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Delve into the intriguing world of Ancient Egypt as we uncover the chilling truths behind the Pharaohs' curse, explore the secrets of a tunnel possibly linked to Cleopatra, and reveal the scandal surrounding the discovery of King Tut's tomb. Join us on a journey through time, where history meets mystery and intrigue.
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00:01During the early 1920s, the world was mesmerized by King Tut.
00:06A British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the young pharaoh's tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, 1922.
00:14But the public wasn't only interested in gold and jewelry.
00:17The press wrote about the curse of the pharaohs, but was it true?
00:21Was an ancient curse really the reason everyone entering the pyramids lost their lives?
00:25At the time, this was the only explanation for a series of unexplained passings.
00:30The man present at the opening of King Tut's burial chamber, George Herbert V, Earl of Carnarvon, lived only five
00:36more months after the discovery.
00:38He had also sponsored the dig. In comes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
00:43You probably know of him, the English writer behind Sherlock Holmes.
00:47He claimed that an evil elemental caused the explorer's demise.
00:51He must have been joking, right?
00:54Unfortunately, no.
00:55The newspapers continued to blame the pharaoh's curse after every Egyptologist left this world.
01:01These are the scientists who study the ancient cultures of Egypt.
01:05The archaeologist who opened King Tutankhamun's tomb passed away full seventeen years after the discovery.
01:11The reason for it wasn't a secret, Hodgkin's disease.
01:16Yet again, journalists around the world wrote of a curse.
01:19This was getting ridiculous.
01:21But science must have had a rational explanation, right?
01:25Well, it did.
01:26And that explanation was common mold.
01:29Harmful fungi, Aspergillus, can survive for ages in sealed tombs.
01:33When humans inhale them, there's a high risk of infection in people who have a weakened immune system.
01:39Today, doctors believe this is what happened to the unfortunate explorer more than a century ago.
01:45Scientists now know that this type of fungi grows especially well on grain.
01:51And King Tut's tomb was full of offerings in the form of baskets full of raw grain and bread.
01:57Researchers discovered other varieties of fungi on ancient Egyptian mummies.
02:01These molds can easily cause some nasty consequences for humans.
02:05The danger of rotting organic material is real.
02:08Just look inside your fridge.
02:10Any food leftovers you have there start to go off after just three to four days.
02:15You can imagine what happens to food in a sealed chamber after thousands of years.
02:20Food is just one kind of organic material. There is also wood.
02:23If you expose it to water or even moisture in the air, it starts to deteriorate.
02:28You don't have to travel to Egypt to see the effects of this process.
02:31Any abandoned building in your neighborhood can serve as an example.
02:35When a piece of wood gets wet and has no way of drying out, there is going to be damage.
02:40From fungi to wood-boring insects, the list is long.
02:45Rotten wood presents a huge structural issue.
02:48Beams and floor panels are all made of timber, so you better not go inside a failing building.
02:53You can easily lose your footing.
02:55But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
02:57The building materials since the time of the pharaohs have changed, but so have the dangers.
03:03One of the best examples is asbestos.
03:05Until the 1970s, most home insulation materials contained this substance.
03:10It was in everything, from boilers to soundproofing.
03:13This microfiber provided excellent heat insulation.
03:16But then, the United States banned asbestos in 1989.
03:20The UK did the same a decade later.
03:24The reason for it is that asbestos becomes a health hazard when it gets damaged.
03:28When humans inhale asbestos fibers, they can get seriously sick.
03:33Abandoned strictures are full of this material, and there is no one to maintain them.
03:37You see the danger now.
03:39Another material is also common in old buildings, lead.
03:43Ancient Romans used lead piping to channel spring water into their homes.
03:48They also cooked in lead vessels, which was probably not the wisest of choices.
03:53You see, lead and water don't go well together because of something called corrosion.
03:57But this problem isn't ancient.
04:00US officials banned lead piping only in 1986.
04:04That means that 7% of American households still have lead service lines.
04:09And this is not the only source of poisoning.
04:11Until the mid-1960s, builders used lead paint to coat woodwork.
04:16In abandoned buildings, this lead coating snapped a long time ago.
04:20Anyone who touches doors and windows will disturb this lead dust and inhale it.
04:24The dust particles are at least visible to an unaided eye.
04:28This is not the case for carbon monoxide.
04:30This gas has no color, so you can't see it.
04:33It has no odor, so you can't smell it.
04:36No way to detect a carbon monoxide leak at all.
04:39And how does this dangerous gas usually escape?
04:42Poor maintenance.
04:43Well, abandoned buildings have zero maintenance.
04:47One second, you could be exploring an old factory,
04:49and the next you could feel dizzy with and have a terrible headache.
04:52These are just some of the symptoms of CO poisoning, the less severe ones.
04:56But what is the source?
04:58All it takes is for an old boiler to finally give way after years of neglect.
05:03We've reached an important question.
05:05What is the main factor in air quality inside a room?
05:09If you are thinking the level of oxygen, try again.
05:12It turns out that oxygen levels drop by only 0.3% in 8 hours inside an airtight room.
05:18This is a room in which doors and windows are sealed with tape.
05:22So, the decrease is even smaller in normal conditions.
05:25Oxygen isn't the main problem.
05:27The levels of carbon dioxide rise sharply inside a sealed room.
05:30This is the direct result of human breathing.
05:33We inhale oxygen and exhale CO2.
05:36Think of it as a waste gas.
05:37Normally, it's only a tiny portion of the air we breathe 0.04%.
05:42But in a sealed room, high levels of carbon dioxide will make you feel drowsy.
05:48And that's the last thing you need when inside a dilapidated building.
05:51The ancient city of Taposiris Magna is hidden on the northern coast of Egypt.
05:57These days, it has very little of its former glory.
06:00But what lies beneath it may hold the secret to uncovering a famous mystery.
06:05That of Cleopatra, the most memorable Egyptian queen in history.
06:11The recently discovered tunnel is also known as a geometric miracle for its time.
06:17Excavations have uncovered a 43-foot-long structure below the ground, which is partially submerged in water.
06:24Its shape and construction technique are similar to that of the Eupolinos Tunnel, another amazing ancient discovery.
06:31This one is located in Greece and was built by excavating simultaneously from two points, aiming to have them meet
06:39in the middle.
06:39The use of math and geometry to make this construction was astonishingly precise for those days, more so since it
06:47was built near a mountain.
06:50Archaeologists that have been working on the Taposiris Magna site since 2004 believe this tunnel may lead to the lost
06:57tomb of Cleopatra.
06:59The clues they found so far seem to back up this theory.
07:02For starters, the city and its temple were built by one of Cleopatra's ancestors, Ptolemy II.
07:09All the architecture seems to indicate it was dedicated to the ancient spirit Osiris and his queen Isis.
07:16Throughout her reign, Cleopatra did try to associate herself with Isis, so it may be no surprise she chose this
07:24location as her final resting place.
07:27Scientists have yet to pinpoint Cleopatra's tomb, but research continues with the help of modern technology.
07:34To study this location better, archaeologists have even used a special device called ground-penetrating radar.
07:41This tool allows us to analyze what lies beneath the ground without being intrusive.
07:47Since this tunnel is so old, research needs to be done very delicately.
07:51Seeing pictures of what's underground before you start digging is incredibly useful and has been done here since 2011.
08:00Finally discovering Cleopatra's tomb may help us piece together her story.
08:06Especially what might have happened during the last portion of her life, which is still surrounded by mystery.
08:11We still don't know the exact cause of her passing.
08:15Some believe she may have let herself be bitten by a poisonous Egyptian cobra.
08:19Others have suggested that she was well accustomed to toxic substances, even hiding some in her hairbrush, in case she
08:26ever needed it.
08:27But that's not to say she chose to use it on herself.
08:32We do have a lot of other interesting information on Cleopatra that's equally as impressive.
08:38Like the fact that she had a stylist.
08:41Most of the images you've seen depicting this famous queen show her wearing black eyeliner.
08:47This look was put together by Ayras, a woman known to have been her personal beautician.
08:53She traced the long line from her eyes to her temples, a makeup technique still used today to enhance the
09:00eyes.
09:01Ayras was an important figure throughout Cleopatra's life, known also as her confidant and close friend.
09:07There are even theories that suggest Ayras was there by her side when she passed away.
09:15Despite her well thought out looks, Cleopatra wasn't as pretty as she's described.
09:20Or at least, that's what recent research has pointed out.
09:24Sure, if we look at movies and modern imagery, she's depicted as this incredibly beautiful woman, with symmetrical and delicate
09:32features.
09:32However, if we look at coins showcasing her image from back in the day, her looks are rather average.
09:40Her image on the coins might have been adjusted, too, to make the queen look stronger in the eyes of
09:45her people.
09:46So there is no trusted source available to confirm her image.
09:50But her description in most pieces of ancient literature speaks of her other qualities, like her voice and personality, not
09:58of her beauty.
10:01Cleopatra might have been the most famous Egyptian queen to this day.
10:05But she wasn't the first choice.
10:07She did have an older sister, Berenice, that was initially supposed to take the throne.
10:13Berenice passed away before she could do that.
10:16So Cleopatra took on the role and began investing in her education.
10:20She traveled throughout the country quite frequently, so she could become accustomed to her people and their needs.
10:27She was only 18 when the responsibilities were passed down to her, and immediately gained popularity because of her intelligence
10:34and education.
10:36Her taste in literature was quite good, too.
10:39She was known to be a fan of Homer, the famed Greek philosopher and poet.
10:45Cleopatra loved to write as much as she loved to read.
10:48There are even claims that she wrote a book on medicine and cosmetics.
10:52But we have no evidence to this day that such work ever existed.
10:58Part of being a great leader back then meant you had to speak multiple languages.
11:03Cleopatra clearly understood that, and that's why she's rumored to have known many languages, to varying degrees.
11:10Some archaeologists suggested she spoke Greek, Egyptian, and Ethiopian, as well as many Arabic dialects.
11:18She might have even spoken Latin, but there's little evidence to support this claim.
11:24She might not have had angelic looks, but Cleopatra was really careful with the way she looked, even with her
11:31diet.
11:32She was known to have enjoyed simple meals, including a variety of fish.
11:36Since she lived close to the Mediterranean Sea, it's really no surprise.
11:41As a treat, she liked to eat stuffed pigeons, which she also served to her guests.
11:47Other dishes on the menu included vegetables and fava bean soup.
11:51Fruits and nuts weren't missing from her diet, either.
11:54And she was also a big fan of honey.
11:58Recently, a team of experts has even tried to recreate her famous perfume.
12:03Think of it like the ancient equivalent of Chanel No. 5.
12:08Cleopatra was known to be a fan of luxurious scents, which she believed could even influence how people treated her
12:15when they met.
12:16The basis of this scent is myrrh, a resin gathered from a local tree.
12:21Other ingredients added to the mixture were also found back in the day, like cardamom, olive oil, and cinnamon.
12:29The results may not be quite as delicate as the perfumes we know and use today.
12:34Its consistency was way thicker, and the scent lasted way longer.
12:39When she was at the height of her power, Cleopatra might have been the richest person in the world.
12:46Back in the day, she ruled over a territory that stretched across the Mediterranean,
12:51from modern-day Libya in the west through Egypt to Syria in the east.
12:56This is the largest territory ever ruled over by a woman.
12:59In today's currency, her worth might have been somewhere around $95 billion.
13:06The calendars we use today may have been introduced by Cleopatra herself.
13:12She presented the idea of leap years and leap days to Caesar, the Roman emperor she was known to have
13:18been close with.
13:19Taking her advice, Caesar made these adjustments part of the official Roman calendar.
13:24The ancient Egyptians already knew the year was longer than precisely 365 days.
13:30They discovered this by studying the brightest star in the sky, called Sirius,
13:35and concluded that a year is actually 365 and one-quarter days long.
13:42It was Elizabeth Taylor that famously introduced Cleopatra to pop culture
13:47when she played her in the 1963 film bearing the same name.
13:51Up until that point, it was the most expensive film ever made.
13:56It was originally supposed to cost somewhere around $2 million,
13:59but ended up costing a mind-boggling $44 million.
14:03That's mostly because of script and production issues.
14:06To make this iconic movie, producers created 79 sets from scratch,
14:11as well as over 26,000 costumes for the cast.
14:15Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra costumes alone cost somewhere around $200,000.
14:22Thankfully for the producers, the movie made headlines and was well-received by critics,
14:27making it a box office success.
14:30A lot of people associate Cleopatra with another famous Egyptian ruler,
14:35King Tutankhamun, nicknamed King Tut.
14:39Surprisingly, apart from both of them being Egyptian pharaohs,
14:43they have nothing else in common.
14:45For starters, King Tut lived around 1,300 years before Cleopatra did,
14:50and there is also no connection regarding their ancestry.
14:54Cleopatra had Macedonian Greek roots, while King Tut was a native Egyptian.
15:00Unlike many other ancient Egyptian burial grounds,
15:04King Tutankhamun's tomb stayed hidden and free of unwanted thieves for 3,000 years.
15:10One reason was that the tomb was smaller than average,
15:13and tucked away in a place called the Valley of the Kings.
15:16This area was already being extensively explored by the time they stumbled upon Tut's spot.
15:22The entrance was all covered in debris from building a nearby tomb,
15:26which must have also helped keep it a secret.
15:29There were also zero writings or signs on the outside of the tomb.
15:33Time passing also played a part in keeping it in amazing shape,
15:37until the 1920s, when a man named Howard Carter finally made it in.
15:44But was Carter that big of a hero?
15:47Some recent findings say he might have been sneakier than initially thought.
15:51People used to think Carter wasn't just a glorified treasure hunter.
15:55He was a true archaeologist.
15:57Before Tut, he had been on a relentless quest for Egyptian artifacts.
16:02He discovered his interest in these unusual objects when he was a child,
16:06and soon started drawing the sculptures and inscriptions that were found in ancient tombs.
16:11After stumbling upon the remains of King Tut,
16:14Carter spent a decade recording and processing all sorts of objects,
16:18like golden thrones, chariots, and statues from Tut's tomb,
16:22shipping them down the Nile to Egypt's museum in Cairo.
16:26Well, at least, that was the official story.
16:29More recent discoveries claim that not all of the objects made it to Egyptian officials.
16:34A secret letter seems to uncover Carter's little
16:3710 for them, 1 for me policy.
16:40The letter in question was sent to Sir Alan Gardner,
16:44a philologist and friend of Carter's, dated from 1922.
16:48In these writings, Carter mentioned having found the tomb and was asking his buddy for some advice.
16:54In another letter from 1934, Gardner seems to be thanking Carter for an amulet,
17:00which was sent to him as a thank you gift.
17:03Carter was adamant that it didn't come from Tut's tomb, but evidently, it did.
17:11Even the British director of the Egyptian museum was on to Carter's sneaky endeavors, but couldn't prove it.
17:17He compared Gardner's amulet to others from Tut's tomb, and lo and behold, they were a perfect match.
17:24Gardner was so disappointed to have been put in such a sticky situation,
17:29that he vented to Carter in another letter.
17:31Deciding to be a good friend, Gardner didn't throw the famous archaeologist under the bus.
17:37Instead, he advised Carter to take those stolen goods back to Cairo.
17:42It's not the only shady piece of information on Carter's post-discovery behavior.
17:48In 1947, a man named Alfred Lucas, who used to work with a controversial archaeologist,
17:54gave some information in an obscure journal in Cairo.
17:57He claimed that Carter sneakily cracked open the burial chamber door himself.
18:03Then he sealed it back up like nothing had happened before the official uncovering.
18:08Now, why would he do that?
18:10Well, the same theory suggests that Carter and his crew might have entered the tomb early,
18:15so they could get their hands on some ancient goodies.
18:17Obviously, these people couldn't risk having such objects sold while they were still alive,
18:22but made sure they were auctioned off after they passed.
18:26Carter, though, never confessed to anything.
18:28He made no official denial either.
18:31But the Egyptian government couldn't risk any more mysterious disappearances,
18:35so they prohibited him from entering the tomb for a while.
18:41Some have connected this apparent stealing to the curse of King Tut.
18:46If you've never heard of it, know that it became quite the scary tale
18:50soon after King Tutankhamun's resting place was uncovered.
18:53It claimed that anyone messing with the tomb of the boy pharaoh would face some serious bad luck.
19:00It's not all dramatic like a mummy going on an aggressive spree,
19:04but word got out that the people involved in disturbing King Tut's lair met some mysterious, untimely ends.
19:12The main untimely passing related to this supposed curse is that of George Herbert,
19:18the fifth Earl of Carnarvon.
19:19He was this British aristocrat who helped fund the search for the tomb.
19:23He passed away just a year after the tomb was opened.
19:26Now, people love to call it mysterious,
19:29but it turns out that Herbert was already in pretty bad shape health-wise when he got to Cairo,
19:34and he ended up getting taken down by a regular disease.
19:40Now, let's talk numbers.
19:42There were a lot of people linked to this tomb opening.
19:45Security guards, archaeologists, and supporting staff.
19:48And sure, a few of them did pass not long after the tomb started receiving visitors.
19:54As much as we'd like this curse to be true for the sake of, you know, good storytelling,
19:59statistically, if you have a bunch of people connected to opening a tomb,
20:03you'd expect some passings just by random chance.
20:06The average lifespan for those supposedly targeted by the ancient curse
20:11was more than 20 years after the spell was supposed to kick in.
20:15Herbert's daughter even lived until the 1980s, that's half a century later.
20:20And Howard Carter himself lived until 1935, a solid 16 years after the big reveal.
20:28Some have suggested that the whole curse was nothing more than a careful PR strategy.
20:33You see, when Tut's tomb was found,
20:36Howard Carter wanted to make a priority out of keeping nosy reporters away.
20:40So he might have come up with a curse hanging over anyone entering the boy king's resting place.
20:48But what was stolen from King Tut's tomb anyway?
20:51Well, some jewelry to begin with.
20:54It might have been snatched by Howard Carter himself, according to a French specialist.
20:58He did some intensive research by looking at old pictures taken from inside the tomb back in the 1920s.
21:05He compared those images to various objects from museums and auction houses.
21:10He soon started to piece together the whereabouts of some of Tut's jewelry.
21:15First up, there's this collar that used to be on Tut's chest.
21:19It was all broken into pieces, and some parts went via Carter to the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Missouri.
21:26Meanwhile, other bits ended up on a necklace owned by some unnamed people who tried to sell it in 2015
21:33but failed.
21:34Even the Nelson-Atkins Museum agrees, as they've confirmed the information on their website.
21:40Then there's a headdress piece.
21:43Some beads from it that once belonged to Tut apparently got stolen by Carter too.
21:48They were also strung into a necklace and are now being held at the St. Louis Art Museum.
21:53Another fancy collar made out of glazed ceramic magic spent some time at the Met, far away in New York.
22:00Thankfully, it was sent back to Egypt a bit over a decade ago.
22:04This seems to have been, as you'd expect by now, also stolen by Carter.
22:11Missing artifacts aside, King Tut still gave a ton of amazing objects that helped us learn more about this incredible
22:19ancient culture.
22:20Starting with the famous burial mass.
22:23It's this massive 21-inch gold art piece with semi-precious stones and glass paste.
22:29It weighs 22 pounds and showcases the boy pharaoh with a long beard and a headdress with a cobra and
22:35vulture.
22:36On the back, there's this spell from an important ancient Egyptian spiritual book that's supposed to make sure it works
22:43just as well in the afterlife.
22:46Tut was also apparently a board game enthusiast.
22:50They found four board games in his tomb, some made of ivory.
22:54Archaeologists also found a pair of gold sandals, though you'd imagine they were more for show than for comfort.
23:01In fact, the pharaoh probably never wore them in his lifetime.
23:04Now, speaking of fashion items, it turns out Tut was quite the fancy ruler.
23:09They even found a mannequin in his tomb that was used to pick out, adjust, and store his outfits and
23:15jewelry.
23:15The boy king seemed to have also enjoyed some music, based on the two trumpets historians found in his tomb.
23:22Though they were played back in 1935 in a BBC broadcast, the instruments are today considered too fragile to be
23:30maneuvered.
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23:31Purpose
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