, Mark.
05:21We've got a natural fissure.
05:24On this end, we've got it free, and the top looks fairly flat, and we've got a good square
05:29perpendicular solid face of stone here.
05:32I didn't really bother putting it on when we started.
05:35It's on that point there, and then, yeah.
05:39The next step is to sketch in an outline of the obelisk and then separate it from the
05:44living rock.
05:47At a nearby quarry, the ancient stonecutters have left impressive evidence of how this
05:52was done.
05:54The unfinished obelisk is a great block of granite still lying on its bed in the quarry, slanted
06:00from top to bottom.
06:02And the entire obelisk had been defined by a trench that ran around its perimeter.
06:13Granite is an extremely hard rock.
06:16The copper and bronze tools used by the ancient Egyptians were too soft to carve it, and iron
06:21tools were not yet available.
06:24So how did the ancient quarrymen work the granite?
06:29This is the basic tool they used to separate the obelisks.
06:32It's made out of a stone called dolerite that's harder and denser even than granite.
06:37These were found all over the obelisk site when it was first excavated, and even today, there
06:41are hundreds of them in the quarries of granite at Aswan.
06:45They simply took this in two hands and pounded the stone away, hour after hour, day after day.
06:53We turn to our right, we pound, we pound, we work the granite down, lift, and we turn around,
07:02one foot in either depression, and we work to our right.
07:07With temperatures in excess of 120 degrees, it must have been a hellish experience.
07:16Ancient records tell us that up to 10% of the quarry workers died.
07:24After years of soul-destroying work, this obelisk had to be abandoned when cracks appeared in
07:30the giant shaft, making it impossible to separate in one piece.
07:35Because it was a failure, the pharaoh who commissioned this obelisk remains a total mystery.
07:41But whatever pharaoh it was, he was attempting to make a quantum leap in obelisks.
07:45This unfinished obelisk would have weighed something around 1,160 tons.
07:50The next largest one that we know is only 440 tons.
07:55But this pharaoh was clearly asking more of nature than nature could deliver.
08:03Not far from the unfinished obelisk, some local stonemasons try out the ancient pounders
08:08on the new obelisk that Roger is carving.
08:11Hey, Roger, how's it going?
08:13Well, welcome to the really unfinished obelisk.
08:17We're just starting here.
08:20Work on the trench that will define the obelisk began four hours ago, and they have hardly
08:25made a dent.
08:26See how much it really helps out.
08:28Why don't you jump up here and take a look at it?
08:30Roger has built a small fire to see if he can speed up the process.
08:34I've been sitting right next to this thing.
08:36So does this really accelerate the work all that much?
08:40Sayed, Edipha.
08:42Ah, these are pieces that you've just popped off?
08:44Yes.
08:45Wow, that's...
08:47Remember how long it took to just pound a little square?
08:50Yeah, no, that's two millimeters.
08:52That's like two, three hours work.
08:55Absolutely.
08:56We're in some pretty hard granite because we've already gone over this once before.
09:00Wow.
09:01Just knocking the really loose stuff off.
09:03But Mark has another idea.
09:06He has noticed that the surface of the unfinished obelisk has rows of indentations on it.
09:12They have given him a clue as to how the massive task of pounding was made more manageable.
09:18You know, one thought I had is when everybody's pounding like this and it's so ill-defined, it looks hopeless, it looks infinite.
09:25At the unfinished obelisk you saw those working patches.
09:28And they must have defined them very carefully so that each guy knew exactly what he had to do.
09:33Wouldn't it be better if you drew a line here like this and that that's all they had to worry about?
09:40And that one guy sitting here had to worry about that much.
09:44That was his patch right there.
09:46Don't you think they would get at it?
09:48Yeah, I think, you know, they know where they're going.
09:53The work goes on with precious little to show.
09:59How's it going?
10:00Well, slowly, very slowly.
10:04I can see your trench.
10:06I see you have these nice little working patches.
10:09So how many days is this, Roger?
10:13Seven days of pounding here.
10:16Where are you going to go from here now?
10:22Are you going to pound?
10:23Are you going to be here for a couple years putting this trench down or are you going to speed it up a little bit?
10:28I hope to speed it up using more modern techniques.
10:31It's clear that using ancient techniques it will take Roger months to carve even a small nine-foot obelisk.
10:39A shortcut is needed.
10:41And the owner of an Aswan granite quarry comes to the rescue.
10:49Mr. Hamada Rashwan generously offers to supply Roger with a 40-foot long obelisk weighing 40 tons.
10:58Just half as tall as a full-size obelisk, raising it will still be a formidable task.
11:05Even with modern equipment, it's been tricky to move the obelisk out of the quarry without breaking.
11:13Thirty-three centuries earlier, the young Ramses the Great was also supervising the production of granite monuments.
11:32He ordered numerous obelisks and statues, including this thousand-ton likeness of himself, now toppled by an earthquake.
11:41Ramses was the New Kingdom's greatest builder.
11:50And nowhere is his larger-than-life style better exhibited than an Abu symbol,
11:56where he transformed two sandstone cliffs into temples fronted by gigantic images of himself.
12:03Here he shows himself four times as seated statues on a colossal scale, merging with the gods.
12:11The whole temple facade seems to be saying to all who come from the south,
12:16that as you enter the Nile corridor from this point on, you're entering Egypt as a temple.
12:22Indeed, you're entering, Ramses is saying, my household, which I rule as a god.
12:28Only one of Ramses' obelisks is still standing in Egypt at the Temple of Luxor.
12:36The pharaoh ordered his obelisks covered in deeply inscribed hieroglyphs,
12:42praising him as a ruler great in wrath, so every land trembles before him.
12:48One of the great mysteries is how the ancient Egyptians carved these symbols without hard metal tools.
12:58First, they would have to polish and smooth the granite.
13:06You know, I think they probably could have used different stones.
13:10You could have started off with a diorite and real coarse sand and then gone to a sandstone,
13:16which is finer, and ended up with a limestone.
13:22Let's wash it off and see how it looks.
13:24Okay.
13:28That's getting pretty smooth, Roger.
13:34It looks good, Roger.
13:36There we go.
13:38By God.
13:39Well, one of the real vexing questions, Roger, is after you've polished it down,
13:43how do you inscribe these hieroglyphs with such nice detail?
13:47These are inscribed rather deeply, about almost an inch or so.
13:52That's a good question.
13:53I mean, the detail on these is so fine and so crisp, even after such a long period of time.
13:59Well, you've worked granite for many years.
14:01Yeah, I mean, even with modern tools and, you know, diamond wheels and all that, we would have,
14:07you know, we would have a tough time getting it to this kind of perfection.
14:12My idea is you can begin to rough out big hieroglyphs like this with pounders.
14:22What you see here, I've done in only one hour.
14:26I've roughed out the hieroglyph using a larger dolerite pounder stone,
14:29and then I've come in with smaller fragments of dolerite to tap,
14:32to begin to tap out the nice edges and the finer detail.
14:37One tantalizing bit of evidence, this is the way the ancient Egyptians did it,
14:41is a rare scene in an Egyptian tomb where craftsmen are putting the final touches on a granite statue.
14:47They seem to be sanding in the fine detail like the eyebrows and the eyelids
14:52with pieces of quartzite and sandstone, such as we know that they had.
14:57They also seem to be tapping out smaller detail with hammer stones,
15:01even using stones almost like a chisel, with another stone as a kind of tapper to tap in
15:06the very finest elements in this hard granite statue.
15:12I'm convinced that with their skill and their rapport with the stone and a great deal of time and
15:17patience that this is the way they carved the fine details like the hieroglyphs on the obelisks.
15:32Although Ramses the Great would have regarded the 40-ton Nova obelisk as relatively small,
15:37it's nevertheless beginning to get Roger and company rattled.
15:49So, while Mr. Hamada struggles to load it on the sled, Martin Eisler decides to get in some
15:55much-needed practice with a much smaller two-ton model.
15:59Listen, don't do that. You've got to tip the sled up if you do that.
16:03Today is the first time Martin and Ali El-Ghissab are on the job together and things are a little tense.
16:11Put something underneath it and then lay it down. Tell him to put something.
16:16You've got to tip the sled right up and bust the end.
16:18Ali's first job is to teach the men how to pull the obelisk over land.
16:31Yeah, he's going to tie it on. I don't know exactly how he's going to do it.
16:37He's got it in his mind. I think we're in agreement here.
16:44Ali's not very happy with his greenhorn crew.
16:48I have never seen the light of it. Martin, you look flabbergasted.
17:16I have never seen the light of this and I'm really quite upset because these guys are either
17:20going to bust the obelisk or they're going to get hurt.
17:26I don't think they've ever done this before.
17:27Well, let's see how they do in another couple more.
17:29In ancient times, the obelisk builders had a short haul over land and then a much longer
17:44voyage to the great temple complexes down river.
17:46It was the Nile that made Egyptian civilization possible as an artery that linked the entire
18:03length of the country.
18:07And it was the Nile that made it possible for the ancient Egyptians to quarry colossal statues and
18:12giant obelisks. It would have been much more difficult if they had had to transport this by land.
18:17But here at Aswan, the quarries are all located within close proximity to the Nile so that they could be
18:33slipped down to the river, loaded on a barge and transported for the difficult journey to Luxor,
18:40where the giant temples to Amun-Ra are located, or even further, all the way to Tannis, as far as 700 miles to the north.
18:48But first, you had to solve the very tricky problem of loading the boat.
18:54Okay, so let's imagine that this is a 100-foot obelisk weighing 440 tons, and this is our barge.
19:01How do we load it up, Cheryl?
19:03Cheryl Haldane, a nautical archaeologist,
19:06has a theory how heavy obelisks were loaded onto ancient Egyptian boats.
19:12Bring the boat in and pretty much packing it in place with earth.
19:17If you're down on river level here, you've got the water coming in underneath it. It's going to be
19:22squishier than hell. You know, we're talking about 400 tons in a boat that's virtually laying in mud.
19:29But your boat is a massive construction in its own right. The freight barge that was built to carry
19:33the obelisks would have carried a modern 747 loaded with 40 elephants.
19:38What I'm curious is when you have, I don't know how many guys, 100 guys pulling on this 40, 440 ton
19:43obelisk, bringing it down to the barge, so they walk onto the barge, some of them to pull it up there.
19:50Where do they go from there?
19:51Well, I think that we can imagine them going out into the river, some of them.
19:56Man, I used to surf a lot. It's hard enough walking into the shore.
19:59Well, I mean, pulling a line out there?
20:02Forget it.
20:03What about this mushiness? Is that really a problem?
20:05Well, the reality in ancient Egypt, every time it flooded, it inundated the Nile banks with silt.
20:12They would have been a lot muddier riverbed back then than there is now.
20:17But not after the dry season, not at the end of the dry season.
20:20Well, what happens anyway then? You take away the, uh, you take away the cofferdam or the packing in front.
20:28Yeah. When the obelisk is secured down, then the earth around it can be removed.
20:35And it would be removed, perhaps in this way, from the back towards the front,
20:44so that when the water comes in, the boat can begin to float.
20:50And it would have taken a lot of people, and they would have been working very hard.
20:54But I think moving earth is one of the...
20:58That's no problem for them.
21:00Yes.
21:00Here comes the water.
21:04And now you're stuck on the sand.
21:06Now I'm stuck on the sand because I haven't finished excavating.
21:11You know, you're missing the great aspect of hydraulics and, you know, and navigation by, uh,
21:19landlocking your boat and all that. There's no mechanical advantage.
21:23I think when you remove the dam, if the boat had been a little lower...
21:27Now, Cheryl, in modern times, do they ever load a boat in dry dock? Never.
21:34I rest my case.
21:36Well, Roger, we'll have to see what your method does.
21:40Probably what they did is they built two stone piers.
21:45One here, one here. They had a nice channel that came in between them. These were permanent structures.
21:53They had a nice, flat... Now, this is... Try to imagine this as a nice, flat, even surface on which to pull the sled down.
22:01They would have gotten it down to here. Probably on rollers.
22:09Now, I'm just going to use two beams, but they probably could have used several.
22:13They could have slid right over into the middle.
22:15Now, next, your boat comes in, and of course, see, it's not low enough.
22:26All you do is you add a little ballast to it, nice and evenly.
22:30Now that Roger has to go public with his theory, problems with the model barge begin to handicap his demonstration.
22:38Once we start to take ballast off, boy, this thing is leaking like a son of a gun.
22:43Well, this is exactly the kind of problem you would have with an ancient Egyptian boat,
22:46because they weren't built to have loads down in the hull. Freight boats were built to carry their weights on the deck.
22:53The ballast would come out, and then they would float this... Of course, they position it,
23:02and then it would float out without the aid of all this water.
23:11And once you got out there, it would probably sink like that.
23:15Understanding how the ancient Egyptians transported their huge obelisks is difficult.
23:25Their technique for building boats was unique and is now a long forgotten art.
23:31No remains of an obelisk barge have been found.
23:34The only evidence we have was left by the pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut.
23:39On her magnificent mortuary temple at Deir el-Bari, there is a picture of a boat carrying a pair of obelisks on deck,
23:49perhaps to the great temple at Karnak.
24:00Hatshepsut's reign was a period of great architectural and artistic flowering.
24:05Only the third woman to rule as queen, she also ruled as king, often appearing in portraits with a pharaonic beard.
24:19She co-ruled with her stepson, Thutmose III.
24:27But after she died, he systematically hacked out all references to her,
24:32even hiding her obelisk behind a sandstone wall that just left the gold-plated tip exposed.
24:41On the base of her obelisk, an inscription proudly states that it was built in the remarkably short time of seven months.
24:49Back at the quarry, the work is not up to Queen Hatshepsut's standards.
25:04Shaping the 40-foot obelisk is taking much longer than anticipated, even with modern tools.
25:09This means that Roger will only have a few days to raise the obelisk.
25:15And as yet, there is no consensus among the experts about how to do it.
25:26On the opposite bank of the Nile, Martin Eisler is about to test out his method on the little nine-foot model.
25:32He has to do it exactly like Martin says.
25:42Although he has no formal training in archaeology, Martin has developed a passion for ancient technology.
25:49Martin and Ali have bonded nicely.
25:51In preparation for raising the obelisk, Martin has carved a groove on top of the base stone.
26:05He's convinced that this notch is an essential component of obelisk engineering.
26:12But does every ancient pedestal stone have a groove?
26:15To find out, Mark and Roger traveled to Tanis, a major city during the final years of the ancient Egyptian civilization.
26:25Filled with monuments recycled from earlier dynasties, Tanis is an obelisk graveyard.
26:33There are 23 broken obelisks at this site.
26:36This is another one of these Ramses obelisks, toppled over.
26:46This looks like a pretty good example of a turning groove to me.
26:49It's about a foot wide, which is 30 centimeters, but a little more than half again is deep.
26:59Well, I don't see, I can't see how this is just a symbolic feature.
27:02I mean, this has got to be integral to raising an obelisk.
27:07Somehow, this was necessary to have this groove in here.
27:12Everywhere they look, there are turning grooves.
27:15It seems that Martin is on to something.
27:31As Ali's men levered up the obelisk, the bottom edge remains engaged in the notch.
27:38Without the turning groove to pivot on,
27:40the butt of the obelisk would slide off the pedestal stone.
27:49Martin believes that levering was the principal technique used by the ancient Egyptians.
27:55To support the rising obelisk, stone and earth are packed beneath it.
28:05I mean, as you lever the obelisk up, you only get just a little, an inch or so.
28:09You could lever anything up if the lever is wrong enough.
28:14But what if it was a 400-ton obelisk or a 300-ton obelisk?
28:17They would be much more careful.
28:19But you're getting your lever underneath, and you're getting about what?
28:22A couple inches of lift?
28:23Whatever.
28:23Each little few inches of lift adds up.
28:31When the obelisk reaches a 45-degree angle, Ali calls a halt to the levering.
28:36The rest of the work will be done by the pulling team.
28:51The two-ton needle rises with remarkable ease.
28:57But will it be so simple with Roger's 40-ton obelisk?
29:01Well, it was a very small piece of stone.
29:10I put stuff up that size by myself.
29:13Well, I did, too.
29:14I know.
29:14Yeah.
29:15But, you know, what I, you know, reservation I have, when you're dealing with a 300 or 400-ton,
29:22how are you going to space out your levers?
29:24How many levers are you going to use?
29:26What size levers?
29:27I mean, are you going to be able to, how many men can you get in a crowded area?
29:31Well, this is something you learn by experience, don't you?
29:34I mean, you'll start, perhaps, with a two-tonner, as we did here,
29:38graduate to a 10-tonner, learn from that, go to a 20-tonner...
29:42Despite Martin's success, Roger doesn't want to use levers to raise his obelisk.
29:51Back at the quarry, he has only four days to get the obelisk up.
29:55A lot of dirt is being moved around, but no one seems to know exactly what Roger has in mind.
30:03To clear the air, Roger has been forced to build a model to demonstrate his method to quarry owner,
30:09Mr. Hamada.
30:10A lot of weight to pull.
30:12We have our ramp coming up onto a more level area, and as the sled comes along...
30:20The pedestal lies at the bottom of a large pit, which will be filled with sand.
30:24The obelisk is then dragged over the pit.
30:29So it reaches on this, along this ridge here, a pivot point with a center of gravity,
30:35and it will come down slowly.
30:37As the sand is removed, the butt of the obelisk should slowly descend to the pedestal stone.
30:44At least, that's the theory.
30:45When do you start lowering the sand? When do you start letting the sand out?
30:49Once we get this in place, I've calculated the center of gravity is approximately here on the obelisk.
30:55All right, now let it come out fairly slowly, fairly slowly.
31:01We're going to see that thing tipping?
31:03I think it's better to go more fast.
31:07You think it's better to go fast, huh?
31:09Yes, because to not give a chance for the sudden force to make the obelisk go right.
31:16So a regular, very steady motion.
31:19Yes, yes.
31:20All right, so we're kind of...
31:21The people, the people in this case, stay here and watch from this side.
31:25Look, look, look, look, look.
31:27So you have men in there pushing the sand.
31:29Mr. Hamada is worried that the men removing sand from the bottom of the pit
31:33may be injured by the descending obelisk.
31:35Because Roger has one aim, to fix his obelisk with a good position.
31:40Yes, Roger can be very single-minded.
31:42Yes.
31:42I understand, Hamada.
31:44I have experience with this man.
31:45I know what you mean.
31:46Yes, I have no value of human life.
31:48But I, for me, I hope to fix the obelisk with a good position.
31:53But number one, this is number two.
31:55Number one for me, the safety of our people.
31:59And I think the ancient Egyptians work by the same method, work by the same method.
32:05Don't you worry, Hamada.
32:06I'm going to be down in that pit.
32:08I'm going to be down in that pit, so it will be safe.
32:11Ready for me?
32:11To put Mr. Hamada's fears to rest, Roger has to prepare another demonstration of his method,
32:17this time with the two-ton obelisk.
32:19So, Roger, now you have a little sand funnel here.
32:20You're going to fill this box up with clean sand.
32:23Yeah, I got to do a little housekeeping here.
32:26You're going to put the obelisk up here and tip it over under the sand,
32:29and then scoop the sand out these tunnels.
32:31Right.
32:32We're taking the sand out from behind it, so it has to fall back.
32:36And actually, the sand that's piled up here is going to act as somewhat of a weight,
32:41keep it in place.
32:42But then it's going to reach a point where we have to get in and control its movement,
32:46either forward or backward or off to the sides.
32:50And as you take the sand out, the obelisk is going to flow down and fit right down into that
32:55turning groove?
32:56Exactly.
32:57I think it's ridiculous.
33:02It's just crazy to be thinking of putting this monster into a pit blindly and then expecting
33:13to find a groove magically somehow by pushing sand away from one side to the other.
33:20I can't conceive of it happening.
33:25And if it does, and if it's still crazy.
33:28I, it's impossible to me.
33:40Christ!
33:43Very good.
33:44Come on.
33:46You got that obelisk where you want it, Roger?
33:48Yeah.
33:49I mean, we're within an inch or two of dead on.
33:52You've cocked your gun.
33:53Right.
33:54You're ready to shoot.
33:57Don't get in my line of sight.
33:58I'll try to stay out of it.
34:02Okay.
34:03Open.
34:06With the mud bricks removed from the doors at the bottom of the sandpit,
34:10there's no turning back.
34:13They're all out.
34:14They're all out?
34:18They're all out.
34:19They're all out.
34:23Here comes the sand.
34:26It can afford to come forward some.
34:28We got about 20 centimeters for it to come forward.
34:32Okay.
34:32They're moving.
34:37I think, don't you need more out of this side?
34:39So it goes down and bends back this way.
34:41I'm trying to get it to slide over this way.
34:49After a promising start, the sand, filled with rocks and debris, flows unevenly.
34:56The descending obelisk is no longer on course to hit the turning groove.
35:01We got a problem with this channel not clearing itself.
35:05Now, Roger, if this were a big one, maybe a bad time to ask, but you'd have room for men in there, right?
35:12Huh?
35:13If it were this full size, you'd have men inside there.
35:16Yeah.
35:16They'd be volunteers, right, Roger?
35:21I'm glad we're doing it.
35:23I'd like to lay this to rest once and for all and be done with the sand business.
35:28Yeah, but do you think just one experiment is going to be enough?
35:31No, it's not enough, but the whole concept is ridiculous.
35:35I'm sorry, Roger.
35:36Ridiculous.
35:37Nothing personal.
35:38As time slips away, Roger is just about ready to give up on the sand pit method.
35:59A final attempt to remove sand from below the obelisk suddenly pays off.
36:04When the dust settles, there's a pleasant surprise for Roger.
36:09I hate to tell you this, Mark, but we're right over the turning groove.
36:14You're right over the turning groove?
36:15Right.
36:18Roger hasn't scored a bullseye.
36:21The obelisk is a bit off-center, but he hopes it can be lined up with the turning groove
36:26when Ali and his men pull it upright.
36:34Although Roger finally gets the obelisk up, he hasn't won over any of his critics.
36:43There's no way that they went down to that turning groove blind.
36:46The turning groove tells the story that the obelisk was carefully parked there before it was set up,
36:53and they wouldn't have just gone down to it blind by pouring sand out of a tunnel.
36:58I thought it was a fairly messy, complicated operation.
37:01I don't think that's how they erected the giant obelisks.
37:16The next morning sees a flurry of activity at Mr. Hamada's quarry.
37:31Unfortunately, none of it is helping Roger get the 40-ton obelisk up.
37:39Apparently, Mr. Hamada is expecting a visit from the governor,
37:42at which he plans to unveil his method for raising the obelisk.
38:09The sand, there is a channel under this room.
38:12The Hamada method uses a massive block of stone as a counterweight.
38:20When sand is released from below the block, it descends, pulling the obelisk up.
38:33We designed this vessel, and they come with us, but I think this is the vessel.
38:39I hope to success tomorrow.
38:43Although Mr. Hamada's no-hands, self-raising model appears to impress the governor,
38:49no one else believes that starting all over and constructing a massive counterweight
38:53is a practical way to use the remaining two days.
38:59Ali came to the project without any pet theories.
39:01But now he has come up with a solution that he believes could raise the obelisk with just a few
39:08modifications to Roger's half-constructed sandpit.
39:12It involves building a ramp down to the pedestal stone,
39:16then gently lowering the obelisk on a sled restrained by three ropes.
39:28Ensuring that the butt of the obelisk finds the turning groove is crucial.
39:32Down to the turning groove.
39:35Once the obelisk is in the groove, it will be raised and stabilized by six teams of men on ropes
39:42attached to the top of the shaft.
39:43You're seeking the groove in the most, I, I, it's crazy.
39:54Why can't it go down the guide walls? If we put in Roger's guide walls,
39:57it doesn't matter if you could walk it over to the groove and place it there. There's,
40:02there's all sorts of things that can be done.
40:04Well, unfortunately, Martin, given our change in plan here, given this dramatic change in plan,
40:09and the tension of only two days left, we have to deal with this big compartment that we've created,
40:15which we were going to use for the sandbox, but now we have a 30 degree ramp.
40:20I wish you luck.
40:21Do you think we're in for a hard time?
40:23I think so, yes.
40:33The obelisk hasn't been moved since it was positioned on the sled a couple of days ago.
40:37The dead weight has begun to crush the rollers, and it refuses to budge.
40:43We're trying to make the stone move. The obstinate dumb stone hasn't budged an inch.
40:54It's moving, it's moving.
41:07Ali has 200 men on the ropes. At 40 tons, this obelisk weighs less than a tenth of the biggest
41:24obelisks of ancient times. They would require 2,000 pullers or more.
41:29In their enthusiasm to bring it to the top of the chute, the pullers almost derail the obelisk.
41:56Ali is not pleased.
42:07But a quick nudge with a lever gets the obelisk back on track.
42:10Finally, after seven hours of pulling, the obelisk is poised at the top of the chute.
42:25Tomorrow, it's do or die.
42:40The next morning, the last of the project, there is an air of great anticipation among the pullers.
43:02Will they be the first people in 3,000 years to raise an obelisk using the tools of their ancient ancestors?
43:12Well, we're right here at the pivot point, and there's a good possibility that the obelisk could
43:17get out of control, crash down the slipway and break into pieces. That wouldn't be a total tragedy
43:23for us, but can you imagine if it was Hatshepsut's obelisk? She had spent seven months coring it.
43:29Consider all the elbow grease, blood, sweat, and tears that had been spent adorning it with hieroglyphs,
43:35polishing it so that it reflected the sun. If that finished obelisk weighing 330 tons,
43:41was it now at this pivot point and crashed down and broke into pieces, it would be a tragedy indeed.
43:56With the turning groove in his sights at the bottom of the chute, Ali is ready to launch the obelisk.
44:11The obelisk is teetering dangerously at its center of gravity.
44:22Ali now has to get the attention of the brakeman who will control its descent.
44:28Communication is proving difficult, as Hasham, the man he has put in charge is quite deaf,
44:34and so is unaware of the urgency of the moment.
44:41As a man is secretary of control, a man he has put in charge of the history of the Ivory Parque,
44:44his brother has put in charge of the royal army for four years in charge.
44:46And he has put in charge of the Roman army for four years in charge.
44:48The french army left on his flesh, the new army left and they have put in charge of the Red and the rat.
44:50The old army left, the рыks' republicans who didn't have made the structure of the united states,
44:52and he was behind the sky.
44:54The ALEXANDRUS noch, 146-143-143-143-144-153-1.
44:55The executive charles of Georgia started off.
44:56The eight- gusts of the extended camp, the troops began to command the amelisk.
44:58And the other countries named Westwise was the Somobile Union.
45:04The German army left wing of the part of the country.
45:04Ali is very, very happy, but he's worried now, his obelisk is sliding as we speak.
45:19You hear noises, there it goes, and he wants to tend to his job.
45:24Now, everything is in the hands of the brakemen.
45:39Their job is to control the three ropes that keep the obelisk from smashing into the pedestal
45:44stone.
45:52It is brittle, and will brake if not seated gently.
45:57Can the brakemen control the obelisk, or will gravity have its way?
46:14Well, obviously it was a great relief, great celebration, but maybe celebrating a little
46:26too soon, because the butt end missed the turning groove, and now we have the tremendous task
46:31of raising it up from this angle of recline.
46:33No, we didn't miss the turning groove.
46:34They haven't released it off the sled yet.
46:36Once it's released off the sled, very easily it will come right into the turning groove.
46:40So you think it will slide right in there when they cut the sled off?
46:45Yes.
46:46Yes.
46:47Yes.
46:48Yes.
46:49Yes.
46:50Yes.
46:51Yes.
46:52Yes.
46:53Yes.
46:54Yes.
46:55Yes.
46:56Yes.
46:57Yes.
47:02Yes.
47:05Yes.
47:07Yes.
47:08Yes.
47:09Anyways.
47:10Yes.
47:11Yes.
47:12Yes.
47:13Yes.
47:14angle from which it now rests in the few hours remaining.
47:25Like Martin Eisler, Ali is going to use large levers as the primary method.
47:30Things get off to a good start. The two levers quickly raise the obelisk from an angle of
47:4832 degrees to close to 40 degrees. But as the obelisk rises, it becomes difficult to get leverage.
48:00With time running out, Ali orders 200 pullers to try and speed the process.
48:14But it doesn't seem to help.
48:16Well, the problem Ali's having now is he's not getting any lift out of his pull.
48:25All the men pulling on the long ropes are simply pulling the butt end of the obelisk
48:29down into the turning groove. You can almost feel it grinding down in there.
48:41The only thing that's giving Ali any lift whatsoever are the men on the levers.
48:45But as you can see, the levers now, in order to get advantage, are really high.
48:49The men can hardly reach them. They're throwing ropes up around the end to get some kind of pull.
48:56In the next six hours, they only manage to raise the obelisk a couple of inches.
49:01But Ali's not ready to throw in the towel yet.
49:05Everyone decides it's worth giving it just one more day.
49:09The final morning finds Ali racking his brains at the stuck obelisk.
49:12Roger got up early, too.
49:13Roger got up early, too.
49:14He's already running.
49:15Roger got up early, too.
49:17He's already running.
49:18Now, in the next six hours, they only manage to raise the obelisk a couple of inches.
49:20But Ali's not ready to throw in the towel yet.
49:22Everyone decides it's worth giving it just one more day.
49:25The final morning finds Ali racking his brains at the stuck obelisk.
49:40Roger got up early, too. He's already been busy.
49:44This is an A-frame. It works as a lever.
49:50You run your ropes, your pulling ropes, over the top of it,
49:54and it helps redirect the force so that you're pulling up rather than pulling down.
50:00Your ropes are going from the obelisk up over the A-frame and down
50:03to increase the pull and gain some mechanical advantage.
50:06Right.
50:07Well, I can see your point, but you know, Ali doesn't think this is going to work at all.
50:11Well, you know, at some point, you've got to take over.
50:24In theory, the A-frame seems to be the way to go, but the obelisk still refuses to bunge.
50:37The men on the A-frame ropes cannot pull efficiently because the ropes are too high.
50:46So in order to use the A-frame, as Roger suggests, we would have to both raise and lengthen our ramp
50:53so that the men had a platform to stand on and still reach the ropes in a long train of pullers as we have now.
51:04Modifications will take time, and time is a commodity that has run out.
51:09Like any construction project, this one has a deadline.
51:20The men are working well. The real problem is we don't have time.
51:24How many days and nights have I thought how to raise the obelisk more quickly?
51:28My God, my brains are splitting.
51:31But a heavy object like this takes time. You can't rush an obelisk.
51:36I think this is what the ancient technology comes down to.
51:50Men like Ali, with their skill and the enthusiasm of their men,
51:55is probably the most important secret ingredient in all ancient technology.
52:06But even with all their enthusiasm and skill, our modern team cannot overcome the limitation of time.
52:15The ancient Egyptians faced no such constraints as they raised obelisks for pharaohs
52:21whose concept of time was totally different from ours.
52:25After all, what's the rush when you're building for eternity?
52:40Now you can tour the pyramids at Giza your way using the latest online technology.
52:56At NOVA's website, navigate the tunnels, tombs and temples of the pharaohs.
53:00And follow a real-time excavation.
53:02Log on for Pyramids, The Inside Story, a NOVA PBS online adventure.
53:06Now you can tour the pyramids at Giza your way using the latest online technology.
53:09At NOVA's website, navigate the tunnels, tombs and temples of the pharaohs.
53:12And follow a real-time excavation.
53:14Log on for Pyramids, The Inside Story, a NOVA PBS online adventure.
53:19To order NOVA's Secrets of Lost Empires mini-series on videocassette, call 1-800-255-9424.
53:44This five-hour set is $69.95 plus shipping and handling.
53:48Individual programs are also available for $19.95 each.
53:53Next time on NOVA, a palace of spectacle and gore.
53:58But did you know it had a roof?
54:00Colosseum on Secrets of Lost Empires.
54:04NOVA is a production of WGBH Boston.
Recommended
54:12
|
Up next
46:50
36:00
39:33
52:18
6:03
1:10
52:18
44:55
45:15
45:50
52:19
44:07
44:00
58:38