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00:00This week, join me as I travel back more than 3,000 years to unearth the true story of Queen
00:07Nefertiti.
00:08She was the most beautiful and mysterious woman in ancient Egypt.
00:12But suddenly, the super queen vanished without a trace.
00:16Who was the mysterious Queen Nefertiti?
00:20Why did she disappear?
00:22Can her mommy still be found today?
00:24To find out, I'll follow a trail of clues into Egypt's most sacred and secret places.
00:30I'll explore dark tombs, descend a 40-foot shaft of sheer rock, and come face to face with ancient mummies.
00:39We're digging for the truth, and we're going to extremes to do it.
00:55December 6, 1912.
00:58Egyptologists excavating the city of Amarna make a stunning discovery.
01:03They come face to face with one of the most beautiful women in the world, Queen Nefertiti.
01:09This magnificent, painted limestone bust soon becomes one of the most famous icons of ancient Egypt.
01:16It's also a clue and a mystery that captures the imagination of the world.
01:24Nefertiti means, the beautiful one has come.
01:27But where did she come from?
01:29And where did she disappear to?
01:32Hi, I'm Josh Bernstein, and I'm on the trail of one of the most elusive and alluring women in history,
01:38Queen Nefertiti.
01:40Most ancient Egyptian royals spared no expense when it came to memorializing their lives.
01:47So, you'd expect a queen as powerful and beautiful as Nefertiti to have an amazing monument to her memory, wouldn't
01:54you?
01:56But the view from this balloon shows me that there's nothing in Egypt to remind us of her life, or
02:01death.
02:02No temple, no tomb, no pyramid.
02:09Archaeologists found the beautiful limestone bust of Nefertiti here, in this 3,000-year-old ghost town.
02:17This was once the home of Queen Nefertiti and her husband, the pharaoh Akhenaten, one of the most controversial rulers
02:25in all of ancient Egypt.
02:29Akhenaten came to power in 1353 B.C.
02:34Before his reign, the center of Egyptian life and power was the city of Thebes.
02:40Akhenaten and Nefertiti moved the capital, more than 150 miles up the Nile River, and built a new city, now
02:47called Amarna.
02:50There, they started a new religion, unlike anything Egypt had known before.
02:55Their court was known far and wide for its fabulous wealth, its mystical god, and its charismatic young king and
03:03queen.
03:05Today, the city has all but vanished, along with almost every trace of the captivating woman who was once its
03:11queen.
03:13What could have happened to Nefertiti?
03:17Archaeologist Ted Brock is going to help me search for Queen Nefertiti.
03:21And what better place to start than the royal tombs of Amarna?
03:27While there's not much left of the city above ground, there's plenty to see underground.
03:35I'm hoping to find my first clues to the mystery of Nefertiti and her pharaoh husband, Akhenaten.
03:43Wow.
03:44So, Ted, what's this first site?
03:45I thought I'd bring you up here, see this tomb.
03:49It's a high priest of Aten named Mary Ray.
03:52Mary Ray?
03:58Ted explains that inside this locked tomb is a rare glimpse into the lives of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.
04:15Up here we've got an important scene of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.
04:21Would you like a light?
04:23We are surrounded by stunning images of the king and queen.
04:28Ted points out the main characters in each scene.
04:32Akhenaten, Nefertiti.
04:34There are cartouches up there.
04:36There it says Nefertiti.
04:38Yeah.
04:40You can recognize over here that Nefertiti, by our characteristic crown, outlined here.
04:46There are also images of the Aten, the sun god,
04:50depicted as a sun disk with rays coming out of it.
04:54Akhenaten and Nefertiti's new religion worshipped the Aten,
04:58and their religious revolution transformed ancient Egypt.
05:01Over here is a more detailed version of the temple rituals focusing on the royal family making offerings to the
05:12Aten.
05:12The story of their new religion is literally carved into these tomb walls,
05:18as are the more practical and even personal aspects of their daily lives.
05:22They're accompanied by Mary Ray, and they're throwing out collars of gold to him,
05:29which will be removed from here.
05:31It really captured every part of their lives.
05:34It's a really rich rendition of life,
05:38and I think that was important to them, to show all details of life.
05:41It's like the first reality show.
05:45Ted says there's even more just outside the tomb.
05:54These statues of Akhenaten and Nefertiti are on one of the boundary stelae that once marked their city's limits.
06:02There is some inscription that talks about cutting the tombs for the king,
06:07for his wife, Nefertiti, and for the eldest daughter, Meridaten.
06:12So one tomb for each of them.
06:13That's what it seems to say.
06:15So there would be three tombs somewhere nearby.
06:17At least three tombs, but they wouldn't be nearby.
06:20They'd be way in the desert.
06:21It's a long ways away, a long hike up a wadi to reach them.
06:25We could go there if we wanted to.
06:26Yeah, you could go.
06:27Yeah, so let's go for it.
06:29The tombs we're heading for are those of the royals themselves.
06:33They're about three miles from here.
06:37On the way, Ted tells me more about this mysterious woman.
06:43Akhenaten gave Nefertiti tremendous power as a queen.
06:47This limestone bust is the best-known tribute found to date.
06:51But it raises some questions.
06:54If Nefertiti was one of the most influential women in the ancient world,
06:59why was such a beautiful work of art cast aside unfinished?
07:05We're now entering the royal tomb of Akhenaten, Nefertiti's pharaoh husband.
07:11It was discovered in the 1890s, relatively recently because of its remote location.
07:19Yet when archaeologists opened it, the contents they expected to find were already gone.
07:25Was it robbed, or did something else happen?
07:28Yes, there it is, and it was Nefertiti.
07:30The archaeologists who found this tomb removed some of the artwork from the walls for preservation.
07:40Akhenaten and Nefertiti's artwork is considered to be as revolutionary as their religion.
07:45No other Egyptian nobles were pictured in such scenes of family intimacy and affection.
07:54These panels are still in this tomb, in the chamber where Ted says their second daughter was buried.
08:05The images of them grieving provide rare glimpses of royal vulnerability.
08:11Are there other members of the royal family buried here?
08:14Yeah, we have a burial place for Akhenaten farther down.
08:18Finally, we reach Akhenaten's burial chamber.
08:21His sarcophagus was found here, smashed.
08:25But was Nefertiti buried here too?
08:29Every time I find her image, it's like it's erased.
08:33All I see are vague outlines of the unusual shape of her crown.
08:37That's right.
08:38She seems to be everywhere except we haven't found her sarcophagus here.
08:41There's no evidence that she was ever buried in this tomb.
08:44No funeral furnishings for her were found.
08:47No depictions of her funeral.
08:49Nothing to indicate that she was here.
08:54Unfortunately, there's not much more that this tomb can tell me.
08:58But Ted's given me another clue.
09:01That Nefertiti's mummy could have been moved to a different tomb.
09:05Sounds intriguing.
09:09The site is near a place called Dar al-Bahri,
09:12which is 150 miles south of Amarna, in the Valley of the Kings,
09:16the giant graveyard of Egypt's greatest rulers.
09:25Egyptian pharaohs were often buried in elaborate tombs filled with riches.
09:30But the tomb I'm headed for now held something even more precious to archaeologists.
09:36Mummies.
09:42Tomb raiding was a serious crime problem in ancient Egypt.
09:52Kings were vulnerable from almost the moment they were laid to rest.
09:57Their riches and remains tempted looters willing to descend to the darkest depths of the earth.
10:04It was up to the priests to protect the royal mummies.
10:11And they came up with a brilliant plan.
10:14They started moving mummies.
10:19Could this be what happened to Akhenaten and Nefertiti?
10:24Is this why their mummies weren't found in the tomb built for them in Amarna?
10:33Nigel?
10:34Hi, I'm Josh.
10:36Nigel Hetherington is an archaeologist familiar with this site.
10:41He tells me I'm going to be lowered into the tomb using this winch and cable.
10:46It's really dangerous.
10:48This rig is hardly ever used.
10:52But I'm determined to get to the bottom of the true story of Queen Nefertiti.
10:58I'm looking for clues into the mysterious disappearance of Queen Nefertiti.
11:03I found some hints of what her life was like in her capital city of Amarna.
11:09And I understand this secret tomb in Dair al-Bahri could give me some idea of what happened after her
11:15death.
11:17But it's not easy getting inside here, as archaeologist Nigel Hetherington and I are finding out.
11:26Look over here.
11:29See that?
11:30That's a winch.
11:31They're actually going to lower us into the tombs.
11:35And they've just rigged up the cables, and they say that it's going to work.
11:42This is definitely sketchy.
11:43The ropes are frayed, and the belts look like they're about to snap.
11:50But this winch is really the only way to get inside this tomb.
11:55There's a lot of yelling going on here.
11:58It's nice to know what they're saying.
12:03This shaft goes straight down into the solid rock, 40 feet deep.
12:11Even the toughest tomb raider would have had a hard time finding any mummies hidden here.
12:23To make it even more challenging, the priests fill the bottom of the shaft with rubble,
12:28creating yet another obstacle to the mummy's hiding place.
12:43The last obstacle was a wall at the bottom of the shaft,
12:47sealing off the tunnel that led to the actual mummy cache.
12:51We can knock our way through.
12:52So this is what?
12:53Yeah.
12:54Okay.
12:54Just whack away, huh?
12:55Yeah, just knock your way through.
12:57Today, it's bricked up for protection.
13:00But we have special permission to chip through this modern cement wall
13:04to see what's on the other side.
13:07Oh, sorry.
13:10I just hope there's something in there.
13:12I feel like the famous archaeologist Howard Carter
13:15when he unearthed the amazing tomb of King Tut.
13:19He broke through a wall a lot like this one.
13:22And when he peered inside,
13:24he and his patron had an exchange that went down in history.
13:28Ooh.
13:29Wow.
13:29What can you see, Josh?
13:30Oh, wonderful things.
13:33Looks like the girl's locker room.
13:35Hello.
13:36Well, it was something like that.
13:38So while we're breaking down the wall,
13:41maybe you can tell me a little bit.
13:42What's in here?
13:43Well, nothing now.
13:46Nothing?
13:47Nothing now.
13:47But it's actually one of the most important finds ever in Egyptology.
13:53The most famous kings of all of Egyptian history.
13:56Kings and queens, princesses,
13:58Sadie I, Ramses II.
14:00So all those people,
14:01the biggest and brightest stars of ancient Egypt,
14:03were buried here.
14:04They were right here.
14:05Right here.
14:05The priests that moved them,
14:07the priests of Amir,
14:07took them from the Valley of the Kings,
14:09put them here for security.
14:15It's okay.
14:16The trick is to get in without taking down the ceiling.
14:20It may look dark and uninviting,
14:22but the mummies were safe here for 3,000 years.
14:26It's a nice shaft.
14:28It wasn't until about a century ago
14:29that some goat herders chasing a stray animal
14:32found this pit and ventured inside.
14:35It was a gamble to drop down the long, dark shaft,
14:38not knowing what was at the bottom.
14:41But they must have known it could pay off big time.
14:44Great.
14:48And now, onto the tombs.
14:52That must have been a pretty spooky experience
14:55to be the first person in here.
14:57So as young as you come down the shaft,
14:59you take out all that rubble,
15:00you break through the barrier,
15:01then it's just mummies.
15:03The goat herders basically had their own
15:05private treasure chest down here.
15:07This is cool.
15:08And for the next 10 years,
15:10they sold artifacts from this tomb on the black market.
15:13Wow.
15:17Then, in 1881,
15:20Egyptian antiquities officials
15:21traced the artifacts back to this cache
15:23and moved in.
15:25And they were just stacked right here?
15:27Literally stacked all the way along.
15:29Corridor here.
15:30Just one on top of each other.
15:32No order.
15:33Very random.
15:34Stacked to the ceiling.
15:35Tilted everywhere like a jumble cell.
15:38Within days,
15:39the archaeologists packed up the 53 mummies found in the cache
15:42and shipped them off to the Cairo Museum
15:44for identification and safekeeping.
15:48Wow.
15:48The ceiling just collapsed in here, didn't it?
15:50Yeah.
15:51It's pretty dodgy in here.
15:53This is a modern collapse.
15:56But were Nefertiti and Akhenaten in this cache?
15:59That's right, yeah.
16:00This is...
16:00Were the Amarna mummies found here?
16:02No.
16:03There were no Amarna period mummies found in here at all.
16:06So Nefertiti and Akhenaten do maybe have tombs somewhere.
16:09And maybe mummies somewhere, but not here.
16:12It's a possibility.
16:13People do think that the Amarna family are together somewhere.
16:18So it's possible their mummies were moved just like these were.
16:21But where did they end up?
16:24Perhaps I can find out more at the museum in Cairo,
16:27where the mummies found here were brought.
16:29So the next step is to the Cairo Museum.
16:33Atla!
16:34To Cairo.
16:41The Cairo Museum has the world's greatest collection
16:44of Egyptian artifacts, and that includes mummies.
16:49Maybe Nefertiti and Akhenaten ended up there.
16:55I'm on a quest to learn what happened to Queen Nefertiti
16:58and her husband, the pharaoh Akhenaten.
17:00I didn't find the answer in Amarna, where she lived.
17:04But the royal cache has given me a new idea.
17:08The mummies buried there ended up in the Egyptian museum in Cairo.
17:13Maybe the Amarna mummies are there too.
17:16So I'm going to Cairo.
17:20After days in the dry heat of the desert,
17:22it's nice to be out on the water enjoying the cool breeze.
17:26This is a traditional Egyptian sailboat called a felucca.
17:31This one, appropriately enough, is called the Akhenaten.
17:34I'm hoping that with the guidance of Captain Godoa,
17:37I can get from Luxor to Cairo the old-fashioned way
17:40and see what it's like to travel Egypt by the Nile.
17:47On the shores of the Nile,
17:49it looks like life hasn't changed much since Nefertiti's day,
17:53until we approach Cairo.
17:56It may be a modern city, but it holds some ancient secrets.
18:02This is the Egyptian Antiquities Museum in Cairo.
18:11They have so many relics, mummies, and artwork
18:14that they only have room to display a small portion of them.
18:24I'm here to meet Dr. Nasri Iskander,
18:27one of the world's leading authorities on Egyptian mummies.
18:30Nice to meet you.
18:32Let's see you too.
18:34I think they're going to bring some mummies out to us,
18:36or we're going in.
18:36I'm not certain yet.
18:37They have a secret storage room
18:38that Dr. Nasri has arranged access for me.
18:41It's amazing.
18:42This is going to be the first time I ever see mummies.
18:44I can't believe they're actually bringing mummies
18:46out here into the open air.
18:48Dr. Nasri, what is this that we're seeing?
18:50This is the mummy of Amenhotep II.
18:54Amenhotep II.
18:54Yeah.
18:55Okay.
18:55Wow.
18:563,500 years old.
18:58Now, did he have anything in his hands?
19:00We didn't find anything with him.
19:02It looks like he made a holding.
19:03But it looks that he had something.
19:04Yeah.
19:05Amenhotep II.
19:07Dr. Nasri tells me he was the great-grandfather
19:10of Nefertiti's husband.
19:12And you can recognize here some of the smallpox
19:14on his shoulder and his neck.
19:17He died of smallpox.
19:18We don't know, but there is some smallpox on the skin.
19:22Can I get that right now?
19:23No.
19:23No?
19:24Is it okay?
19:24It's nothing there.
19:25Curse of the money?
19:26Just the remains.
19:27Okay.
19:28That is amazing.
19:29It's like he can speak.
19:31Hello.
19:32They all speak to me.
19:33They speak to you?
19:34Yeah.
19:34What do they say?
19:35What do they say?
19:36Keep us in a good way.
19:37Yes, take care of me.
19:39Take care of us.
19:40Wow.
19:41How amazing to see the mummy of one of Nefertiti's relatives.
19:45And there are lots more mummies where he came from.
19:52This is the storage room for all your mummies?
19:53Or the bottom of a staircase?
19:55This is Ramse's third.
19:57I can't believe it.
19:59I can't believe it.
19:59All these mummies.
20:00These are incredibly precious artifacts, and they're being stored temporarily at the bottom
20:04of a staircase.
20:13What makes this challenging is that they're labeled on the inside of each container.
20:18You think it's this one?
20:21You think it's this one?
20:35No.
20:35Got to move.
20:36This is Ramse's the third?
20:38Ramse's the third.
20:39Yeah.
20:43They're looking for the one I really want to see, the remains which may be Nefertiti's
20:47husband, Akhenaten.
20:54But there's a lot of controversy about whose they really are.
20:59So I'm going to get some expert help from someone who's not only well acquainted with Akhenaten,
21:04but also with Ted Brock, who showed me the Amarna tombs.
21:07This is Lila Brock.
21:09Lila is Ted's wife, and also an Egyptologist.
21:11And Lila, you specialize in the skull that we're actually trying to see.
21:15This is very special access that they're giving us.
21:17It is.
21:17It's unusual.
21:18You're very privileged.
21:19How does this skull or body, what evidence does this give us today?
21:24Well, of course, everyone's very curious as to whether this is the body of Akhenaten.
21:29So the contents are still questionable?
21:32We're not really sure who they belong to?
21:33It's almost the biggest mystery of the 18th dynasty as to who the skeleton belongs.
21:40And you haven't seen the skeleton in how long?
21:42I haven't seen it since 1986.
21:44So it's been almost 20 years?
21:45Yeah, it has.
21:46Wow, okay.
21:47It sounds like they're ready.
21:48So we're going to go in and see what's behind the doors.
21:50We're going back to the stairwell.
21:54You've got to be careful where you put your hands.
21:58Ah, whoa.
22:00It's just the skeleton remains.
22:02Nothing.
22:02Just skeletal.
22:0420 years since someone's seen this whole skeleton.
22:06That's okay.
22:08Uh-huh.
22:09This is, we found it in tomb 55.
22:12It's pretty amazing to be so close to the skull of someone who lived 30 centuries ago,
22:17and apparently took his secrets to the grave.
22:20Is this really Akhenaten's skull?
22:23At one point, people thought this was Akhenaten's skull.
22:26Probably.
22:26Yeah.
22:27Nobody knows for sure.
22:28There's, there's many opinions about this as there are scholars studying the Marnak period.
22:32Yeah, that's good to know.
22:33We're still studying.
22:34We're still studying.
22:35We're still studying.
22:35We're still studying.
22:37So who else could these remains belong to?
22:40Laila and Nasri tell me they may be the bones of someone named Smenkare.
22:45The plot thickens.
22:48Even these experts don't agree.
22:51It seems Smenkare was one of the most shadowy characters in all of Egyptian history.
22:58We don't know what Smenkare is.
22:59We really don't know a great deal at all about Smenkare as an individual.
23:04Because of course there is missing gaps.
23:06Yes.
23:08Smenkare could be one of the most important clues to Nefertiti's true story.
23:13He appeared on the scene about the same time Nefertiti disappeared.
23:18Some scholars believe Nefertiti may have changed her name and become Smenkare.
23:25But why would Nefertiti need to change her identity?
23:32Nazri is taking me to the coffin where these questionable remains were found.
23:36This is the cover of the coffin, which we found some bones...
23:39The friends and relatives of Nefertiti are proving a challenge to identify.
23:44Is this the coffin of Smenkare, Akhenaten, or someone else?
23:52Maybe the markings will tell the story the mummies won't reveal.
23:57So tell me what this is?
23:59No, this is the lid of one of the coffins, which of this evidence has been destroyed by purpose.
24:04I see.
24:05And even here you see by yourself.
24:07The face is removed.
24:08I understand. Who removed the gold?
24:10Some other people.
24:11Later.
24:12Later.
24:13Why?
24:14Because of the...
24:15Against each other in politics.
24:18Oh, so they've defaced him.
24:19Yes.
24:20So by removing the face, we don't know...
24:22By removing the face, he has no afterlife.
24:24And also the name of the king is removed.
24:27So that's where the name would have been?
24:28Yeah.
24:28Who told us who's inside here?
24:30Yes.
24:30Who has no face and has no name, has no afterlife.
24:33So someone came in and vandalized this, and they were very specific.
24:36They took the face off.
24:37They took the name off.
24:38So now we don't know who was inside it.
24:41And what was in here?
24:42The scepter?
24:43Yeah.
24:43But you don't have it.
24:44You don't have it.
24:45The person who probably did this took that too.
24:49Also the names of the king must be written on this.
24:52Would have been on there.
24:52Oh, wow.
24:52That's why they removed it.
24:53So this is a John Doe.
24:55He left only the praise.
24:56This is a mummy John Doe.
24:57Yeah.
24:57It's like we don't know.
24:58We have a body, but we don't know who it belongs to.
25:01See, that bothers me.
25:02Because I'm trying to find out the story, and it seems like the lead characters are erased.
25:08But, you know, I like the mystery in these stories.
25:10You like the mystery.
25:11Because, yeah, it keeps it all the way alive.
25:14That's why you're an archaeologist.
25:15The people is asking, yeah.
25:16It's a good mystery.
25:18It's amazing, man.
25:20I feel like I've got more questions than answers.
25:24This really reinforces how hard it is to tell these movies apart.
25:28For the rejected persons.
25:30And it seems that finding Nefertiti is a particular challenge.
25:34I definitely need a fresh perspective.
25:39A balloon ride's the perfect mode of transportation for the next leg of my journey, 3,000 years back in
25:45time.
25:47I'm going to the Valley of the Kings to investigate some more Amarna mummies, including the most controversial one of
25:53all.
25:54There's a tomb here that dates from the Amarna period, and some believe it may contain Queen Nefertiti's mummy.
25:59To get a better view, I'll be going up into the air with Captain Bob.
26:03Morning, Captain.
26:04Hi, good morning. How are you?
26:06And then I'll be going underground with one of the world's premier mummy hunters.
26:11I'm floating over the Valley of the Kings in a hot air balloon, because this really is the best way
26:15to get a view of this amazing place.
26:17For centuries, the pharaohs of Egypt outdid each other with grand monuments and tombs.
26:21Up here, you really get a sense of how they competed to be remembered for the ages.
26:25The tomb I'm heading for now is not much to look at from the outside.
26:28It's what's inside that's impressive.
26:30It may contain the mummy of Egypt's most beautiful queen, Nefertiti.
26:36The tomb in front of me is KV35.
26:40And the man to help me get into it is Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of
26:45Antiquities.
26:46As head of the SCA, Dr. Hawass oversees all of Egypt's archaeological sites.
26:50But as a field archaeologist, he may know more about the secrets of these tombs than anyone else alive.
26:56Hi, Dr. Hawass.
26:56How are you?
26:57By the way, the name KV35 means Valley of the Kings 35.
27:03Each of the tombs here has been given a number which designates the order in which it was excavated.
27:17This was originally the tomb of Amenhotep II, the great-grandfather of Akhenaten, Nefertiti's husband.
27:26After his death, priests moved a number of Egypt's other kings and queens here for safekeeping.
27:35But when archaeologists first excavated it in 1898, they had no idea this was anything but an ordinary tomb.
27:50They were all involved in���ible.
27:52And they had no idea what they were doing.
27:59And then they had no idea what they were doing, followed by a new tomb behind them.
28:04And that was theornom.
28:08That wasической of the Town in 1898.
28:09intellectual of the Green Town.
28:11In 2003, another team of archaeologists arrived on a hunch that one of the mummies was none
28:18other than Queen Nefertiti.
28:21They found enough similarities between the mummy and the elusive queen to announce they
28:26had a match.
28:28But many Egyptologists believe that there wasn't enough evidence to make that claim.
28:34As I learned at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, there can be as many theories about a given
28:39mummy as there are scholars.
28:41So let's start with the evidence the recent team used to make their claim.
28:45Someone says this is Nefertiti because someone cut out her mouth and cut out her chest to
28:49sort of disrespect her.
28:51And look, there's no penis, so clearly it's a woman.
28:55And this hand held a scepter, so therefore it must have been someone who was regal and
29:00had a scepter.
29:02And the head is shaved, so therefore Nefertiti could wear her crown and she had pierced ears,
29:06so she could wear her earrings.
29:09And all of that says Nefertiti.
29:12But was it?
29:14Many scholars disagree.
29:15So I asked Zahi what he thinks.
29:18Look at the mouth.
29:20They said someone came with a knife, damaged a part of the mouth and also damaged a part
29:28of the chest.
29:30She said because this is as a revenge, because everyone hated Nefertiti.
29:35If you hate Nefertiti, if you lived 3,000 years ago, Shash, and you really hated Nefertiti,
29:43and you saw her mummy in front of you, would you really come with a knife and try to do
29:47this?
29:48Yeah, probably cut the whole head off.
29:49Yeah, because if you want to get revenge from my mummy, you destroy the mummy.
29:52The second thing, they said this is a mummy, a part of a female.
29:58Because it's missing something.
30:00But if there is no penis in a mummy, it doesn't mean that this is a female.
30:05Because King Tut himself lost his penis right after the discovery.
30:11After he died?
30:11Then now, if you look at the mummy of King Tut, you said that this is a mummy of a
30:15female.
30:16Ah, okay.
30:16And actually, if you look at this part...
30:18And then there was the hand, which could have held the scepter.
30:20He said that this is a part of Nefertiti, but I don't understand really how this could
30:26fit with this mummy.
30:28Where does it go?
30:29It cannot fit with this mummy.
30:30The one hand too many.
30:33So that hand probably belongs to a totally different person, because there's already an
30:36arm behind there.
30:37And therefore, I think, I don't really believe at all that this is the mummy of Nefertiti.
30:45But I want you to hold this, the last piece of evidence, which is the most important one.
30:51We did a DNA.
30:53We found that this mummy is a mummy of a man.
30:57This is not a mummy of a female.
31:00It is not a mummy of Nefertiti at all.
31:03So this is a Nefertiti.
31:04Where is she?
31:05You know, archaeologists were searching in the valley of the kings.
31:11They searched in a man.
31:12They did not find the tomb.
31:14I really cannot answer this question.
31:15But I always say that you never know what the sand of Egypt might hide if seconds.
31:22The sand of Egypt may reveal important evidence about Nefertiti.
31:28We should wait.
31:30But what Zahi said implies Nefertiti was controversial.
31:34Maybe even hated by some.
31:37So I'm wondering if this is the reason she's been so hard to find.
31:41Did someone want her gone?
31:44But who?
31:45And why?
31:47Maybe I'll learn more at my next stop, the temple of the great queen Hatshepsut, the first
31:52Egyptian queen who ruled as king.
31:56I've heard that her story could hold some clues to Nefertiti's fate.
32:00How are you, Josh?
32:02Archaeologists Ted and Lila Brock are going to show me around.
32:06When did Hatshepsut live?
32:08She lived in the late 16th, early 15th centuries B.C.
32:12That's about 100 years before Nefertiti?
32:14Yeah, that's about right.
32:16That's right.
32:16Both were beautiful and powerful queens, but apparently Hatshepsut had higher aspirations.
32:22She became pharaoh.
32:25Ted explains to me exactly how she achieved this most unusual feat.
32:30When her husband Thutmos II died, his heir, Thutmos III, was still a young boy who couldn't
32:36apparently rule in his own right.
32:38So Hatshepsut adopted the role as being regent for this king.
32:43But after a couple years, seems to have, for whatever reason, decided to become king
32:49herself and ruled for the next 20 years.
32:52This is fascinating though, the whole story of Hatshepsut definitely sets a precedent for
32:57a queen becoming king and effectively ruling.
33:01But since only men had ruled as pharaoh in ancient Egypt, she stayed in power by disguising
33:06herself as a man, the ancient Egyptian version of gender bending.
33:11And you can see that she's wearing the kingly regalia.
33:14She's got on the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, the crook and the flail, and the false beard.
33:19Oh yeah, it's the beard that's got me wondering.
33:21If she's a woman, how come she's got a beard?
33:23Well, it's a false beard.
33:24You can even see the straps at the side where it's tied on.
33:28What about body shape though?
33:29These don't look like women's bodies.
33:32It's definitely a male body shape here.
33:35So she went with the male body for her statues, the male beard.
33:40I see there's a lot of face paint on these too.
33:41What is the significance of that?
33:42Well, men were normally depicted as with dark red skin.
33:47And women were shown with either yellow or pink.
33:51So the dark red face paint, the fake beard, the male body, the crown, the scepters.
33:57This says Hapshatsud was a king.
33:59That's right.
34:00Could Nefertiti also have ruled as king?
34:05Byla told me earlier that Nefertiti may have used the male name Smenkare as an alias.
34:11Is it possible she reinvented herself as Smenkare and succeeded her husband to the throne, just like Hatshepsut?
34:20This might explain the mysterious disappearance of her name from the historical record.
34:29But if Nefertiti was as powerful as Hatshepsut, why aren't there any monuments or tombs or temples to her?
34:37Ted tells me that part of the answer may be right here, on the walls of Hatshepsut's temple.
34:45And then over here, it looks like this was also erased.
34:48That was erased by Thutmosis III himself, after Hatshepsut had died.
34:53An attempt really to suppress the memory of Hatshepsut as though she never existed.
35:00In some places, her name has been replaced by that either of her husband or her father.
35:04It's kind of like what we saw out of Marna, with the edgings taken out of Nefertiti.
35:08In Akhenaten?
35:09Yeah, a similar idea, a changing history of rewriting it, as it were, so that it reflected what was considered
35:15proper.
35:17Could this revisionist approach to history have caused Nefertiti's apparent disappearance?
35:22There's evidence that the Amarna tombs were defaced, and also the coffin, which may have belonged to Smenkare, or Nefertiti's
35:29husband, Akhenaten.
35:32Was Nefertiti erased from the historic record too? But who would want her gone so badly? And why?
35:41The place to answer these questions is Karnak, the hall of fame for Egypt's greats.
35:49Isn't this wild? Look at these pillars. Each one, the legacy of the kings and queens of Egypt, and the
35:55gods they represented.
35:57The question is whether I can find Akhenaten and Nefertiti in their rightful place among them.
36:03I'm going to visit some of the most secret haunts in Karnak.
36:08In my search for Queen Nefertiti, I've traveled the Nile from Amarna to Cairo to the Valley of the Kings.
36:15All I've found are a few sparse traces that Nefertiti lived at all, but nothing even close to the legacy
36:21of a great and beautiful Egyptian queen.
36:25If there is a memorial to her life, this is where I'll find it.
36:30This is Karnak, part of ancient Egypt's capital called Thebes. During Akhenaten and Nefertiti's reign, Egypt was a superpower.
36:38And it was here, at the temples of Karnak, where its rulers sought to leave their mark.
36:44Once again, I'm teaming up with archaeologists Ted and Lila Brock, who've been helping me solve this mystery.
36:49Hello, Josh. Nice to see you.
36:51Nice to see you, too.
36:52Ted. How are you, my man?
36:53Pleasure. You ready?
36:55These are the temples built by the great pharaohs of ancient Egypt.
36:59Karnak was the heart of their religion, where each tried to build a bigger, better tribute to their gods.
37:06But something's missing. I don't see any evidence that Nefertiti and Akhenaten built a temple here.
37:15Ted tells me the reason is hidden right here, in this massive structure called a pylon that was built after
37:21they died.
37:22Several years ago, the restoration work was being carried out here, and they found that it was stuffed full of
37:29the talatat, the building blocks that Akhenaten used to construct his temple.
37:34Used as filler inside the walls of these two towers.
37:38He's trying to hide the whole memory of Akhenaten and his cult, the Nefertiti and the Atman.
37:45Not just erasing it, but burying it.
37:48Yeah, because if these walls had never collapsed, we wouldn't have known what was inside.
37:52No. It'd all still be hidden away.
37:56These are the so-called talatat blocks that Akhenaten and Nefertiti's temple was made of.
38:02A pharaoh who succeeded them literally destroyed it block by block.
38:08But it seems even that wasn't enough.
38:11The pharaoh wanted Akhenaten and Nefertiti gone for good.
38:16So he hid the blocks deep inside the pylon.
38:19For 3,000 years, there was no trace of the king and queen's existence.
38:29More of their story remains locked away in this storage shed.
38:33Um, it's very rare that anybody ever gets into it.
38:37It's because I'm with you?
38:39That's right.
38:44After you.
38:45Oh, thank you, sir.
38:45Oh, you're welcome.
38:48Come around to the left.
38:51This is where they keep all the good stuff, huh?
38:53Yeah, this is all the important blocks decorated.
38:57Thousands of blocks here.
38:59It really is just bits and pieces that are left.
39:01That's all it is.
39:03They aren't assembled in any sort of order or anything.
39:06It's just all very random.
39:07It's like a big jigsaw puzzle.
39:09Yeah, all messed up.
39:11And somebody lost the box top.
39:14These blocks contain the hidden history of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.
39:18They're engraved and painted with images that tell the story of their life and reign.
39:23Let's see if we can find a Nefertiti.
39:24They're bits and pieces.
39:26But they must be reassembled in the correct order for the drama to play out like a movie carved in
39:32stone.
39:33This is Nefertiti here.
39:34That's her head and her face.
39:36She's wearing two feathers on her head as a crown.
39:39The story in these blocks promises to be an epic tale of how the most celebrated couple in the ancient
39:45world was almost condemned to everlasting anonymity.
39:50So this is the actual paint?
39:51Yeah.
39:53Really, it's an unsuccessful attempt to erase the memory of Atten and Akhenaten and Nefertiti.
39:59As we walk through Karnak's great monuments, one question still remains.
40:04Why did Akhenaten and Nefertiti's successors so thoroughly annihilate all trace of their legacy?
40:09This place is huge.
40:11Yeah, if you really want to get a good overview of it, I know a secret passage we can go
40:15into that'll take us up above here and we can look over the whole place.
40:19A secret passage?
40:20Yeah.
40:21Lead the way.
40:21Okay.
40:23Full of interesting things like bats, maybe snakes and scorpions.
40:29Lovely.
40:30That's the way I like my secret baskets.
40:32Oh yeah, look.
40:33There's some bats.
40:35Whoop.
40:36We've just ran into it.
40:39Yeah.
40:40Like, what are you doing here?
40:41How are you doing?
40:43There you go.
40:46That was fun.
40:49Ah, fresh air.
40:54A bat actually landed on me.
40:57Exploring Karnak has shed some light on just how important religion was in ancient Egypt.
41:03Could this have had something to do with the destruction of the temple?
41:06Tell me what I'm seeing, Ted.
41:07Well, this temple has been built over many generations.
41:10The Columned Hall of Seti and Ramses.
41:14You have, for example, Obelisk of Hatshepsut there.
41:17This big enclosed courtyard here and the pylon we're standing on,
41:21of a later date.
41:22So each time there was a new ruler,
41:24he or she would seek to leave their mark by building a temple here.
41:28That's right.
41:28All to the glory of Amun.
41:31But Akhenaten and Nefertiti worshipped a different god, called Aten.
41:37And their temple to Aten would have been a legacy fit for a king and queen
41:41who ruled the most powerful nation on earth.
41:44But another pharaoh destroyed it.
41:47If this is supposed to be where kings leave their legacy,
41:49why would someone destroy their temple?
41:51Well, Akhenaten closed down the temple of Amun.
41:55They set up a rival cult to the sun god, Aten,
41:59suppressed the worship of Amun at the same time.
42:02So those were two different gods.
42:04That's right.
42:05Amun and Aten.
42:05That's right.
42:07And I suppose you'd say it was sort of vengeance on the part of the priesthood of Amun
42:13when the old way was restored after Akhenaten died.
42:20That they would erase Akhenaten's name, Nefertiti's name, and their images,
42:24abolished their temples, sort of as an act of reprisal.
42:29So they were heretics?
42:31Certainly they were considered heretics by later generations of pharaohs, yes.
42:35And so while he's pharaoh, because he's pharaoh, everyone has to respect his wish.
42:39Yes.
42:40And so they're building these great temples for him,
42:41and everyone's sort of playing along, saying,
42:43well, he's pharaoh, we have to do what he says.
42:45But when he dies, they say, sorry, we're not following that god anymore.
42:49Our god's back in power, and we're going to destroy your temple and everything you stood for.
42:52That's about what happened.
42:56So it was all a monumental case of payback.
43:01No wonder it's been so hard to find Nefertiti's tomb, or mummy, or almost any trace of her life.
43:10Though we know so little about her, the few glimpses we do have reveal an ambitious woman
43:16who shook her nation to its very foundations.
43:22Even now, 3,000 years later, controversy still swirls around Nefertiti,
43:27and we never get tired of contemplating her life and death.
43:32She keeps us captivated, searching dark tombs, excavating ruins,
43:37and digging for the truth to unearth the secrets of Queen Nefertiti.
43:44See you on a regular basis.
43:45See you Sunday night.
44:04Transcription by CastingWords
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