What's inside the pyramids? When people think of the pyramids, they usually imagine mummies, treasures and golden sarcophagi. But they were much more than just that! For example, the Great Pyramid of Giza is about 450 feet tall and it's the biggest pyramid in Egypt. So it must have a lot of cool stuff inside, right? So what did the scientists manage to discover?
00:00The Great Pyramid was created as the final resting place of ancient Egyptian monarch Khufu.
00:12According to legend, French leader Napoleon entered the Great Pyramid and came back out looking shaken and super pale.
00:20He never revealed what he saw inside, but whatever it was, it's said to have affected him for the rest of his life.
00:26When Napoleon entered the pyramid, he would have walked through a super tight and ascending passageway.
00:32He'd then go through another passageway, known as the Great Chamber.
00:37This corridor would have been much taller than the previous one, and would have cobbles too.
00:42He'd then reach the King's Chamber, the centerpiece of the Great Pyramid, which was lined with huge blocks of granite.
00:49But it wouldn't have looked as grand as we might imagine.
00:52There are no hieroglyphics decorating its walls, as Egyptians only began decorating the burial chambers of pyramids much later on.
01:00The pharaoh's tombs deep inside the pyramid would have also been filled with treasures, from chunks of gold to the world's most expensive jewelry.
01:09But this would have all been looted a long time ago.
01:13The only thing that probably would have been left in there would have been a huge sarcophagus, which would have once contained the king's mummy.
01:20He'd also have to walk past the queen's chamber.
01:24This room most likely didn't hold any queens, though, as pyramids were usually only built for one person.
01:30There are mysterious tunnels leading from here.
01:33To this day, no one is really sure what they're there for.
01:37And that's not the only mysterious and creepy thing Napoleon may have encountered,
01:41as stories of pharaohs leaving ancient curses on pyramids go way back.
01:46Many pyramids had warnings written on the outside, telling of horrifying things that would happen to those who entered and disturb the peace.
01:55We might not know what exactly Napoleon found in the Great Pyramid that scared him so much,
02:00but we know for sure what was found in Tutankhamen's tomb.
02:05Tutankhamen was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who was only eight or nine years old when he took to the throne.
02:10He became a cultural phenomenon when his tomb was discovered almost completely intact in 1922.
02:18His pyramid sits in the Valley of Kings in Thebes, modern Luxor, which is in Egypt.
02:24Unlike the Great Pyramid, Tutankhamen's tomb was covered in beautiful wall decorations.
02:29The walls told the story of how he would travel to the afterlife through the underworld.
02:33Egyptians believed all people would have to take this journey,
02:37so they would fill their tombs with objects and paintings to help them get there.
02:42There'd also be spells painted on the walls.
02:45They believed this would help people pass over to the next realm.
02:48The journey would be pretty long, and for that reason,
02:52the ancient Egyptians would also fill the pyramids with food.
02:55Tutankhamen's pyramid was filled with eight fruit baskets.
02:59They even found something called gingerbread fruit in there.
03:02The rooms were jam-packed with furniture, statues, clothes, and staffs, amongst a whole bunch of other things.
03:10You'd likely find a lot of clothes and expensive jewelry in the pyramids as well.
03:14The ancient Egyptians wanted their ancestors to travel in style to the afterlife.
03:19They put Tutankhamen in his final resting place with over 50 pieces of clothing, all of the highest quality.
03:26There were tunics, scarves, gloves, and headdresses, and a ton of jewelry.
03:31Bracelets, pennants, necklaces, rings, and scarabs for protection were all found inside.
03:38Each of them was made of gold or precious stones.
03:41There were also fans made of ostrich feathers to keep the old pharaoh cool in the hot Egyptian sun.
03:47But the temperature inside the pyramids never actually went above 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
03:53The ancient Egyptians developed a super cool air conditioning system that we don't fully understand even today.
04:00Tutankhamen's pyramid also contained 130 walking sticks made from ebony, ivory, silver, and gold to help him on his journey.
04:09There were three chariots hidden away in case he got tired of all the walking.
04:13They also put 11 boat paddles inside, but there was no sign of any boat.
04:19The pyramids would be littered with the pharaoh's favorite scents and perfumes.
04:23During the excavation of Tutankhamen's pyramid, it quickly became clear that it had been robbed during ancient times.
04:31There was damage to doors and traces of oils left in empty jars.
04:35It looked like someone raided the pyramid for gold and the scents, perfumes, and oils that had been left for King Tut.
04:42There was still a bit of perfume, which was made from coconut oil and frankincense, left in one bottle.
04:49It seems like pharaoh Tutankhamen loved board games.
04:52There was an ivory traveling set of Senet in his pyramid.
04:56Although we don't know for sure exactly how to play it, we have figured out it was sort of an ancient Egyptian version of backgammon.
05:03It looks like it was a two-player game where the goal was to knock your opponent off the board.
05:09Not really sure who Tutankhamen's mummy was supposed to play with, though.
05:13The ancient Egyptians had some rituals that may seem pretty strange to us.
05:17For example, they used to shave their eyebrows off if they ever lost a cat.
05:22So it's not too surprising they put some really weird things inside pyramids.
05:27Archaeologists discovered a collection of mummified cats and scarab beetles in pyramids that date back more than 4,000 years.
05:36They were found in the pyramids of Saqqara, which is south of Cairo.
05:40They also found a bunch of makeup kits and mirrors inside.
05:43Makeup was worn proudly by both men and women in ancient Egyptian times.
05:48Eyeliner was the most popular cosmetic.
05:51The Rosetta Stone was one of the best discoveries ever made in pyramids.
05:55It was found by our man Napoleon Bonaparte and his team.
05:59It's a black granite rock that dates back to 196 BCE.
06:04It's transcribed in Greek, Demotic, and Hieroglyphic.
06:08When it was translated in 1822, we got the key to understanding ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics for the very first time.
06:16The discovery of Queen Hatshepsut's mummy in 1903 changed our understanding of the Egyptians forever.
06:24After she had passed away, her successor, Sadmusi III, removed most of the evidence of her reign.
06:31So we basically knew nothing about Egypt's first great female leader.
06:35She's now gone on to become one of the few and most famous female pharaohs of Egypt.
06:40Pharaoh Khufu even had a fully-fledged boat in his pyramid.
06:44Archaeologists uncovered more than 1,200 pieces of a giant boat near the Great Pyramid at Giza.
06:51They reassembled the boat, and it's a whopping 144 feet long.
06:56It's most likely a solar boat, which was designed to carry the resurrected king with the deity Ra.
07:02Fun fact!
07:03The Pyramid of Giza is the last remaining of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
07:08The other six are the Hanging Gardens, the Colossus, the Temple of Artemis, the Mausoleum, the Lighthouse, and the Statue of Zeus.
07:17This pyramid was also the world's tallest man-made structure for 3,800 years, and it's the biggest pyramid in Egypt.
07:25It took a staggering 2.3 million blocks of limestone, and some weighed as much as 80 tons.
07:31It took an incredible 100,000 laborers and a whopping 23 years to build.
07:37Its original height was a mega 480 feet.
07:41In 2017, archaeologists discovered something weird about Egypt's Great Pyramid.
07:47There's a hidden void that's at least 100 feet long, and no one really knows why it's there or what's actually inside it.
07:54The Weird Void is the first inner structure discovered within the 4,500-year-old pyramid since the 1800s.
08:02Scientists used cosmic rays to detect the massive hole, but are still no closer today to finding out what's inside.
08:10The ancient Egyptians took a lot of care building the pyramids, and everything was strategically placed and structurally sound.
08:17So it's super unlikely that this hole is due to blocks falling over time.
08:21Loads of pyramids also contained small model figurines called Ushabti.
08:27These represented attendants.
08:29They believed they would come to life to serve the pharaohs in the afterlife.
08:33But it's amazing that all this stuff actually fit inside.
08:37There isn't actually a huge amount of space inside the structures.
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