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Examines the pyramids of Egypt and how they were possibly built as well as what purpose they could have served.
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00:00It seems impossible that an empty desert could hide one of the world's greatest secrets.
00:12Yet in this wasteland stands a wondrous enigma, the great pyramids of ancient Egypt.
00:17Some call them tombs, others say they were beacons to ancient spacemen.
00:32Still others believe they are generators of energy.
00:36The secret of the pyramids has eluded men for thousands of years.
00:40If they were merely tombs for the pharaohs, why has no mummy ever been found in one?
00:47We do know that the ancients built great temples to the forces they believed ruled their lives after death.
00:58In sacred places, near the pyramids, Egyptians prepared the most important of their citizens for a journey into life everlasting.
01:08No other ancient civilization lavished as much genius on defeating time, on defeating death.
01:17Is it possible the Egyptians succeeded?
01:21Seldom do the dreams and wisdom of a civilization come together in a single work.
01:28It happened once, a very long time ago.
01:31In the pure and simple geometry of the pyramids, ancient Egypt may have found answers to profound mysteries.
01:42It is for modern men to rediscover them.
01:44This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture.
01:56The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones, to the mysteries we will examine.
02:03Cairo is often called the intellectual capital of the Arab world.
02:10It is a reputation founded in antiquity.
02:13Despite the crowding, poverty and conflicts of the present, Cairo is irrevocably linked to its brilliant past.
02:22On the outskirts of the city are the reminders of an incredible dream.
02:32From the summit of the Great Pyramid of Chaops, it is still possible, after 4,000 years, to see ruined temples nestled at the foot of its ageless companion, the Pyramid of Kephrim.
02:43Long ago, a staggering number of people and immense amounts of material were needed to construct the monoliths.
02:51The Egyptians must have had a very good reason for sacrificing so much.
02:56What was it?
02:58In its finished form, the Great Pyramid was gleaming white and was capped with a block of some special material.
03:04The cap may have been polished granite or even gold.
03:07Higher than a 40-story building, the Great Pyramid was an awesome monument to some higher order in an untamed desert world.
03:16It is awesome still, more than 40 centuries later.
03:23Through the ages, the mystery of the pyramid has inspired many theories.
03:27Among them, the idea that the pyramid is Earth Base One, remnant of the colonization of Earth by extraterrestrials.
03:37Others liken the pyramid to a mammoth radio beacon, or a collector of some secret energy source.
03:53Whatever it was 4,000 years ago, it is today the single most perplexing monument in the world.
04:00What must the builders have been like?
04:02There is ample evidence that the ancients were fascinated with time and the rhythm of life along the Nile.
04:11Each year, their farmland would be renewed by rich deposits from the flooding river.
04:16If the soil could be revived, why not the spirit and body of man?
04:26The pyramids may have played a central part in a quest for immortality.
04:31Whatever their function, never has history seen such a total commitment of manpower and resources to a single task for so long a time.
04:39For each worker in the stone quarries or at the building site, several more would be needed to provide the food and other services required by so vast an enterprise.
04:54Unless the ancients had another way.
04:58Other great civilizations built artificial mountains.
05:05They reach above the jungle canopy of Yucatan and Central America.
05:10Steps to the stars.
05:14None, however, has inspired the intense curiosity that the pyramids of Egypt have.
05:21Part of the Egyptian secret may be that theirs was the only civilization to perfect the true pyramid.
05:34That burst of genius apparently occurred in the third millennium before Christ at a place called Saqqara, west of modern Cairo.
05:41A pharaoh named Zoser commissioned the first known Egyptian pyramid.
05:47If Zoser's pyramid was intended to be a tomb, it was an unusual one.
05:52Tombs had previously been simple structures of mud brick.
05:56Never had they been translated to stone and stacked one atop the other.
06:01The next step in the evolution of the true pyramid was to create a smooth facing on a step pyramid.
06:07The attempt failed and the pyramid collapsed.
06:11Only the central core was left standing.
06:14The disaster occurred as work was advancing on another pyramid.
06:18Mindful of a lesson, the architect obviously switched to a shallower angle, creating the so-called bent pyramid.
06:25The neighboring pyramid is newer and constructed at the same shallow angle as the upper portion of the bent pyramid.
06:38Experiments continued for perhaps a thousand years.
06:42Incredibly, 80 structures survived, providing vivid examples of pyramid evolution.
06:47The glory days of the pyramid age came around 2500 BC, when the pharaoh Chaops ordered a pyramid built at Giza.
06:57The angles were steep and the scale gargantuan.
07:04Chaops' successor, Kephrin, built another pyramid nearby.
07:09It is slightly smaller, but no less perfect in symmetry or design.
07:13The orthodox view is that the pyramids were constructed using large ramps of brick and earth.
07:21These ramps would be constructed at gentle angles, so that huge gangs of workers could push the big building blocks upwards.
07:29This traditional view holds that once the interior core of the pyramid was finished,
07:34the job of surfacing the pyramid would begin at the top and work down.
07:38The ramps would be dismantled along the way.
07:42How many years of labor must it have taken to move those blocks?
07:46When the Greek historian Herodotus stood at the foot of the Great Pyramid in 450 BC,
07:51he was told that it was built in 30 years by a rotating workforce of 120,000 men.
07:57Kephrin's pyramid must have required a similar effort.
08:00It should be remembered that the Egyptians accomplished other feats in their golden age.
08:07They developed surgery, plotted the movements of their stars, and worked with advanced mathematics.
08:13What the ancients accomplished, they apparently did without benefit of the pulley or block and tackle.
08:18It is clear, however, that the Egyptians had developed the powers of their minds to a high degree.
08:26Science is only beginning to learn what those powers can mean.
08:33The simple and amazing fact is that the Egyptians consistently built on a colossal scale.
08:38If we had only their monuments and temples to judge them by, we would have to assume they were a race of giants.
08:48So that was a terrible occasion, try to capture them by their dreams.
08:51Ask the Ephesians who would just sort of sin, to show theürü Without Thank Youtube gods of their fans
08:56by and disturbing their graves tierra and praises themselves.
09:01When the shore has been and of its heat, all the
09:14What mystery did the Sphinx guard?
09:21Was there something inside the pyramid?
09:24In the 9th century AD, an Arab prince named Mahmoud rode to the pyramids with no thought
09:30of their grandeur.
09:36It was treasure he was after.
09:44His men set to work with gunpowder and battering rams.
09:50When they had breached the outer defenses of the pyramid, they found only a labyrinth
09:54of passageways and chambers.
09:57They were empty.
09:58The secret had not yielded to force.
10:02The Great Pyramid is unique in the complexity of its interior.
10:06Slicing the pyramid from north to south, we get this view.
10:09Our scale is exaggerated for a better look at the design.
10:13The pyramid rests on a central mound of uncleared earth, perhaps left as a base for constructing
10:18the first few levels of blocks.
10:21The entrance is in the north face, 55 feet above the ground.
10:25A corridor extends 60 feet down into the pyramid, where it joins another corridor, 129 feet
10:33in length.
10:34This corridor leads by another passageway to the so-called Queen's Chamber and to a gallery
10:41153 feet long and 28 feet high.
10:46Beyond this magnificent gallery is the King's Chamber, repository of one of mankind's most
10:52enduring mysteries.
10:53Today, visitors can see the chamber just as it was when it was opened a thousand years
10:59ago.
11:00It may indeed have been intended as the final resting place for chaos.
11:05No body has been found, however, and the rough finish of the granite centerpiece may indicate
11:10that the builders changed their minds.
11:13But here, question piles upon question.
11:20Another puzzle is the existence of shafts extending from the King's Chamber and the Grand Gallery
11:27to the surface of the pyramid.
11:29They may have been designed simply for ventilation, or they may have worked to align the pyramid with
11:34some planet or star which could be sighted through the shaft at regular intervals during
11:39the Earth's movement through the heavens.
11:44Surviving records of the pyramid age indicate that the Egyptians had an advanced knowledge
11:48of astronomy.
11:49This could explain how the faces of the pyramid are so precisely aligned with the cardinal points
11:55of the compass.
11:55It does not explain why it was so important for the pyramids to be perfectly tuned to the stars.
12:07The architectural patterns established so long ago by the best minds of Egypt are still
12:12in use today.
12:14Although no one knows anything for sure about the origin or purpose of the true pyramid, many
12:19believe they can tap its supposed powers.
12:23Belief in pyramid power has generated a multi-million dollar industry.
12:28Pyramid models are thought to be able to perform a variety of miracles, from enhancing sexual potency
12:34to mummifying meat and sharpening razor blades.
12:39Others see, in the dimensions of the Great Pyramid, a detailed forecast of humanity's future.
12:50The future never seemed to be in doubt for the ancients.
12:54Scholars have labored for years over the hauntingly beautiful carvings that decorate the great monuments
12:59of Egypt.
13:06They tell us that the most important qualities of life were harmony with the gods and the
13:11permanence of the established order.
13:14In the panorama of Egypt's twenty-seven centuries of unparalleled accomplishments, there was not
13:19the slightest indication that anyone thought it would ever come to an end, yet it did.
13:26Why?
13:27Perhaps a clue lies in the belief that even the lifetime of the humblest peasant could extend
13:33beyond the grave.
13:34There was one condition.
13:36The body must remain preserved and undisturbed.
13:40The rites of death were performed in elaborate temples, waystations for the immortal soul.
13:48Preparation of the body took seventy days.
13:51All organs were removed and the shell of the body treated with salts and exotic oils.
13:58Enough mummies have been found to testify to the skill of the ancient technicians of immortality.
14:04Is it possible the Egyptians dreamed of a day when techniques more advanced than their own
14:08could restore vigor to dry flesh?
14:13Scientists are using modern techniques on the mummies, not to restore them to life, of course,
14:18but to learn something of the remarkable people who built pyramids and dreamed of life everlasting.
14:25X-rays reveal that the Egyptian of the period was small in stature and likely to fall victim
14:30to the same diseases which afflict mankind today.
14:35If the deceased was of noble blood, his funeral would include a symbolic boat.
14:40The boat would be borne by priests in the guise of the deities who would ensure that the spirit
14:45was ready for a voyage to the kingdom of the dead.
14:51There would be a preliminary voyage across the river Nile to the west bank where cities
14:56of the dead were traditionally built.
14:59After the pyramid age, the greatest of these was the Valley of the Kings in Upper Egypt.
15:13It was in the Valley of the Kings that Howard Carter discovered the undisturbed tomb of Tutankhamen.
15:19The discovery remains the richest in the history of Egyptian archaeology.
15:43Tutankhamen was a minor king who died young after a brief rain.
15:48Chaops reigned more than twenty years and had the wealth and the power to construct one
15:53of the wonders of the world.
15:55If the mortuary temple near the Great Pyramid is any indication, Chaops' funeral must have
16:00been a far more lavish affair.
16:03If he was buried in the pyramid, he may be there still, and with him, treasure beyond anything
16:09seen so far.
16:12Small wonder Chaops took precautions.
16:14Once Chaops was entombed, the pyramid was sealed by workers inside.
16:23Starting with the ascending corridor, they would push or drop large blocks into each connection
16:28with another corridor.
16:30Did the workers then perish with their dead king?
16:34Probably not.
16:35A crude passageway has been found, which starts deep beneath the pyramid and eventually leads
16:41back outside.
16:43The workers charged with protecting Chaops for all maternity apparently protected themselves
16:49with a hidden way out.
16:54It may be that the hidden way out provided looters with access to Chaops' tomb.
17:01It is just as likely that Chaops' secret is still safely locked inside the pyramid.
17:11At Stanford Research Laboratory in Menlo Park, California, a team directed by geophysicist
17:17Lambert Dolphin is preparing another assault on the secrets of the pyramid.
17:23The Great Pyramid is an example of a structure beautifully finished on the exterior originally.
17:29The casing stones were so perfect.
17:31Where you see them in place, they're beautifully, accurately finished.
17:34But the interior stones are very rough.
17:36When you can crawl inside the interior passages, the tourist doesn't see.
17:41The interior construction is rough.
17:43It says to me that no astronauts from outer space using laser stone-cutting tools built
17:49the pyramids.
17:50We put razor blades inside the real pyramids and flowers and fruit.
17:56Our experience last time in the Pyramid of Chaops was that the razor blades rusted, the
18:00flowers wilted, and rats ate the fruit.
18:03So firsthand, we have no evidence of pyramid power operating in the real pyramids.
18:09I personally am very skeptical about the power of the pyramids to influence
18:13human behavior or sharpened razor blades, apart from the strong powers of human suggestion
18:19in a belief system.
18:20When people believe in something strongly, they can make it come true.
18:23And that's pyramidology, and then that's a lot of other phenomenon as well.
18:29I'm skeptical also about lost golden tablets from Atlantis being buried in the area.
18:35I don't believe the Egyptians needed some kind of esoteric outer space technology to do
18:40what they did.
18:41What they did was very impressive, 100,000 men working for 30 years.
18:45There's an awful lot of labor and effort to build one pyramid, and that kind of construction
18:51went on for two or three hundred years.
18:52Dr. Dolphin is pioneering a new technology which may enable archaeologists to peer through
18:58the pyramids electronically without destroying them.
19:02Our work in 1974 using radar was unsuccessful because radio signals do not penetrate the pyramids
19:12well.
19:13The radio waves are absorbed in the damp stone.
19:17We went back, however, last February with sound waves, acoustic-sounding techniques, and
19:23found a number of anomalies.
19:25Places in the pyramids, around the pyramids where there appear to be either chambers,
19:29cracks, either man-made or natural.
19:32An example of an anomaly which we think needs to be checked further is an apparent cavity in
19:39between the king's chamber and the queen's chamber in the pyramid of chaos.
19:43Sounder indicates something there where there ought to be solid rock.
19:50If there is a hidden chamber in the pyramid, will it contain unimaginable treasure, or will
19:56it be just another cipher, leaving the long rest of chaos undisturbed and the secrets of
20:02the pyramids intact?
20:15As the treasures of Tutankhamen tour the United States, it is clear that interest in Egyptology
20:21has never been greater.
20:23Perhaps people are responding to a dissatisfaction with the way modern thinkers view the world,
20:28a yearning to understand a more ancient and tranquil wisdom.
20:33I certainly believe that Western science has demythologized our contemporary society too
20:38much, that there really is mystery all around us.
20:43I'm dedicated to the rediscovery of the mystery in life, to the unknown, to the unusual, to the
20:49rare.
20:50I think that Egypt is a place where there are many exciting discoveries yet to be made.
20:54The pyramids still have their secrets.
20:57The discoveries to be made in the years to come are likely to be dramatic and sensational,
21:01as man learns more about himself and his origins.
21:05And Cairo itself is a city of mystery, and the East is an exotic place.
21:11It stirs the very best in man, and I think we've lost that kind of consciousness in the
21:16course of becoming Western civilized man.
21:23Perhaps the ultimate accomplishment of the pyramid builders is yet to be realized.
21:28Their monuments may one day lead us to rediscover the greater wonder that is the mind of man.
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