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00:03The whole world is looking at Pharaoh Khufu's pyramid in Egypt. Yet right next to it, on the
00:10Giza Plateau, other architectural works of art have survived the test of time. The Sphinx,
00:16a lion with a human head, and the pyramids of Khafre and Mancorae, unrivaled building feats.
00:23The Sphinx is not a rock, it's a living rock. The Khafre's pyramid is currently the
00:28world's tallest pyramid. Located only a couple of meters away from the famous Khufu,
00:34the pyramid of Khafre looks like it's identical to its impressive neighbor.
00:38About 140 meters of masonry are piled on this fault. How could the Egyptians build
00:44such colossal structures without any modern machinery? What does the Sphinx represent,
00:49and why was it placed precisely here? What secrets are yet to be uncovered by
00:54exploring the monuments? Today we satellite, but the ancient Egyptians found a very simple way to
01:02build, the whole. Nowadays, a new and promising technology is supposed to help uncover the best
01:08kept secrets of ancient Egypt, photogrammetry. It consists in extremely accurate 3D models of
01:14the pyramids and the Sphinx created by scanning the monuments from the air. The results are spectacular,
01:19and will provide Egyptologists with powerful tools. We are able to reproduce landscapes of several
01:27square kilometers in 3D. It's like having Giza on the computer. I think I haven't seen the Giza pyramids
01:35like this. Three of the greatest Egyptologists from the United States, Egypt and France agreed to take
01:42on the mission of analyzing the Giza Plateau from the air and from inside like nothing ever done before.
01:50What's striking is how aligned the pyramids are. You can see through the photogrammetry that the body
01:56of the Sphinx is longer than a normal Egyptian Sphinx. So truly, the pyramids geometry is almost perfect.
02:04More than 4,000 years after their construction, these stone monuments may be on the verge of giving away
02:10their final secrets. Welcome to Archaeology 2.0.
02:59Archaeology 2.0.
03:06Lost somewhere between the desert and the giant city of Cairo,
03:09a massive expanse of limestone of more than 300 hectares looks over the Nile Valley.
03:15This is the Giza Plateau. More than 4,000 years ago, our ancestors made use of all this raw material
03:21to build what can only be called architectural feats. Three pyramids standing next to each other,
03:28one with the tomb of Khufu, his son's pyramid, Khafre, and his grandsons, Mancorae.
03:36And we shouldn't forget the Sphinx at the entrance of the plateau. The landscape looks like a postcard
03:42and is known the world over. Although Khufu is the most famous one, the pyramids of Khafre and
03:48Mancorae are but 100 meters away and also offer unrivaled levels of perfection.
03:55Yet no major scientific campaign has ever been carried out on these two monuments,
04:00despite the fact that many mysteries concerning them are left unsolved.
04:03When I came to Giza Plateau, people said there is nothing that can be discovered.
04:08I came in 1987. I made major, major, major discoveries. I'm saying all my life to everyone
04:14that we discovered, until now, 30 percent of the Egyptian monuments.
04:19But today the mystery surrounding these fascinating tombs could perhaps be solved. Indeed, a French
04:26team of engineers was given special authorization to carry out a digital scanning operation.
04:32With the help of drones and small cameras, they intend to take pictures of the Giza Plateau
04:37from every possible angle, and that technique is called photogrammetry.
04:43After several days in the field, hundreds of thousands of pictures are sent to Paris.
04:48Once put together, they'll bring life to 3D models of the pyramids and the Sphinx.
04:55Photogrammetry isn't new per se, but the latest evolutions of the technology
04:59now allow for an unprecedented level of accuracy.
05:02These algorithms today let us analyze not just two or three images like they used to,
05:07but 1,000, 10,000, or even 100,000 images. We are able to reproduce landscapes of several square
05:14kilometers in 3D, monuments, sculptures, and we do so with all the tiny details of the architecture.
05:24These photogrammetric data will perhaps help solve some of the secrets behind the building techniques.
05:30We can gather information on how they were built through the study of the blocks,
05:34of their geometry. How were they carved, for instance? Or can we see some marks of the tools used?
05:42It takes several weeks to compute such highly accurate models.
05:45Perhaps they'll help to shed some light on some of the mysteries behind these symbolic monuments,
05:50especially the Sphinx, one of Egypt's most famous and mysterious structures.
05:59Basel Dabrev, a French Egyptologist, is leading us to this giant statue located below the pyramids,
06:05which has been protecting the entrance to the plateau for millennia.
06:10When I stand in front of the Sphinx, I wonder, what can this be? It must be something so important
06:15that it has never been copied. Although Egyptians made smaller Sphinx,
06:20they never carved another one in a mountain like that. There are many mountains around here,
06:26small hills like that, but why didn't they carve another Sphinx?
06:30Who is the guardian watching over the Giza plateau? 4,000 years later, it's difficult to know what symbols
06:39are hidden behind this strange creature. But one thing's certain, since it was built, it has continuously
06:46fascinated people and Egyptologists. Although for a very long time the statue was almost entirely
06:52covered by the Egyptian sand. In the late period, people like to come and touch it. People like to
06:58be buried beside it. And this is why the Sphinx became a legend to the ancient Egypt.
07:04During ancient Greece, people thought it was standing up. Just like the Colossus of Rhodes,
07:08they thought it was a standing statue. The Sphinx was excavated for the last time during the 20s,
07:13and that's when we found out that it had a lion body. So it wasn't a normal being,
07:17it wasn't just another pharaoh.
07:22The Sphinx is 73 meters long and 20 meters high, more than 25 times the size of a lion.
07:30The analysis of the stones it's made of led archaeologists to date its construction to
07:35approximately 2,500 BC, which matches the time the Giza pharaohs reigned. Therefore,
07:40it was probably built by the same men who created the pyramids. Yet to understand its peculiar shape,
07:48we have to focus on the building process. And archaeologist Mark Lehner believes the answers can
07:53be found in the field. You know what strikes many people who visit the Sphinx for the first time,
07:58is that it doesn't sit up on the plateau, it sits down low. And that's because it actually sits in
08:04a quarry.
08:05The ancient Egyptians created the Sphinx not by bringing stones and building it, they created the
08:11Sphinx by taking stone away, natural rock. Like Michelangelo had a big block and he carved David.
08:19During the 19th century, the first archaeological excavations helped Egyptologists to understand how
08:25the statue was built. They discover that instead of bringing tons of stones, Egyptians from antiquity had
08:32the clever idea of carving the Sphinx directly in the quarry of the Giza plateau. And nothing went to
08:37waste. The blocks that were removed to build the Sphinx were used to build a temple right in front of
08:43the statue.
08:48Most of the blocks have three geological layers. There's a hard layer above, and then there's a soft
08:54yellow layer. Yellow because it has more clay. And then there's another hard layer. We see these same
09:01three layers in the body of the Sphinx and in the sides of the quarry around the Sphinx. And we
09:07can
09:08actually trace these blocks back to where they were in the natural rock of the Sphinx.
09:16The first photogrammetric data of the Sphinx are already available. Basil Dobrev will analyze them.
09:24The photographs taken from the air offer a brand new viewpoint that may lead to new information
09:29regarding the casing the Sphinx was built in.
09:35We know the Sphinx was carved in the mountain, but it's difficult to imagine because we're always
09:40located on the ground. Now, though, we have a view from above and we can guess what shape the mountain
09:46was.
09:50Photogrammetry confirms that the Sphinx has indeed been built from a pile of rocks located on the
09:55plateau. But there's something else that is clearly visible on the digital model.
10:04You can see through the photogrammetry that the body of the Sphinx is longer than a normal Egyptian
10:11Sphinx. The classic Egyptian Sphinx, they're three heads long. And the Great Sphinx of Giza is five
10:18heads long. So it looks like somebody took the lion body and pulled it too long like a rubber band.
10:23And the
10:24reason is there's a huge fissure or a crack in the natural rock that passes right through the waist of
10:30the Sphinx. And they couldn't make the back of the rump there because it would just break. So they
10:36basically pulled the Sphinx longer to fit it into the geology. And you can see that in the photogrammetry.
10:43So that's kind of cool.
10:46This curious crack was discovered when the statue was unearthed. Because of it,
10:52the builders had to extend the body of the Sphinx. Otherwise, keeping the regular proportions of a lion
10:59would have made it impossible to complete the back of the rump. Fortunately,
11:04the builders quickly came up with a solution.
11:07Then the Arctic filled that gap with stones. And after that, they did the covering stones that you
11:17see to support the deteriorated body. And they made the modeling of the lion body above the covering stones.
11:28Although we know much more today about the construction of the most famous Egyptian statue,
11:33the Sphinx is still shrouded in mystery. For years, Egyptologists have been debating about who it
11:40represents, the famous pharaoh Khufu or his son, Khafre. For a long time, everyone thought it was Khafre,
11:48since the Sphinx is located right in front of his pyramid.
11:53The quarry in which the Sphinx sits is the embankment for Khafre's causeway. The Sphinx sits to the left of
12:02the
12:02end of Khafre's causeway, where it meets his valley temple. In front of the Sphinx, there's a Sphinx temple.
12:09Obviously, I think, for the Sphinx. So the Sphinx seems to be an integral part
12:15of what we could call Khafre's valley complex. And I think it probably represents Khafre.
12:26But other Egyptologists, such as Vassal Dabrev, have other arguments.
12:31When we come to have a look at the Sphinx, we usually arrive from Cairo over there to the east.
12:36And so we see the face of the Sphinx and behind Khafre's pyramid. So we think that the Sphinx is
12:41Khafre.
12:42However, if we put ourselves in the shoes of the Egyptians at that time, they came from the south,
12:46from Sacra, 20 kilometers from here. And when we arrive from there, we see the Sphinx from the side.
12:52And who's behind? Khafre. And so we should link the Sphinx to Khafre's pyramid.
13:01Vassal Dabrev believes the Sphinx is connected to Khafre's pyramid and not Khafre's.
13:06And to support his theory, he uses photogrammetry.
13:13Photogrammetry is very useful to understand exactly how the Sphinx is placed in regard to Khafre's pyramid.
13:20And that's how we see that Khafre's access way goes around the Sphinx. It's very clear here. There can't be
13:27any doubts.
13:29And so this image makes me certain that when Khafre built his pyramid and the access way,
13:35the Sphinx was already there. And he was forced to go around it from the south.
13:46The pyramid of Khafre was built after Khufu's. So if the access way goes around the Sphinx,
13:52Vassal Dabrev concludes that the construction of the Sphinx took place before Khafre's reign,
13:57linking it logically to Khufu.
14:03But other Egyptologists, such as Mark Lanner, refute this theory.
14:08But why would Khufu make a Sphinx way over there, far away from his pyramid complex and its alignment?
14:15His pyramid, temple, and a causeway that was almost 800 meters long,
14:20actually goes and turns to the end at a valley temple, some distance away from the Sphinx.
14:25The Sphinx, where it is, doesn't make any sense in terms of Khufu's architecture.
14:30It does make sense in terms of Khafre's architecture.
14:34For now, the Sphinx identity remains a mystery.
14:38But technologies 2.0 uncover every day more information.
14:43Yet scientists have already succeeded in unveiling some secrets of the Sphinx.
14:47For years, Zaye Avas has looked for secret chambers.
14:51Together with Mark Lanner, they even dug a tunnel to explore what's under the statue.
14:58Today, he agrees to show us this secret passage.
15:03Maybe five people were able to enter inside this tunnel.
15:09Only five.
15:17I see that a tunnel goes inside here, goes up and down.
15:23I want people who talk about the mystery of the Sphinx, and they have a speculation about the Sphinx,
15:31to come and see me inside this tunnel, to prove it's a solid rock, the Sphinx.
15:38It's a living rock.
15:4132 drilling operations have been carried out around the Sphinx, and none gave any results.
15:47Nothing is hidden underneath, at all. No aliens, no people who came from Atlantis, or lost civilization.
15:57Although the drillings didn't lead to any secret chambers under the statue,
16:01they did reveal how fragile the work was.
16:04Indeed, the pyramids nearby seem to stand the test of time without major problems.
16:09But the Sphinx is much more vulnerable.
16:11Because the rocks it is made of are located much below the pyramids,
16:15it's also closer to the water table.
16:17The body of the Sphinx itself was once the bed of a seafloor,
16:23and so the Sphinx too has all these salts within it.
16:26So when groundwater moisture wicks up through the pores of the limestone,
16:32it dissolves the salts, and it carries them to the surface.
16:35When the water dries, the salts recrystallize.
16:41And they push the surface of the stone off with great pressure.
16:44So that's why these softer layers are continuously flaking.
16:48That's why the body of the Sphinx is so vulnerable,
16:51because it's made out of these very same natural layers.
16:55So the advantages to the pyramid builders of this natural geology
16:59now become challenges for conserving the monuments.
17:04Renovations of the Sphinx started barely 1,200 years after its construction,
17:08and have been going on ever since.
17:12Today, keeping it in good condition remains a major challenge.
17:17Cracks happened here a few months ago.
17:20It proves that the Sphinx is the oldest sick person on earth,
17:26and we need to be near him all the time.
17:29I feel that the Sphinx is the icon,
17:32not for the Egyptians, but for the whole world.
17:34It's very important that we have to save these things.
17:39The most famous statue in the world is constantly monitored.
17:45And thanks to photogrammetry,
17:47we can keep a digital copy of the monument forever.
17:52No archaeological site is eternal,
17:54and the image we have today is different from what we'll see tomorrow.
17:58So this allows us to transfer the image of the monument to another platform,
18:03a digital one, and to hand it down to the next generation so they can see it as we do.
18:20Back in Paris, the engineers have completed the calculations for the last photogrammetric data.
18:26With the models of the Kafre and Makkori pyramids now complete,
18:30the whole Giza Plateau has been reconstructed.
18:34And the images are spectacular.
18:36Our experts discover them with excitement.
18:39What's amazing with photogrammetry is that it really feels like having a realistic image of the site,
18:44and we can move around.
18:45It's like having Giza on the computer.
18:47To see the three pyramids in one line and the perfection that the architects did lay out of the
18:57three pyramids are amazing. I think I haven't seen the Giza pyramids like this.
19:05Pretty soon, they are able to come up with some conclusions,
19:08especially regarding Kafre, the second great pyramid of Giza.
19:13What's striking is how aligned the pyramids are. It's very obvious that Kafre placed his pyramid
19:21in the diagonal axis of Khufu. They're aligned along the southeast angle. And this axis goes to Heliopolis.
19:33At the time, Heliopolis was the religious capital of Egypt.
19:37Without our modern technologies, Kafre's builders still managed to align his pyramid
19:42with Khufu's in the axis of Heliopolis.
19:47But when studying Kafre even further, thanks to photogrammetry,
19:51Frank Monnier confirms another key element.
19:56Khufu's pyramid is known to be the tallest pyramid ever built.
20:00But with this tool, we can do some measurements, and they show us that at the moment,
20:04Kafre's is the highest. It kept part of its casing around the top,
20:08whereas the top of Khufu's pyramid has been deconstructed.
20:13If we measure like this, we realize that Kafre's pyramid is around 140 meters high,
20:19while Khufu's is about 138 meters high,
20:22which means that Kafre's pyramid is currently the world's tallest pyramid.
20:30Kafre was Khufu's second son. Initially, his pyramid was 143 meters high,
20:36and Khufu's was 146 meters high. But because Khufu's pyramid lost its tip because of pillagers,
20:43today the son's pyramid is taller than his father's. Despite this feat, though,
20:48we don't know much about Kafre's personality.
20:51Kafre must have had big ambitions, because he built a big pyramid.
20:55There was a mountain standing there, so he used materials from there,
20:59which makes him a practical man.
21:04One thing's certain. Kafre intends to build a pyramid that is as big as his father's.
21:09And to get there, practical as he seemed to be, he uses a very smart trick.
21:15When zooming in on the northwest corner of the pyramid, near its base,
21:19we clearly see that the stone was carved and that the Egyptians began working with an existing rock bed
21:24to save on transporting the building materials.
21:28It means that here, they cut off big chunks that were moved somewhere else,
21:32where the stone was missing, where they didn't have this rock bed.
21:39In the field, Basil Dobrev will show us this unique aspect of the Pyramid of Kafre.
21:44The mountain is here. We can see it clearly. It was carved to be able to support the blocks.
21:51We can pile up blocks on top of it.
21:56Thanks to this rock bed, the pyramid is slightly higher.
21:59But this isn't the only trick used by Kafre to make his pyramid look taller.
22:06Since he wanted to build something as high as his father, he cheated a bit
22:11and used a slightly steeper slope than his father did.
22:15The sides of Kafre have a 53-degree angle compared to 51 degrees for Khufu.
22:20It may seem like a small difference, but steeper slopes like these give Kafre
22:25a more gracious aspect compared to Khufu.
22:29And this isn't the only feat. The base of the pyramid, too,
22:33is a true masterpiece of geometry with perfect proportions.
22:38Photogrammetry gives us a clear view from above.
22:40If we trace lines following the pyramid's edges, we notice that they cross each other
22:45perfectly at the top and they follow the edges closely.
22:49So truly, the pyramid's geometry is almost perfect.
22:54A couple of mouse clicks are enough to confirm, thanks to photogrammetry,
22:58that the base of the Pyramid of Kafre is a perfect square.
23:01But how could such accuracy be possible?
23:04Scientists believe the answer may lie in the mysterious holes
23:07that can be seen in some places of the Giza Plateau.
23:12Everywhere in Giza, we found that these holes are 40 centimeters in diameter.
23:18The reason for the construction of these holes is to make an accurate
23:23square base for the pyramid.
23:28The hypothesis goes like this.
23:31Egyptians installed wooden poles in the holes.
23:33Thanks to these, they were able to draw semicircles.
23:39Then, by drawing a line between the connecting points of the circles,
23:43they could draw a perpendicular line and therefore the pyramid's right angle.
23:48Today, we use satellite, we use technology to do it.
23:52But the ancient Egyptians found a very simple way to build the holes.
23:59This simple but clever technique let builders reach an incredible level of accuracy.
24:06Each side measures 215 meters with an average variation of 8 centimeters,
24:12which is unbelievable. The right angles are almost perfect too, as perfect as Khufu's.
24:16The next step is to take a look at the pyramid.
24:20Taking a tour around the pyramid, thanks to photogrammetry,
24:23Frank Meunier discovers another distinctive characteristic in the construction.
24:28Near the base, we notice the presence of huge blocks, megaliths. They're five meters long.
24:35The blocks in the pyramid of Khufu don't weigh more than seven tons.
24:38But in the pyramid of Khufu, blocks of 20, 30 and even 50 tons are quite common.
24:45So there's a clear evolution of the masonry, of the technique used.
24:55Photogrammetry also lets us study how the blocks are laid on the upper part of the pyramid,
24:59which is very difficult to reach in the field.
25:05It looks like the masonry is random. We have small blocks, big blocks, without any logic.
25:11It's almost like rubble in places until you get to the top. And the courses look fairly stepped
25:17underneath the intact casing. Are they two different phases? Was there an interruption in the work?
25:23We don't understand the internal structure of Khufu's pyramid. But by and large, he's not doing masonry
25:31as big and as well-joined as we see in Khufu.
25:39Vassal Dabrev believes this to be yet another of Khufu's tricks to save time.
25:45I love Khufu because he was a very smart and practical person.
25:49When looking at Khufu, everything is clean, straight. The blocks are more or less the same height.
25:55But here we can see three layers of big stones, in order to support the building, of course.
26:03But after that, there are smaller stones, bigger stones, not really straight or even. And they
26:09discovered that it's much faster. And no one would ever know since the beautiful casing would hide it all.
26:15It's a bit like as if Khufu was real leather and Khafre was leatherette. It's done quickly and efficiently and
26:22looks the same.
26:25Khafre's practical mind seems limitless. Even the very location of his pyramid is a strategic choice.
26:33If we look at the northwest corner, the aerial view clearly shows the traces of a quarry that must have
26:39been used during Khafre's reign.
26:44This quarry was known, but here we clearly see how the blocks were placed. We can see the furrows carved
26:50to detach the stone from the ground.
26:53By taking their supplies right next to the pyramid, the builders killed two birds with one stone.
26:59They decreased the time needed to transport material while doing the excavation work required all around the pyramid.
27:08Vassil Dobrev will show us this quarry, located a mere 20 meters from the side of the pyramid.
27:16Here we're at the heart of the mountain Khafre used to build his pyramid. And here we see the part
27:21that hasn't been used.
27:22But everything else was taken and placed on the monument. We often wonder how long it took to build this.
27:27But the stone is right here.
27:30And we can even see the marks left by the tools of the workers, how they carved, how they took
27:34blocks of different sizes.
27:36Khafre's exterior seems as complex as Khufu's. But what about its interior?
27:41The Great Pyramid of Giza has a complex funeral system of three chambers.
27:46Has Khafre, the little sister, a similar installation?
27:54In order to find this out, we received a special authorization to go inside the pyramid.
28:00The pyramid is usually closed to the public. But we got a special authorization. We're really lucky.
28:07For the very first time, our team will be able to digitalize Khafre's interior.
28:14Even though it's all dark inside, we have tools that give us usable data and allow us to create very
28:20good quality 3D models.
28:23Khafre's main entrance is located at ground level. It leads to a corridor that goes down,
28:28called the Descending Passage, and then to a 60 meter long corridor.
28:33At the end of this passage lies the first burial chamber.
28:38We're in the chamber. It's gorgeous. And again, you see, it's carved directly into the mountain and covered by beautiful
28:47stones.
28:50Khafre's burial chamber is 32 square meters. It's much bigger than the king's burial chamber inside Khufu.
28:57It's located under the pyramid and was allegedly carved directly in the mountain, in the open.
29:10The chamber's vault looks like a reversed V, also known as a chevron vault.
29:15The chamber is in the ground, but it's protected from the weight of the pyramid thanks to this chevron vault.
29:20We can see it here.
29:23This vault is the most heavily loaded vault in the world.
29:26It's inside a masonry of grouted stones. No less than 140 meters of masonry are piled up on top of
29:33this vault.
29:34It's a lot. This is probably a record in the world history of construction.
29:43140 meters of masonry, hundreds of tons of stones held by this incredible vault.
29:52Khufu's architects were the first to use chevrons inside a pyramid.
29:56Thanks to these experiments, Khafre's engineers mastered the technique.
30:02Here, the vault bears the entire weight of the pyramid.
30:07The ceiling is made of big blocks, placed like chevrons.
30:11This placement means that the weight is carried where there's support, not where it's empty.
30:16This technique is so effective that every kind afterwards will use it.
30:23The loads are spread on the sides. They're moved away from the center, towards the side walls.
30:29Flat ceiling instead, the loads would bear down on it. It would break and collapse.
30:38The vault of Khufu's burial chamber is a true construction feat.
30:42Indeed, it still looks almost as new 4,500 years later.
30:47We can see small cracks. So, although the vault is in an excellent shape indeed,
30:52it has still been worn out by an incredible load.
30:56Hundreds of thousands of tons rest on it. It had an impact.
31:00So, although it's in a very good shape, it's still cracked.
31:05This is something very difficult to see with the naked eye, but obvious on the photogrammetry.
31:12There's another curious element among Khafre's funeral complex.
31:17His sarcophagus brings up many questions.
31:20The sarcophagus actually was made of red granite, and red granite came from Aswan.
31:28And you have to know there are two things here that work to think.
31:31Either the ancient Egyptian architect ordered the workman to do it in the granite quarry in Aswan,
31:39and they can make the lid separate, and they can make the sarcophagus separate.
31:45Or they brought the pieces to make it here.
31:50Was Khafre's sarcophagus made on the spot, or brought from Aswan?
32:16The fact that Khafre strives to such perfection for his tomb is due to it having only a single chamber.
32:22Unlike his father, who had created a complex funeral system with several chambers.
32:30Some Egyptologists believe such simplicity to be the result of the pharaoh's practical mind.
32:36This is the main idea here.
32:39Let's do what's absolutely necessary to be able to bury the king if he dies, so he can be resurrected.
32:47Was Khafre simply playing it safe?
32:50Or did he want to differentiate himself from his father?
32:55No technology or any other clue can currently answer this question.
32:59But the obvious simplicity of the construction is a source of questions for scientists.
33:05We often looked for other burial chambers inside Khafre because we thought it was much too simplistic.
33:13One day, perhaps, new technologies will allow us to go even further and to uncover Khafre's final secrets.
33:26But in order to discover the last treasure of Giza, we have to go around Khafre.
33:31Indeed, the last pyramid, that of his son Menkore, is much smaller than the others on the plateau.
33:38It's only 63 meters high.
33:45It's about two and a half times shorter than the pyramid of Khufu.
33:48Why did we go from extreme gigantism to a human scale?
33:53It could be they're running out of space on the Giza plateau because the pyramids are built on
33:59this diagonal and Menkore's pyramid is very close to the southern edge of the plateau.
34:05It's not a steep drop but there's a wadi there and there's not a lot of room for a gigantic
34:11pyramid.
34:14But such change could also be explained by politics.
34:19If you look at the statues of Menkore, look at his face.
34:26Khufu and Khafre, strong kingship, strong kings, but began for the first time to see a kind man.
34:35A man who's a nice guy and he's now accompanying goodness and goodness and touching their hand,
34:43then he's different.
34:45So I get the feeling with Menkore that they're running out of steam.
34:49Things are slowing down.
34:51You just get the impression that nobody's really supervising, funds are running out,
34:57and yeah, that the whole process is just losing steam and they're getting tired.
35:03Whatever the reasons explaining Menkore's small size,
35:07Vassal Dobrev believes that what matters is that the last pyramid of Giza is a mixture of techniques,
35:13even though it was built almost a century after Khufre's.
35:18We sometimes hear that Menkore built a small pyramid because they didn't know how to build
35:22anymore. The techniques had been lost. But right here, inside his funeral temple, there's the biggest
35:27carved stone on Giza. Here, some blocks weigh about 200 tons. It means the techniques were still known,
35:34but this idea was different.
35:37And here again, the extreme accuracy of photogrammetry will perhaps help us to better
35:43understand how Menkore's pyramid was built.
35:46When zooming in on Menkore, the first thing that catches my eye is the quarry located near the northwest
35:51corner. The quarry has been mentioned very seldom and never described. But photogrammetry will allow
36:00us to create a very detailed plan of the blocks they carved here. We can still see the furrows used
36:05to detach the construction stones. We can see that the blocks were rather big, something like 3m by 3.
36:13They could weigh more than 10 tons each, 20 even perhaps.
36:20Here too, the builders from antiquity used materials available nearby so they wouldn't have to carry them
36:26over long distances.
36:29But this strategy doesn't work for every stone in the pyramid.
36:34Indeed, Menkore made some aesthetic choices that are in sharp contrast to his ancestors.
36:40One of the characteristics of Menkore is that he encased his pyramid in granite. It's much harder
36:46than limestone and protects better. We know that everything that holds in a pyramid is made of
36:51granite. So here, the whole casing is in granite. But did he ever reach the top? Not sure. Unfortunately,
37:00he didn't have time to finish. The poor man didn't reign as long as Khufu or Khafre and so he
37:05couldn't
37:05complete the outer casing of his pyramid. Every king wants a new trend for himself.
37:11Then maybe Menkore thought that I have to make something different than casing my pyramid with
37:19limestone. Every dynasty has a trend, something new. The first 16 layers of Menkore are made of granite.
37:30This is the only pharaoh on the Giza Pateau who used so much of this rock.
37:36Egyptologists think that the rest of the pyramid was limestone. Granite is much more difficult to
37:41carve and takes much more time. Menkore took the risk with this decision that his tomb wouldn't be
37:47ready by the time he died. One of the last tasks that remained undone was to smooth the bottom of
37:55the
37:55pyramid in granite. So the workers walked away from the job, leaving the outer faces of each casing block
38:03in granite with this big belly of extra stone. All of that was meant to be cut away, actually hammered
38:10away with heavy hammer stones, and work just stopped. But it left us a kind of frozen moment in one
38:18of the
38:18processes of building pyramids.
38:23Frank Meunier is in Paris and he continues to analyze the photogrammetric data of the last pyramid of Giza.
38:30He notices something unusual about how the sides of Menkore were built. They seem slightly curved inwards.
38:37When we do a horizontal cross section, we notice that all four sides seem concave. Now if I move the
38:43cross section from bottom to top, we see that this is not even. At the very bottom, we don't notice
38:53any bend. But as we go upwards, the bend becomes more and more obvious.
39:02The accuracy of the images lets us see something very difficult to perceive with the naked eye.
39:07Namely, that the sides of the pyramids are slightly bent inwards. But our expert believes that it has
39:13nothing to do with the construction.
39:17There's a theory saying that there was a deliberate intent by the builders to create a pyramid like
39:22this, meaning a pyramid with eight sides instead of four. It's a theory. Now, during the Middle Ages,
39:29Hori workers used blocks from the casings of the Giza pyramids.
39:37They removed them and let them slide down the sides of the building so they could be used in building
39:42Cairo. So the process of detaching the blocks and letting them slide down may have also damaged the pyramid.
39:53This series of blocks being detached from the top may have ended up causing furrows on the sides of
39:58the pyramids. Also, during the Middle Ages, the Sultan Osman Bey ordered the digging of the famous split on the
40:06north side, hoping to discover the entrance to the pyramid. But it's not before the 19th century that
40:12the real entrance will be discovered by an English explorer. It's located much below, less than four
40:19meters above the ground. It leads to a narrow corridor that goes down to a first chamber.
40:25It's decorated with false door motif. The door doesn't really open. And this is the first time you have
40:33decoration inside and under the pyramid since the time of Djoser. Just beyond this, you have a portcullis
40:41slab that, boom, lowered down in a slot and that would have closed the pyramid. That would have been the
40:50second line
40:50of defense. The first line of defense presumably would have been the outer casing and the plugging of the passageway.
40:59Mankore copied the security system used by Khufu for his burial chamber. A portcullis brought down by
41:06pulleys. Beyond this system lies another horizontal corridor leading to another room, much bigger this time.
41:19So we come at the end of a horizontal passage to this rather spacious rectangular room cut completely out of
41:28the
41:29natural rock. And many think this is the first burial chamber of Mankore. And you know, it's compelling that that's
41:35the case.
41:36Now, there's a second burial chamber at the bottom of a second sloping passage. But people think this is the
41:43original
41:44burial chamber because there's a socket at the western end of the chamber in a kind of niche, just right
41:52for a sarcophagus. This is Mankore's distinctive characteristic. The funeral system has nothing in
42:00common with the classic model of Caffray. Quite the opposite, actually. It's very advanced. To better
42:07understand how it all fits together, images from photogrammetry prove very useful. When we're inside,
42:13we have no idea of the dimensions or how everything is organized. But here, a quick glance is enough
42:18to understand. Here's the descending passage, the first chambers, and the various rooms leading to the
42:25vault. These images will help us study how the various rooms are organized, because they're quite
42:29far away from each other. The ensemble of burial chambers and passageways do get simpler through
42:38time. But here, they're still experimenting. They're changing their minds still. They seem to have decided on a
42:45second burial chamber in granite. And yeah, the photogrammetry captures that complexity.
42:54Yet, what's most disturbing for Egyptologists in Mankore's funeral system is that no sarcophagus has been
42:59found in the first major burial chamber. Despite the fact, everything seemed to have been prepared for it.
43:05It's very compelling that this is a socket for a sarcophagus. It's just the right size. And here,
43:13the corner is cut away. And this is a lever socket. So that they probably, with a big wooden lever,
43:20kept the sarcophagus a little bit up, so they could adjust it. And then, only when they had it in
43:26its
43:27perfect position, could they let the lever down and, boom, lower the sarcophagus into this socket.
43:33Yes, it looks like they did all the preparations for the sarcophagus. And yet, they changed their mind.
43:39Somebody changed their mind, maybe the king, because they prepared yet another chamber further to the west.
43:48And so, the builders of the pyramid prepared a space for a sarcophagus before giving it up.
43:53But Vasil Dabrev doesn't believe in a change of plan. Rather, he thinks this is a trick.
44:02Mankore is trying to deceive. He created some kind of chamber in the beginning,
44:07which is supposed to be the burial chamber. And it's locked, just like a real burial chamber.
44:14During Mankore's time, pyramids had been desecrated already, and we found items that should have been in
44:19Khufu's burial chamber inside Mankore's chamber. There was Khufu's name on them. So, we clearly see
44:29how Mankore is trying to trick thieves into believing that this is the burial chamber, while the real deal
44:36lies beyond. Did it work? That remains to be seen.
44:44The real burial chamber of Mankore, the one that should have sheltered the embalmed body of the
44:49pharaoh, should therefore be located at the end of the long corridor going down from the first chamber.
44:56Mark Lehner is leading us there.
44:58So, the final burial chamber, where Mankare was probably laid to rest, is this beautifully polished,
45:08at one time polished granite chamber at the end of the passage system.
45:15In order to build the 17 square meter chamber in granite,
45:19the builders probably carved the stones directly on the spot.
45:25It's clear that they finished the room after they put the blocks in place.
45:30They put the blocks in place with the outer faces rough and on smooth,
45:36and then they literally sculpted the room out of the rough granite. That's why you get about one
45:42centimeter of this stone turning the corner, or one centimeter of this stone turning the corner.
45:52But against all odds, there's currently no tomb in this chamber.
45:57However, when explorers first came in during the 19th century, there was indeed a sarcophagus.
46:03What's important is that a sarcophagus was discovered during the 19th century and taken
46:07away by the explorers. They decided discreetly to take it out of the pyramid and bring it to England.
46:16Unfortunately, the boat carrying them back to England sank,
46:19and the sarcophagus disappeared in the Mediterranean Sea.
46:23Before losing it, explorers had been able to look inside the sarcophagus. It was empty.
46:31But a closer analysis could perhaps have shed some light on the mysteries of the pyramids.
46:42Today, despite tremendous progress due to promising technologies such as photogrammetry,
46:48many secrets are left unsolved on the Giza Plateau, one of Egypt's most studied sites.
46:55The coming years will reveal many more discoveries because the Giza Plateau hasn't told us everything
47:00yet. There are many mysteries left, things to discover, and so we hope that the current research
47:07and the research of the future will bring us new elements to help us understand how the great
47:11pyramids were built. Although others believe that the mysteries surrounding the pyramids are precisely
47:20what has been fascinating people for more than 4,500 years.
47:25When I take a group of people in front of the Sphinx, I could see in their eyes how they
47:32looked at it
47:35with mystery. They don't like even to know the truth. They like the mystery to continue.
47:42Some Egyptologists believe that hundreds of years will be necessary to uncover all of Egypt's treasures.
47:48Digital methods could perhaps speed up an investigation that has been going on for centuries.
47:53Digital methods could also weaken the history of believed in that theégenes and history of the
47:53Future of la guerra is an Access andirus Three.
47:55Author конечноdollar England
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