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00:08Egypt, towering monuments, mythic tombs, and fabled pharaohs.
00:20Much of today's fascination with ancient Egypt was ignited a century ago
00:25with the discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb.
00:30It really set off the mass global phenomenon.
00:35This is a story that had everything.
00:37It was a discovery of treasure, it was gold, it was beautiful, precious metal.
00:42Extraordinary discoveries that fired the public imagination.
00:46The reaction was unprecedented and phenomenal.
00:50It unfolded during a time of political upheaval.
00:55As Egypt pushed for independence.
00:59Sparking a race to control Egypt's story that has repercussions that still play out today.
01:06There was this push of, we're not only reclaiming the land, we're reclaiming the heritage.
01:14Thousands of black and white photographs and reels of film survive from those transformative years.
01:21Now, advanced restoration and colorization revive these rare images.
01:30Revealing the race for ancient Egypt like never before.
01:35These images speak to a moment in history when ancient Egypt becomes something that everybody wants a piece of.
01:55In Egypt, mortuary temples were built to honor and facilitate the worship of deceased pharaohs.
02:03To ensure the celebrated king's successful journey to the afterlife.
02:12But this is not built for a pharaoh.
02:17This is built for Saad Zerloul, who died in 1927.
02:23And like the pyramids around 10 miles in that direction, this isn't just a tomb.
02:31This is a national monument.
02:38This neo-pharaonic mausoleum in the heart of Cairo was designed with ancient Egyptian symbolism befitting of a veered leader.
02:48There are so many neo-pharaonic mausoleum in the heart of Cairo was designed with ancient Egypt.
02:50There are so many neo-pharaonic nods here.
02:52We have Horus, who was the protector of the land.
02:56The god Nehbet, who was a symbol of unity.
03:01And we also have on the doors many cobras.
03:05Cobras being a symbol of sovereignty.
03:13At a time when foreign powers held sway over Egypt's heritage, Zerloul looked to reclaim it.
03:21He was Egypt's first democratically elected prime minister and a driving force in the 1919 Nationalist Revolution.
03:30Until this point, Egypt had lived under foreign control, occupied by Britain since 1882.
03:40Zerloul led the movement to change this.
03:43In 1922, Britain granted Egypt partial independence.
03:49In Egypt today, he is regarded as a hero.
03:55Zerloul was honoured with something befitting, something that echoed the grandeur of Egyptian history.
04:04It's fitting because he used and saw Egyptian heritage as a way of uniting the nation.
04:13Heritage for him was a unifying factor, essential for Egyptians to reclaim their country.
04:22Zerloul's rise to power coincided with the greatest archaeological discovery.
04:29The tomb of Tutankhamen.
04:36It was a find so incredible, it set the world alight.
04:43Sad Zerloul saw this as a clear symbol of how Egypt needed to take control of its own heritage.
04:51Zerloul's waft government achieved just that, expelling Howard Carter.
04:57With more artefacts to uncover, and Tut's body yet to be revealed, the government took over control of the site.
05:05But they hoped that soon, Egyptian archaeologists would be the ones making groundbreaking discoveries.
05:13Archaeologists like Salim Hassan.
05:20Salim Hassan trained at the Egyptian Museum.
05:22He'd studied in Paris, which was well established as one of the great centres for Egyptology in the world by
05:28this time.
05:29He was ambitious and there was the opportunity for him to be a pioneer in this as well.
05:36If he could establish himself as one of the leading lights in archaeology in Egypt, as an Egyptian, he'd be
05:41among the first to do that.
05:43While Egyptians like Hassan were hoping to take control of their country's past,
05:49some Western archaeologists were unhappy with the shift in power.
05:55But after less than a year in government, the ruling waft party suffered a setback.
06:01A high-ranking British officer was assassinated on Cairo's streets.
06:07This led to a huge reaction from Britain, who told the waft party that they were not in control,
06:15unable to manage the situation in Egypt.
06:18But the British, who were still de facto in control, asserted their power.
06:24They put the squeeze on the fledgling government.
06:31Most of the demands that were made of them was actually unrealistic and unattainable.
06:36And they felt that the moral thing was to resign,
06:40because the feeling that this was just an excuse or an obstruction of them being in power.
06:46The government was replaced with a new, more compliant one.
06:53Carter was invited back.
06:56On January 25th, 1925, he wrote in his journal,
07:03The tomb of Tutankhamen, together with the keys,
07:06were handed over to me this morning by the government commission.
07:14So at this point, the tomb is already an enormous sensation.
07:17It's probably already clear that it's the greatest archaeological discovery of all time.
07:23We also know with hindsight that, in fact, the most famous objects from the tomb are yet to be revealed.
07:31The very most famous pieces are still hidden away inside the sarcophagus, inside a nest of coffins.
07:39In early 1926, the first pictures of these now iconic artefacts,
07:45taken by photographer Harry Burton, shot around the world.
07:53The general public was eager to see the first images of the incredible golden face of King Tutankhamen.
08:03What we see here is the sarcophagus of the king after the lid had been removed.
08:09And we are looking at the outermost of altogether three coffins
08:14that were inside that sarcophagus and that protected the mummified body of the king.
08:18This coffin was made of gilded wood.
08:22And one of my favorite images is this close-up on his face,
08:26where on the forehead you can see that lovely floral wreath.
08:34It was made of cornflowers and olive leaves.
08:35Seen in black and white a hundred years ago,
08:37these images would have astonished.
08:43Today, after restoring and colorizing,
08:47we get a sense of what Carter and his team would have gazed upon.
08:52A scene lost forever.
08:56It was made of cornflowers and olive leaves.
09:00And that was one of the objects, like several of the organic, the botanical objects,
09:06that of course turned into dust when they were touched.
09:08So the images we have of Harry Burton are extremely valuable
09:12because they record something that is gone today.
09:18After the lid of the outer coffin was removed,
09:21the middle coffin was revealed,
09:23which was originally covered in linen shrouds
09:28and also decorated with this very delicate floral garland
09:32that were again made of cornflowers, also of blue lotus, of willow and olive leaves.
09:38Carter and his team would have looked upon these dark shrouds
09:43and through them glimpsed another gilded coffin.
09:50The linen and garlands were removed
09:53to reveal the full beauty of the second sarcophagus.
09:58The second lid was opened to reveal the third and final coffin.
10:05The third coffin was made of pure gold
10:09and after its lid had been lifted,
10:12they finally had a look at what was inside
10:14and that was the mummified body of the king
10:16and of course the iconic funerary mask.
10:20Made of over 10 kilograms of gold
10:23and inlaid with semi-precious stones,
10:26it became symbolic of Tutankhamen.
10:34Being allowed back into the tomb
10:37to uncover this incredible artefact
10:39was a major win for Carter,
10:42whose name was now inextricably linked with the pharaoh.
10:47However, access came with a major concession.
10:52Previously, western archaeologists
10:54had been allowed to take half of all their finds back home.
10:59Now, the entire treasure,
11:01the sarcophagi, the death mask,
11:04the chariots, the sculptures,
11:06all would remain in Egypt.
11:10Even with the new Britain-friendly government,
11:13Egyptian nationalists have secured a major victory
11:16in the race to reclaim their history.
11:20This is really a watershed moment in archaeology in Egypt.
11:24It sets a precedent according to which the antiquities service
11:28and the Egyptian authorities are going to have control
11:31over which things might be allowed to leave and might not
11:34and there's always the possibility
11:35that they will not allow anything to leave at all.
11:39This created shockwaves in the Egyptological establishment
11:43because suddenly someone who was used to taking back some rewards,
11:48a return on the investment of museums or universities or funders,
11:54suddenly might be left with nothing.
11:56That changed the landscape.
11:58What western archaeologists had long taken for granted
12:01was suddenly out of reach.
12:03The new rules left many dismayed.
12:07But they kept digging.
12:10The race for ancient Egypt was far from over.
12:21Fascination with ancient Egypt in the 1920s was such
12:25that even after the export rules limited
12:28what could be taken from excavations,
12:31western archaeologists still raced to lead digs.
12:36There was still prestige, knowledge and the thrill of discovery.
12:41I think there is a shift in the race, if you like,
12:46from acquiring things and physically taking a trophy away
12:50to intellectual control of ancient Egypt.
12:54On the ground, westerners remained in the driving seat.
13:02Unfortunately, it's not a very pretty story
13:04in terms of Egyptians being able to take over
13:07more of their own cultural heritage
13:09and direct their own excavations.
13:11Remember, the British are controlling the government
13:13and the French are controlling the antiquity service
13:16and most of these excavations are foreign-led.
13:20Attempts had been made to establish
13:21an Egyptian contingent in this,
13:24but those efforts had been suppressed.
13:27Egyptians like Salim Hassan
13:29had to wait to lead their own excavation.
13:33Any dig of any worth was headed by foreigners.
13:37But being foreign-led didn't mean being foreign-starved.
13:43Western Egyptologists had depended on Egyptians on excavation for centuries.
13:49They needed to be led to where all the good stuff was.
13:52They needed to be told what it was they were finding at first.
13:56And so they depended on their Egyptian colleagues.
14:01However, very rarely were their names recorded.
14:05We get the name of the European or the American excavator
14:09and what this person, this one person,
14:11maybe a couple of assistants found.
14:14But then you sort of keep reading and it's like,
14:17oh, we had 300 basket boys and we had, you know, 10 foremen.
14:21So there were hundreds of people doing this work
14:24that like three people get credit for.
14:29In the early 1920s,
14:31Harry Burton shot footage for his regular employers,
14:35the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
14:40His film captured excavations around the huge temple of Hatshepsut,
14:45where Egyptian laborers were unearthing small tombs of ancient nobles
14:50nestled in the cliffs behind the main temple.
15:00I think this footage is absolutely crucial
15:04in understanding what an excavation would have looked like at the time.
15:07Until you actually see it happening sort of on screen,
15:12I don't think you really get the real gist of how difficult the work is.
15:18They're given these baskets full of dirt or rocks
15:21and they have to march down a hill or up a hill,
15:24dump it in the heap, and then you see them sort of trudging back up the hill.
15:28They're very young boys.
15:30There's a shot where you watch the boy give his basket down
15:35and he's, you know, the man is piling everything in there
15:38and then he hands it back up out.
15:39And that's what they're doing all day.
15:41And even when the contribution of the Egyptians is acknowledged,
15:44is referred to as only a physical contribution,
15:48as in the hands rather than the heads.
15:51The role of Egyptians in excavations
15:54was largely filtered through the lens of Westerners.
15:58Through words and pictures,
16:00they determined how the work was represented,
16:03who was acknowledged, and who wasn't.
16:07There are some who say nowadays,
16:09in this sort of post-colonial era,
16:12that archaeological photography is not neutral
16:14and it's always reflecting the prejudices or the biases
16:18of the people behind the camera.
16:20And so Western archaeologists documenting a site
16:23will come away with focusing on certain things,
16:25whether workmen are present or absent,
16:28whether they're identified or not,
16:30whether they put the Western archaeologists
16:32in a more heroic pose or position
16:34and give credit or don't give credit
16:36to other assistants on the team.
16:39Howard Carter had a handful of senior Western team members
16:43on the Tutankhamen dig,
16:45working alongside dozens of Egyptian staff.
16:50The work was meticulously documented by Burton,
16:54recording key moments,
16:56like the opening of the pharaoh's coffins,
16:59each picture carefully crafted.
17:03So if we look at this image that was taken by Burton,
17:07first of all, it's a staged photograph,
17:12perhaps designed by how the foreign archaeologists
17:15wanted the rest of the world to see archaeology
17:18or to see how excavations operate.
17:20What we are meant to see as the leading figure
17:22sitting on the chair, Howard Carter,
17:24that everyone would know his name,
17:26it encapsulates the power dynamics,
17:28how he sat on the chair
17:30while the local excavator
17:32is seen underneath him on the floor
17:34being taught what is being discovered, basically.
17:41As these images circulated the globe,
17:44they shaped a narrative
17:45that placed certain figures
17:47at the forefront of the Tutankhamen story.
17:51A century on,
17:53colourising these images can bring history closer,
17:56but it can also add new layers of bias
17:58to such photographs.
18:03The issue with colourisation in this instance here
18:05is that we don't even know the identity
18:08of the Egyptian archaeological excavator
18:10photographed here.
18:12Howard Carter did thank four of his Egyptian foremen
18:16by name in his writings.
18:18However, which one of the four this is,
18:21is unclear.
18:23Like so often on excavations,
18:25they were not identified in the photographs.
18:30This lack of recording that existed in the past,
18:33it makes even colourisation today more problematic
18:37because we have no evidence that we could refer to
18:39when we're adding colour to a certain individual
18:41and thus we're making assumptions
18:43of how people looked like,
18:44which has its own biases.
18:48While many Western archaeologists leaned on local expertise,
18:54few acknowledged it.
18:57However, there were exceptions.
19:02Working across the same period as Howard Carter
19:05was American Egyptologist George Reisner,
19:09who by 1925 had accumulated over 26 years of experience in Egypt
19:15and had a close bond with many Egyptians he worked with.
19:21He assembled a team of Egyptian workmen
19:24from the city in Upper Egypt called Khuft.
19:28Reisner was different in delegating
19:29many of the so-called skill positions
19:31to his Egyptian team.
19:33So after a while, they were taking the photographs,
19:36they were keeping accounts,
19:38and even eventually keeping Arabic language diary books
19:42of the progress of the expedition.
19:44And he was quick to give them the credit.
19:46We find in many of his letters
19:48that he's always praising his foreman,
19:50Syed Ahmed Syed, and his children.
19:56Reisner also employed an Egyptian
19:58for the key position of principal photographer,
20:02Mohameddani Ibrahim.
20:04He had something like 17,000 photographs or so to his name,
20:08had an excellent eye for composition.
20:17I mean, fantastic photograph.
20:23What the photo captures is not just the exquisite object,
20:28but it's the thrill of that moment of it being revealed,
20:31the thrill of discovery.
20:33And remember how hard it is to document these things at this time.
20:37You're out in the hot sun,
20:39you get sandstorms and wind and dust,
20:42you've got tremendously harsh lighting conditions,
20:45and you're trying to photograph
20:47the subtle relief carving sculpture on chapel walls.
20:56What is really striking about it
20:57is that this is a very beautiful razor-leaf carving,
21:01but I know that you won't get quite the same sense of that
21:05with the naked eye,
21:07without the lighting
21:08and without the photographic skill
21:12that he's applied in capturing this image.
21:14He's quite clearly placed lighting in such a way
21:17as to catch the reliefs and to cast shadows around them,
21:20so you get a sense of the sculpture
21:23and the skill of the Egyptian craftsman
21:26in creating figures like this.
21:32Recording these digs through Egyptian eyes
21:35opened up the possibility of a different way
21:38of seeing the excavations.
21:40So if Muhammadani is taking the photographs,
21:43do we have these same sort of Western biases?
21:45I mean, after all, he's an Egyptian.
21:46He's making these decisions.
21:48Or would you argue that he's following the orders
21:50of this Western expedition
21:52and sort of imitating what their priorities are?
21:57Certainly, his documentation was more rigorous.
22:05But how much independence Muhammadani had is unknown.
22:09While Reisner was training photographers
22:11and accountants and foremen,
22:14it was never with a view towards training these people
22:16to one day take over their own excavations.
22:19The Western archaeologists
22:20were not thinking along those lines.
22:24However, it was Muhammadani
22:27who Reisner could thank
22:28for making one of the most significant finds
22:31by the American team.
22:35In 1925, he was attempting to get a good angle
22:39for a photo of the Great Pyramid at Giza.
22:43In the process, he discovered a hidden tomb.
22:48It was on the east side of the Great Pyramid
22:50in the so-called Eastern Cemetery.
22:53And his tripod slips in the limestone bedrock.
22:57Only it wasn't limestone bedrock.
22:59It was some plaster that was covering up
23:01a kind of a hole.
23:02And he thought that was strange.
23:03And so he brought over some of the rest of the team.
23:06And that eventually revealed a shaft
23:08that went down about 30 meters or 90 feet
23:11and revealed this very simple burial chamber
23:14loaded with this incredible assemblage
23:17of unfortunately deteriorated furniture and objects,
23:21stone vessels, metal vessels,
23:23a beautiful alabaster or travertine sarcophagus.
23:29In January 1926, only weeks after Carter unveiled
23:34Tutankhamen's golden mask,
23:37Reisner and his team began excavating this new chamber.
23:42The hope was for another intact royal tomb,
23:46something to rival the magnificence of King Tut.
23:50Reisner realized that everything is in such a fragile,
23:54disintegrated state that the only way
23:56we're going to be able to put this together
23:58and find out what this tomb is
23:59and who it belonged to
24:00is if we take our time,
24:03lie on mattresses,
24:04pick up every tiny fragment,
24:07take photographs,
24:08make thousands of sketches,
24:09take notes,
24:10give every little piece a number.
24:14And so that's what they did
24:16from 1926 through a lot of 1927,
24:20lying on their bellies
24:21in the heat and the flies,
24:22recording everything.
24:25Colorizing these images
24:26helps show the scale of the puzzle
24:29that lay before them.
24:33This allowed them to finally discover
24:35the appropriate hieroglyphs,
24:37to realize that Queen Hedda Paris
24:38was supposedly the owner of this thing.
24:41So it's a significant tomb
24:43because it's royal from the 4th dynasty.
24:46Hedda Paris was the mother of King Khufu
24:48who built the Great Pyramid.
24:50So a fantastic discovery historically.
24:52It created a massive press extravaganza.
24:57There are incredible stories
24:59all over the world about this find.
25:04Hedda Paris lived more than 1,200 years
25:08before Tutankhamen,
25:09a queen from the Old Kingdom.
25:14Significant discoveries from this era were rare.
25:20There was always an ongoing race
25:24to find the next significant thing,
25:26but the Tutankhamen find
25:28really spurred people on
25:30to really strive for something
25:34even more spectacular.
25:37In terms of grandiose objects
25:39and wonderful gold and stone vessels
25:41and chariots and beds and things,
25:44that's all from Tutankhamen.
25:46Reisner couldn't make the same claim
25:47for Hedda Paris,
25:48but he felt that Hedda Paris
25:50was historically by far
25:52the much more important discovery.
25:54For Reisner,
25:55the key to truly making his tomb remarkable
25:57lay in revealing Hedda Paris' mummy.
26:00Then he could claim
26:02a fully intact royal burial.
26:05And yet,
26:06he would have to wait and hope
26:08to see if it was there.
26:18After the excitement of discovering
26:20Hedda Paris' tomb in Giza,
26:23Reisner's team faced
26:25the painstaking task
26:26of recording and extracting
26:28the grave goods,
26:30a process that took over a year.
26:34Everyone was waiting
26:36for the clearance of the tomb
26:37so that they could then lift
26:39the lid of the travertine sarcophagus
26:41and gaze upon the only intact
26:43royal burial of the Old Kingdom.
26:46By March 1927,
26:49the tomb was fully cleared.
26:52A group of assembled VIPs were there
26:55and they took the sort of
26:56dumbwaiter elevator down to the bottom
26:58and they had winches set
27:01to lift the lid of the sarcophagus
27:03and gaze on the mummified figure
27:05of the queen and they did
27:06and space was gained
27:08as the lid went up slowly
27:09and they looked inside
27:10and the entire sarcophagus was empty.
27:14The disintegrated grave goods
27:16and lack of body
27:18meant that despite the importance
27:20of the find,
27:22Reisner's name
27:23and his Egyptian photographer,
27:25Muhammadani,
27:26never became household names
27:28the way Carters and Burtons did.
27:31Still,
27:33both the British and American discoveries
27:35made headlines.
27:39Amid this period
27:41of high-profile excavations,
27:43the French-run Antiquities Service
27:45embarked on a major project
27:47of their own.
27:49In 1925,
27:50they began the restoration
27:52of the Sphinx,
27:54a prestigious undertaking
27:56that would be led
27:57by the French.
28:00I think in the aftermath
28:01of the attention paid
28:03to Tutankhamen,
28:04there was a general appetite
28:08for a kind of easy win,
28:11something that you could
28:12be said to have saved.
28:14And so by clearing,
28:17restoring,
28:18preserving the Sphinx,
28:20they achieved that.
28:25The work would forever change
28:27one of Egypt's greatest icons.
28:33So the great Sphinx of Giza
28:35was known since antiquity
28:38because it was never fully covered,
28:39it was never totally lost.
28:41But there was nothing stopping
28:43the sand blowing in
28:45and essentially covering
28:46the Sphinx up to its shoulders.
28:52Windblown sand
28:54caused serious erosion
28:56to the sculpture.
28:58It's a giant,
28:59colossal rock-cut statue.
29:00And so there was real fear,
29:03anxiety by the mid-1920s
29:06that the head would topple off.
29:09While working on
29:10the Hittipari's excavation,
29:12Egyptian photographer
29:13Mohamedani Ibrahim
29:14captured the Sphinx
29:16mid-restoration.
29:19So what we're seeing here
29:21is an image of the Sphinx
29:23at this kind of incredibly
29:26important moment
29:26in its history,
29:27if you like.
29:28The Sphinx is so familiar
29:30to us now.
29:32The Sphinx that you see
29:33when you go to visit the site
29:34now as a tourist
29:35is the Sphinx
29:36that is the product,
29:38if you like,
29:38of exactly this work.
29:40If you'd been at the site
29:41before this,
29:42a year or so before,
29:44you would have seen
29:45a very different picture.
29:46You wouldn't have had
29:47a sense of this natural arena.
29:48You wouldn't have got
29:49a sense of the whole
29:50of the body.
29:50You wouldn't have seen
29:51these new sections
29:53being put in place.
29:54So this is the moment
29:56that everything changes
29:57for the Sphinx.
29:59And restoring the Sphinx
30:01had another purpose,
30:03clearing the site
30:04for the benefit
30:04of another Western interloper.
30:08The tourist.
30:21Egypt was really being sold
30:23to the public
30:24in this period.
30:25The world of kind of
30:27the exotic,
30:28the oriental,
30:29the gateway
30:29to the east.
30:32Advertising for tourism
30:33in this period
30:34was very visual,
30:35very pictorial.
30:36And we've got some
30:37absolutely fantastic
30:38graphics and images
30:40from tourism marketing
30:42that really kind of
30:43sell Egypt.
30:45All the people
30:46this is targeted at
30:48have the means
30:49both to take the time off
30:51and also to expend
30:52quite exorbitant
30:53amounts of money
30:54on getting there.
30:56Egypt was definitely
30:58seen as a luxury
31:00destination.
31:01The country had become
31:02a playground
31:03for Westerners
31:04and they all wanted
31:06to make sure
31:06their grand journey
31:07was recorded
31:08for posterity.
31:10One of the things
31:11to have yourself
31:12photographed
31:13against in Egypt
31:14is of course
31:15the pyramids
31:16and Sphinx.
31:17And here we see
31:18one of the party
31:19really in that kind
31:20of quintessential
31:21touristic,
31:22photographic pose.
31:24So just as today
31:26we would visit
31:27a destination
31:27and tick off
31:28all the must-be
31:29photographed places
31:31for a selfie
31:33or for Instagram
31:34we kind of see
31:35the tourists
31:36in the 1920s
31:37doing exactly
31:37the same.
31:39Here we've got
31:40the really iconic
31:42image that you need
31:43to capture
31:44when you're in Egypt.
31:45We've got the Great Pyramid
31:46and the Steppe Pyramid.
31:47But also added
31:48to this configuration
31:49we've got
31:50an Egyptian,
31:52a native person
31:53in the foreground
31:54with a donkey.
31:55So it's signalling
31:56this is Egypt.
31:57We've got the architecture,
31:59we've got the ancient landscape
32:00and we've got someone
32:02who is looking
32:02quintessentially non-European,
32:04is looking exotic.
32:07Contemporary Egyptians
32:08may have seemed exotic
32:09to the British tourist
32:11but Egypt's monuments
32:13offered a world
32:14that felt more familiar.
32:17It was its ancient affiliation
32:19and this was really attractive
32:20I think to Britons
32:21because it replicated
32:23some of the things
32:24in their own world.
32:26So it was hierarchical,
32:28it had a centralised state,
32:29a monarch
32:30and all this wonderful
32:31public building
32:32which actually
32:33kind of was
32:34narcissistically
32:35reflecting back
32:36Britain's own
32:37attitudes and processes
32:39in the 19th century.
32:43Beyond parallels
32:45with empire
32:46some Western Egyptologists
32:48sought to draw
32:48a more direct connection
32:50between ancient Egypt
32:51and the Western world
32:54framing it
32:55as a civilisation
32:56more European
32:57than African.
33:00When Egyptologists
33:01would go in
33:02and saw the monumental remains
33:04the pyramids especially
33:06the large temples
33:07in southern Egypt
33:09they didn't think
33:10that there was any way
33:10the people of colour
33:11could have known
33:12how to build that, right?
33:13It had to have been
33:14some sort of white forebear.
33:17One Egyptologist
33:18gave this theory
33:19visual expression.
33:21Her name was
33:22Winifred Brunton.
33:25She reinterpreted
33:27historical figures
33:28in ancient Egypt
33:29and then painted them
33:30how she saw them
33:31either in her mind's eye
33:33or based on
33:34her interpretation
33:35of what ancient Egyptians
33:36would have looked like.
33:39These were tiny
33:41little watercolors
33:42on ivory panels
33:44and those images
33:45those paintings
33:46are incredibly popular
33:50in the 20s
33:51and so
33:52Winifred Brunton
33:53was single-handedly
33:56responsible still
33:58for what a lot of people
33:59think the ancient Egyptians
34:00looked like.
34:02Part of the problem
34:03with what
34:04Winifred Brunton
34:05was doing
34:05is that
34:06her reinterpretation
34:08leaned very European.
34:11So she created an image
34:13mostly not entirely
34:14but mostly
34:15of white European
34:17ancient Egypt
34:19where none of the
34:20Egyptian kings and queens
34:21look anything like
34:22people who live in Egypt today.
34:26And in that sense
34:27she was claiming
34:28ancient Egypt
34:29for the West
34:30for Europe
34:31for America.
34:33Brunton stated
34:34she wanted to make
34:35the images
34:36as accurate as possible
34:38using various
34:40ancient Egyptian
34:40artworks
34:41as a basis
34:42for her interpretations.
34:46We know
34:47the images
34:48on temple walls
34:49and statuary
34:50are not
34:50how people actually appeared.
34:52They are concerned
34:53with a completely
34:54different
34:54image world.
34:56They don't replicate
34:57people as they actually are.
35:04Ancient Egyptians
35:05often used colour
35:06symbolically
35:07in their art
35:08expressing ideas
35:10rather than likeness
35:11including skin tone.
35:15Colour gives us
35:16some indication
35:17about the order
35:18of being
35:19we're looking at
35:20so gods
35:21can have
35:22green
35:23green
35:23or blue flesh
35:24or golden flesh.
35:25Living people
35:27have
35:28a different
35:29range of colours
35:29so this piece
35:31is the underside
35:32of a foot case
35:34so this would be
35:36the foot end
35:36of a mummified body
35:37and the idea
35:39was that you were
35:40trampling
35:40on your enemies
35:41so these were
35:43sometimes stylised
35:44depictions
35:45of Egypt's
35:46national enemies
35:47foreigners
35:47non-Egyptian people
35:49and they're shown
35:50with orangey
35:51or pinky skin.
35:54Using the way
35:55ancient Egyptians
35:56drew themselves
35:58on the wall
35:59to decide
36:00how ancient Egyptians
36:01looked like
36:02is factually wrong.
36:04We don't know
36:04how they perceived
36:06race.
36:06We only know
36:07that they used colour
36:08for an idealistic
36:09representation
36:09to differentiate
36:10between people.
36:12For example
36:12they would give
36:13men a darker shade
36:14of skin toned
36:15other than women
36:16in ancient Egypt.
36:18I think Winifred Brunton
36:20knew her audience.
36:21She knew
36:21what made them tick.
36:24So this highly
36:25subjective reimagination
36:26of ancient Egypt
36:27in colour
36:28had to be a mirror
36:30to the West.
36:32Brunton had found
36:33an eager audience
36:35in Europe.
36:36People had been
36:37swept up
36:38in the Egyptomania
36:39unleashed by
36:40Tutankhamen's tomb.
36:42A tomb that
36:43kept offering up
36:44new treasures
36:45throughout the 1920s
36:47as Carter slowly
36:49and meticulously
36:50emptied its contents.
36:52But as Carter
36:54cleared the last pieces
36:55the world
36:57was about to shift.
37:021929.
37:04Economies go into freefall
37:06as the Great Depression
37:07hits
37:07bringing mass unemployment
37:10and bank failures.
37:11Devastating poverty
37:13is widespread.
37:15So the Great Depression
37:16equally had its impact
37:18on the Egyptian economy
37:19itself
37:20and it did have
37:21its impact
37:21on the excavations
37:23in the funding
37:24the scale and scope
37:25of excavations
37:26that were happening
37:27at the time.
37:28Major digs wound down.
37:31With dwindling
37:32international funds
37:34and continued
37:35nationalist pressure
37:36Egyptians saw a chance
37:38to finally gain a foothold
37:39in their own history.
37:41The power was shifting.
37:44The power differential
37:45was shifting
37:46between the Europeans
37:47being in control
37:48and Egyptians
37:49being in control.
37:50And I think a lot of that
37:52was maybe a diplomatic
37:53agreement of
37:54can we just stay
37:56can you let us keep
37:57some peaceful control here
37:59if we very slowly
38:00let you
38:01let you participate.
38:03Finally, the Egyptian
38:05archaeologist
38:06Salim Hassan
38:07got his chance.
38:08In 1929
38:10with Egypt
38:12still under
38:12strong British influence
38:13he began leading
38:15his own excavation
38:16at Giza.
38:18Over the following seasons
38:19he uncovered
38:20a number of tombs
38:22including the complex
38:23of Queen Hanko
38:24as the first.
38:27It's the first
38:27solely Egyptian
38:28archaeological mission
38:29to be operating
38:31one could say
38:32in the whole of Egypt
38:33and that
38:33in itself
38:34it's a breakthrough
38:35and that's why
38:36we tend to refer to him
38:37as the father of Egyptian
38:38archaeology
38:39for us as Egyptians.
38:41Seven years later
38:42in 1936
38:43he took over work
38:45on the Sphinx.
38:47Salim Hassan
38:48made a number
38:49of very important
38:50discoveries
38:51in the area
38:52of the Sphinx
38:53a series of temples
38:54which were previously
38:55undetected
38:56and he and his team
38:58discovered evidence
38:59of the worship
39:00of the Sphinx.
39:01They'd revealed
39:02more about
39:03the understanding
39:04of the Sphinx
39:05as a monument
39:05and added to its appeal.
39:07But the Europeans
39:09were not ready
39:10to relinquish
39:10all control.
39:12In the same year
39:13the French head
39:14of the Antiquities Service
39:16stepped down.
39:18Salim Hassan
39:19sought to replace him.
39:21But pressure
39:22from French
39:22and British diplomats
39:23blocked his appointment.
39:26Salim Hassan
39:27was a threat
39:27because that means
39:28that they are going
39:29to lose all power
39:31over concessions,
39:32permissions or sites
39:33etc.
39:34Having an Egyptian
39:35taking over
39:36the Antiquities Services
39:38meant that there
39:39would be a shift
39:40in the power dynamics
39:41in the agency
39:41in what they would be
39:42allowed and not
39:43allowed to do.
39:45While foreign powers
39:46clung to control
39:47of Egypt's archaeology,
39:49by the 1930s
39:51the mania
39:51for all things
39:52Egyptian
39:52began to fade
39:53in Europe and America.
39:59Tutankhamen's tomb
40:00had revealed
40:01all its secrets
40:02and the Great Depression
40:04had put a lid
40:05on the excesses
40:06of the 20s.
40:07But then in 1939
40:10a new discovery.
40:13The hall of treasure
40:15from Tannis
40:16is almost unimaginably
40:19spectacular.
40:20Room after room
40:21of burials
40:23of pharaohs
40:24and their treasure.
40:25The French archaeologist
40:27Pierre Montet
40:28and his team
40:29had been excavating
40:30the site of Tannis
40:31an ancient city
40:33in the Nile Delta
40:34for over a decade.
40:36For years
40:38the site yielded little.
40:39Then
40:40in February 1939
40:42the breakthrough came.
40:44So Pierre Montet
40:46had been working there
40:47for 10 years or more
40:48and he knew the site well.
40:51He'd been planning
40:52and understood
40:53the location
40:54of a temple
40:55so the northern
40:56temple of the god Amun
40:58so that itself
40:59was archaeologically
41:00significant
41:01but then it was
41:02in excavating down
41:04in the temple
41:05that he uncovered
41:06what quickly
41:07turned out to be
41:08a spectacular find.
41:09So he'd found
41:11a very simple building
41:13made of reused stone
41:14but containing
41:15the burials
41:17of a whole series
41:17of kings.
41:19Some of them
41:20violated, robbed
41:21others of them
41:22completely intact.
41:24The first two tombs
41:26Montet discovered
41:27were empty
41:28robbed
41:29but as Montet pushed on
41:31he got lucky.
41:33He entered into
41:34a very small chamber
41:36containing
41:37the mummified
41:39remains
41:40in a
41:41falcon
41:42headed
41:43coffin
41:45of a king
41:45called Cheshong.
41:49Montet
41:50Montet kept pushing
41:51through the underground
41:52structure.
41:53In front of him
41:55were two blocked
41:55doorways
41:56when one of those
41:57was removed
41:58it proved to contain
41:59the burial
41:59of the pharaoh
42:00Susenes
42:03a very, very beautiful
42:05stone sarcophagus.
42:07The king's mummy
42:08was found
42:09within a
42:10again solid
42:12silver sarcophagus
42:13extremely beautiful.
42:16So what Montet found
42:18was not just one
42:20but a whole
42:21interconnected series
42:23of royal tombs
42:24an entire
42:25dynasty's worth
42:26of very significant
42:28people.
42:32To find objects
42:33on this scale
42:34crafted from
42:35this much silver
42:36which was extremely
42:37precious in ancient
42:38Egypt
42:38was unprecedented
42:40and this is a discovery
42:41that's never been
42:42repeated.
42:43He also found
42:44an awful lot of gold
42:45as well
42:46including
42:47a whole sequence
42:48of solid gold
42:50death masks
42:51some of the most
42:52fantastic treasures
42:53that ancient Egypt
42:54had ever yielded.
43:02Montet's discovery
43:03could have rivaled
43:04even Tutankhamen's
43:05yet few noticed.
43:08Archaeology in Egypt
43:10was no longer
43:11on the public radar.
43:12The world
43:13had other concerns.
43:15Just five months
43:16earlier
43:17in September 1939
43:19Hitler had invaded
43:21Poland
43:21plunging Europe
43:23into another war.
43:25It is a supreme
43:27irony
43:28that if we
43:29visualise a real
43:30race
43:30between say
43:31the British
43:32and the French
43:33here was a chance
43:35to take the cup
43:36take the crown
43:37from the British
43:39and from the
43:40Tutankhamen find
43:41but the moment
43:43was simply lost
43:44to world geopolitical
43:46events
43:46and so
43:47Montet never
43:49enjoyed
43:49the winning
43:51of his race
43:52anything like
43:54the way Carter did.
43:57The race
43:58for ancient Egypt
43:59gave way
44:00to a new
44:00world war.
44:01The country
44:02became a battleground
44:03in the fight
44:04for North Africa.
44:07Archaeology
44:07ground to a halt.
44:11After the war
44:12as Egypt
44:13recovered
44:14excavations
44:15slowly resumed.
44:17Now
44:18in a fully
44:19independent
44:19country.
44:21Today
44:22Egyptian
44:23archaeologists
44:24are the norm
44:25and help
44:26shape the story
44:27of their own
44:27heritage.
44:29And with the
44:30recent opening
44:31of the Grand
44:31Egyptian Museum
44:32a world-class
44:34institution
44:35housing thousands
44:36of Egypt's
44:36treasures under
44:37one roof
44:38Egypt can
44:39finally showcase
44:40its past
44:41on its own
44:42terms.
44:49Today
44:50as in the
44:511920s and
44:5230s
44:53Egypt's
44:54ancient past
44:55captivates the
44:56world
44:56but casts
44:58a long shadow.
45:00The legacy
45:01of the
45:02early 20th
45:03century
45:03obsession
45:04with Egypt
45:06has very
45:06much shaped
45:07how
45:08Egypt
45:09is seen
45:09today
45:10in the
45:11public eye
45:12up till
45:12today
45:13is frozen
45:14in time
45:14and place.
45:15It's still
45:16seen through
45:16the lens
45:17of ancient
45:18Egypt
45:18and even
45:20the way
45:20that Egypt
45:21is promoted
45:21from cultural
45:23or tourism
45:24perspective
45:24is still
45:25frozen in
45:26time and
45:26place.
45:27It's still
45:27pharaonic
45:28Egypt
45:28rather than
45:29the living
45:29Egypt
45:30today.
45:34Ancient
45:34Egypt is
45:35still a draw
45:36today with
45:37millions visiting
45:38the tombs and
45:39temples each
45:39year.
45:42In many ways
45:43ancient Egypt
45:44was as popular
45:45as it would ever
45:46be in the 1920s
45:47and 30s
45:48particularly in the
45:49wake of the
45:49discovery of
45:50Tutankhamun.
45:51That was such a
45:52sensation and I
45:53think it's difficult
45:54for us actually
45:54to appreciate
45:55just what a
45:58global sensation
45:59that was at
46:00the time.
46:01There's never
46:01been anything
46:02like it since.
46:03And yet there
46:04are still dozens
46:05maybe even
46:05hundreds of
46:06excavations going
46:07on every year.
46:08They're all
46:08finding new
46:09things and so
46:10that sense of
46:11the excitement
46:12is still there.
46:15As long as
46:16secrets remain
46:17buried in the
46:18sands, the race
46:20to uncover more
46:21of Egypt's
46:22ancient past
46:24may never be
46:25truly over.
46:51And yet there
46:59are still
46:59in public
46:59to give
46:59this
46:59you
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