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00:02The Great Pyramids of Egypt.
00:04The sheer size of these monuments is fascinating.
00:08The two highest and biggest were built for Pharaoh Khufu and his son Khafre.
00:14The Khufu pyramid is 480 feet high, and each pyramid contains about 2.5 million blocks.
00:22How were they built?
00:25Over the past few decades, significant discoveries have been made on the very site where they were erected.
00:33But now, far from the Giza Plateau and miles from the pyramids themselves,
00:38we are gaining more insight into just how they were built.
00:42How these huge worksites were created, cementing the strength and power of Egypt.
00:50Two teams of Egyptologists, one based in the middle of the desert, the other located on the Red Sea coast,
00:57are currently discovering more about the Egypt of Khufu's time than at the foot of the pyramids.
01:03What have they found?
01:04How can these new discoveries help them figure out how ancient Egyptians worked?
01:11By reconstructing their techniques and methods, will these teams manage to unlock certain secrets of these great builders?
01:30The Khufu pyramid and those constructed after it were built on the Giza Plateau.
01:35This exceptional site was a huge necropolis for centuries, before being practically forgotten under the sand.
01:44When Napoleon and his troops arrived, at the end of the 18th century,
01:49the bottoms of the pyramids were not visible and the Sphinx was half buried.
01:56For the next century and a half after this memorable expedition,
02:00monumental excavation work was carried out to remove the sand from the Giza Plateau.
02:11In the 1980s, a major new development, Egyptologists Zahi Awas and Mark Lenner discovered the village and cemetery of the
02:20workers who built the pyramid of Khafrei, Khufu's son.
02:27The lives of the pyramid builders began to emerge from the shadows and contradict the cliches written in the Bible.
02:35The Pharaoh's workers were not slaves. They were treated and fed well.
02:40They were organized into 40-person teams. These men were proud to be buried next to their king.
02:48These excavations have continued for 30 years, but the occupation and looting of the site for centuries and centuries after
02:56Khufu's death have obscured a great number of clues.
02:59No papyrus, no written document dating from his reign, have ever been found on the Giza Plateau.
03:07The ravages of time have also destroyed all the large-scale statues of him.
03:12The only likeness of Khufu that has miraculously survived the ages is a tiny ivory figurine currently housed at the
03:20Cairo Museum.
03:27Ironically, today, it's necessary to leave the Giza Plateau in order to move the investigation forward.
03:34More than 120 miles from the pyramids, on the Red Sea coast, at Wadi al-Jarf, new discoveries are changing
03:42the situation and bringing new insight into Khufu's world.
03:52Egyptologist Pierre Thalé and his team come here every year to excavate for two months.
04:04During their mission, around 60 workers supervised by about 10 Egyptologists and archaeologists live here self-sufficiently.
04:13Their camp in the middle of the desert is just a few yards from this ancient site that hasn't been
04:18occupied since it was abandoned 4500 years ago.
04:23What has Pierre Thalé found here that could not have been discovered at the foot of the pyramids?
04:30What was the purpose of these galleries carved into the rock?
04:39We're in a gallery that is typical of Wadi al-Jarf.
04:42These galleries had several functions, but their main function was to house dismantled boats that were stored inside these chambers
04:50between two Red Sea expeditions.
05:00But so far, after eight years of excavating these galleries, an entire boat has not been found, just a few
05:08fragments that sometimes bear inscriptions.
05:14Pierre Thalé has not found the boats he's looking for, but he has discovered traces of Khufu all over the
05:21site.
05:27Here you can see Khufu's cartouche very well. You have to imagine it. In fact, it is written vertically, even
05:33if the block is horizontal.
05:34Here you can read King Khufu's full name very clearly, Khunum Khufu, which literally means, may the god Khunum protect
05:41me.
05:41Here, a scribe drew Khufu's name in cursive with a brush. But in the official version in hieroglyphs, you can
05:49see that the sign of the ram, representing the god Khunum, is clearer.
05:54Pharaoh's names were often linked with a deity, because they themselves were considered to be like gods.
06:02Pierre has found traces of Khufu almost everywhere on this site, which has been untouched by men for 45 centuries.
06:10But the real game-changer was a totally unexpected discovery that any archaeologist who has ever excavated at the foot
06:16of the pyramids would have loved to find.
06:20Here it is, in this very ordinary hole.
06:25In 2013, between these two blocks, Pierre Thalé's team found papyrus fragments, thousands of fragments, which proved to be the
06:34oldest ever discovered in Egypt.
06:38We absolutely did not expect to find this kind of documentation at such a faraway site.
06:43At the beginning, we were searching for a pharaonic harbor, since we had already discovered several.
06:48Very quickly, Pierre was able to translate a few pieces, and he realized that they had just found the detailed
06:55reports of a foreman who worked for Pharaoh Khufu.
07:01You can see that these were logbooks kept by a lower-level supervisor named Merer, who recounted a part of
07:08the Giza pyramid's construction.
07:14This priceless treasure is now protected in the Cairo Museum.
07:20What they found is so fragile and voluminous that six years later, there are still many papyrus fragments to restore
07:28and reassemble.
07:31For this extremely delicate task, Pierre asked one of the world's foremost specialists in ancient papyrus restoration to take care
07:40of his precious discovery.
07:45So that's really fantastic. I don't think anyone's ever seen papyrus like this before.
07:53This papyrus is an administrative report written by a scribe official called Merer. It's a bit like an Excel sheet
08:01that's 45 centuries old.
08:04It scrupulously records the movements of a team of workers, what they do every day, and what they receive in
08:11exchange.
08:15Everything in black is what the team does for the king. Everything in red is what the government does for
08:20the team.
08:21Notice in red, you can see the bread deliveries, which keep the workers fed for a month.
08:27But what truly new information, what scoop, have these papyri revealed?
08:33This document is very important because it allowed us to date all of the archives that were found on this
08:39Wadi Jarf site in 2013.
08:42We have here the date that corresponds to the year after the 13th census of large and small livestock in
08:48the reign of Khufu.
08:52During the ancient kingdom, the accounting of time is done biannually, according to an inventory of the wealth of the
08:58territory that takes place every two years.
09:00The papyrus proves that Khufu's reign lasted longer than previously thought.
09:05He ruled for at least 27 years, not 20.
09:12That gave him much more time to build his pyramid.
09:15Almost a third more time, which changes the estimations Egyptologists have made to unlock the secrets of this immense monument.
09:27But what were Mera and his team of 40 boatmen doing? Where were they going?
09:32One clue can still be found atop the Khafre pyramid.
09:37These white and shining facing stones once covered these gigantic monuments.
09:47There are also a few left at the foot of the north side of Khufu's pyramid.
09:52These blocks of fine limestone, different from those that make up 95% of the volume of the pyramids, come
09:59from a quarry located about 12 miles from the Giza Plateau.
10:04In the Wadi el-Jarf Papyri, Supervisor Mera explains how it took him two or three days to transport these
10:11blocks from Torah to the foot of the pyramids with his team of about 40 boatmen.
10:24A port had been constructed next to the construction site, allowing heavy materials to be transported when the Nile was
10:32at its highest level during the annual flooding.
10:36But that's not all.
10:39It seems that our fragments indicate an area called Ojo Khufu, literally Long Live Khufu, which is supposed to be
10:47at the foot of the pyramid of Khufu.
10:49Pierre thinks that the pharaoh built his palace in this area to have a clear view of the construction site.
10:57After discovering the length of Khufu's reign, this is the second big scoop that Mera's papyri have revealed.
11:04Khufu's palace is probably currently located under the modern city and is undoubtedly waiting to be discovered.
11:11Mera recounts that he stopped in this particular place because the royal archives containing all the important papyri of Khufu's
11:18government was near the palace.
11:25A real gold mine of information that could be buried under the modern city of Cairo.
11:35One person in particular is extremely happy about the discovery of Mera's papyri.
11:41It is the Egyptologist Mark Lenner who has been excavating the Giza Plateau for over 30 years.
11:47Ah, Pierre.
11:49Hello, Mark.
11:50Good to see you.
11:51Yeah, really pleased to meet you again.
11:53Good to see you.
11:55Our lab, it looks small, but it's actually much bigger inside.
11:59Come inside and have a look.
12:01Here, carefully organized and catalogued, there are millions and millions of objects from the village of the workers who built
12:08the pyramid of Khafre.
12:13They are both excited to discuss their mutual finds and check if their discoveries match.
12:19This one's unfinished.
12:21This one's unfinished.
12:21All of this, I think, is like a detective in a crime scene.
12:25It's making an inference.
12:26When you find texts, then they speak to you directly and it's like opening that window.
12:32So, yeah.
12:34We have all the signs that are naming the different files of the gang.
12:40The smaller one, the bigger one.
12:42You have the crooks for the bigger one.
12:45The three strokes, the four strokes for the smaller one and so on.
12:48It's almost every time inscribed.
12:51Ooh, that one's broken.
12:52Yeah, yeah.
12:52It's okay.
12:53But it's perfect.
12:54It's nice.
12:54So, this is what you have.
12:55Yeah, exactly.
12:56That's amazing.
12:57We have got, I think, about 50 of them.
13:01You know, there's a huge, huge irony here.
13:04Yeah.
13:04So, you are in the periphery.
13:06Yeah.
13:06You're out there in an expeditionary force at the edge of the, at the frontier of Egypt.
13:13And you have all these inscriptions and texts.
13:16Yeah.
13:16We are at the center of the bureaucracy in the Egyptian state and all our material culture,
13:22many of which is the same, is blank, is anonymous.
13:26Yeah, it's, it's, it's French.
13:27We certainly are keeping our eyes open.
13:30Yeah, of course.
13:30It would be great to find the house that Merrer stayed in.
13:33Okay.
13:34That's how we would know.
13:35Really great.
13:36It has his name written over the door.
13:38The name on the wall.
13:39Merrer Livreer.
13:43But why was Merrer's diary found at Wadi al-Djarf and not on the Giza Plateau?
13:50What was Merrer doing with his team of 40 boatmen on the Red Sea coast?
14:00After several years of intensive work at the Wadi al-Djarf site, Kert Halle and his team are able to
14:06reconstruct part of the story.
14:10A few kilometers from the galleries cut into the mountains, they excavated a building and port facilities where hundreds of
14:18men could work and sleep.
14:27And at the seaside, they found a jetty from which Khufu ships set sail for Sinai.
14:35Another important clue.
14:37While searching underwater and in the port buildings, they found about a hundred boat anchors.
14:43At that time, anchors were simple limestone blocks with a hole for a rope to pass through.
14:53But what were they looking for on the other side of the Red Sea?
14:58It's certain that they were going to the Sinai Peninsula.
15:01That was certainly one of the major reasons for building this port.
15:04Because Sinai had the largest copper deposits that the Egyptians could mine directly.
15:10Several copper mines dating from Khufu's era and even before his reign have been found in Sinai.
15:17At that time, there was no iron, so the tools that cut the Great Pyramid's 2.5 million blocks of
15:24limestone were made of copper ore.
15:36Starting at Wadi al-Djarf, donkeys must have transported tons of copper across the desert to the pyramid construction site.
15:46Using this desert road, Mera and his team may have made several round trips.
15:57Before returning to the pyramid site with their copper cargo, they would have first arrived in Wadi al-Djarf with
16:04the pieces of their dismantled boats.
16:13From there, they would also have been part of the expeditions to Sinai, an adventure that was apparently not without
16:21risk.
16:23Local populations didn't really welcome the Egyptians.
16:26We found a veritable fortress that the Egyptians had built at exactly the same time as a landing area, so
16:32they protected themselves.
16:35The ancient camp at Wadi al-Djarf, that Pierre has yet to excavate, is also higher up.
16:42This allowed them to monitor their surroundings and prevent any attacks that could threaten their expeditions.
16:52In this hostile context, ancient Egyptians tried to protect their installations at all costs.
16:59Sometimes several years passed between two expeditions to Sinai.
17:03Before leaving, to avoid having their equipment stolen, they stored the dismantled boats in these galleries,
17:10and they carefully closed them with limestone blocks, cut especially for that purpose.
17:22Bedouins living in the desert may have been curious about what was inside the galleries.
17:28Using these large blocks as a locking system was a way to protect what was stored inside.
17:34So these galleries were like safes.
17:37At that time, quality wood was extremely rare and precious.
17:42There was none in Egypt.
17:44They had to go and get it from Lebanon, a land then covered with huge cedar forests.
17:55But how were these huge blocks, used to seal the galleries, cut and transported here?
18:11Today, we would really like to know how long it took and what techniques were used to create this locking
18:17system.
18:20This is the major experimental archaeological project that Pierre Thalé wants to carry out on the Wadi el-Jarf site.
18:28He asked Frank Burgos, a stonemason and a specialist in ancient architecture, to help him with the project.
18:36Their experiment's goal is to better interpret all the archaeological data they can see on the site,
18:42but also to understand how the pyramid of Khufu might have been built.
18:53This experiment will take place about 300 yards from the camp,
18:57just next to the quarry where the ancient Egyptians carved the blocks used to seal Wadi el-Jarf's galleries.
19:05An unfinished block, abandoned before it was finished, has allowed Frank to understand some of the techniques they used.
19:14The block is surrounded by trenches that go all the way around it and are used to extract the block.
19:23We realized that there are workstations that are approximately one meter long.
19:28So every meter, there was a worker.
19:31But then when he entered the trench, he was in a crouched position.
19:35Then he would cut the stone, and once he had finished cutting in front of him, he would turn around
19:40and cut behind.
19:42Using this ancient block as a model, Frank and his team of four workers will extract a 1.5 cubic
19:49meter block with copper tools.
19:53Now we're going to do an experiment to time how long it takes to extract the block.
19:59Frank starts by drawing the trenches that will define their work area and the size of the block they want
20:05to extract.
20:07You have to stay at the same angle or you'll damage the chisel.
20:11Copper is a soft metal that wears down quickly when cutting stone.
20:15So the technique is different working with these tools than working with steel chisels.
20:23But with these copper chisels, the work is extremely long and tedious.
20:28How did the ancient Egyptians manage to produce more efficient results?
20:34Last year, I had the idea to wet the stone because I encountered big problems in my experiment with copper
20:40tools.
20:41I realized that there was a lot of salt in the stone because salt is soluble.
20:45I had the idea of wetting the stone to see if it would soften it up.
20:50We made five times more progress when we wet the stone.
20:56We realized that the stone is really crumbly.
20:59You can crumble it with your fingers.
21:01It is less solid than it was before.
21:03So far, no one has carried out this type of archeological experiment using water.
21:09And this technique is not mentioned in any ancient documents or bas-reliefs.
21:14If his intuition is right, it's a real discovery.
21:25All five of them will work eight hours a day to carve out this block,
21:30which is about the same size as the average block in the pyramid of Khufu.
21:34And every half hour, they have to sharpen their copper tools again.
21:43This archeological experiment, using copper tools and not steel tools,
21:49has never been done properly before.
21:51The result of this test will reveal a lot about the ancient techniques used during Khufu's time.
22:10Wow, I hadn't seen this. You've made a lot of progress.
22:13With one quart of water, you can remove about three inches from an area that's 20 inches squared.
22:19If we hadn't wet the stone, we'd still be at four inches from the surface all around.
22:23That's a huge discovery.
22:42What's surprising is that it broke at the bottom.
22:46You can see the crack that goes down there.
22:48It split at the lowest point.
22:55Bravo!
23:00Thanks to you guys.
23:01Thanks to all of us.
23:04It took us about eight days to finish this experiment.
23:08Now we just have to transport it.
23:10The tools didn't wear down too much, and we used about three quarts of water for the experiment.
23:15Without the water, it would have taken us two or three times longer.
23:18Frank believes that by using water, ancient Egyptians, who were more experienced than the men on his team,
23:25could have cut a block in four to five days at the most.
23:28But what did they do with all the rubble?
23:31The extraction waste was used to make ramps, but also at the entrance of quarries to load the blocks to
23:37handle them easily.
23:40If it took two million or two and a half million cubic meters of stone to build the Khufu pyramid,
23:45that would mean that there were about two, 2.5 million cubic meters of gravel.
23:52So according to Frank Burgos, ancient Egyptians would most probably have also used water to cut the millions of stone
23:59blocks needed to build the pyramids more rapidly.
24:05At the foot of the pyramid of Khufu, we can still see the quarries from which most of the blocks
24:11were extracted.
24:14By building the pyramids, the ancient Egyptians transformed the landscape, changed the geography of the place.
24:21They literally tore off much of the rocky base of the Giza Plateau.
24:27The Sphinx itself is a remnant of this hard limestone plateau, an immense area of which was used to cut
24:34the stones needed for the pyramids.
24:42And all the gravel and excess stone this method produced would have been reused to build ramps.
24:52But what type of ramp did they use 4,500 years ago to transport blocks to a height of 480
25:00feet?
25:00The debate is raging between Egyptologists and specialists, and so many models have been proposed.
25:09A single ramp is either too steep or too long to maintain a realistic slope of no more than 12%.
25:18Several ramps seem to be a very costly solution in terms of time and effort.
25:24Is it an external wrap-around ramp?
25:27Or the kind of internal ramp proposed by architect Jean-Pierre Audin in the 2000s?
25:39For now, there is no definitive evidence that would settle this debate.
25:44Again, it may be necessary to distance ourselves from the pyramids to find some answers.
26:00One hundred eighty-five miles south of the Giza pyramids, a Franco-British archaeological mission, with the help of a
26:07hundred Egyptian workers, is possibly about to make a major discovery.
26:24We are at Hatnub, one of the oldest calcite quarries in the world.
26:28This is where the great pharaohs went to look for a hard and crystalline stone that is also called Egyptian
26:35Alabaster.
26:41Today, there is no Alabaster left in this quarry, which was totally depleted and abandoned in ancient times.
26:56Clearing all the rubble and sand accumulated over the past 2,000 years is a gargantuan task.
27:02And here, there is no tomb or funerary treasure to find.
27:08So why put so much effort into it?
27:14What Yanis Gourdon's team has begun to find on the site could revolutionize our understanding of the major pharaonic construction
27:23sites, particularly that of the Khufu pyramid.
27:27Because here we know that they extracted and hauled a huge alabaster block to make a 58-ton statue for
27:35a pharaoh.
27:40While they were clearing the quarry in search of new inscriptions, Egyptologists found steps and holes carved into the ramp.
27:49They think that these holes were used to wedge huge wooden poles that were part of a very ingenious towing
27:55system.
27:58They have one month to clear as much gravel as possible, around 6,000 tons, to see if there are
28:04similar holes on the right side of the ramp and lower down in the quarry.
28:10But how can we date this ramp carved into the rock inside a quarry that was used for almost 3
28:17,000 years?
28:18How can we be sure that it was used in Khufu's era?
28:21What helps them are the hundreds and hundreds of inscriptions left there by expedition leaders who came all the way
28:29here to extract the sacred alabaster.
28:35So let's have a look on Khufu's inscriptions.
28:39Roland Enmark and Yanis Gordong are experts in hieroglyphics. By listing all the inscriptions in the quarry, they have identified
28:48two cartouches from Pharaoh Khufu.
28:52Even if some of the hieroglyphs have been destroyed, they can still decipher Khufu's royal name.
28:58There's definitely a vase there.
29:00And the quail.
29:01Yes, the quail chick.
29:03And the viper.
29:05Yes.
29:06It is the same signature that has been found all around the Wadi-el-Djarf site and in Maris Papyri.
29:18Yanis Gordong and Roland Enmark decided to dig a trench under a second Khufu cartouche that's also damaged to access
29:26the bottom of the topass,
29:28to see if it's possible to link the Khufu cartouche with the ramp.
29:52A month later, the team has been able to clear the top of the ramp entirely, and a large part
29:58at the bottom of the quarry, where the Khufu cartouche is located.
30:04Were they able to find the clues and information they were looking for?
30:09The amount of rubble and sand deposited here over the past 2,000 years is much greater than they had
30:16estimated.
30:17After digging down about 30 feet under the Khufu cartouche, they have finally reached the base of the ramp.
30:30Yanis and Olivier Lavigne are happy to find another hole carved into the rock that's similar to the one found
30:36at the top of the ramp.
30:38Yes, we've got a new structure here. Here there are some nice tool marks.
30:44So this means that everything was cut in one go, in one piece. The wall, then the steps, and then
30:50after, the holes for the poles.
30:52So now the oldest inscriptions on these walls.
30:55Yeah, that's Khufu.
30:57Which means that the whole thing was made at the latest during Khufu's era.
31:02Thanks to these discoveries, they believe that the ramp must have been created during Khufu's time, or even before.
31:17And at the top of the ramp, just as they had hoped, they uncovered more pole holes and lots of
31:24tool marks.
31:42Olivier measured all the tool marks the workers left in the quarry, especially on the ramp, and the holes and
31:48walls next to it.
31:50He found the same marks everywhere.
31:53Here, apparently, the same teams that arrived on the site and cut this wall also carved the steps and the
31:59holes for the poles, in that order.
32:03In no other quarry have these types of elements been found.
32:07A ramp at a 20 or 25 percent grade, or even more, depending on the location.
32:13And on the sides, there are stairs with holes cut into the rock.
32:17What were these holes used for?
32:20How did this ramp work?
32:23Can it provide new clues about the construction of the pyramids and the ramp system used at the time?
32:30Olivier Lavigne has analyzed all these clues and developed a hypothesis.
32:36So here we have a pole hole.
32:38The wall in front of me is vertical, so the pole was placed here, a large circular pole.
32:43You have to imagine it because it's rather large.
32:47And here we really have a structure that enables, when a big block gets to the towing path, to have
32:53teams above pulling the block and others below with ropes wrapped around the poles here, and who are able, pulling
33:02like this, to make the block go up again.
33:07They take the ropes and pull towards the bottom, and that's what actually makes the block move up.
33:16Behind here there's a big structure, a cross bar that goes here, that ties, that dovetails the pole to wedge
33:23it just behind, because behind here the hole is a little slanted.
33:28It's not easy to make a vertical hole with this kind of tool, and there's another hole here that makes
33:33a strut, and arrives here in the upper part, which supports the upper part of the pole to prevent it
33:38from tilting.
33:42Here you need a log, a tree trunk that's very smooth and quite circular, so that the rope can easily
33:48slide around it.
33:50They would have used mud, silt from the Nile, to lubricate the ramp and slide the block, eliminating friction as
33:57much as possible.
33:59They could move very large blocks up this towpath.
34:03There's a story about a 58-ton colossus that came out of an alabaster quarry like this one, and that
34:09could have been possible here.
34:11So as the block advanced, the teams above would have positioned the ropes ahead of time on the next poles,
34:18so that the block would have moved forward as smoothly as possible.
34:35According to Olivier, this ramp system could have been adapted to the pyramid of Khufu.
34:46But a ramp on a pyramid was not rock. It was built with gravel and bricks.
34:56So they had to secure and stabilize the space between the poles using wooden crossbars inside the ramp, and also
35:04above it.
35:06But is this system feasible?
35:11This hypothesis needs to be tested under real conditions to know for sure.
35:25Of all the pyramids, Khufu's is the most difficult to decipher because its interior architecture is unique.
35:32It raises questions that can't be found anywhere else.
35:44The immensity and ceiling height of the Grand Gallery is a mystery in and of itself.
35:55But the most surprising of all is the king's chamber, built with huge granite blocks, some of which weigh up
36:02to 70 tons.
36:05Wow.
36:07It is the only pyramid that has this kind of interior burial chamber that's located so high up, at 140
36:15feet from the ground.
36:18How did they manage to extract and cut these blocks so perfectly?
36:23Can you see the chisel marks of the stonemasons who made the sarcophagus?
36:29Yes, of course. There are several there. Look here, you can really see them.
36:34What tools and techniques did they use to shape these angles that are so geometrically perfect?
36:43Part of the answer can be found 620 miles from the pyramids, in southern Egypt, in the city of Aswan.
36:54The old granite quarries used during the Pharaonic period are located here on the banks of the Nile.
37:05Some blocks were never finished and extracted from the quarry because they were so gigantic.
37:12The most famous of these monuments is the unfinished obelisk in Aswan.
37:19This giant stone is 137 feet long and weighs about 1200 tons.
37:26It is believed that they stopped working on it because a crack appeared during the extraction process.
37:32These unfinished monuments give astonishing testimony about ancient Egyptians' stone carving techniques.
37:40They reveal some secrets, like how the masons were able to work the stone using other stones that are even
37:47harder than granite.
37:49It's amazing the work that's been done.
37:53To extract the obelisk, you can see the trench they had to create with balls of dolerite, which is a
37:59relatively hard stone.
38:00It is magmatic rock and it is the only tool they had at their disposal to cut granite.
38:10It's really incredible.
38:11Here, they are the same vertical trenches as for the obelisk.
38:15But what we have in addition are horizontal trenches that were used to remove the block, visible here.
38:24That's crazy.
38:32It's very, very uncomfortable.
38:35I think they must have sat down instead.
38:37They were flexible, flexible and small, I think.
38:41So the dolerite balls were used to extract the granite.
38:45But how did they manage to make right angles and perfect edges?
38:49Since it is impossible to do experimental archaeology on this historic site, Frank has decided to launch a new experiment
38:56in Cairo.
39:08Sculptor Nathan Doss and his student Islam al-Sharkawi are used to sculpting granite using modern techniques.
39:16But they have always wondered how their ancestors carved this hard rock without iron tools.
39:24This test is a challenge for them.
39:28After a few minutes striking the stone with the dolerite balls, they have already loosened a large amount of granite
39:34dust.
39:41But for Frank, the real challenge is not to prove the dolerite's effectiveness.
39:46He has no doubt about that.
39:49What he would like to test is how to make perfect angles, like in the king's chamber, without steel tools.
39:57If we hit the edge of the ridge with dolerite bars like this, we'll break the ridge.
40:07According to Frank and other researchers who experimented before him, the perfect recipe is to use an abrasive paste composed
40:16of Nile silt and emery powder.
40:18Emery is one of the only rocks that is much harder than granite.
40:22When emery powder is applied with a single copper blade, it can actually sod the granite.
40:35Okay, do you hear that?
40:39That sound means it's good.
40:45Okay, it needs to squeak.
40:47You just have to be very, very, very patient.
41:07Five millimetres.
41:09Five millimetres?
41:09Five millimetres.
41:13Not bad.
41:15We got to a fifth of an inch.
41:17I think we sawed for 25 minutes to get to a fifth of an inch depth, but over a short
41:22length.
41:25With a longer length, I think it would take a little longer.
41:32For three days, Nathan, Islam and two workers will level two sides of the block, removing between 1.5 and
41:392 inches of their surfaces with dolerite balls.
41:43Then, they will start sawing on two sides to prepare the cutting of a perfect edge.
41:57In Wadi el-Jarf, the mission is coming to a close, but Frank would like to try to move the
42:03limestone block he cut the year before to the camp.
42:09To best prepare the experiment, the workers remove the stones, level the surface, and smooth the towpath as much as
42:17possible.
42:24In a symbolic gesture, Pierre draws the Khufu cartouche and the name of a team similar to Merer's, whose marks
42:32he found on several blocks locking the galleries.
42:39Under the old blocks locking the galleries at Wadi el-Jarf, archaeologists found only timber, but no sleds.
42:49Frank therefore starts with this technique.
42:52His method is to go from the simplest technique to the most complicated.
43:22The sand between the stone and the wood serves to make the stone slide, to reduce the friction between the
43:28stone and the wood a little bit.
43:32All together! Yes! Yes!
43:39Stop! Stop! Stop! Wait! Wait!
43:44It's not doing what we want, and I'm really annoyed.
43:47We don't have the right method, it's not smooth.
43:50And yet, we're going the steepest slope.
43:52We've got to go several hundred yards to get it where we want it.
43:56Several hundred yards wetting the clay, all for a fairly mediocre block for a mediocre structure.
44:01I don't think they did it this way.
44:06Maybe we should try moving it with a sled.
44:09Even a rudimentary one, because for the moment, the block looks like it's stuck to the planks.
44:18I don't know. I just see that it's a lot of effort for too little return.
44:26We'll see tomorrow.
44:30We'll think about it together.
44:32And we'll see.
44:33We'll see.
44:34We'll think about it together.
44:37We'll go, go, go!
44:46In one day, with 33 workers, the block only moved 50 yards on a 25% downward slope.
44:57Frank has only one more day. How can he save the situation?
45:14The decision is made to quickly build a makeshift sled.
45:22Wood against wood, the block suddenly moves much faster.
45:30It's moving much better now.
45:34We just started from there 10 minutes ago.
45:40New test. They try to replace the sand with wet clay.
45:44So?
45:49Look, the sled's not moving.
45:51And so?
45:52Well, it's stuck.
45:55When we put a little wet clay that is supposed to lubricate the system, the block stops moving.
46:04Damn!
46:10So, they go back to the sand solution.
46:16As the experience progresses, workers learn to work together and are more and more efficient.
46:31They reach the camp at the end of the afternoon, 300 yards from their starting point.
46:38Oh!
46:40Same as a sight far!
46:41Same as a «CH rib usted »
47:06do more tests, with purer clay, and also try to pave the path with some pebbles, whose
47:12marks they spotted near the ancient quarry.
47:19He would also like to do tests where the block has to go up a slope.
47:26But what can we understand from this first archaeological experiment concerning the construction
47:31of the Khufu pyramid?
47:34To make a connection with the Great Pyramid, I think we can expect 35 yards per hour for
47:41a block of this size.
47:43That might be the most pessimistic estimation.
47:47I think they were more experienced.
47:49They had a much more functional technique that certainly allowed them to go faster than that.
47:58Before leaving for friends, Frank returns to Cairo to the workshop of the Egyptian sculptors,
48:05just as the edge begins to emerge from the block.
48:10For this delicate operation, Nathan decided to use flint tools rather than dollarite balls
48:15that are too big, and therefore less precise, for this finishing work.
48:30They managed to make a perfect angle with the tools available in Khufu's era.
48:35Dolarite balls, a copper blade, an abrasive emery paste, and flint.
48:54It's a great experiment.
48:59I've always read about the ancient techniques, something that worried me a lot since I'm a sculptor.
49:06So, to be able to do with yourself, that's something.
49:15Experimental archaeology really allows us to better understand the movements and techniques
49:20used by ancient Egyptians.
49:23Frank's experiments showed that they probably used water to cut the two million blocks of
49:29limestone that make up the Great Pyramid of Khufu.
49:33Otherwise, they would not have been able to cut so many blocks in less than 27 years with
49:39copper tools.
49:43With this method, they would have extracted as much rubble and unusable material as they
49:49did cut stones, which would have allowed them to build ramps easily and be able to transport
49:54the blocks up to a height of 480 feet.
50:01Patnub's ramp indicates that they could pull large blocks on ramps at grades over 20 percent,
50:08not just 12 percent maximum, as previously thought.
50:16They used wood, wooden sleds, perhaps moistened silt, and maybe sand to reduce friction.
50:26Many major archaeological experiments still need to be carried out to try to get a clearer picture.
50:32These tests require long preparation and training for the teams involved.
50:39Because again, the devil is always in the details.
50:50Thanks to decades of archaeological work done on the Giza Plateau, confirmed by Pierre Talley's
50:57discoveries, it has become possible to reconstruct the Giza Plateau and the workers' daily lives
51:03during the construction of the Khufu pyramid.
51:07We know where the pools and canals specially built to carry the materials were located,
51:13and where the Khufu Palace and the Royal Archives probably stood.
51:18To build the pyramids, these exceptional builders also had to create a strong centralized state
51:25where everything was planned and organized down to the smallest detail.
51:30The wood that was essential to construct boats was brought from Lebanon.
51:34The copper ore to build the tools came from Sinai.
51:37The granite was carved in Aswan and transported along the Nile
51:41to the construction site on the Giza Plateau, as were the stones from Tura.
51:50Without the pyramids, perhaps ancient Egypt would not have become the great civilization it was.
51:56A reference, an inspiration that has spanned the centuries and that still challenges our thinking today.
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