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00:05Abu Simbel
00:06Abu Simbel, the most breathtaking temple of ancient Egypt.
00:13A colossal monument, shaped from stone to honor the man who ordered its construction.
00:20Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great, his image carved into the temple's entrance.
00:30Ramses II is ancient Egypt's most well-known pharaoh.
00:36Even his face seems familiar, thanks to his astonishingly well-preserved mummy.
00:42In addition to Abu Simbel, Egypt has Ramses to thank for dozens of temples and hundreds of statues.
00:50And he left his mark at Karnak, where his memorial temple was described in antiquity as the most majestic of
00:59all.
01:01But it was said that according to the ancient texts, the most magnificent achievement of this builder and pharaoh was
01:07his capital, Pyramsy.
01:13A forgotten city whose splendor can only be imagined through the words of ancient texts.
01:21There stood extravagant temples and palaces, testaments to the power of a monarch.
01:27The walls of his monuments documented his conquests, but his legacy is far greater.
01:34The exact location of this city remained unknown until the 20th century.
01:40And today, thousands of years after its peak, the remains of ancient Pyramsy are being meticulously excavated by archaeologists who
01:50are gradually revealing the secrets of this legendary lost city.
02:04Cantir is a farming village located in the Nile Delta, about three hours' drive northeast of Cairo.
02:10It is a long way from the more well-known archaeological sites at Giza or the Valley of the Kings,
02:16which are located further south.
02:18Here, there are no ruins of temples, no monuments, only a mix of open fields and assorted residential areas.
02:31And yet, it is here that archaeologists are unearthing the remains of Pyramsy.
02:44German professor Henning Franzmeier leads this international team.
02:54Henning first visited this site in 2005 while he was still a student.
02:59He has participated in each of the excavation campaigns since.
03:08As a matter of fact, when we excavated here five years ago, with a very small excavation on the other
03:14side of this field, we found also sand like this.
03:18But we did not really understand what it was.
03:21Just by excavating now here, we really know what is it.
03:25It's actually a wall, or what is left of it, it's just a foundation trench.
03:33Foundations, which are anything but ordinary.
03:36Their width and depth are surprisingly large, suggesting the existence of a significant building.
03:43A temple, perhaps, or even a palace.
03:48It's a very huge wall, it's more than two and a half meters wide.
03:52And this already shows that it's a huge building.
03:55And it's the first such huge and monumental building that we ever excavated here in Kantir over the past 40
04:02years.
04:05Since the beginning of the 1980s, excavation campaigns have continued here one after another.
04:12Excavations which have revealed a multitude of objects that all link Kantir to the Pharaoh Ramses II.
04:22Most of the artifacts are kept here, a few kilometers from the site, in a secure warehouse, under the custody
04:30of the Egyptian police.
04:37Typically, no one is allowed to enter this space, not even archaeologists.
04:43But Henning Franzmeier has been granted special permission to make an inventory of some of the objects,
04:50which will later be exhibited in the Cairo Museum.
04:57Many of the objects were discovered before he began working on the site.
05:02So this will be his first opportunity to see them up close.
05:13It's some of the best finds of the last 40 years.
05:22This is also a very special kind of sparrow arrowhead.
05:33Remarkably preserved pieces of weaponry, pottery, as well as bas-reliefs and sculptures.
05:40The objects unearthed at Kantir over the decades are exceptional in their variety.
05:45They are irreplaceable and priceless.
05:58This is a goddess in the shape of a snake with a human hand.
06:03And it might have been part of a little shrine or something like that.
06:09For me, it's a bit like Christmas.
06:11Opening presents, it's such wonderful objects.
06:15This is objects that I know myself often from publications.
06:22Ramses is here on the left and that is the god Amun.
06:25So here we have a typical stela of a king smiting an enemy.
06:31Actually, every Egyptian king is shown like this, holding by his hand some enemy.
06:39So it's not depicting something that actually happened,
06:43but something that the king has to do as part of his job.
06:49All of the objects unearthed by archaeologists in Egypt
06:53are the property of the Egyptian state, and they are preserved on site.
06:57But this was not always the case.
07:01In the 19th century, and during the first decades of the 20th,
07:06archaeological treasures belonged to those who discovered them.
07:09They were then, often, sold to the highest bidder.
07:17This is how the Romer and Peliseus Museum in Hildesheim, northern Germany,
07:23was able to build up a collection of Egyptian antiquities,
07:27many of which came from Kantir,
07:29and almost all of which are directly related to Ramses II.
07:37The Hildesheim Museum is now partly financing the excavations at Pyramsi.
07:44Among the most striking pieces exhibited here
07:48is this series of steles honoring the great pharaoh.
07:57A particular thing about the steles is that they all show Ramses II.
08:03And indeed, on the steles we found often persons with this particular kind of skirt,
08:09very much related to military persons.
08:12And the king himself in this statue is somehow referring to a warrior aspect somehow,
08:20because he was named Monttaoui.
08:24So what is meant here is the god Mont.
08:27He is a warrior god.
08:29And so therefore, the statues he made of himself connected to this warrior god,
08:36to a mighty god who is protecting Egypt,
08:39but also is an aggressive god who frightens the enemies.
08:46A great warlord crushing his enemies and terrorizing his rivals.
08:52This is how Ramses II is most often represented.
08:56The walls of the temples built during his reign
08:58are adorned with accounts of his military exploits.
09:02But this is a misleading portrayal.
09:06Ramses was much more than the battle-hardened king that his legend describes.
09:11He was an accomplished monarch,
09:14as benevolent in peace as he was formidable in battle.
09:20I think Ramses was a very pragmatic type.
09:23And he was definitely very smart in acting.
09:28He stayed king for 67 years.
09:32And he must have been a good politician in a certain kind of way.
09:37Ramses II died at the age of 92, probably in 1213 BCE.
09:43It was the longest reign in Egyptian history.
09:46The longest, and in the minds of the ancient Egyptians, the most prosperous.
09:52During his 67-year reign, Egypt enjoyed 46 years of peace.
09:58Under Ramses II, there was no debating Egypt's power.
10:04And the most obvious manifestation of this power was its capital,
10:10Pai Ramsey.
10:15When arriving in Egypt from the east or the north,
10:19Pai Ramsey was the first big city one would encounter.
10:27There were tracts of housing,
10:31surrounding numerous temples dedicated to the gods
10:34and colossal statues of the pharaoh.
10:37After just maybe one day of going into the river,
10:41you already arrive at what you would have thought is Egypt.
10:44Big monumental buildings.
10:46You would immediately arrive in the center of power.
10:48The first thing that a foreigner sees when coming into Egypt from the north,
10:53is the new capital.
10:57The city was built between two branches of the Nile,
11:01intersected by canals that irrigated its many terraced gardens.
11:04And in the middle, the palace of Ramses II.
11:09And yet, this spectacular city, built in just 15 years,
11:15was occupied for less than two centuries.
11:18And no traces of its former grandeur can be found on the Earth's surface today.
11:31Every year, Henning Franzmeier and his team return to Cantir,
11:35and plot by plot, attempt to uncover the remains of this lost city.
11:42This year, it was this section of land that they chose to excavate.
11:48A few hundred square meters, covering the foundations of a building that must have been particularly impressive.
12:05What we have here, in fact, is the foundation trench of the walls of this building.
12:12It's about two and a half meters wide, and between 60 and 80 centimeters deep,
12:17filled with kind of pure sand.
12:21This means you have at least something like 80 or 90 cubic meters of sand.
12:25They just put in the foundation trenches of the wall here.
12:30So in total, they had like six, eight modern trucks of sand,
12:35which even though it doesn't look that impressive anymore nowadays,
12:38you will be able to understand what kind of effort they took.
12:46And they must have transported it from at least a little bit of distance,
12:51because directly here we don't have sand.
12:55At first sight, it's hard to imagine what kind of building could have required such a large quantity of sand,
13:02and such large foundations.
13:05But in the keen eyes of the archaeologists, these trenches already provide some clues.
13:15Seen from above, the sand-filled trenches seem to trace the outline of a room,
13:20in which the foundations of six enormous columns can be seen.
13:25On one side of the room, a smaller room with only four columns can be seen.
13:32At the end of the first room, other columns seem to form two rows which extend beyond the excavation site.
13:44Mathieu Götz is the team's architect.
13:47For him, there is little doubt that these are the remains of a pharaoh's palace.
13:53So, the throne room is located here.
13:56And here we have a square which is a little clearer than the alentours.
14:00So, we think that it was perhaps the entrance to the throne room with the ramp up to the throne
14:03room.
14:04We're going to creuse deeper.
14:05Because, for example, in this point, we don't even know what's going on.
14:09We're going to create a place where we can see the order of the palace.
14:11And we hope to find, in the areas of the palace, the walls of the palace,
14:17and the walls of the palace, placed in a ritual way.
14:20And that will allow us to do exact dates.
14:26What Matthew is hoping to find in the foundations of the palace is something like this.
14:32A brick, bearing the signature and royal titles of Ramses II,
14:37like this one discovered at Cantier and preserved in the Hildesheim Museum.
14:42It's made from faience.
14:45So, that means that this was never used as a real brick in a wall.
14:52The purpose of this model, bricks, potentially was that they were used in the foundation ritual,
14:59where the king was somehow performing himself as a bider.
15:03And we have scenes where the king was depicted himself performing foundation rituals.
15:09And we assume that the Ramesite kings did so as well.
15:19The Ramesite kings of Egypt
15:20Conducting excavations in the Nile Delta is always very challenging.
15:25More than half of the population of Egypt lives in this region,
15:29in an area that represents barely 3% of the country's territory.
15:35Urban development is rampant,
15:38and often conceals ancient remains hidden in the earth.
15:48Surrounding the settlements, farmers grow wheat or rice according to the season.
15:55This agricultural production is vital for a country that is 96% desert,
16:00and needs to feed 100 million inhabitants.
16:05Each year, the archaeologists have to negotiate with the farmers,
16:09and rent the plots they intend to excavate.
16:13And each year, they have to change plots.
16:16At the beginning of the 20th century, there was more stratigraphy on top.
16:21But in order to create agricultural land, they took away a lot of stratigraphy here.
16:27They flattened everything.
16:29And this means that, on the one hand, later strata are completely lost.
16:33On the other hand, we don't have to take away 3,000 years of history.
16:37It's, in a way, a pity, but on the other hand, without too much effort,
16:42we are already excavating the Ramesside period.
16:50One might think that this expansion of agricultural land throughout the 20th century
16:55is the reason why no visible traces of why Ramesses' splendor remain.
17:01Yet, this is not the case.
17:03It was the ancient Egyptians themselves who, less than two centuries
17:08after the end of the reign of Ramesses II, destroyed the city.
17:19To understand this, we must travel to San el-Hagar,
17:2420 kilometers north of Cantir, to Tannis,
17:28one of the Nile Delta's most beautiful archaeological sites.
17:38Tannis was the capital of the pharaohs of the 21st and 22nd dynasties,
17:43approximately two centuries after the death of Ramesses II.
17:46However, for decades, Egyptologists thought that Tannis was Pyramsy.
17:56This archaeological misunderstanding lasted until the middle of the 20th century.
18:04Today, a French team, led by Francois Leclerc, is excavating the remains of Tannis.
18:30His cartouche is engraved in stone.
18:35His silhouette adorned several bas-reliefs.
18:41And many monumental statues dedicated to him have been discovered here.
18:49More than enough to mislead the first Egyptologists who came to work here.
18:56Before the reference of the hieroglyphs, we already had a certain number of ideas
19:00on the position of ancient localities.
19:03For Tannis, for example, we know that Tannis is at San el-Hagar
19:09since the beginning of the 18th century.
19:33The Bible mentions the name of Pyramsy several times, notably in Exodus, but it never specifies its location.
19:45The region of Tannis is also mentioned in the Bible and associated with the Exodus.
19:53For a long time, this ambiguity contributed to the confusion between the two ancient cities.
19:59Then, when several inscriptions mentioning Ramses II were discovered in Tannis in the 19th century,
20:06the question seemed to be settled.
20:09Tannis and Pyramsy were one and the same.
20:13If the archaic methods had been pushed enough,
20:16if we had given more importance to the small builders,
20:20to the ceramics, to the small objects,
20:22we would have seen that nothing at Tannis
20:27was dated before the beginning of the 1st millennium, before Jesus Christ.
20:31And so that all these blocks, all these obelisks,
20:36and all these great monuments that carry the inscriptions of Ramses II
20:39were found there, because they were transported
20:42to be used as construction materials.
20:47From a 21st century perspective,
20:50the idea of dismantling ancient monuments to build new ones may seem sacrilegious,
20:55but in ancient times, it was a common practice.
21:03It was not original in the 18th century,
21:05it was not original in Egypt,
21:07and in particular in the Delta,
21:10where all the careers are very far,
21:12so at the other end of the country.
21:13Of course, rather than spending colossal sums
21:17for new construction materials,
21:20the obelisks, the statues, the blocks,
21:24if there was a possibility of dismantling monuments
21:26to abandon, in greater proximity,
21:30that's what we had to do.
21:33One of the most striking examples at Tannis is found here,
21:37on the remains of a temple gate,
21:39erected by Pharaoh Chichong III,
21:42four centuries after the death of Ramses II.
21:48This granite block bears the mark of Pharaoh Cheox,
21:51who reigned in the 26th century,
21:541400 years before Ramses.
21:57This quartzite block is signed by Teti,
22:00who reigned 1000 years before Ramses II.
22:05These three granite blocks are marked with the cartouches of Ramses II.
22:11As for this limestone block,
22:13it is signed Chichong I,
22:15who reigned three centuries after Ramses II.
22:20Most of these blocks were removed from Pyramsey.
22:25When you dismantle a monument,
22:27when you use the blocks in a new construction,
22:29there are a number of faces who are not visible.
22:31Those who will be visible,
22:33they can be re-gratées and re-décorées
22:36with the name of the king,
22:39but the other faces of these blocks are not visible,
22:43so we don't need to gratter.
22:45And sometimes,
22:45we have three or four Etats on a single block,
22:49because the block has been used several times.
22:54In the middle of the 20th century,
22:56archaeologists realized that Ramses' successors
23:00had built the city of Tannis
23:02by dismantling his capital stone by stone.
23:05This reopened the mystery.
23:08Where was the original site of Pyramsey?
23:20Regine Schultz is director of the Hildeschein Museum.
23:24She is also an Egyptologist,
23:26and is responsible for monitoring the excavations at Pyramsey.
23:31We had no idea where this place originally would be.
23:35There was no clear understanding where originally this city,
23:40which was mentioned in several texts.
23:43We have a very clear understanding that this must have been a big area
23:47where this city was located.
23:50As early as the 1930s,
23:53Egyptian archaeologists were suggesting that Kantir
23:56was the most likely location of Ramses' capital.
23:59But it was not until the 1970s,
24:01with the systematic excavations carried out by the German archaeologist Edgar Pusch,
24:07that the site of Kantir was definitively identified as Pyramsey.
24:12The idea was to find out how big this area might be.
24:17And he talked to Helmut Becker,
24:18who was a specialist for magnetic analysis.
24:21And he was the first one who really worked in Egypt with this methodology.
24:27And the area they looked was very big, altogether two square kilometers.
24:33These magnometric analyses,
24:35derived from the most advanced medical imaging technologies of the time,
24:40first appeared on excavation sites in the 1990s.
24:44They allow archaeologists to map the subsoil of the areas they wish to excavate.
24:50To do this, the device measures minute variations in the magnetic field at ground level.
24:58These variations are caused by the presence of materials buried within the natural soil.
25:05The remains of walls, for example, or sand-filled foundation trenches.
25:12Looking at the results of the geometric analysis, Edgar Pusch tried to think a little bit about how big the
25:18city could have been,
25:19and most probably 10 to 12 square kilometers.
25:24It's an unbelievable, huge ancient city.
25:27The biggest one which we know so far from this time period.
25:31Not only in Egypt, in the Mediterranean.
25:35The dimensions of the structures revealed by magnetometry left no room for debate.
25:41This colossal city had to be Pyramsy.
25:46Three decades later, Henning Franzmeier and his team are still working from this original map.
25:52It helped them locate what they believe to be Ramses II's palace, where they are currently carrying out their excavation
26:00campaign.
26:01But we're only in this square here, because this is the limit of the next field.
26:06You can see it here.
26:07You can see it here, very weak.
26:10You have to see if you can see any of the light structures that you see with these structures in
26:16connection,
26:17which we can excavate there now.
26:18Yes, it fits very well.
26:24According to the data from the magnetometer,
26:26the city of Pyramsy was enormous for its time.
26:31It is therefore likely that Ramses had multiple palaces there,
26:36each serving a different purpose.
26:39What kind of role could the palace on which Henning and his team are currently working have played?
26:45Until to now, this is a little bit speculation.
26:49It's a very, very huge palace, and therefore it's a little unusual.
26:54It is one of the biggest palaces we know from Egypt.
26:59On the other side, if you are looking how big the city was,
27:02there's no doubt about that there had been other palaces,
27:06and also there must have been some temples.
27:10So this means what we have in the moment are different areas.
27:14We know something about the living areas, we know something about the production areas,
27:19and now the idea was really to look to a very different area.
27:26To better understand the nature of the building they are excavating,
27:30the archaeologists meticulously catalog everything they find on the site.
27:37A tiny fragment of pottery could be a decisive clue,
27:41depending on the context in which it was found.
27:46Where exactly was it discovered?
27:48At what depth?
27:50What else is nearby?
27:55Of course, as one can see very well here, archaeology destroys.
28:01And this ditch is now completely gone, and the filling is completely gone.
28:07For that it's so important that we document it very well,
28:11because otherwise all information would be lost,
28:15and it's something that is a big difference to science.
28:18You cannot recreate what we find here.
28:23So excavating without proper documentation is something that cannot be done.
28:32Each section of the site is carefully photographed, drawn and mapped as the excavations proceed.
28:47Each discovery is geolocated using what's called a total station.
28:52A surveyor's tool, accurate to the nearest centimeter.
28:58One nine one and a half.
29:00Even the slightest fragments of pottery are thoroughly described, measured and referenced.
29:06This work must be carried out as close to the field as possible, so that no information is lost.
29:12Like this we can put this fine slip in a special bag with the pottery, with the find,
29:20so we will also, after a very long time, still know where it comes from.
29:23We don't have the need to always keep up with data.
29:27Even if we are not here for 20 years, we will still be able to identify what we have.
29:36But in addition to this old-fashioned work, the archaeologists also rely on modern techniques
29:42to create the most complete record possible.
29:48And one technique that has emerged over the last decade has completely revolutionized the work of archaeologists.
29:58Photogrammetry.
30:18The principle is simple.
30:21You take as many high-definition photos as you need to capture the surface you want to
30:27model in 3D, varying the angles of the shots.
30:31An exercise that sometimes leads the archaeologist to perform a strange kind of dance.
30:49You just have to make sure you don't forget anything.
30:51That's why it's good to have it in a certain rhythm and a certain way to do it.
30:56Especially around the corners, you have to go back and forward again, and then it's
31:00me.
31:01But now it's done.
31:06Frank Stremka is the digitalization specialist on the team.
31:12He is responsible for modeling the photogrammetric images.
31:24It's noon.
31:26The whole team is about to go to the Digg House.
31:29A home base rented by Henning in the center of Kantir.
31:36This is where the archaeologists gather to work, sleep and have their meals.
31:48Working through his lunch break, Frank Stremka begins to assemble the photos taken the day
31:53before.
31:56The most important thing is that you move the camera in between shots.
31:59You cannot just stay like this, because then there is no baseline between photographs which
32:04you need to triangulate the distance to the object.
32:16The software analyzes them and identifies all the elements that are common to several photos.
32:22Using a trigonometric formula, it then stitches them together.
32:26In this case, it detected 10 million overlapping points.
32:35And this one is used to calculate the camera positions.
32:38So the blue areas here, or the blue patches, is where the camera was positioned.
32:44And in the next step, it reverses the calculation and calculates outside world points based on
32:52the camera position.
32:53So it's a bit of a circle, but it's magic, but it works.
32:58So over the last 10 years or so, it has really changed archaeology.
33:05Thanks to the photogrammetric modeling, archaeologists can now view all the physical data from the
33:12field on a computer screen.
33:17They can observe a wall, an object or a trench from angles that would be difficult to achieve
33:23in real life.
33:25With a few clicks, they can make every possible measurement with pinpoint accuracy.
33:33We have finished the photogrammetry of one of the walls of the throne, but in fact, the
33:38column was placed on the top.
33:41The base of the column, she was placed here, and all this trou was filled with sable.
33:46And we removed the sable, we measured it, we have almost 1m of the depth of sable there.
33:52And we don't even know why, in fact.
33:54We think that it could be a technical reason, that it's easier to have a same level for
34:01all the columns when you have sable.
34:03It's easier to try to take the ground, increase, add, and remove.
34:09It's easier with sable, but it doesn't explain why there's 1m of the depth of sable.
34:13It could be done with a lot less, so we don't even know.
34:20Material evidence, such as the base of a column, which could have helped the archaeologists,
34:25is missing from the excavation site.
34:28But on the basis of what has been discovered in other palaces in Egypt, Henning Fransmeyer
34:33offers a hypothesis.
34:37The idea is that we have such big walls, such large walls, because the rooms inside the building
34:46might have been vaulted.
34:47It was on the one hand a high building, a really tall building, where the room inside must have
34:54reached 6, 7 meters of height, but also there might have been vaults as a ceiling.
35:03If Henning's hypothesis is correct, the throne room of the palace must have looked like this.
35:08Above the six sand-filled foundation holes, domed column bases, like this.
35:15Above them, the columns themselves carved in stone and topped with a rounded capital.
35:21The whole thing was probably 7 meters high.
35:28The monumental columns may have resembled this one, found in Tannis, one which perhaps may
35:35have come from the palace itself.
35:39Above the columns, decorated with painted motifs, a triple vault.
35:46According to Henning, the massive pressure exerted by this vault and the height of the building,
35:51justify the thickness of the 2.5 meter walls.
35:58Walls decorated with bas-reliefs, featuring the king and the gods, like these also from Tannis.
36:13Imagine the feeling of entering this imposing throne room and walking between these columns toward the king.
36:33The power of Ramses, embodied by this dramatic architecture, overwhelmed everyone he received.
36:49Everything confirms what the ancient texts describe.
36:53It was here that Ramses II chose to establish the central hub of his rule.
37:07But why choose such an unconventional location, compared to Thebes, the ancient capital?
37:13And why choose a place so far from Upper Egypt and its architectural treasures?
37:22Some answers have been provided since the initial excavations carried out by Edgar Pusch at Cantier.
37:30Evidence of an extensive weapons manufacturing industry.
37:33What was here so unusual is something Edgar Pusch defined as assembly line workshops.
37:41This means it's not one small workshop besides the other.
37:45It's really a huge production area planned as a unit.
37:51And that showed us also that it was very essential to have a huge production for the army to protect
37:59the influence of the Ramessite emperors to this area.
38:09This hypothesis is confirmed by a number of artifacts discovered by archaeologists in the remains of these workshops.
38:17What we have here is objects, for instance relating to workshops where arms were produced.
38:24And so what we can see is the metal weapons that are amongst the best that were found in Egypt.
38:34Here we have a kind of harpoon, really a beautiful piece.
38:39And an arrowhead, a kind of winged arrowhead made of bronze.
38:45And this is really high tech of the late Bronze Age.
38:49At Pyramese, we in fact have evidence now that not for the troops themselves, but for the productions of weapons
38:59that these troops might have used.
39:04Another relic is even more significant.
39:06A remnant from an exceptional military building.
39:10So this is a fragment of a door lintel from the royal stable.
39:15So what we see here is a horse and the names of Ramesses II.
39:25Ramessu and Mary.
39:28And there's something missing, but it's the god Amun.
39:32So it's Ramesses beloved of Amun.
39:35Over every box in the stables, boxes of six horses and there were dozens of these.
39:41Over every box there was a door lintel like this, with a horse kind of adoring the names of the
39:51king of Ramesses.
39:55Once again, magnetometry was used to discover these stables.
39:59And it took Edgar Poosch twelve years to uncover them.
40:04Nothing like this had been discovered before in Egypt and also in other places.
40:10So everyone was very excited.
40:12And this was also one of the reasons why then immediately the idea came up to start excavation in this
40:18place.
40:21These stables, the largest ever discovered in Egypt, covered an area of 14,000 square meters.
40:28They were divided into five rows of ten stalls.
40:32Each row ended with a 250 square meter room, which was used by the stablemen.
40:39The ceiling of this room was supported by ten columns, modeled after palm trees.
40:47The stables were accessed through an impressive entrance, supported by four columns, decorated with the cartouche of Ramses II,
40:55and bar reliefs representing the pharaoh conquering his enemies.
41:05Each stall could hold six horses.
41:08Their urine was collected and used to tan leather.
41:14At the back of the stalls, a rough sleeping area could accommodate a stable hand.
41:19When full, these stables could house up to 460 horses.
41:39When Edgar Pusch excavated this site, he discovered several objects related to the horses.
41:46Such as this bronze bridle, incredibly well preserved after 3,000 years underground.
41:55As well as these parts carved in stone, ornaments, decorating the war chariots pulled by the horses of Ramses II.
42:07We have not found full chariots, but what we found, a lot of parts of the chariot.
42:14Parts which were made on one side, of course, from stone, but also from other materials.
42:20And by looking for all this material, we really could find out that they belong to a huge production of
42:27chariot trees.
42:28And we also could reconstruct them.
42:31And this was also very interesting, because they look a little bit different.
42:35War chariots were the weapons of choice for the pharaoh's shock troops.
42:39It was a fearsome weapon, designed for battle.
42:43But to battle whom?
42:45In this case, the geographical location by Ramsey provides some clues.
42:53Besides the Egyptian empire, there was a second huge empire, the empire of the Hightight.
42:59There were opponents, of course, and both interested in the eastern Mediterranean area, particularly in the Near East.
43:07They wanted to have influence to this area, not only for trade, but also for their natural resources.
43:14And therefore, there was a strong competition, and this was really dangerous.
43:21When Ramses II ascended the throne of Egypt, the Hittite empire already controlled the territories of present-day Syria and
43:29Lebanon.
43:31If they succeeded in conquering Palestine, Egypt would soon be under their control as well.
43:40And I think this is one of the main reasons why it became so important to have a capital which
43:46is more near to this area.
43:49A capital in the eastern delta of Egypt.
43:51A place where any kind of arms, any kind of, let's say, the chariots, the horses are available as quick
44:01as possible,
44:02if there is any kind of danger from the Hightights to influence this area in a way the Egyptians don't
44:11like.
44:15We now know why Ramses II chose to build his capital so far away from the traditional centers of Pharaonic
44:23power.
44:25He wanted to block the threatening advance of the Hittite empire.
44:30But archaeologists are only just beginning to unravel the mysteries of Ramses' forgotten city.
44:38Was it only a garrison town?
44:41And if so, why was it so large?
44:45Why did Ramses build a palace there?
44:49In Kantir, Henning Franzmeier's team continues to dig in search of answers.
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