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00:02It stands tall and proud and looks like a castle's keep.
00:07Maedam is Egypt's least known pyramid and its most mysterious.
00:12This is not a pyramid. It looks like a tower.
00:17Which pharaoh ordered the construction of this impressive monument?
00:20Was it truly a pyramid or was it used for something else?
00:24If there had been a sarcophagus, it would have been here.
00:27How come the king, during all the years of his reign, didn't find the time to level the floor in
00:31order to make space for a sarcophagus?
00:33Why is Maedam in this current state and what did it look like 5,000 years ago?
00:38In order to answer these questions, archaeologists will have to start a true investigation.
00:43You know, this kind of archaeological work is like detective work, like a crime scene.
00:48During this search, the use of new technologies will prove decisive.
00:52Photogrammetry, for instance, a 3D modeling technique based on thousands of pictures taken in the field
00:56that allows for an extremely accurate representation of the site.
00:59With the help of such digital technologies, researchers will finally be able to solve the mysteries
01:04behind Maedam's incredible building process.
01:07You know, the devil, as we say, is in the details, but so is insight into how they did it.
01:12Thanks to photogrammetry, for the first time we can see all of the construction elements at the top of the
01:16monument.
01:19The analysis of the building structure, thanks to photogrammetry, should help to pinpoint when it was built.
01:25And the study of the construction techniques used will tell us how the Egyptians managed to build the burial chamber
01:31inside the body of the masonry.
01:33They're worried about the weight and the pressure of the pyramid basically imploding the chamber.
01:41As for the satellite image, it recently unveiled part of the secrets of the logistics behind the Great Pyramids.
01:47The most important discovery of the 21st century.
01:51Away from the pyramids, around 100 kilometers from Maedam, archaeologists have discovered the missing piece
01:56to understand the whole story, the first harbor of mankind and an essential element in the building of Maedam.
02:02This discovery unveils the secrets behind the building of this amazing monument.
02:06When building things as massive as pyramids, work must obviously be very well organized and structured.
02:14Maedam tells us the amazing story of an incredible endeavor spreading over four decades.
02:19The Maedam pyramid is the beginning and the end of the story of how to design a giant pyramid.
02:27Just like the most famous pyramid, Khufu.
02:30Welcome to Archaeology 2.0.
02:35The Backcountry Kingdom.
02:41For our journeys, we're staying at the end of the page.
02:42We've managed to find out here.
02:43We stay to the back or halt.
02:57We'll notice that.
02:58The view is in Brazil.
03:25A strange tower watches over the Nile Valley.
03:31Located 80 kilometers south of Cairo, it is quite far from the most famous pyramids.
03:40This is the Pyramid of Maedum, and yet it doesn't look at all like the most common pyramids
03:45such as Khufu and Khafre.
03:49Instead, its shape is reminiscent of a keep, like an impregnable fortress.
03:54Even the locals call it Haram El-Kadab, the false pyramid.
04:00Actually, someone called him yesterday.
04:02He was passing by and he said, this is not a pyramid.
04:06It looks like a tower.
04:08The peculiar shape of this monument has continuously bewildered archaeologists.
04:12Is Maedum truly a pyramid?
04:15A funeral monument?
04:17Or, as its shape suggests, a temple dedicated to Ra, the god of the sun?
04:25From what we know today about solar temples, they used to look like big obelisks.
04:30So, the shape was rather similar to what Maedum currently looks like.
04:36An obelisk.
04:37A spike soaring to the sky and reminding of a sun ray.
04:45Vassil Dabrev, a French archaeologist, is convinced that Maedum is indeed a solar temple.
04:50We can feel here that we're building something that will look like an obelisk.
04:55And what's an obelisk?
04:56A petrified sun ray.
04:58Well, that's what we would have here, too.
05:01Talk.
05:02Talk.
05:02Talk.
05:04Besides, he thinks there's another element that questions the true nature of Maedum.
05:10The room some consider to be the burial chamber.
05:15Even though today sand partly covers the sides of the building, its sole entrance is located
05:21very high on the north side.
05:23Once inside, there's a staircase called a descending passage that leads to what is supposed to be
05:29the burial chamber.
05:30The entrance to the descending passage is located 30 meters high.
05:35For the first king, Sneferu, it's 12 meters.
05:37Khufu is about 15 meters.
05:40Khafri is right under the tiles under the yard.
05:43And Menkhori is two, three meters.
05:46We never see mummies that must be brought more than 30 meters above ground.
05:56When looking at it like that, this narrow room doesn't seem ready to receive the pharaoh's
06:01mummy.
06:04If there had been a sarcophagus, it would have been here.
06:08How come the king, during all the years of his reign, didn't find the time to level the floor
06:13in order to make space for a sarcophagus?
06:15It means that there was no plan to put a sarcophagus here.
06:18It would barely take two days to fix this.
06:21No sarcophagus has ever been found in this room.
06:24But perhaps even stranger, no pharaoh seems related to this building.
06:31So what could it be?
06:33It's a temple.
06:34What temple?
06:36Who was the god at the time?
06:38It was Ra.
06:39The whole civilization honored this god.
06:41So there's nothing more normal than building a temple for this god.
06:47An obelisk shape.
06:49An unfinished chamber for the king.
06:51These clues seriously question the nature of Maedum.
06:57In order to find out its true identity, archaeologists such as the American Mark Lehner,
07:02who spent his life studying pyramids, had nothing but the location itself to carry out
07:06their investigation.
07:08You know, this kind of archaeological work is like detective work.
07:11Like a crime scene.
07:13You see bloody gloves.
07:15You see tracks going across the floor.
07:17The window is broken.
07:19It's the same kind of thing.
07:21There's no text that tell us in a narrative way what happened.
07:25So you have to infer from all this kind of evidence.
07:31The challenge was huge.
07:33The events happened 5,000 years ago and most evidence has been washed away by time.
07:40Yet archaeologists do have a trump card.
07:43Science and new technologies that allow for a totally different approach.
07:48Unlike their predecessors, they now have access to drones, satellite images and extremely realistic 3D models
07:55that permit a very detailed study of the site.
07:59This is particularly true for photogrammetry.
08:02For the first time ever, this groundbreaking technology will create a geometrically accurate digital copy of the building.
08:08It will then be used to analyze the structure of the pyramids.
08:12We have a real 3D view.
08:15Not realistic.
08:16Real.
08:16It means we have access to the monument as it is.
08:20It's not a reconstruction.
08:21Such photogrammetry gives us a 3D view but also the right texture.
08:26We have the color.
08:32In order to reach such an incredible level of detail, a drone and several cameras are needed.
08:37They must collect thousands of images over the whole site.
08:41We'd like to fly about five meters away from the walls in order to create a 3D model that is
08:46accurate up to one millimeter.
08:49Then we'll combine the model with the pictures shot from the ground and link all of the sides together.
08:58The challenge lies in scanning every inch of this massive site.
09:03We're going to use different angles.
09:05Otherwise, we won't get the flat areas.
09:07The drone will give us access to the upper levels that we can't see from the ground.
09:13It will be really helpful for the scientists because they have a hard time accessing these levels.
09:18But now they'll be able to inspect the whole surface digitally, just as if they were on the building.
09:25More than 10,000 digital pictures will be treated and properly positioned so as to accurately represent the monument.
09:32My first impression is that you can actually visit the site without being there, which is very useful, to a
09:38certain resolution, to a certain degree of detail.
09:41You know, the devil, as we say, is in the details, but so is insight into how they did it.
09:47Every piece of that 3D image has a unique position in relation to others, and so we're able to measure
09:52the monument and its characteristics accurately.
09:58Thanks to photogrammetry and the endless possibilities it opens up, archaeologists hope to be able to validate their hypothesis regarding
10:05this mysterious monument.
10:11The technology has led to a first discovery.
10:14Maidam is indeed a pyramid and not a tower.
10:20A view from above gave that hint to the archaeologists.
10:24By studying the 3D model, they were able to clearly identify the base of the monument, although it's partly buried.
10:30From the ground, it's almost impossible to see that base.
10:36Photogrammetry also lets them accurately measure each side.
10:39The base is square, about 144 meters on each side, meaning an impressive total surface of more than 20,000
10:46square meters.
10:48Excavations on the north face of Maidam unveiled the outside cladding of the pyramid.
10:54The base that surrounds the keep indicates a smooth-sided pyramid, a real pyramid.
11:02And when looking at the excavated area, that shell is clearly visible.
11:07This is what we call fine Torah limestone.
11:11And they use it, they select it on purpose for the casing, for outer casing.
11:17Thanks to photogrammetry, it's easy to determine the gradient of the outer shell and to calculate its angle, 52 degrees.
11:25Which is evidence that Maidam is a pyramid.
11:30Indeed, archaeologists are familiar with this number.
11:33The most famous pyramid in Egypt, Khufu, also has a slope of 52 degrees.
11:40This is the perfect angle.
11:42The one that has guaranteed the stability of the structures through the centuries.
11:52The pyramid is currently 70 meters high.
11:55But by looking at its base and the angle of the casing, which were both accurately measured thanks to the
12:003D model,
12:02archaeologists estimate that the building used to be more than 93 meters high during its golden years.
12:07There are many clues telling us that the pyramid was much higher before.
12:11It was in a much better state during antiquity.
12:15Greek tourists have left markings at the top of the building.
12:18Which simply means that during their time, the top was easily accessible.
12:22So it must have been in a better shape than it is today.
12:28This proves that Maidam used to look like all other pyramids, and still look so during antiquity.
12:37But photogrammetry has yet another surprise for archaeologists.
12:41A big one.
12:43When on the site itself, from the ground or even from the first floor, we can't see anything but flat
12:49ground everywhere.
12:52But when looking at the 3D model, a linear structure appears, too linear to be natural.
12:58In fact, what you see here is something that I was looking for when we were at Maidam, and I
13:04couldn't see it.
13:05Maybe I saw it just vague, faintly.
13:08Now here in the point cloud, it's coming out, this very large dark band, you know, as a square around
13:15the pyramid, an outer enclosure.
13:19The photogrammetry clearly shows us what's left of the outer wall, but it's completely covered by sand.
13:25However, given how massive the sand piles are, we can imagine that the wall is still in a relatively good
13:30shape, or at least part of it is.
13:32The outer wall was invisible up until now, and it proves that Maidam wasn't isolated.
13:38Just as with all other pyramids, it was part of a very codified complex.
13:43During the excavations that took place in the beginning of the 80s, archaeologists dug more than 15 meters along the
13:49east side of the pyramid.
13:51This massive work uncovered a small funeral temple along with a huge 220 meter long path.
13:58This path typically connects the small temple close to the pyramid to the temple in the valley.
14:05A closer look at the model shows the general shape of another element that can't be seen in the field
14:10because it is completely covered by sand.
14:13Another pyramid, located in the southwest of Maidam.
14:16We have a small funeral temple, a small pyramid, a path that connects the temples, and so on.
14:23This is a classic pyramid complex of the 4th dynasty.
14:30There can no longer be any doubt about it.
14:33Maidam is a true pyramid.
14:35Despite its peculiar shape, it follows all the rules of a traditional funeral complex as they were built during the
14:404th Egyptian dynasty.
14:47But Maidam's shape isn't the only thing that has been confusing experts.
14:52Indeed, the pyramid isn't claimed by any pharaoh, which seems incredible.
15:00When coming inside the small temple located to the east of the pyramid, Mark Lehner is confused.
15:08Something vital is missing from these huge slabs.
15:11A marking that can be found in every other pyramid.
15:15The name of the pharaoh who built it.
15:19Completely blank stila.
15:22They just left it unfinished.
15:25The place was destined to receive the presents for the pharaoh, and everything seems ready.
15:32They even prepared this offering slab in their traditional shape of a stylized mat with a loaf of bread, very
15:40worn and broken.
15:41But the offering slab was prepared, the stila were here, smoothed down, ready to receive an inscription.
15:48They were left blank.
15:50I mean, for the ancient Egyptians, this is unthinkable.
15:52You have to have your image and your name inscribed to live on in the afterlife.
15:59So if there's no signature, how can the pyramid be connected to any pharaoh?
16:04The funeral complex, the outer wall, the big and the small pyramid, the small temple and the long path,
16:11tell us that this is a pyramid from the fourth dynasty, meaning sometime between 2543 and 2436 BC.
16:19But how can we find out which one of the seven pharaohs of the fourth dynasty is the father of
16:24Maedem?
16:26We think we know these kings because we say their names so often.
16:29We associate their names with the pyramids.
16:31But you know, we couldn't write a narrative history of this period.
16:36We just don't have the text.
16:37We know almost nothing about these kings.
16:41In order to find out the father of this pyramid, we need to know when it was built.
16:47The date can be established by studying the burial chambers inside the pyramid.
16:51Indeed, their position has changed dramatically through time.
16:56The first burial chambers were dug directly in the ground and were accessed through a shaft.
17:04Then, little by little, Egyptians became bolder and they started digging chambers inside the pyramid's body itself.
17:11The pyramid, this massive artificial mountain, was built to protect the mummy of the king.
17:18The irony would be if the very weight and pressure of the pyramid imploded the chamber and crushed the mummy
17:24of the king.
17:25And here again, photogrammetry will play a crucial role in studying the inside of the monument.
17:32Cameras are used to photograph every angle of the long corridor heading down to two small rooms in the king's
17:37chamber.
17:41The analysis of the 3D model afterwards confirms what archaeologists suspected.
17:46The king's resting place is located inside the building itself, at the very bottom.
17:53This is a key difference compared with the first pyramid of humanity, the one Pharaoh Djoser built.
17:58If we compare Meidum to the pyramids that came before it, from the 3rd dynasty, for example, the stepped pyramid
18:04of Djoser,
18:05we can see that for Djoser the rooms were placed underground, whereas in Meidum they are built inside the pyramid's
18:10body.
18:12In the Djoser pyramid, the tombstone is placed at the bottom of a pit, 22 meters underground.
18:18A hundred years later, the burial chambers inside Khufu are placed in the center of the building, much higher than
18:24in Meidum.
18:27This first discovery means Meidum was built between the Djoser pyramid and Khufu, sometime between 2600 and 2500 BC.
18:38This is a major step forward, as the location of the burial chamber excludes Khufu and the following five pharaohs.
18:45Only Sneferu, Khufu's father, is left from the 4th dynasty.
18:51Could this pharaoh be behind the construction of Meidum?
18:57The few clues the archaeologists gathered in the field tend to confirm this hypothesis.
19:03Egyptians during the following centuries and millennium have always considered this pyramid to be Sneferu's work.
19:13Although the pyramid was never officially signed, peculiar markings that caught the experts' attention were found in the corridor of
19:20the small temple.
19:21The name of Sneferu was found in the temple.
19:25Sneferu rising.
19:27And that's why that description that's written in the New Kingdom, it is in the mind of the people all
19:34the time that Sneferu is the builder of this pyramid.
19:37The graffiti made by travelers from antiquity date back to the 18th dynasty, some 1,200 years after Sneferu's reign.
19:46Exactly, there's a fairly long graffiti up here, it's a very short one.
19:50The graffiti mentioned Sneferu as though this were a place of Sneferu.
19:55It just adds to the probability that Sneferu was the owner of the Meidum pyramid.
20:02This king is quite known already.
20:05Archaeologists think he was behind the construction of two major buildings.
20:08The Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid in Dashur, about 40 kilometers away from Meidum.
20:15Yet if Meidum indeed belongs to Sneferu, why isn't there any trace of his sarcophagus?
20:21And why would he have built three pyramids?
20:33A careful analysis of the burial chamber will help the experts uncover a possible use of the Pyramid of Meidum.
20:42When you dig an empty space inside a building, you have to make sure that every stone piled up above
20:48it doesn't lean too much and come crashing down.
20:54They're worried about the weight and the pressure of the pyramid basically imploding the chamber, destroying it.
21:04To prevent such a catastrophe, Egyptians have come up with a groundbreaking technique.
21:09So instead of beams crossing horizontally, they do the corbelling, where they bring every course in a little bit more,
21:18a few inches more, until the room closes at the top.
21:23And this is a way to roof a space.
21:27The first archaeologist who visited the burial chamber recognized the use of a common building technique during the Middle Ages
21:33when building cathedrals.
21:34It's called corbelling, and consists in placing the stone blocks in tiers.
21:41The idea is quite simple.
21:43It's about letting most of the weight of a block rest on another block, and to leave only the last
21:48quarter hanging, which has no risk of falling down.
21:53The main advantage is that this can take on heavy loads thanks to the way the weight is spread.
22:00Yet one element of the architecture confuses archaeologists.
22:05The ceiling of the two small rooms that lie at the bottom of the corridor don't use corbelling, although they
22:10should, being placed as they are inside the pyramid's body, just like the burial chamber.
22:18What was strange was that these two small rooms had a flat ceiling, which couldn't possibly stand the pressure from
22:25above.
22:25It means there had to be something above them to protect them.
22:31Archaeologists from the 19th century had already noticed such flat ceilings inside the burial chamber of Sneferu's son, Kufu.
22:39After some digging, they discovered the technique the Egyptians had used so that this kind of ceiling could withstand the
22:45massive pressure of the pyramid.
22:48We know that above Kufu chamber, there is five relieving chambers that the ancient Egyptians made them to load the
22:56heavy of the stones.
22:59These small, hidden rooms located above the king's chamber have the same function as corbelling, spreading the huge pressure of
23:07the pyramid.
23:10Could such relieving chambers have been used in Maidem too, several decades earlier?
23:16In 1999, a French team started investigating to discover the answer, with the obligation of not damaging the pyramid.
23:24They tried to see behind the walls by using a tiny camera.
23:31It was quite simple, really. We used an endoscope, just like a medical endoscope.
23:37We just needed to drill a hole about 1.5 centimeters wide, then insert an optic fiber in it, and
23:43then look.
23:44The team settles above the small rooms inside the burial chamber.
23:48They managed to insert the endoscope through a hole in the mortar.
23:52But the operation turns out to be more complicated than expected.
23:56The main issue was that we couldn't see much, because the endoscope is very small and we couldn't send much
24:03light inside the rooms.
24:07After several trials, what they hoped to find is here.
24:11In the end, though, we managed to see that the relieving chambers we suspected existed were indeed there.
24:17So what are these chambers anyway?
24:19Well, they're vaults built with the corbelling technique, hidden vaults.
24:24The flat ceiling is actually a false ceiling, and above it lie vaults built in corbelling, just as in the
24:30burial chamber, that protect the two rooms.
24:34Maedum, Sneferu's first pyramid, is a testing ground, as we can see with the entrance located too high up to
24:41easily allow the mummy to be brought inside.
24:45The whole history of pyramid architecture through the reign of Sneferu is really getting better and better at enclosing larger
24:53and larger spaces.
24:54They were getting bolder and bolder.
24:57After building a four cubits wide room that didn't collapse, in the next pyramid they thought, perhaps I can make
25:04it five cubits.
25:06And it didn't collapse either.
25:08And so inside the next pyramid they said, let's make it six cubits.
25:11And that's how sizes have increased.
25:15Photogrammetry will highlight another key element in this investigation.
25:19Measuring the width of the king's chamber inside Sneferu's various pyramids can help determine in which order they were built.
25:26In Maedum, the burial chamber is 2.51 meters wide.
25:30In the Red Pyramid, it's 4.18 meters.
25:34And in the Bent Pyramid, 5.13 meters.
25:38Therefore, Maedum has the smallest burial chamber of the three, which would mean that it was the first of Sneferu's
25:44pyramids.
25:47Something archaeologists have noticed in the field.
25:50You can really see the advances in corbelling, just in terms of the beauty of the masonry, how smooth it
25:58is, the regularity of the steps, the sides close on each other.
26:03You really see the advances in the Bent Pyramid, and then you see near perfection in the Red Pyramid, the
26:10North Pyramid at Ashur.
26:11But it Maedum is the very beginning.
26:16The superior chamber in medium is really ugly.
26:19It doesn't have the noble characteristics.
26:22The proper polish a burial chamber should have.
26:27There are almost no vertical walls.
26:29It's like a vault dropped directly onto the ground.
26:32Lots of mending and defects, too.
26:34Since this is the beginning, they want the chamber to be small, too.
26:39They're not confident to have a huge space that they have to root.
26:45Both the measurements and the quality of the work point to a similar conclusion.
26:49The Orphan Pyramid Maedum is indeed Sneferu's first pyramid.
27:00Sneferu is the only pharaoh who built not one, but three pyramids.
27:06Beyond the reasons that led him to build several tombs, archaeologists think that the sheer fact that a single pharaoh
27:12could build three pyramids proves one thing.
27:14The tremendous power of Sneferu and his kingdom, 4,500 years ago.
27:20The economy reached its peak, and the idea of kingship was that strong.
27:27The king had a very strong power to control the country, to make the country building his pyramids.
27:35Sneferu benefited from a strong economy and an unusually long lifespan that allowed him to carry out his ambitious projects.
27:44This king whose name means Sneferu, he who perfects, has reigned for 42 years, perhaps even 50 years, we don't
27:53know.
27:53We imagine he must have been very powerful, we imagine he must have been healthy, and he must have been
27:59very ambitious.
28:01His excessive ambition led him to show impressive organizational skills in order to make his massive building sites work.
28:14Indeed, Sneferu's logistics were incredibly effective and spread much beyond his kingdom.
28:21To build the pyramids, he had to import the most beautiful limestone blocks from the distant quarries of Aswan and
28:27Tora.
28:27He even went all the way to Nubia, in the south of the country, to bring back slaves that would
28:32help the local workers.
28:39The wood used for transport comes from Lebanon, and the copper used in making the tools needed to build the
28:44pyramids come from the distant mines of the Sinai Peninsula.
28:53In 2011, in Wadi al-Jaf, on the shores of the Red Sea, one of the major bases used in
28:59building Maidam was discovered.
29:03This is the most important archaeological discovery of the beginning of the 21st century.
29:08A discovery that no archaeologist dared to imagine.
29:12And with it, an incredible level of logistics is revealed for the first time.
29:19Here we are in the oldest ports in history. The technology allowed us to locate this port.
29:30Such a discovery was made possible thanks to Archaeology 2.0.
29:36During the 50s, two French pilots flying over the coast had located archaeological remains.
29:42Pierre Tellet, an Egyptologist who has long been interested in harbours and ports in ancient Egypt, sought to find this
29:49location.
29:53A satellite image helped him. By looking carefully at the satellite shots, he was able to find the remains the
29:59pilots had mentioned.
30:06He notices a strange L-shape underwater that looks like an old harbour, and the analysis of the local underwater
30:13geography confirms his idea.
30:16The location of this old harbour matches that of a kind of inlet in the coral reef that runs along
30:23the coast in the area.
30:24They had located a place where accessing the shore was easier.
30:32Moreover, another element will strengthen Pierre Tellet's theory.
30:35This site is clearly accessible through a natural corridor called Wadi Araba.
30:41And when we follow this corridor to its end, we find out that the place where it connects to the
30:47Nile Valley is also the location of Medum.
30:51And so it's obvious for us that the very location of the Wadi Jarf is directly related to the pyramid.
30:58These clues are good enough to justify the start of a massive archaeological excavation campaign.
31:03And the results go well beyond anyone's expectations.
31:07Archaeologists are able to uncover a massive harbour complex.
31:11Mohamed Abdel Maguid is an Egyptian expert in underwater archaeology.
31:15And he thinks we've just discovered the very first artificial harbour in the history of mankind.
31:19So this harbour is made with two artificial piers in L-shape.
31:26They thought this very early period in the history to construct a pier to close for the current and the
31:35wind.
31:36Then the ships can be safe inside.
31:42The harbour must have been very busy indeed, as its size suggests.
31:46200 metres long and 200 metres wide.
31:50So this area could take maybe 15 boats.
31:55Every day there is a boat who is leaving, another boat who is coming.
31:59You have to charge cargo and discharge all of these needs workers.
32:05The excavations unveiled many buildings near the shores.
32:08And six kilometres away, there were 14 warehouses dug directly in the mountain.
32:15Inside and around, many boat-related items were found.
32:19Such as these first anchors.
32:21Heavy stones roughly sculpted.
32:23Some even present traces of the ropes used 4,500 years ago.
32:31Many remains helped to conclude with certainty that this was all Sneferu's work.
32:36In several locations, we were able to find items with the name of the king.
32:41Among the galleries and storage space built in the harbour, we found the seal of Sneferu
32:46on the lid of a jar that must have been used to keep products brought to the harbour.
32:55This logistics centre is essential to build the Pyramid of Maedum.
33:00Just in front of us, on the other side of the Gulf of Suez, you will hit directly on Sinai.
33:11By boat, the harbour is only 50 kilometres away from Abu Zenema, very close to the copper mines,
33:17the material used to make the tools needed in building Sneferu's pyramids.
33:24It's very likely that the very conditions behind the building of the harbour,
33:28probably right from the beginning of Sneferu's reign,
33:31match the rising need in copper used when building colossal structures.
33:38The harbour of Wadi al-Jaf establishes a direct link between Maedum and the material needed to build it.
33:46But more important than the time gained, this guaranteed a more regular and a safer supply
33:51compared with the old road that went around the Gulf of Suez.
33:55When building things as massive as pyramids, work must obviously be very well organised and structured.
34:02Thanks to such an important discovery, archaeologists have a better understanding
34:06of the logistics Sneferu had set up to build his three pyramids,
34:10something no other pharaoh after him will ever match.
34:20But one question continues to trouble archaeologists.
34:24Why did Sneferu build three pyramids when one would have been enough to grant him eternal life?
34:33Maedum gives us part of the answer.
34:35The king liked to experiment and to continuously improve building techniques
34:39until he found the perfect pyramid.
34:46During the 80s, the excavations on the north side of the pyramid uncovered the building's structure.
34:52This was a chance for researchers, who could now study the structure of the pyramid
34:57and carry out photogrammetric analysis.
34:59The results are striking because this is exactly what we can see in the field,
35:04but on a computer instead.
35:10The analysis of the 3D models unveils strange anomalies, namely the fact that perfectly carved limestones are visible under the
35:18layer of rough stones.
35:24The American archaeologist Mark Lehner thinks these blocks tell us the incredible story of Maedum,
35:29that of two pyramids built into one.
35:42And so these blocks would be what's left of the outside of an older pyramid, hidden under the smooth sides
35:49of Maedum.
35:49A staircase-like pyramid, also called stepped pyramid.
35:57On this view, shot with a drone, what looked like the floors of a keep would actually be the leftovers
36:02of the initial staircase shape.
36:05The pyramid of Maedum looked like a stepped pyramid at first, and it was completed as such.
36:10But at some point during the king's reign, the stepped pyramid was turned into a smooth-sided pyramid.
36:15And so all around this stepped pyramid, they added a kind of casing that would make the whole structure look
36:21like a true pyramid.
36:25Calculating the angles of the upper floors gives a result of 70 degrees.
36:31That's the slope of the old-fashioned step pyramid, of each step.
36:36And the accretions they used to make the steps, they slope at about 74 to 75 degrees.
36:43Under its smooth casing, it looked just like the first and only step pyramid ever built.
36:48That of Pharaoh Djoser, who built it 100 years before Maedum.
36:53To the Maedum pyramid, it's really two pyramids in one.
36:57First there was this old step pyramid, an old-fashioned step pyramid that Sneferu started.
37:02And this is the first time anybody really completed a pyramid to this height since the first pyramid of Djoser.
37:09Other kings tried to build stepped pyramids, but didn't complete them.
37:13If the place hadn't been in ruins, we wouldn't have known about the stepped pyramid inside.
37:18We wouldn't have known the monument's history.
37:21And a closer study of the building tells the same story.
37:24Two techniques belonging to two different time periods were used to build the pyramid of Maedum.
37:31Thanks to photogrammetry, for the first time we are able to see every element used in the building process located
37:37on top of the monument.
37:39We can see all the masonry, the construction technique based on stones, angled towards the center, towards the core.
37:48The technique consists in placing the stones with a 15 degree inclination toward the inside of the building.
37:55The advantage of this is that every block leans against the central core, and all forces are sent to the
38:00inside of the monument,
38:01without the risk of blocks moving towards the outside and causing a collapse.
38:07The technique was invented by Djoser to build his stepped pyramid.
38:11This is really a method from the third dynasty.
38:15The other method used is visible on what's left of the smooth sided pyramid at the foot of the current
38:21structure.
38:22Egyptians used to lay stones horizontally.
38:24Then they would carve them to give them the final smooth appearance.
38:31This technique has only been mastered during the fourth dynasty.
38:38So how can we explain that Egyptians used two building techniques coming from two different eras?
38:44And why didn't the pharaoh stop at the stepped pyramid?
38:49That for some reason he had another idea.
38:51And apparently it was this idea for the first perfect pyramid, with straight sloping sides.
38:58For that he went to Dashur.
39:01Dashur is located about 50 kilometers north of Metem.
39:06Snefro moves the court there and starts building the very first smooth sided pyramid in history.
39:11So there's evidence that he began with a very steep pyramid of 60 degrees.
39:17Remember, at this time nobody knew what a good pyramid should look like.
39:21And the evidence is that he was having problems, structural problems.
39:25But quickly, cracks appear all over the building and the pyramid threatens to collapse.
39:31Snefro launches a plan to save the monument as he understands that a 60 degree angle is too steep.
39:38He surrounds the monument with masonry and finishes the top of the pyramid with a 43 degree angle.
39:44You have to understand, that was the beginning. The architects made a mistake.
39:50Challenging with a big angle. And therefore, they did learn.
39:53Snefro has learned his lesson.
39:55Still seeking the perfect pyramid, he starts building a third one.
39:59But this time, with a much lower angle.
40:02And apparently, his builders were confident he went north to Dashur
40:07to build the Red Pyramid at the low angle of 43 degrees.
40:12And this is a success. The pyramid is still stable 4,500 years later.
40:18It really looks to me like there was a conscious research and development program to achieve this perfection.
40:27The same research process is used inside the building.
40:32Once the core belling technique that consists in roofing a room by laying stones and tiers is mastered,
40:38Snefro takes more and more risks and places the king's room ever higher inside the monument.
40:45But as a perfectionist, he doesn't stop at the smooth sided 43 degree pyramid in Dashur.
40:52Instead, he goes back to Medum to turn the step pyramid into a perfect pyramid.
40:57Now, all of this is part of the story of Medum.
41:01Because evidently, Snefro sent his builders back to Medum to enlarge the step pyramid
41:10and make it a true pyramid with sides that slope at 52 degrees.
41:16That's the classic pyramid angle.
41:20The fact Snefro went back to Medum after the pyramids in Dashur is backed by observations in the field.
41:27The pyramid's casing is the proof that Medum was the last pyramid built.
41:32You can see where they're coming in with a chisel and they're being very careful at that seam between one
41:40stone and another.
41:40You see the vertical chisel marks coming down like that?
41:44At Dashur, you can see where again and again and again they were breaking the edges of the casing stones
41:52and having to patch them.
41:54They would square off the break and then put in a patch.
41:57Now they're learned to be really careful when they dress the stone down to those edges.
42:07Studying the structure of the monument tells us an incredible story.
42:11That of a work that spread over four decades.
42:14The full length of the pharaoh's reign, making Medum his first and last pyramid.
42:21Snefro started at Medum and finished at Medum.
42:25At the beginning of his reign and at the end of his reign, it tells a story that makes sense.
42:32This is the story of a transformation.
42:35From a stepped pyramid to a perfect pyramid.
42:44But how could Medum go from a perfect pyramid to a mere keep?
42:48So much so indeed, that a confused archaeologist about its true nature,
42:52and the locals call it, ironically, Haram El-Kadab, the false pyramid.
43:01After 2,000 years dominating the valley, could the pyramid truly have collapsed?
43:06The idea of collapse is made compelling.
43:09It's an attractive idea when you look at how irregular is this later masonry
43:17against the very smooth Torah limestone casing of the original steppe pyramid.
43:23And there's no good square joinery between these filling blocks.
43:28And they come up in a very loose irregular way against the very smooth old steppe pyramid phase.
43:35So there's nothing there to lock the two phases together.
43:39And that's why we could think possibly of a slipping away of this later masonry
43:45and a catastrophic collapse.
43:49And so the very story of Medum and its double nature would be its downfall.
43:54This is a tragic fate indeed.
43:57From being the first perfect pyramid of the fourth dynasty,
44:00it went on to be a quarry for the following generations.
44:03Many camels used to come and hold stones,
44:08taking stones from the pyramid to build major structures in the Islamic Cairo.
44:14Now disfigured, Medum doesn't have much left from its old splendor.
44:19The pyramid with such an incredible story is now buried under the sand and forsaken by men.
44:29Archeology 2.0 has solved the mystery of the true nature of Medum
44:33and helped trace back the story of an amazing project.
44:36The Medum pyramid is really two pyramids in one.
44:39In fact, the Medum pyramid is the beginning and the end of the story of how to design a giant
44:46pyramid.
44:47Yet some things remain unexplained.
44:51Why didn't Sneferu write his name on the slabs in the small temple?
44:55He could have claimed to be the father of such an architectural wonder.
45:00And why has the burial chamber not been completed?
45:03The very place supposed to protect his dead body?
45:07These questions remain unanswered for now.
45:11What troubles researchers is that the tomb of the pharaoh who built three pyramids has yet to be found.
45:19And all they have are hypotheses about this.
45:22It seems that Medum could have been some kind of alternative in case of an early death.
45:30When Sneferu started the massive projects in Dashur, he wasn't certain he'd see them completed.
45:36Being old, it was much easier to complete Medum than to complete a pyramid that was only starting in Dashur.
45:47Some Egyptologists believe that the pyramid isn't signed because Medum was never a tomb.
45:53This pyramid never been used for the king.
45:56This pyramid, in my opinion, it became like a dummy pyramid.
46:02It's a sacred object and it becomes like what we call a cenotaph.
46:07It's a memorial to him rather than his actual tomb.
46:11Other researchers believe that the real burial chamber is yet to be found.
46:15This so-called burial chamber feels more like an open space to move things.
46:21Even more so when we consider some strange elements, such as the wooden blocks that seem to have been used
46:26to handle things.
46:28They're located in front of the north wall, which also presents unusual characteristics.
46:33It isn't built like the other walls.
46:39Behind this wall may lie the king's tomb.
46:44Medum was built far away from the most famous pyramids such as Khufu, but remains one of the most mysterious.
46:50This monument, in its peculiar shape, will demand several more decades of archaeological investigation.
46:56But thanks to new technologies, researchers hope to soon be able to decipher the last secrets of this monument built
47:034,500 years ago.
47:04wa Ta-da ti-
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