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00:02The Valley of the Queens, the burial site of some of the most powerful women in ancient Egypt.
00:09Mummies and parts of mummies have been found all over the valley.
00:14This vast necropolis contains dozens more tombs than the Valley of the Kings on the other side of these cliffs.
00:21And that's why the Valley of the Queen was chosen to be here, in this location.
00:26And it conceals some of Egypt's greatest wonders.
00:30This is an incredible tomb. It's like the Sistine Chapel of ancient Egypt. The colors are so vivid.
00:39Today, investigators venture deep into these dark tunnels and uncover long-lost clues to unlock the secrets of Egypt's powerful
00:48leaders.
00:48She really was this great ruler in a male-dominated society.
00:53What does this enigmatic necropolis reveal about the Queens of ancient Egypt?
00:59To solve these mysteries, we unearth this royal valley from the mountains of Luxor
01:05and digitally reconstruct one of the finest tombs ever built.
01:09We uncover millennia-old clues buried in the sand and reveal the hidden story of an all-powerful female pharaoh
01:19to discover the golden age of Egypt's queens.
01:32Straddling the mighty river Nile, 300 miles south of Cairo, are the ancient temples of Luxor and Karnak and the
01:41Valley of the Kings.
01:45This is where Tutankhamun is discovered 100 years ago, buried with extraordinary riches.
01:52But only a mile west from his tomb lies a second huge and more enigmatic burial site.
01:59The Valley of the Queens.
02:02The Valley of the Queens.
02:02Who is buried here and why?
02:05The Valley of the Queens is much bigger than the Valley of the Kings.
02:08And there's so many queens buried here.
02:11There's so many burials.
02:12It's so massive in size.
02:17Cut into the limestone landscape are more than 90 tombs.
02:23Steep passageways descend into the mountainside, some of them over 60 feet deep.
02:31Complex subterranean palaces are carved into the rock to keep mummies with their treasures safe for eternity.
02:39These are some of the most lavish and richly decorated tombs in ancient Egypt.
02:46Each hides clues of mysterious and powerful queens.
02:50What can new discoveries in this sprawling necropolis reveal about the female rulers of ancient Egypt?
03:00Aliyah Ismail is on a mission to discover why the queens are buried here.
03:06She uses an old map, created by past explorers, to investigate the site.
03:13The map reveals the tombs of many of the most eminent queens of the New Kingdom.
03:20Aliyah wants to find the very first tomb in the valley.
03:23She follows the map to the most likely suspect.
03:26So this is a very simple shaft tomb.
03:29And as you can see it's a shaft and it goes into a little chamber where she would have been
03:34buried there.
03:35The first explorers here find a mummy and other items inside the tomb that reveal the identity of the owner.
03:43This is the tomb of Princess Ahmoza and probably the first person to be buried in the valley of the
03:49queens.
03:51Princess Ahmoza died 3500 years ago.
03:55Aliyah believes this date is highly significant.
03:59Princess Ahmoza was buried in the valley of the queens right about the same time that the first king was
04:05buried in the valley of the kings.
04:07So the valley of the queens was not an afterthought but rather it happened right at the same time as
04:14the valley of the kings.
04:16The valleys of the kings and queens are created together around 1550 BC.
04:22Equal partners in a new royal design.
04:26They mark the beginning of the new kingdom of Egypt.
04:29The last of the three great periods of Egyptian might and unity.
04:34Both of these sites show how the tradition has changed dramatically for burying royals in the new kingdom.
04:42They have moved from being buried under pyramids to being buried under mountains.
04:49Why do the ancient Egyptians break so radically from building tombs under pyramids?
04:55Mountains have more security.
04:58Mountains are hard to break in and are easy to hide a tomb inside.
05:03The pyramids are the envy of the ancient world.
05:07But they also identify the pharaoh's buried treasures.
05:11An easy target for ancient robbers.
05:15In a mountain, in the solid rock, it's much more hidden.
05:19It's much harder for robbers to find it.
05:22And if you can't find it, you can't rob it.
05:26The valleys sit on either side of the tallest peak in the hills, the distinctive pyramid-shaped El Kern.
05:37In the valley below the mountain of El Kern, pharaohs carve 64 tombs deep into the rock over the course
05:44of five centuries.
05:47They hope that their bodies and treasures are safe, hidden away in these underground graves.
05:54Just across the Theban hills lies another similarly shaped valley.
06:02The pharaohs bury their wives here in the same way.
06:06Why are the kings and queens buried so far apart?
06:15Previously, it would have been a grand pyramid for the king and a smaller one for the queen and his
06:21children around him.
06:22But that completely changes.
06:24Now we have the queens with their children buried together and the kings away from them in a different valley.
06:32The Valley of the Queens marks a new era in ancient Egypt.
06:35Here, for the first time, royal women have their own special necropolis.
06:42Could it be a sign of the rise of the queens?
06:46Clues may lie beneath the ground, where archaeologists make a surprising discovery.
06:53Cut into the rock nearly 3,500 years ago, explorers unearthed a steep staircase that leads down to the most
07:01spectacular tomb in the Valley of the Queens.
07:05Seven chambers are adorned with over 5,000 square feet of decoration.
07:10On the ceiling is a sky-blue canopy, covered in thousands of stars, so the deceased queen's soul is free
07:18to fly.
07:20On the walls are images of a young woman.
07:23Wearing a white dress, she is covered in gold on her journey through the afterlife.
07:29Who is this mysterious queen?
07:32Why is she buried in this incredibly rich tomb?
07:38Visits to this fragile tomb are strictly limited to protect it.
07:42But Aaliyah has been granted unique access to examine its wonders.
07:47She believes the exquisite paintings across the walls could hide vital clues.
07:52This is an incredible tomb.
07:55It's like the Sistine Chapel of ancient Egypt.
07:59So amazing.
08:00The colors are so vivid.
08:02She searches for the name of the tomb owner and finds it emblazoned in gold.
08:08The oval shape has a name inside of it, Nefertari, meaning beautiful companion.
08:13She was queen consort.
08:17Queen Nefertari is married to the great Ramses II, the most powerful pharaoh in Egyptian history.
08:24Here, at the entrance to her tomb, we have all her titles listed.
08:30The most notable title here is great wife.
08:35A king in ancient Egypt had many wives, and that's why a chief wife would have been a very important
08:41title.
08:43But Aaliyah finds another of Nefertari's titles which reveals an astonishing rise to power.
08:49Another title here is mistress of upper and lower Egypt.
08:54That's an important title.
08:56This evidence suggests Nefertari has real influence as queen.
09:01She has political and religious authority over all of Egypt.
09:06She is much more influential than previously believed.
09:11Could mysterious grave goods found in her tomb reveal how she rises to power?
09:17And can elaborate paintings reveal more about her life and death?
09:31The Valley of the Queens, the final resting place for the wives of the most formidable pharaohs in history.
09:38Among them, Nefertari, queen of the mighty Ramses II.
09:45Inscriptions inside her tomb reveal her power extends over all of Egypt, politically and religiously.
09:53But the ancient queens don't normally have so much influence.
09:57Why does Nefertari?
10:02When archaeologists open her tomb in 1904, they aren't the first to go inside.
10:09The queen's treasures are all gone, leaving behind just her mummified legs and a pair of reed sandals.
10:18But nearby they find a strange ceramic object, glazed blue with copper salts and decorated with the cartouche of the
10:26pharaoh eye.
10:27Some Egyptologists believe it could be a family heirloom.
10:32Is Nefertari descended from this pharaoh or another royal lineage?
10:37Can further clues within the tomb reveal if Nefertari is born into power?
10:48Among her titles, hereditary noble woman, that shows that she was from the highest echelons of society.
10:56And that would have been important to Ramses.
11:00Nefertari's family connections may matter because she is a native of Thebes.
11:06Ramses has total rule over Egypt, but his family comes from a northern power base, an ancient rival to the
11:13capital Thebes.
11:16Marrying into Theban nobility can unite the city's powerful priests behind him.
11:23When Ramses is crowned king, Nefertari becomes the great royal wife.
11:28How much power does this new role give her in the governing of Egypt?
11:35Aaliyah finds important evidence in the antechamber.
11:39Nefertari faces the god Thoth, the god of knowledge.
11:43And she's facing him with a scribal palette.
11:46This is evidence that she can read and write and that she's very proud of her education.
11:52Alongside it, Aaliyah finds another important clue.
11:56So here we have Nefertari wearing an earring that does not look very Egyptian.
12:05The distinctive earring is a Greek style not normally seen in ancient Egypt.
12:11It appears to be a gift, reflecting Nefertari's diplomatic contacts with foreign dignitaries.
12:17It is evident that Nefertari achieves a whole new level of queenship.
12:23But Aaliyah suspects that Nefertari's power and influence extend even further.
12:30A majestic construction in the south of Egypt reveals more clues.
12:37Next to the great temple at Abu Simbel is a second temple.
12:41Standing guard outside are four colossal statues of Ramses and two of Nefertari, each towering 33 feet high.
12:56Inside, depictions of the queen cover the walls on every side, stretching deep into the mountain.
13:05And in the center, goddesses anoint her with a sacred crown.
13:11What can this temple for the queen reveal about her power over Egypt?
13:21In Abu Simbel, there are many interesting features.
13:24Of these is a statue of Nefertari of the same size as that of Ramses II.
13:30In ancient Egypt, depictions of the same size are highly significant.
13:35The equal size means that they were equal in power and structure, and it's there for the whole world to
13:42see it.
13:43The iconography at Abu Simbel is clear.
13:47Nefertari shares power with the most formidable pharaoh in the ancient world, Ramses II.
13:54But the depictions of Nefertari with a sacred crown reveal an even higher status.
13:59At Abu Simbel, Nefertari becomes a goddess, and there's no greater honor of her queen.
14:08Ramses has eight wives, who bear him over 100 children.
14:13But Nefertari is his first wife and favorite queen.
14:19During their 24 years together, she gives birth to four sons, who become high priests and army commanders.
14:30Nefertari plays an active role in Egypt's state religion, performing sacred rituals at festivals and ceremonies.
14:41She even engages in diplomacy, sending letters and gifts to foreign queens to maintain peace between nations.
14:52Clues inside the valley of the queens reveal that Egypt's queens can reach remarkable levels of power.
14:59Compared to other countries in the ancient world, women had more rights in ancient Egypt.
15:04They could own property and have the right to divorce.
15:09Also, queens had a real political role with power.
15:14In her lifetime, Nefertari is a formidable queen.
15:19Does her burial in the Valley of the Queens make her powerful in the afterlife too?
15:25Or do some special privileges only apply to the king?
15:39The queens of ancient Egypt are buried in majestic tombs inside the Valley of the Queens.
15:46But how do their tombs compare to the kings?
15:48Will they be reunited with their husbands in an afterlife among the gods, filled with power and royal privileges?
15:57The most splendid tomb in the valley belongs to Queen Nefertari, great wife to the mighty pharaoh Ramses II.
16:04It is an ancient masterpiece.
16:07But the elaborate paintings aren't just for show.
16:10They are a tool for her to use to get to the afterlife.
16:15The tomb was designed to be a magical machine to transform the deceased from this world to the next.
16:22And for that to happen, religious texts and spells had to be present to aid the deceased on this mission.
16:31What do the spells reveal of Nefertari's afterlife?
16:35The deceased needs to pass through the knives of the gatekeepers in order to pass the gates or be lost
16:44forever.
16:45The spells help ensure her safe passage.
16:49The tomb is covered with spells from the Book of the Dead.
16:53It's a dangerous journey to the afterlife.
16:56And Nefertari needs all the help she can get.
17:00In a large tomb like this, Nefertari has space for all the spells she needs.
17:05What do all these spells say?
17:09Ken Griffin is an expert in decoding magical hieroglyphs at the University of Swansea in Wales.
17:17A secure storeroom holds many precious artifacts from ancient Egypt, including an original shroud dating from the era of Ramses.
17:27Ken thinks it might hold a clue.
17:29Here we have this really rare textile shroud that would have covered a body of a man called Happi.
17:36We have chapter one of the Book of the Dead in which we have these four individuals who are carrying
17:42a boat
17:42containing the body of the deceased Happi.
17:46So these shrouds are similar to what you get in the time of Nefertari.
17:51The drawings come from the same scripture as the paintings in Nefertari's tomb.
17:56So the chapters that we have here is all part of the Book of the Dead.
18:01How does the Book of the Dead help ancient Egyptians reach their afterlife?
18:06Ken examines mummy bandages that are covered in ancient texts.
18:11They are a guide for the deceased on how to face knife-wielding demons.
18:17The deceased has to pass by a series of mounds which are guarded by these really scary demons with their
18:25large knives.
18:25These demons don't look like you or me.
18:28They have the heads of different animals, some animals that don't make sense.
18:32For example, this one has the head of two snakes.
18:35The Egyptians believed that by knowing the name of the guardians was enough for you to have power over them.
18:42They hope their journey will lead to eternity in a paradise called the Field of Reeds.
18:49Only those that deserve it will succeed.
18:53Nefertari's vast tomb is spacious enough to accommodate hundreds of spells, giving her great protection in her journey to the
19:00afterlife.
19:02Her tomb is covered with over 5,000 square feet of paintings and spells, equivalent to over 1,000 Mona
19:10Lisa's in area.
19:11But how does her tomb compare to those in the Valley of the Kings?
19:18There, the grandest and most lavishly decorated tomb is Seti I's, father of Ramses the Great.
19:31Seti's master engineers carve 17 rooms on two floors.
19:37All immaculately decorated with raised relief paintings like in Nefertari's tomb.
19:44Its many chambers are decorated with sacred texts.
19:49But the Book of the Dead is nowhere to be seen.
19:53What are these texts?
19:55And why are they different from the Queen's?
19:59How do they help the King reach his afterlife?
20:06Ken investigates the writing on Seti's walls to find out.
20:11The tomb of Seti I contains a number of religious texts, such as the Amduat, the Book of Gates, and
20:17the Litany of Re.
20:19Ken analyzes what these spells say.
20:22The Amduat relates to the Sun God Rey's journey through the 12 hours of the night.
20:28Each hour holds a different challenge that the deceased King must face.
20:32In the seventh hour, the Sun God has entered the mysterious cavern.
20:38His arch enemy, Apophis, who takes the form of a snake, tries to swallow the Sun God every evening to
20:45defeat him.
20:45And Apophis is subdued with a series of daggers in his back.
20:50The texts are like an instruction manual for the deceased Pharaoh to travel through the afterlife.
20:58The Book of the Heavenly Cow instructs the King to follow the example of the Sun God Rey, and depart
21:05earth for the realm of the gods.
21:10The Amduat names all gods and monsters of the underworld, so the King can ask them for help, or use
21:18their name to destroy them.
21:22The Book of Gates names the 12 goddesses guarding the gates of the underworld, so the King can pass unharmed.
21:31And the litany of Rey shows all 75 forms of the god, which the King must recognize to join Rey
21:39on his journey through the sky.
21:43So the point of these texts is to ensure that the deceased King can be resurrected, just like the Sun
21:49God Rey is reborn again every morning.
21:53And just as the sun rises every morning, the Egyptians believed that their Pharaoh would do likewise.
22:01Ken discovers that Seti has a different afterlife promised to him, because he is a Pharaoh.
22:07The special texts in his tomb can't be used by other Egyptians.
22:12Even the powerful queens like Nefertari and others buried in the Valley of the Queens.
22:19In the Valley of the Queens, you don't see the Amduat, the Book of Caverns, the Book of Gates, the
22:26Litany of Rey.
22:27Instead, what you see are different religious texts, mainly taken from the Book of the Dead.
22:33While kings prepare for an afterlife among the gods, everyone else, including queens, can only use the Book of the
22:41Dead.
22:44But there is one queen who breaks the barriers and reaches the apex of power.
22:51She is not buried alongside the other royal wives.
22:56Why is the tomb of Egypt's most powerful queen missing from the Valley of the Queens?
23:03And what unexpected danger threatens to destroy these ancient chambers?
23:17The Valley of the Queens shelters tombs of many of Egypt's most powerful queens, like Nefertari, wife to the mighty
23:25Ramses II.
23:28But one important queen is not there. She is missing.
23:34One mile away, in the Valley of the Kings, archaeologists make a startling discovery.
23:44Among the tombs of the great pharaohs, investigators unearth a long shaft that descends over 600 feet.
23:51It leads to a pillared chamber that contains the sarcophagus of Thutmose I.
23:59But behind the pillars is a second sarcophagus.
24:05It is beautifully carved from quartzite stone, covered in imagery of underworld gods.
24:12The end reveals the cartouche of its owner, Queen Hatshepsut.
24:18Why is a queen buried here in the Valley of the Kings, and not with all the other queens?
24:28Aaliyah thinks one of Egypt's most iconic buildings may hold clues.
24:33Located between the Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Kings,
24:38this is the Temple of Hatshepsut.
24:42It's a mortuary temple.
24:44A place where priests keep the deceased person's name alive for eternity,
24:48and devotees can make offerings.
24:52But this one is unusual.
24:55Pharaohs have mortuary temples.
24:57Queens don't have mortuary temples.
25:01Aaliyah searches the temple for clues to why Queen Hatshepsut is honored in this way.
25:07Here, we have a woman, and this woman is Hatshepsut's mother.
25:14You can see here, the legs are intertwining.
25:18The faint red drawing shows Hatshepsut's mother locked in an embrace with a male.
25:25But it's not her husband.
25:27Who she's mating with does not really appear.
25:30But the curly beard, you know, it's a god.
25:33She is getting intimate with the god.
25:36And we can see here that he is giving her the ankh, which is life.
25:42The curious image has a purpose.
25:45Hatshepsut is telling us that Amun Ray is her father.
25:50Even kings do not claim divine birth.
25:53So this is truly a bold move for Hatshepsut.
25:58How can Queen Hatshepsut make such an audacious claim?
26:03Another scene reveals the true extent of her power.
26:08She is being crowned as king of Upper and Lower Egypt.
26:13Hatshepsut is missing from the Valley of the Queens because she is, in fact, king.
26:23Hatshepsut is the daughter of King Thutmose I, who rules over Egypt in the 16th century BC.
26:34When her father dies, Hatshepsut's half-brother becomes pharaoh.
26:38And she's forced to marry him at the age of 12.
26:44When her brother dies, Hatshepsut rules alongside her baby stepson.
26:50But slowly, she takes full control as king.
26:56She builds a grand temple in Thebes,
26:59plastering her name and likeness over the monuments to immortalize her rule.
27:06She rules as king of Egypt for two decades.
27:10But the paintings on the walls reveal something intriguing.
27:15So here we have a man.
27:17The kilt, the beard, the crowns.
27:22But it's not a man.
27:24This has to be Hatshepsut.
27:27She is depicted as a man and a king.
27:31Why is Hatshepsut trying to depict herself as male?
27:35Is it impossible for a woman to rule Egypt?
27:41Egyptologist Ken Griffin thinks there's more to the story.
27:44He investigates several depictions of Hatshepsut from throughout her reign.
27:49This is a statue of Hatshepsut from her very early years as the pharaoh.
27:55We can clearly see that she's female from the breasts, from the long dress that she wears down to her
28:02ankles.
28:03But as her reign progresses, the statues begin to change.
28:07Gone are the long dress associated with females.
28:11And this is quite extraordinary, really.
28:13She's now shown wearing a short kilt.
28:16By wearing a kilt, Hatshepsut is choosing to be seen in male clothes.
28:21But it doesn't stop there.
28:23So in the final image, her breasts are gone.
28:26She wears a short kilt and the divine beard associated with the pharaoh.
28:32Hatshepsut transforms her images dramatically during her reign from female to male.
28:38And she is buried not with the queens, but with the men in the Valley of the Kings.
28:45Hatshepsut is not doing this in order to show that she has to be male in order to rule.
28:50But it's a way to be recognized by the Egyptian people.
28:54Hatshepsut uses the familiar emblems of power to show that she is king.
28:59The Egyptians couldn't read and write the majority of them, but they could identify with the iconography.
29:06Her depiction as a male ensures that everybody understands that she is Egypt's supreme ruler.
29:14Hatshepsut establishes a solid and successful reign lasting 20 years.
29:19Hatshepsut was really one of Egypt's greatest rulers.
29:22If we look at her achievements from her expedition to the land of Pant, her building activities at Karnak and
29:29Deir al-Bahri, she really was this great ruler in a male-dominated society.
29:35But at her temple, Aaliyah discovers surprising evidence that Hatshepsut has enemies.
29:42The uraeus has been hacked out and the beard completely gone, but you can only see the trace of it.
29:50It is not just the statues that have been attacked.
29:54She should be here, making the offering to Anubis, but she has been completely chiseled out.
30:00And here, we have the name of Thutmose III.
30:05Hatshepsut's name has been erased.
30:07We can only see the traces of her cartouche.
30:10Her name has been erased from her own temple.
30:13Why has Hatshepsut's name been erased, but Thutmose's remains intact?
30:20As king, Hatshepsut treats her daughter Neferure as queen, leaving her stepson Thutmose III in the shadows.
30:29But Hatshepsut and Neferure die first.
30:32Thutmose finally becomes pharaoh.
30:34He erases his stepmother from history, to strengthen his claim to the throne.
30:43For centuries, her life has been a mystery.
30:47But now archaeologists are piecing together the evidence to reveal her true identity, and the incredible story of her reign.
30:55But just like Hatshepsut's temple, many tombs in the Valley of the Queens also show traces of destruction.
31:02Some show evidence of catastrophic damage.
31:07Can new research reveal what causes such widespread devastation?
31:12Are queens an easy target for vengeful kings?
31:24The queens of ancient Egypt wield great control over their country.
31:29Hatshepsut reaches the pinnacle of power and becomes pharaoh.
31:34But the temple she builds to glorify her rule is badly defaced.
31:40Tombs in the Valley of the Queens are all hidden underground.
31:44Is this enough to protect them?
31:50The queens want their tombs to survive for eternity, buried deep inside the rock, so their souls can live forever.
32:01But when archaeologists first enter, they find signs of destruction everywhere.
32:09Hundreds of paintings across the walls lie in pieces.
32:16Stone pillars are shattered.
32:19And ceilings have caved in.
32:22What is behind this catastrophic destruction that erases many of these queens from history?
32:33Aliyah examines the inside of Queen Nefertari's tomb, scouring the walls for the cause of the damage.
32:40You can see here that the paint is coming off, and so is the plaster.
32:45You can see here that this is the bedrock of the mountain.
32:50The plaster has completely come off.
32:51But unlike Hatshepsut's temple, Aliyah believes this destruction is not caused by spiteful rulers.
32:59This crack over here is definitely water damaged, and it's blackened around the edges.
33:06Left unattended, these paintings could be lost forever.
33:11Aliyah suspects water gets in through the bedrock itself.
33:15She heads outside to investigate.
33:18Here you can see the quality of the stone that the Valley of the Queens is carved in.
33:24You can see how weak the stone is.
33:27Water can get in easily and damage it.
33:31Aliyah spots another defect.
33:33The other problem with this stone is it is so cracked and slopey.
33:38It is so hard to use ancient tools to get a clean cut here.
33:44Could the geology explain why so many tombs have been destroyed?
33:49To find out, Khalid Nasar designs an experiment to investigate the process of carving limestone in the Valley of the
33:56Queens.
33:58Building material is obviously very important to what you're trying to do.
34:01It is very hard to work with limestone because structurally it's very weak.
34:05It's a very brittle material. I can break it with my own hand.
34:08And that creates a lot of problems when you're trying to use it for structural purposes.
34:13Khalid's team gets to work with bronze chisels, identical to the ancient workers' toolkit.
34:19In order to carve and paint precision artwork, Khalid needs a perfectly flat, smooth surface.
34:26It's coming out in chunks and it's creating a surface that is curved sometimes, slanted in other times.
34:32It's very uneven. It's not as smooth as we want it. It's not as flat as we want it to
34:37be so we can paint on it.
34:39Limestone is difficult to carve accurately and weaknesses can compromise the structure of the tomb.
34:46Khalid believes that rather than solve the problem, ancient workers try to hide it.
34:52They add thick layers of plaster to create flush walls.
34:56This process is much quicker to achieving a smooth surface than the chisel and finally getting a surface that we
35:05can paint on.
35:06The plaster is ready to decorate. Now it has to last for eternity.
35:12This plaster has been setting for a week. As you can see, it's pretty sturdy. It's adhered pretty well.
35:18It's hardened pretty well. And it's created the smooth surface that's perfect for painting.
35:23But there's a huge problem.
35:26The plaster we have here is made up essentially of natural material, such as straw.
35:31It doesn't really react that well with water.
35:35The Valley of the Queens sits under a mountain.
35:39Rare desert rains run quickly off the slopes and can turn into flash floods.
35:47Water seeps through the salt-rich limestone into the tomb chambers.
35:52Or rushes in when floods break through the entrance.
35:57Khalid modifies the block to put the plaster to the test.
36:01He cuts channels into the top surface to simulate water seeping through the bedrock.
36:08When it reaches the plaster covering the vertical surface at the front, Khalid can immediately see the impact.
36:14The plaster that is used is made of natural material that absorbs a lot of water and absorbs a lot
36:21of water quickly.
36:22But it's also made this material so brittle that it comes off in my hand very easily.
36:28But as more water seeps in from the rock, it has more disastrous consequences.
36:34You can see that there's a crack forming already because of the water that soaks through to the surface of
36:39the plaster.
36:40As more and more plaster soaks more and more water, the plaster becomes saturated and large chunks will fall off
36:48very easily.
36:52Over time, this process leads to widespread destruction of the tombs in the Valley of the Queens.
36:58This is quite a large piece of plaster that has fallen off after it got saturated with water.
37:04And it's quite possible that parts of the limestone actually fell off with it.
37:08And this can spell disaster for the tomb, for the entire Valley, because it can compromise the structural integrity.
37:17The undoing of the Valley of the Queens is the weak and porous Valley Rock itself.
37:23Why do the Queens choose this water-damaged Valley for their sacred necropolis?
37:29What clues lie hidden in this strange cavern at the entrance to the Valley of the Queens?
37:44Some of the most magnificent tombs of Egypt lie hidden away beneath the sands of the Valley of the Queens.
37:51But here, the bedrock is weak and difficult to carve.
37:55So why do they choose this location?
37:59Aaliyah investigates the sprawling site.
38:02She discovers an intriguing rock formation overlooking the head of the valley.
38:06There's a niche in the mountain.
38:09Just below it, she finds a curious feature.
38:12This looks like a wall, but this is a dam.
38:16We have a line here where the wall of the dam would have been.
38:20You can see from the thickness of the wall, it would have been very massive.
38:27After rare desert storms, water from the mountain forms a cascade that carves out a cavernous space.
38:36Inside the cavern itself, Aaliyah discovers ancient drawings.
38:40Some of them even date back to prehistoric times.
38:44The most prominent of this graffiti is the representation of the goddess Hathor in her cow form.
38:54Hathor is the goddess of women, fertility and love.
38:57In her human form, she wears a hallmark cow-horned crown.
39:06One myth tells that each night, the sun god enters Hathor's mouth to sleep and comes back out at dawn.
39:16In the New Kingdom, Egyptian men want to be reborn as the god Osiris, but the women as Hathor.
39:25So the cascade and the cavern with Hathor's image are powerful symbols of femininity and rebirth for those buried in
39:34the valley.
39:37Aaliyah believes that this cavern is the key to why this valley is chosen.
39:42This is where the goddess Hathor is represented, even in prehistoric times.
39:48She is the goddess of motherhood. She is the one who gives birth and generates life.
39:56And that's why the Valley of the Queen was chosen to be here.
40:01The pharaohs change tradition, hiding their tombs beneath a pyramid-shaped mountain.
40:07For their queens, they choose a site fit for the matriarchs of Egypt.
40:12The women are no longer just an afterthought of their husbands.
40:15Kings, they chose to be buried in a site alone where they can follow their sacred journey.
40:23But for the queens, they chose a site that is protected by the goddess Hathor.
40:31For almost 400 years, the Valley of the Queens is the exclusive cemetery for the most powerful women in Egypt
40:38and their families.
40:40Here, the elaborate tombs help the deceased queens make their journey to the afterlife.
40:47All the while protected by Hathor.
40:50The New Kingdom is a golden age for women and there are so many names that have survived from this
40:56period.
41:00The Valley of the Queens is a vast burial site in the mountains of Luxor.
41:06Showcasing some of the most magnificent tombs of ancient Egypt.
41:10Here, elaborate spells help queens do battle with monsters in the afterlife.
41:17These are the women that shape ancient Egypt.
41:21The waters that draw them here also bring destruction.
41:26But the surviving clues reveal the truth behind Egypt's most powerful queens.
41:34These are the women that have been created.
41:35The
41:35The
41:35The
41:35The
41:35The
41:35The
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