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00:00deep inside a four thousand five hundred year old pyramid we are going to try to enter inside
00:10the pyramid archaeologists hunt for the last resting place of a king i think if my wife knows
00:17this she will kill me goodbye they are searching for new clues to how these colossal tombs were
00:26created oh my goodness oh my goodness
00:33wow
00:38the pyramids massive tombs built for ancient kings and queens
00:56over a hundred of these iconic structures have towered over egypt for thousands of years
01:04but how did they begin and why did they evolve over time
01:10we follow investigators as they explore the pioneering engineering that crafted these
01:16enduring structures why the first pyramid's shapes changed in radical ways
01:24and how pharaohs used the awe-inspiring power of their tombs to guarantee eternal life
01:30in abu sir
01:43archaeologist mohammed magahed is aiming to reach the heart of this 4500 year old pyramid
01:50it's so exciting to be working in the great pyramid of abu sir the largest of 14 royal tombs originally built
02:01here abu sir's great pyramid was built just a century after the great pyramids of giza
02:09it dates to a little known era of experimentation in pyramid design when pharaohs tried out new materials
02:16and construction techniques to create their dazzling tombs
02:19this pyramid was built for the body of king neferiakara
02:30around 4500 years ago neferiakara succeeded to the throne after the death of his father king sahure
02:38during his reign he maintained a peaceful and prosperous egypt
02:47and commissioned a pyramid for his eternal rest
02:51a limestone core ringed with red granite we are going to go inside the pyramid and to try to find
02:59its layout and if we are lucky we will reach the burial chamber of the king neferiakara
03:03it's a massive task hundreds of stones have slumped to the ground making the pyramid inaccessible
03:17mohammed's team is already hard at work clearing broken blocks from the entrance
03:23when the first came here everything was covered this debris was covering the whole area
03:29we had to remove hundreds of stones large stones it's a rare opportunity for modern archaeologists
03:37like mohammed no one in recorded history has ever excavated this king's burial chamber
03:45on his journey to the heart of the pyramid mohammed hopes to uncover hints of how its builders
03:51engineered this colossal structure this is a mystery for us and we are going to open this mystery and solve it
03:59pyramids from this experimental era aren't built to a fixed blueprint passageways can lead in any direction
04:08but this king's burial chamber must lie beneath ground level because of the angle of the entranceway
04:18this is the original floor of the descending corridor from this piece we can collect many
04:24formations we know that it was built of white limestone we know that the slope of the descending corridor was
04:30about 25 degrees the team carts away collapsed stone that blocks the route
04:37as they clear mohammed spots something
04:50this oil lamp can help us to understand the history of the pyramid
04:55this oil lamp would have lit the way to the dark heart of the pyramid
04:59but it is hundreds not thousands of years old it's very roughly made i have to say sheep so it's
05:10was used by the common people who were coming here to cut the stones the stone robbers
05:16tomb robbers didn't just take precious treasures they also stole the very materials the pyramids were made
05:23from monuments to great rulers clad in glistening limestone the pyramids were built to be seen from far and wide
05:35but their prominence was also their downfall in the pyramid of neferiakara limestone was not only on the
05:43outside it lined tunnels and chambers the prized stone was removed in medieval times robbers reusing the slams
05:55in other monumental structures but without the stones supporting the weight of the pyramid the corridors
06:02were at risk of collapse the stone robbers work means mohammed and his team must be extremely cautious
06:13from here on end the stones are very dangerous
06:23two miles south at sakara
06:28egyptologist chris nornton is exploring how the original idea of a pyramid tomb was born
06:36this is such a special place it's difficult not to feel shivers when you're here
06:41all around me here are the burials of no less than 11 kings of egypt's formative age
06:51for many people this is the world's greatest royal city of the dead
06:56the sakara necropolis extends for four miles
07:01its vast size a tribute to one pioneering king generations of kings chose this place for their
07:10tombs because they wanted to be buried close to the very first pyramid builder pharaoh called josa
07:17what he built was unprecedented magnificent a building on a scale that nobody had ever experienced
07:31in egypt before and it's the prototype pyramid the first time anyone had built anything like this size
07:37it's the first building in cut stone the first time a pharaoh had ever commissioned anything like this as a
07:43tomb josa was the first king of a new royal dynasty and wanted something different to be remembered by
07:54chris believes that he created his step pyramid as an innovative way to ensure his eternal life
08:00prior to this the tombs of kings the tombs of all elite officials take the form of these giant rectangular
08:11platforms lay over the top of burial compartments we call them mastabas what happens here having
08:20created a platform and there perhaps comes a moment where somebody says hey guys looks it's pretty solid
08:26this thing why don't we see if we can go higher josa's step pyramid appears to be six mastaba tombs
08:37stacked one on top of the other what we're looking at here is not just the first pyramid actually but
08:43it's a it's a kind of a great experiment and a massive moment in ancient egyptian history
08:49josa aligned his tomb towards the northern stars always visible in the evening sky
09:00their guiding light would lead the pharaoh's soul up this great stairway to join the gods in the heavens
09:09how did josa's experiment evolve into the quintessential pyramids of giza
09:14to investigate chris will have to visit the strangest pyramid in egypt
09:27less than 200 yards from josa's step pyramid archaeologist kamil karaskievich wants to solve a mystery
09:36he's excavating this large non-royal tomb what will it reveal about the legacy of egypt's first pyramid
09:47starting an excavation basically you cannot be sure of anything there are only surprises
09:58after king joseph died hundreds of tombs sprang up in the desert around his final resting place
10:06many were covered with the quintessential element of josa's pyramid the mastaba the plots closest to his
10:15tomb were reserved for the highest ranking elite showing just how much the egyptians revered josa
10:22and his groundbreaking monument long after his death
10:26the step pyramid itself was the steps leading to the sky for the king
10:38everything else was built around it close to it
10:45the tomb kamil is excavating dates to at least three centuries after josa's reign
10:51it consists of a chapel and a burial shaft plunging deep into the bedrock the large size so close to
10:59the step pyramid suggests this tomb was created for someone important but unlike others nearby
11:07it's missing something unfortunately we don't know the names of the owners you can see the inscription
11:18says that the owner was a scribe of magical protection a person who for example prepared the
11:26emulets to protect people from evil or dangers scribes were high-ranking members of the ancient egyptian elite
11:37but unusually this person's name has either been removed or it was never added to the inscription
11:46kamil wants to work out if there is a body buried beneath the ground
11:50and if so will it hold any clues to the tomb owner's identity
11:58the team sets up a winch to speed up the excavation of debris from the tomb's shaft
12:07kamil has no idea how deep it will be and i wonder what we'll find at the bottom
12:20in abu sir
12:26mohammed is trying to reach king neferi akara's burial chamber
12:32medieval stone robbers have made the team's mission harder we have to clear the debris and see if those
12:39blocks are stable enough to go underneath but the thieves demolition has exposed something of huge value
12:46for mohammed the pyramids internal architecture we are so happy because like this we know how the pyramid was constructed
13:01the builders began by cutting the corridor and burial chamber into the ground
13:05they lined the floor and walls with fine white limestone and rare red granite
13:16covering the ceiling with more limestone slabs
13:21then to resist the enormous weight of the pyramid they added a vaulted ceiling of massive limestone blocks
13:29now visible because the robbers removed the flat ceiling slabs beneath
13:35if we enter this pyramid without having this destruction we will not know that above the
13:41ceiling of the corridor we have this folded ceiling dividing all the way to the side walls
13:50even among the mountains of rubble it's essential for archaeologists to remain vigilant for clues
13:56Mohammed spots something that looks different to his expert eyes wow
14:10heading south of saqqara chris is exploring how and why pharaohs transformed their tombs from the step
14:18pyramid to the great pyramids of giza within 100 years when you think of pyramids
14:25you can instantly picture kind of perfect geometric form four perfectly triangular sides
14:34rising to a point above a perfectly square base and yet the process of
14:40development innovation that leads to that happens super quickly almost in historical terms like in the blink of an eye
14:47to unravel this tomb building revolution he's come to what may be the world's weirdest pyramid
14:55what really sets this pyramid apart
15:01is that it's bent so it starts off really really steep about 55 degrees to horizontal there's then this
15:09change about two-thirds of the way up each side and that angle changes to 43 degrees
15:16it just looks a bit odd the pharaoh sneferu commissioned this tomb just 50 years after joseph's step pyramid
15:26it's one of the first attempts at a smooth-sided pyramid
15:29but is this bent monument really what sneferu had in mind
15:38the entrance to this pyramid lies nearly 12 meters above the desert surface
15:43it leads to a steep tight descending passage
15:54deep within the pyramid chris finds the sacred heart of the tomb
15:59wow
16:06this is the burial chamber this is where ferro's body would have been placed
16:12it's pretty atmospheric in here it's almost completely silent except for the odd squeak of a bat
16:23here and there chris spots evidence that the builders were still learning on the job
16:30these wooden beams date from the time the pyramid was built they're of cedar i think imported from
16:37lebanon the builders it seems must have been concerned about the structural stability of this
16:44pyramid these beams i think are here to to try and stop the forces created by this massive weight of
16:53the stone blocks from crushing this chamber causing the whole thing to collapse in on itself
16:58if that's right then this must have been a pretty nerve-wracking place to work
17:02sneferu's architects seem to have added the bracing beams to reinforce an unsound construction
17:12what exactly went wrong and is it the reason the exterior ended up with its unusual bend
17:19in saqqara
17:29200 yards from egypt's first pyramid camille's team is progressing down the burial shaft
17:36as you see it's rather noisy during the work the team is keen to identify who or what lies inside this
17:50tomb what can it reveal about the step pyramid status in ancient egypt
17:56everything you find during the excavation is important everything tells you something
18:07one item of shaft debris has caught camille's eye
18:11a fragment of a potter bowl a flat one like something you could put your food on it like fruit perhaps or meat
18:23but painted white which means that it was purified for the soul of the deceased so such vessels were put
18:32on the offering table for the deceased to come from the afterwards and to eat the food prepared for them
18:42the presence of part of an offering bowl increases the chance this tomb contains a body
18:52encouraged the team continues to dig down
18:55they still have several tons of material to remove
19:05now 30 feet deep camille hopes the effort will pay off
19:11perhaps in the deeper part of the shaft there will be something untouched
19:17in abu sir
19:28attempting to reach king neferi akara's burial chamber
19:32one chunk of rubble has caught muhammad's attention
19:38when i picked it i thought it's very weird because it has some dark spots i watered it and it's a piece of
19:45puzzle this hunk of basalt a volcanic rock is a rare and special find it's very interesting because the
19:54sarcophagus of the king should be made of dark stone usually basal it's amazing you never stop finding you
20:01know clues and pieces of information this is proof that we might have the sarcophagus of the king inside
20:10mining basalt was difficult because it is hard and dense and only one quarry in egypt had stone of high
20:19enough quality for a pharaoh workers had to drag blocks seven miles through the desert to be shipped to
20:28master craftsmen near abu sir basalt was an incredibly difficult stone to work
20:35so exactly how a solid slab was carved into a sarcophagus is a mystery to this day
20:47complete with a lid it would protect the pharaoh's body
20:51its black color securing his passage into the afterlife
20:55the dark color is connected with osiris osiris was the god of the afterlife
21:02and the king when he joined him he should be osiris it makes us feel that we are on the right track
21:10there are still many more meters of rubble between the team and the king's chamber
21:29we are so lucky because every minute there is a change we found the entrance which will lead us to the
21:37the burial chamber of king neferir kara but the deeper the team reaches the more dangerous it gets
21:45we have a very huge problem i'm very nervous
21:51the stone robbers have taken so much limestone from the side walls
21:56one giant ceiling block is at risk of collapse
21:59this huge white limestone is hanging we cannot proceed without supporting this one
22:08the team stops work they can't advance further until it's safe
22:13it's safe
22:19at dashur
22:23chris is investigating the structure of sneferu's bent pyramid
22:28constructed in the century in between the step pyramid and the great pyramid of giza
22:35its structure can give insight into the rapid progression of pyramid design
22:43as he climbs the steep passage back out chris spots something this is really really interesting
22:53up until this point in the passageway all of the stones seem quite nicely aligned and then here
23:00the ceiling block looks as though it has slipped maybe a foot pretty scary stuff
23:08but the huge weight of stone sat on unstable ground maybe causing the slippage visible today
23:28to support the structure builders widened its base and raised it at a shallower 54 degree angle
23:37but at around 45 meters high they were again in trouble to save weight they reduced the final angle
23:45to 43 degrees making sneferu's pyramid one of a kind
23:55despite its imperfections it was a major breakthrough the world's first smooth-sided pyramid
24:03paving the way for even more massive monuments
24:13looking at this pyramid there clearly were problems changes of plan but you have to remember that the
24:20pyramid builders at this point are almost making things up as they go along they've got no blueprint
24:26there's no template this is still an enormously impressive structure and if you want to create the perfect
24:35monumental building you just have to experiment a little along the way
24:40next chris wants to investigate why sneferu was so keen on creating smoothly sloping walls
24:48rather than the steppe sites of his predecessor
24:57at sakara in the shadow of the steppe pyramid
25:01camille's team is trying to find out the owner of a mystery tomb
25:10after four days of digging they hit the hard rock that marks the foot of the shaft
25:1735 feet below ground level
25:19they start to excavate the side walls looking for a burial chamber
25:29above ground camille searches for clues to help identify a possible owner
25:37one wall next to the shaft has a faint carving of a false
25:41door a gateway only the deceased spirit can cross this is the first door from the point of view of the deceased
25:53this is the place through which his soul came back to feed on offerings left for him
26:01on the side of the false door is an inscription it appears to include a job title
26:08but there's something odd about it something like the royal bodyguard the person listed outside had the
26:17title of that of the scribe of magic formulas the relief outside is of much better quality than this here
26:28so it's an indication that the facade and the false door were hewn in different periods for different persons
26:36there's even a possible name carved for this later arrival which is ptahhotep ipi
26:45could this royal bodyguard ptahhotep ipi have taken over a tomb originally excavated for someone else
26:54the tomb is revealing more than expected
26:57yes
27:10at dashur chris wants to know what drove pharaoh sneferu to create his smooth-sided bent pyramid
27:24rather than the stepped pyramid of his predecessor
27:30when i entered the pyramid i did so from the north but actually there is another entrance but this
27:37one is not in the north face it's in the west face of the pyramid maybe that western entrance says
27:43something about a change in the egyptians beliefs if the north entrance is aligned to the the pole star
27:50which guides the king into the sky at the end of his life maybe the western entrance is aligned
27:55towards the setting of what would have been for the egyptians the biggest most visible star in the sky
28:02the sun
28:06a seismic shift in religious thinking sparked sneferu's demand for a smoothly sloped pyramid
28:13the pyramid shape is no longer like a stairway to heaven like joseph's step pyramid it's a symbol of
28:21the new solar ideology those straight sides mimic the shape of the sun's rays descending down to the earth
28:29before sneferu the pyramids were stairways to the stars allowing the pharaoh to rise up to join the
28:41gods in the night sky after his death but sneferu's pyramid symbolized the pharaoh as a living god
28:49here on earth its smooth sides channeling the divine rays of the sun god ra
28:58sneferu's bent pyramid expressed the pharaoh's wish to embody the living sun god
29:05and he didn't stop there a mile away he built another giant structure off in the distance behind
29:13me is the red pyramid this was sneferu's next great building project a true straight-sided geometric
29:23pyramid it's as if all that experimentation innovation mistakes maybe yes okay trial and error it goes on
29:31over here in the bent pyramid is what allowed sneferu and his builders eventually to accomplish the feat
29:37of a true geometric pyramid and egypt's most prolific pyramid builder continued his quest for greater glory
29:4880 yards away chris picks up a trail this is really interesting it's not entirely obvious
29:56but there's a linear feature here running roughly from the area of the bent pyramid and when i brush
30:04just beneath the surface we'd see this quite brilliant white color so it's clearly some sort
30:09of route between the nile valley and the pyramid here this trail of limestone paving is a causeway
30:21it's part of an entire landscape designed to give the pharaoh everlasting life
30:27sneferu's journey to eternity would begin at a temple beside the nile where priests would prepare his body
30:39and soul for the afterlife when the time came the mummy of the dead king would be carried along the causeway
30:48to a grand pyramid built to protect his body while a smaller pyramid nearby would hold offerings to sustain his spirit
31:03and there was also a chapel designed for people to worship the great king
31:08so his name would live on to the end of time
31:12this was sneferu's grand plan but it's likely that his body was actually buried in the nearby red pyramid
31:24perhaps because the bent pyramid wasn't perfect despite this for the ancient egyptians the bent pyramid was
31:33where sneferu's life continued maybe because its sacred complex is complete
31:38even 700 years after his death ancient egyptians still celebrated sneferu's name for people around
31:49the world and throughout history pyramids are iconic because of their enormous size and the simplicity of
31:56their shape but for the egyptian kings they become an indispensable part the way the king presents himself
32:05as this god on earth and he retains that status for the rest of egyptian history
32:17in abu sir
32:22muhammad's hope to reach king neferiakara's burial chamber has stalled thanks to an unsupported ceiling block
32:30very dangerous it's very stressful right now muhammad has called in expert stonemasons to find a solution
32:42the masons recycle blocks to shore up the 4 500 year old structure
32:49the stones itself are cracking we have to support them this is what he's doing now he's filling all the
32:56joints whilst muhammad waits he spots an opportunity to inspect the roof above the blocked corridor that
33:04lies ahead we will try to enter from this hole which was made by the stone robbers if we are lucky we
33:11will manage to have a look if it's too dangerous i have to come back i think if my wife knows this she will
33:18kill me goodbye muhammad wants to know if the roof has collapsed along the final stretch to the burial chamber
33:29dashing all his hopes
33:32oh my god okay
33:44oh my god
33:50oh my god wow
33:55wow
33:55wow the size of the stones is magnificent i never saw something like this before
34:04i have so many of the slabs of the ceiling some of them in their
34:11original position the crucial stretch of ceiling has not one but three layers of weight-bearing limestone
34:19blocks
34:21it's an incredible piece of engineering designed to keep the king's body intact for eternity
34:28by withstanding the massive weight of the pyramid above
34:35with the unsupported block now secure the team gets back to work
34:39now we'll start carefully removing the stones from the inside
34:48wow power off i don't know if it's a good sign or bad sign but i hope it's a good sign let's see
34:57despite the power cuts the team progresses towards the king's chamber
35:02i'm so excited
35:11in abu sir
35:17mohammed and his team are trying to reach the burial chamber of king neferiakara
35:22we are lucky the light is back i have to say it's not dangerous anymore it goes very smooth
35:33as they dig something catches the archaeologist's eye
35:41unlike the pure white limestone it has a creamy tint
35:45this piece of alabaster for me is very touching because this was made especially for a king
35:55alabaster is a soft translucent stone perfect for carving into canopic jars used to store vital organs
36:03during the mummification process the king usually is buried with four canopic jars this small tiny
36:13fragment it proved that neferiakara was buried was some funerary goods which helped him to go safely
36:20in the afterlife we are getting closer to him and then mohammed spots what he's been looking for
36:32amazing
36:35what i see there a large piece of granite
36:38and it's just there this is part of the lintel this granite lintel is a crucial find
36:47the heavy tough rock marks the gateway to the king's burial chamber
36:54it's good news for us because it's an original position
36:57it's very exciting the lintel is cracked and needs special reinforcement
37:03it means it will be next season before the burial chamber reveals its final secrets
37:10but mohammed has got deeper into king neferiakara's pyramid than anyone on record
37:16shedding fresh light on how these massive monuments were constructed during the era when
37:22pyramid building was rapidly evolving i never imagined that we will reach this point
37:27were beyond my estimation sooner or later we will be on the floor of the burial chamber of the king
37:38at least now are preserving the pyramid of neferiakara the wish of every ancient egyptian is his name
37:46to be remembered his tomb to be preserved and his body to survive in the afterlife
38:02at the sakara pyramids necropolis
38:04camille's team is digging its way towards what they hope is the mystery tumor's burial place
38:16okay they need me down a rare find emerges part of a wooden headrest for a body
38:25and this is very fragile the wood is heavily eroded but it retains its form so this is the middle part of the headrest
38:39it had a flat base and a curved upper part to support the neck of the lying person
38:48this ancient egyptian equivalent of a pillow gives hope there is a body in the burial chamber
38:58camille decides to see for himself
39:05here we go
39:08secured by rope he descends the now empty 35 foot deep shaft
39:18so here is the burial chamber
39:32so evidently the the original owner could not complete his tomb
39:38unlike the carefully cut straight wide walls of the shaft the burial space is cramped and unfinished
39:48the original owner must have been unable to to be buried here maybe not allowed to
39:57maybe he was involved in some illegal business and that's why he was deprived of the right to be buried
40:06so the tomb stood empty not used if camille is right that the person for whom this tomb was built
40:15fell from royal favor and lost the chance of a burial of this prestigious site
40:20it would explain the missing name at the tomb's entrance
40:26but there is a burial pit and it is really huge
40:33camille spots something poking up from the pit
40:36in the corner of the burial pit standing upright it seems that the body was mummified
40:48so the rest of the body might be under the debris
40:54camille now has a suspicion who this body might be
40:57it's not the original owner of the tomb the man who started building it but it might be ptahotep ipi
41:10ptahotep ipi is the royal bodyguard whose name is carved on the false door
41:16his job would have had lower social status than the original owner
41:20it seems that instead of building his own tomb ptahotep ipi took over this unfinished vacant tomb
41:30gaining a rare and prestigious burial spot right next to jose's step pyramid
41:38it may not be very impressive at the first sight but when it comes to information it's amazing
41:45camille's discovery sheds light on the step pyramid's power in ancient egypt
41:55even hundreds of years after its construction when far more impressive pyramids stood not far away
42:02people grabbed a chance to be buried close to the original pyramid
42:07keeping jose's memory alive and perhaps inheriting a taste of his immortality
42:13i would say that i'm satisfied what we have already found is not what we expected
42:23but putting the pieces together we can reconstruct the past
42:33the ore inspiring pyramids are not just tombs they are launchpads for an eternal life
42:39their incredible engineering has stood the test of time for four and a half thousand years
42:47and will likely last many more millennia giving the kings and queens who created them a shot at the
42:55immortality they craved
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