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00:02The Pyramid of Khufu, the Egyptian jewel, the only wonder of the ancient world that
00:08remains standing. It is the most famous, largest, tallest, but also the most mysterious of all
00:13pyramids. Its exact meaning, because we lack the text, is not clear. So it's an enigma.
00:22They tried to push the envelope each time. That it's not just a massive pile of rocks.
00:27It has enormous interior spaces. In order to try and unveil the last secrets of the
00:34Pyramid of Khufu, built over 4,500 years ago, we need to take a trip into its bowels.
00:41What was the real purpose of the Grand Gallery are still mysteries to us.
00:48Benefiting from an exceptional permission, we've been able to enter the backstage area of the
00:53Great Pyramid, which is forbidden to the public, and to find out marks left by the builders.
01:00We can see here the name of a royal team mentioning King Khufu.
01:06For the first time ever, every nook and cranny of the monument's interior structure and the
01:11King's chamber will be thoroughly scrutinized.
01:14This roof shows very prominent cracks.
01:19To lift the veil on the mysteries around the construction of the pyramids, our scientists
01:24have been granted permission to enter ancient Egypt's most emblematic pyramid with a new
01:29generation laser scanner.
01:31It's quite tight in here.
01:34I'll try and worm my way through it.
01:38This technology will enable them to get a digital copy of the inside of the edifice with utmost
01:43precision.
01:44With a few clicks, we can perform measurements that would be extremely hard to carry out on
01:48the ground.
01:50These tools will provide our experts with new clues to further a scientific investigation
01:54that started 200 years ago.
02:12To the central TODOTAL OTHER
02:13Howdo is the adventure?
02:29To put it in the background and horror?
02:34And if it comes to a future life,
02:35it is more common than one.
02:36Frank Meunier is a French Egyptologist with a most unusual background.
02:41Fascinated by the Egypt of pharaohs since he was a child,
02:44he gave up his job as an engineer to dedicate all his energy to his passion, the pyramids.
02:514,500 years after they were built, a key question still remains.
02:57How did ancient Egyptians manage to erect the world's greatest pyramid?
03:04With Frank Meunier's assistance, we'll try to unveil the last secrets of the Pyramid of Khufu.
03:11On this sheet of tracing paper, I've drawn a sectional view of the Pyramid of Khufu,
03:16with the pyramid itself as well as its burial chambers on the same plane.
03:21It would be interesting to scan the discharge chamber situated just above the key's chamber.
03:25A laser scan would enable us to drop a comprehensive picture of its state,
03:29as has never been seen before.
03:37Situated on the Giza Plateau, a few kilometers south of Cairo as the crow flies,
03:43the Pyramid of Khufu can't be disassociated from its two little sisters,
03:47the Pyramid of Khafra, King Khufu's son, in the center,
03:51and the smallest one, the Pyramid of Menkare, his grandson.
03:57A strange animal of monumental dimensions with the body of a lion and a human face
04:02seems to be guarding Egypt's three wonders.
04:10The Sphinx.
04:17Mark Lenner is a world-renowned American archaeologist
04:20who first came to Giza Plateau in the 1970s and has never left.
04:26Since then, he's been trying to decipher the impenetrable mysteries of these pyramids.
04:35I think the Giza Plateau represents a pivot for all of humanity
04:41because Egypt was one of the great stem civilizations in the world.
04:47However, this postcard is but the tip of the iceberg.
04:50We're going to scan the bowels of the Pyramid of Khufu
04:53to try and probe its depths.
05:00More enigmatic still,
05:02the interior of the Great Pyramid holds numerous secrets.
05:06Most people don't know that above this chamber,
05:09immediately above the roof,
05:11there's another chamber,
05:12the same floor dimensions,
05:14but only about three feet high.
05:18And then there's another, and another, and another.
05:21There's a stack of chambers.
05:25This access, right above the king's chamber, is strictly forbidden.
05:30For over a dozen years,
05:32no crew has been allowed to film in this area of the pyramid.
05:37We have been granted an exceptional permission
05:39by the Egyptian authorities to carry out our mission.
05:47And to do that, we've invited a French expert
05:50who applies innovative technologies to archaeological research.
05:54His name is Alban Brice Pampo.
05:58His task is a perilous enterprise.
06:01Our expert will have to go eight meters up
06:03to scan the highest part of the pyramid.
06:06Ventilation here is very bad,
06:07and at times, oxygen runs out.
06:13This is quite tight in here.
06:21I won't be able to get through.
06:27What's up there?
06:32I'll try and worm my way through it.
06:45It won't be easy to perform a scan,
06:47especially a photogrammetric survey,
06:49because there's no backup space,
06:51and there's all the rubble.
06:53But I think we'll be all right with the scanner.
06:59This is one of the smallest LIDARs in the world.
07:01With its laser beam,
07:03this new technology takes hundreds of thousands
07:05of measurements per second,
07:07with which to model the space we're in.
07:13Alban Brice Pampo will be able to determine
07:16the dimensions to the millimeter,
07:18and for the first time in history,
07:19replicate the backstage of the Great Pyramid.
07:25It's not easy at all.
07:27There's rubble everywhere,
07:30and the ceiling is quite low.
07:33I can see cracks there.
07:35There were some subsidence on one side,
07:37and the ceiling cracked.
07:40It takes a lot of trust to go there.
07:54For our mission,
07:56we have also hired Aurore Chiavati.
08:01She's going to enter these discharge chambers
08:03for the first time,
08:04a dream come true
08:05to this French Egyptologist
08:07based in Cairo.
08:13Aurore Chiavati.
08:14Here we are.
08:16Voila, this is it.
08:18We're in Davison's chamber,
08:20discovered in 1765.
08:31Very few experts have had the opportunity
08:33to get into this unique place.
08:36Aurore Chiavati has thoroughly prepared
08:38for this mission
08:39to guide us as best she can
08:41in the pyramid backstage.
08:43But we're stopped in our tracks
08:44by granite beams.
08:49In here, the ceiling height
08:50is between 80 centimeters and 1 meter.
09:03Here we are in the main chamber
09:04of this edifice,
09:05which was destined to host
09:07the king's remains.
09:10The king's chamber
09:11is definitely an architectural feat.
09:13It's roofed by huge granite beams
09:17that weigh somewhere
09:18between 40 and 80 tons.
09:20But it's not just one roof.
09:23He put a series of
09:24five more roofs above it,
09:27almost like an accordion.
09:30There's one, two, three, four,
09:33and then the fifth one
09:34is roofed by gigantic
09:36limestone beams, chevrons.
09:42If we add up the weight
09:43of the granite beams
09:44stacked up above the king's chamber
09:46and the discharged chamber,
09:47we're talking thousands
09:48of tons of granite.
09:51Over four millennia
09:52after the pyramids were built,
09:53experts still haven't reached
09:55a consensus on the question
09:57on everyone's lips.
09:58What were these
09:59discharged chambers for?
10:01There are today
10:02many opposing theories.
10:03There's a symbolic approach
10:05according to which
10:06this structure was built
10:07to fulfill a symbolic purpose,
10:09which is, by the way,
10:10quite mysterious.
10:14The other theories
10:15are more materialistic,
10:16so to speak.
10:17They claim those
10:19discharged chambers
10:19were the result
10:20of a structural need
10:21which was to protect
10:23the king's chamber.
10:27The question is, why?
10:29Why did they go
10:30to such trouble?
10:33They decided to heighten
10:35the chevron vault
10:35so that it wouldn't
10:36deflect the load
10:37onto the grand gallery,
10:39which is situated nearby.
10:41A lower chevron vault
10:42would have simply
10:43distributed the forces,
10:44which would probably
10:45have caused the grand gallery
10:47nearby to collapse.
10:51One idea is that
10:52they're over-engineering.
10:53They didn't need
10:54to do that much.
10:55But of course,
10:56they were afraid
10:57that putting a chamber
10:58so high in the body
10:59of the pyramid
11:00that the pyramid,
11:01which is meant
11:02to protect the body
11:03of the king forever,
11:05would collapse
11:06and destroy
11:07the body of the king.
11:12After years studying
11:13the discharged chambers
11:14of the pyramid
11:15of Khufu on plans,
11:17Frank Monnier meets
11:18Aurore Chebati in Cairo.
11:21The hundreds of millions
11:22of data recorded
11:23over the past several weeks
11:25by the LiDAR
11:25have enabled them
11:26to build a 3D model
11:28of the interior spaces
11:29of the pyramid.
11:30By applying
11:31the LiDAR photogrammetry
11:33technique,
11:33we can also take
11:34a virtual walk
11:35inside the pyramid
11:36as if we were
11:37really there.
11:38This is the general
11:40photogrammetry record
11:41made by Alban.
11:43We can clearly see
11:44the tunnels we walked
11:45through to get
11:46to the discharge chambers.
11:48Here's the 8-meter
11:49ascent to reach
11:50the first tunnel.
11:51And then we had
11:52to go up the shafts,
11:54which are much more
11:54chaotic,
11:55as we can see here.
11:56Yeah, we can see
11:57them very well.
11:58They were made
11:59through explosive blasts
12:00by Colonel Weissi's teams.
12:07In the 19th century,
12:08Howard Weissi and
12:09John Perring,
12:11two British explorers,
12:12were the first people
12:13to enter the discharge chambers.
12:18We can see
12:19all five chambers,
12:20which were named
12:21after influential figures
12:22from the time of Weissi.
12:27Orochiavati decided
12:28to take us
12:28to the last discharge chamber,
12:31the highest one
12:31in the pyramid,
12:32which is almost inaccessible.
12:43You don't want
12:44to suffer from vertigo.
12:49It's really amazing.
12:55This is a special chamber
12:57in that it tells two stories,
13:00that of the workers
13:01who built this pyramid
13:02as well as the story
13:03of the visitors
13:04who entered these empty spaces
13:06between 1837
13:07and the 1920s.
13:14Do these modern graffiti
13:15covering the entire chamber
13:17hide the marks
13:17left by the builders?
13:19What do they tell us?
13:22The visitors made
13:24those graffiti
13:25with the smoke
13:25from their torches,
13:27which enabled them
13:28to inscribe their names
13:29and dates of visit,
13:31or even their identities
13:32or status
13:33and where they were from?
13:45Among those graffiti,
13:47we find inscriptions
13:48by the members
13:49of Weissi's expeditions
13:50and by Weissi's guests,
13:52as well as a huge number
13:53of soldiers' names.
14:01There is, for instance,
14:03the inscription of a soldier
14:04from Sydney,
14:05dated 1915,
14:06and then there are those
14:08that mark a more specific event,
14:09such as Sister Martin's statement
14:11claiming she was the first woman
14:13to enter the discharge chambers.
14:20Egypt then decided to bar the access
14:22to the discharge chambers
14:23in order to protect its walls.
14:26And in fact,
14:28it's in another such chamber
14:29that Aurore Chiavati
14:30makes an exceptional discovery,
14:32marks left by the builders
14:34of the Pyramid of Khufu.
14:36At the end of the granite beam
14:38just in front of us,
14:39we can see a mark
14:40in the shape
14:40of an upside-down triangle
14:42and hieroglyphs,
14:43indicating meh four,
14:46which means four cubits.
14:49So this is a very precise measurement.
14:53Ancient Egyptians
14:54had their own language
14:55and their own system of measurement,
14:57which was called cubit.
15:00Ancient Egypt's system of measurement
15:02wasn't based on the meter.
15:03The meter was invented much later.
15:05It was essentially based on the cubit.
15:07The cubit didn't have
15:08one uniform value across the country.
15:10Each region had its own standard measure.
15:12A cubit could be 5.25 centimeters in length
15:15in a particular place
15:16and 52.3 centimeters elsewhere.
15:20The cubit,
15:21used as a standard measure
15:22to build the masterpiece of Khufu,
15:24was unique.
15:25It's called the royal cubit,
15:27and it's only visible
15:28in this discharge chamber.
15:33What's fantastic about this
15:35is that with the scan
15:37Alban is doing at the moment,
15:38we'll be able to match
15:40the extremely precise measurements
15:42obtained through photogrammetry
15:43and the measurements
15:44that date back to the construction.
15:47We'll then be able to establish
15:49the precise length
15:50of the royal cubit
15:51that was truly used
15:52in the pyramid construction.
15:57That royal cubit was fundamental
15:59as it allowed architects
16:01to design the monument
16:02and workers to build
16:06the pyramid that nears perfection.
16:17Khufu's pyramid
16:18is an extraordinary thing.
16:21Near the beginning
16:22of the pyramid tradition,
16:24yet it's the largest,
16:26it's the most perfectly constructed,
16:28and it's among the best preserved.
16:31Until very recently,
16:33it was the most massive,
16:34freestanding monument
16:35ever built by human beings.
16:40The first time I saw it,
16:41I thought it was, you know,
16:43a natural mountain,
16:44but then your brain is telling you,
16:46actually, no, it's man-made.
16:55To pull off
16:56these monumental construction projects,
16:58ancient Egyptians
16:59must have been very audacious.
17:01They loved challenges.
17:03The bigger the challenge,
17:04the more willing they were
17:06to roll up their sleeves
17:06and take it on.
17:14Not machines,
17:16no electricity,
17:17no extraordinary lifting devices.
17:20We see incredible architecture
17:22with precision
17:24that is mind-blowing.
17:34As soon as Khufu
17:36acceded to the throne,
17:37a century of pyramid building
17:38experimentation began.
17:40It was a sort of race
17:42toward ever more monumental buildings
17:43which reached its pinnacle
17:45under Khufu.
17:46So it's an incredible
17:47and very precise monument,
17:50but its exact meaning,
17:52because we lack the text,
17:54is not clear.
17:55So it's an enigma.
17:56An enigma.
17:58The great pyramid,
18:00which rises majestically before us,
18:02still holds a plethora of secrets.
18:05But the one thing
18:06that's even more enigmatic
18:08than the edifice itself
18:09is its commissioner,
18:10King Khufu.
18:15Who was that man
18:16who decided to challenge eternity
18:17by ordering the construction
18:19of the biggest tomb
18:20in the history of humankind?
18:23It is perhaps ironic
18:25that we know very little
18:26about the builder
18:27of the greatest monument,
18:28perhaps,
18:29from ancient Egypt.
18:31The only statue
18:32with his name
18:32that is incontrovertible
18:34is this big.
18:35It probably was not made
18:37at the time
18:38that Khufu reigned,
18:39but it is quite
18:40an interesting thing
18:41that we do not have
18:42more from the time
18:44of Khufu.
18:46Seven centimetres tall,
18:48such is the size
18:49of the only statue
18:51of King Khufu
18:52that has survived
18:52until today.
18:54There is very little
18:55known about Khufu
18:56from the point of view
18:57of original sources.
18:59We know his father
19:00was Sneferu,
19:01the first king
19:02of the fourth dynasty,
19:03and two of his sons,
19:05Jedifre and Khufre,
19:07all both became kings
19:08after him.
19:16According to Greek historians,
19:19he was not a nice person
19:20and not a great king.
19:22Folk tales start regarding him
19:24as some kind of tyrant.
19:27The stories told
19:28to the Greek traveller Herodotus
19:30talk about him closing temples
19:32and compelling people
19:34to work to build his pyramid.
19:42Khufu must have been
19:44a powerful, wealthy ruler
19:47with a very well-organized bureaucracy
19:50because he has
19:51the largest pyramid.
19:54An idea that he must have been
19:55some kind of megalomaniac
19:57to actually build such a thing.
20:07This isn't Frank Meunier's
20:09first field trip here.
20:14Our Egyptologist
20:16wants to challenge
20:17generally accepted ideas
20:18about the number of blocks
20:19that make up
20:20this architectural masterpiece.
20:25We don't know
20:26how many blocks there are.
20:27Exactly, because
20:28they're all different.
20:30And as they all have
20:31different volumes,
20:32we can only make an estimate.
20:33The figure often quoted
20:35as two and a half million blocks,
20:36which is already fantastic.
20:38That's probably not very far
20:39from the actual figure,
20:40which may be in the region
20:41of two or three million.
20:43That's six million tons altogether.
20:48With its almost perfect
20:49square base of 230 meters
20:51on each side
20:52and a height of 138 meters,
20:54today the Pyramid of Khufu
20:56breaks all records.
20:58We can see the stone blocks
21:00at the base of the Great Pyramid
21:01are huge.
21:02We're talking several cubic meters.
21:06I wouldn't be able
21:07to make an estimate right now,
21:08but I'd say between five
21:09and ten tons,
21:10something in that region.
21:17Each one of these blocks
21:19is unique,
21:20with a density
21:21that would be equivalent
21:22to the weight
21:22of three to six cars.
21:26And they were laid here
21:27at a time
21:28when ancient Egyptians
21:28didn't even know the wheel.
21:34These blocks give away
21:36the secret of their origin
21:37for those who know
21:38how to read them carefully.
21:44On this block,
21:46we can see interesting details.
21:47We can tell where
21:49its limestone comes from
21:50as we can clearly see
21:52all the shells and fossils
21:53that make it.
21:54You see, there are shells
21:55and little urchins.
21:57This is called
21:58pneumolytic limestone,
21:59and this fossil shell limestone
22:01can be found
22:01all around the plateau.
22:06Giza.
22:07It wasn't by chance
22:09that the kings
22:09of ancient Egypt
22:10chose this particular spot.
22:12Its rocky plateau,
22:14the ideal place
22:15to build what was to become
22:16the emblem of Egypt.
22:19So this means
22:21this block didn't come
22:22from very far.
22:23It can't have been
22:24transported by river.
22:25It can't have been
22:26hauled over kilometers.
22:27It probably came from
22:28the surroundings over there.
22:30Or perhaps
22:31from a bit farther away,
22:33but a few hundred meters away
22:34at the very most.
22:50For the first time
22:51in his career,
22:53American Egyptologist
22:54Stephen Harvey
22:55has had the opportunity
22:56to find himself alone
22:58in front of the Egyptian
22:59Colossus,
23:00which is usually
23:00surrounded by tourists.
23:03It's completely
23:04extraordinary
23:05to be alone
23:06in front of one
23:08of the wonders
23:08of the ancient world,
23:10Khufu's pyramid.
23:13Surprisingly enough,
23:14what rises before us
23:16and what the whole world
23:17has in mind
23:18when we talk about pyramids
23:19isn't at all representative
23:21of what the Egyptians
23:22actually built.
23:24If we think back
23:25to the time of Khufu,
23:26we wouldn't be standing
23:27in front of a building,
23:28a pyramid,
23:29that looks in this way.
23:31It would have looked perfect.
23:33It would have been
23:33finely cased
23:34and that white limestone,
23:36the casing,
23:37would have been
23:38polished to a degree
23:39where it would have looked
23:40bright and white,
23:42shining.
23:43You wouldn't have seen
23:43any entrances
23:44because, of course,
23:46these entrances
23:47were kept secret.
23:51Most of the pyramids
23:52are made of limestone
23:54and they are also covered
23:55by fine white limestone,
23:58most of the time
23:58now gone.
24:00On the top of the pyramid,
24:01there would have been
24:02a pyramidion
24:02covered with gold
24:03and electron.
24:06The pyramid of Khufu
24:07no longer has
24:08its original facing
24:09and it now shows
24:11a bit more of itself.
24:13In the 19th, 10th, 11th
24:15and 12th centuries A.D.,
24:17the Egyptians,
24:17the Arabs of that time,
24:19decided to remove
24:20that facing
24:21and to use
24:21the cladding
24:22of the pyramids
24:23to build the mansions,
24:24edifices
24:25and palaces
24:26of the capital.
24:40Such use
24:41of the outer cladding
24:42revealed what had once
24:44covered the entrance
24:44to the pyramid,
24:45the vault situated
24:4717 meters from the ground.
24:49This original entrance
24:51had a gabled roof
24:52and this kind of rafter vault
24:55or gable roof
24:56is formed
24:57from massive stones
24:58which are angled
25:00to deflect
25:01the weight
25:02of the pyramid.
25:06that chevron vault
25:07has almost completely
25:08disappeared
25:08because it was taken apart
25:10by quarriers
25:10in the Middle Ages
25:11but there are still
25:12a few blocks left.
25:14Those remaining blocks
25:15weigh around
25:16five to seven tons each.
25:19But why did the Egyptians
25:21build such a vault?
25:24no one knows the answer
25:25to that question.
25:26Frank Monnier
25:27is the first Egyptologist
25:29to come up
25:30with a plausible explanation.
25:32There are several
25:33possible explanations
25:34two of which stand out.
25:36The first one
25:37is a structural explanation.
25:38A vault
25:39from a structural point of view
25:40is supposed to protect
25:41a space like a corridor
25:43from the load on it.
25:48Then there's
25:49the symbolic explanation.
25:50That vault could
25:52by its shape
25:52symbolize the double-leaf door
25:54the stable door
25:55that opens into the firmament
25:56in other words
25:57onto the sky
25:58and the afterlife.
26:02A sky vault.
26:04This explanation
26:05is backed up
26:06by the raison d'etre
26:07of a pyramid
26:08to enable the pharaoh
26:09to reach the sky
26:10and become a star
26:11for all eternity.
26:19For many centuries now,
26:21the Egyptian jewel
26:22has attracted tourists
26:23from all over the world.
26:25The entrance to the edifice
26:27is now situated lower.
26:28This opening dates back
26:30to the time when Baghdad
26:31was the capital
26:32of the caliphate.
26:33According to legends,
26:35it's possible
26:36that the caliph al-Mamun
26:38in the 9th century AD
26:40pierced into the pyramid
26:41and one of the holes
26:43that we see today
26:44is likely caused by that.
26:46There are even stories
26:47from A Thousand and One Nights
26:49about Caliph Ma'amun
26:51and this kind of
26:53breaking in for treasure.
27:00We've asked this specialist
27:02to analyze our 3-D plans.
27:04What I'm looking at here
27:05on the computer
27:06is a plan of the interior
27:08of Khufu's pyramid
27:09and it really is
27:11a nice cut-through
27:12that shows
27:13the descending passageways
27:14and then the 3 main chambers.
27:19And you really see
27:20on the plan
27:21how big that is,
27:23how high,
27:24what kind of height
27:25they achieve.
27:27The burial chambers
27:29of the pyramid of Khufu
27:30are very unusual
27:31in the sense that
27:32such structures
27:33can't be found
27:34anywhere else.
27:35Why?
27:36Simply because
27:37there are several chambers
27:38which are situated
27:39either below ground level
27:40or just above it
27:42and considerably above it
27:43it's an unprecedented
27:45and unequaled development.
27:49Seen from outside,
27:51the structure
27:52of the pyramid of Khufu
27:53looks fairly simple.
27:54However,
27:55such apparent simplicity
27:56is in contrast
27:58with its exceptionally
27:59complex interior.
28:01Mark Lennar
28:01is going to guide us
28:02inside this gigantic maze.
28:05Khufu's pyramid,
28:07you have options
28:09of entrances
28:10and right in the bedrock,
28:14deep in the bedrock
28:15is a chamber
28:16which is unfinished.
28:20It would appear
28:21that this chamber
28:22was abandoned
28:22before completion.
28:25What happened
28:26in the head
28:26of King Khufu?
28:27He comes along
28:28and says,
28:29I don't think so.
28:30I don't like it.
28:31Let's go higher
28:32in the pyramid.
28:33So then the idea is
28:34that they build
28:35the ascending passage
28:38and the horizontal passage
28:41to the queen's chamber.
28:43The queen's chamber
28:44is nearly finished.
28:48There was a little bit
28:49of polishing left
28:50to do on the floor.
28:52In fact,
28:53the so-called queen's chamber
28:54very likely never
28:55contained the queen's remains.
28:57That's just a designation
28:58coined in the Middle Ages
29:00by the locals
29:00who, while taking
29:02western visitors
29:02on guided tours
29:04of the pyramid,
29:05told them a story
29:06to explain
29:07the queen had been
29:08laid to rest there.
29:09It was all made up.
29:14And then the idea
29:15is that Khufu comes along
29:16and says,
29:16you know what?
29:17I don't like this either.
29:19Let's go up higher.
29:23This interior arrangement
29:25is puzzling.
29:26Three burial chambers
29:27built to receive
29:28only one corpse.
29:31What explains all that?
29:32Changes in design?
29:34That would make sense.
29:38According to experts,
29:40the construction
29:41of the seventh wonder
29:42of the ancient world
29:43lasted between 20
29:44and 25 years,
29:46which is the period
29:47during which Khufu
29:48ruled over upper
29:49and middle Egypt.
29:52The designs were made
29:54in the very first year
29:55of his reign.
29:56They reflected his desire
29:57at a particular moment
29:59to have several
30:00burial chambers.
30:01However,
30:02along the decades,
30:03those desires changed,
30:04as is the case
30:05with any architectural project.
30:17It takes quite an ascent
30:18to reach
30:19King Khufu's burial chamber.
30:24The apartment
30:25is perched
30:2640 meters
30:26above the ground.
30:30Here,
30:31we're in the heart
30:31of the pyramid.
30:32This is the king's chamber.
30:36This
30:37is the whole reason
30:39for the great pyramid.
30:44All of this
30:45is for the king
30:47to live forever
30:48in the afterlife
30:49by his mummy
30:50being secure
30:51in this chamber.
30:54And in the sarcophagus,
30:57Khufu's mummy
30:58was laid to rest.
31:01Nobody knows today
31:02what happened
31:03to Khufu's mummy.
31:06The sarcophagus
31:07was probably robbed
31:08before the Middle Ages,
31:09still in antiquity.
31:11What impresses me
31:13the most
31:13is its simplicity.
31:15It's not like
31:16the New Kingdom monuments
31:17full of hieroglyphs.
31:19The succeeding pharaohs,
31:21such as Pepe II
31:22or Tutankhamen,
31:24decided to have
31:25richly decorated interiors
31:26as their resting places.
31:28In contrast,
31:30Khufu's chamber
31:30is strikingly simple.
31:32It's just raw,
31:33polished granite.
31:36Granite,
31:37a red stone
31:38with black sparkles
31:39and shimmering reflections
31:40is one of the particularities
31:42of the Great Pyramid.
31:46The Egyptians here
31:48used granite
31:49for the interior constructions
31:51of some parts of the pyramid,
31:53in particular,
31:54the burial chamber.
31:56So it was brought
31:57from, you know,
31:59hundreds of kilometres away
32:00in the south
32:01to Giza,
32:01which is an incredible achievement.
32:04The granite blocks
32:05came all the way
32:07from Aswan,
32:08so they would have been
32:08quarried there
32:09under very hard circumstances
32:12and then
32:12floated downriver
32:14when there was the flood
32:15so that it would be easier
32:16to get the blocks down
32:18and faster.
32:23Unlike limestone,
32:25granite has an essential quality.
32:28Because it's a very hard stone,
32:30it's also supposed to guard
32:31the king's body
32:32from thieves.
32:34So a lot of the passages
32:36leading to the burial chamber,
32:38the burial chamber itself,
32:39as well as portcullises
32:41are all made out of granite.
32:45Once more in ancient Egypt,
32:47the work accomplished
32:48nears perfection.
32:51Some of these granite blocks
32:53are put together
32:55with only a millimetre
32:57between them.
32:58Some of the joints
33:00are even less.
33:03Because of its height
33:04and composition,
33:05the king's chamber
33:06was an unprecedented challenge.
33:09The highest degree of complexity
33:11was reached under Khufu,
33:12and the Egyptians
33:13of that time
33:14didn't have any experience yet,
33:15so they had no idea
33:17what they would be confronted with.
33:21The Egyptians took risks,
33:23and now we know
33:24that they faced the worst.
33:32As at a crime scene,
33:34Mark Lennar carries out
33:35an autopsy
33:36of the king's chamber for us.
33:38This roof
33:39shows very prominent cracks.
33:44especially up there
33:45in the southeast corner.
33:48There's evidence
33:49that this cracking
33:50happened during construction.
33:58It happened after they had already
34:00roofed the chamber,
34:01obviously.
34:06Let's try to imagine
34:07the situation.
34:08There are workers
34:08both inside and outside.
34:10That must have produced
34:11some serious racket.
34:17Dozens, hundreds of tons
34:18in granite beams
34:19have cracked
34:19and are about to collapse.
34:22That must have been
34:23extremely scary.
34:25Our current mission
34:27has enabled
34:27Frank Meunier
34:28to analyze the situation
34:304,500 years later.
34:32It's marvelous,
34:33truly marvelous.
34:34With this,
34:35we'll be able to describe
34:36what happened.
34:39There are cracks
34:40practically everywhere.
34:42This scan will really
34:43allow us to acquire
34:44more knowledge
34:44about this monument.
34:46And to provide
34:47an accurate explanation
34:48of the cracks
34:49in the king's chamber.
34:51The pyramid is nearly finished.
34:54The Egyptians
34:54have very good reasons
34:55to believe the structure
34:56above the king's chamber
34:57has collapsed.
35:01Let's put ourselves
35:02in the shoes
35:03of the technicians
35:04who must have inspected
35:05the monument
35:06after that incident.
35:08They must have been
35:08very cold-blooded
35:09because before informing
35:10the pharaoh,
35:11supposing that's necessary,
35:13they have to make sure
35:14they know what's going on
35:15and what may happen next.
35:18The Egyptians
35:19had only one option,
35:21to dig a tunnel in haste.
35:26So I'll take the measurements.
35:32I've got 6 or 7 meters.
35:34We're talking about
35:356 or 7 meters.
35:37So they had to dig a passage
35:396 or 7 meters in length.
35:44But we must remember
35:45that when they started
35:46digging that passageway,
35:48they were still concerned
35:50about knowing
35:50what had happened
35:52and what could still happen.
35:53They had to act urgently.
35:55They must have dug
35:56very, very fast
35:57to take stock of the damage
35:59and then to assess
36:00what could happen next.
36:02It's easy to imagine
36:04how relieved
36:05King Khufu's teams were
36:06when they saw
36:07that the first discharge chamber
36:08remained intact.
36:14Another enigma
36:15left on the King's chamber walls
36:17has never been solved
36:18until our mission.
36:21The evidence
36:22of cedar uprights
36:24are the big black stains
36:25that you see on the bottom
36:27of most of the ceiling beams.
36:33What caused those black stains
36:35on the beams?
36:37Two opposing theories exist
36:39and up until our mission
36:41the debate
36:41had not yet been settled.
36:44The first one is
36:47those stains
36:47were caused
36:48by the wooden structures
36:49that were used
36:50to transport
36:50those granite beams.
36:52Basically for a long time,
36:54probably several weeks
36:55or even months,
36:56all the way
36:56from Azouan de Giza,
36:58those beams
36:59which had been laid
36:59on slays
37:00or perhaps slipways
37:01may have undergone
37:02some sort of rubbing
37:03which caused
37:04the resin
37:04of the wood transport devices
37:05to leave imprints
37:08on the beams.
37:15The second possible explanation
37:18would be
37:19reinforcement
37:20wooden props
37:20were put up
37:21after they noticed
37:22fractures on the beams.
37:25That is,
37:26after the accident
37:27that took place
37:28in the king's chamber.
37:33There's an easy way
37:34to solve that problem
37:35and determine the origin
37:36of those stains
37:37on the ceiling.
37:39If all the beams
37:41of the discharge chambers
37:42bear those imprints,
37:43we'll have confirmation
37:44that those marks
37:46were made during transport.
37:47On the other hand,
37:48if we only find
37:50in the king's chamber,
37:51we'll be able to demonstrate
37:52that they're specific
37:53to that chamber,
37:54which means that
37:55they were the result
37:56of some later intervention.
38:06The answer is above
38:07the king's chamber
38:08where we went once again
38:09to improve our scans.
38:22Egyptologist Aurore Chiavati
38:23on one end
38:24and Albonbris Pimpot,
38:26a digital archaeology expert
38:28on the other end,
38:29will do all they can
38:31to confirm
38:31or invalidate
38:32Frank Meunier's demonstration.
38:40We should bear in mind
38:41that this scanning mission
38:42has enabled us
38:43for the first time ever
38:44now in the 21st century
38:45to answer a major question.
38:48This teamwork
38:49has enabled our experts
38:50to lift the veil
38:51on part of the history
38:52of the pyramid.
38:54We can clearly see
38:55that none of these beams
38:57in this chamber
38:58have any stains.
38:59This image,
39:00like many others recorded
39:01during this mission,
39:03show us with absolute certainty
39:04that there are no stains
39:06in the discharge chambers.
39:08So they are indeed marks
39:10left by reinforcement prompts
39:12that were put up
39:12in the king's chamber
39:13after the accident.
39:18Our mission
39:19in the discharge chambers
39:21will allow us
39:22to reveal other
39:22construction techniques.
39:28And thanks to
39:29Orochiavati's
39:30step-by-step investigation
39:32in each one of those chambers,
39:34we'll find clues
39:35about how this masterpiece
39:37was built.
39:41Unfortunately,
39:42the beams here
39:43are particularly covered
39:44in debris,
39:45limestone and sand,
39:46which stops us
39:47from making out
39:48any construction lines
39:49that may be painted on them.
39:54She has to climb
39:55all the way up
39:56to the penultimate chamber
39:57to find this new clue.
40:13I feel really immensely lucky
40:15to be able to enter this space,
40:17Lady Arbuthnot's chamber.
40:21This is a very moving moment.
40:29What we see here
40:31is very interesting.
40:33There are different
40:33measurement indications
40:34and marks
40:36or construction lines.
40:37It's a compelling sight.
40:39New builders' marks
40:40have just been discovered.
40:42This construction line
40:43is an indication
40:44that enabled builders
40:45to align the pieces
40:46during construction.
40:53You can see the construction lines
40:55painted on the granite beams.
41:00With this unprecedented
41:01photogrammetric view,
41:03our two French Egyptologists
41:05can, for the first time,
41:06fully appreciate
41:07the skill of the work
41:08accomplished 45 centuries ago.
41:13And in the center of the beam
41:14you can see
41:15that famous vertical line
41:16which perfectly matches
41:17the alignment
41:18of the tip of the vault
41:19that we see on each floor.
41:22So, this line
41:23must have been painted
41:23after the beam was laid.
41:26Very probably,
41:27to make sure
41:28the monument rose
41:29in the right axis.
41:32So that each floor
41:33was at the same level
41:33with no misalignment.
41:34Exactly.
41:39Their main difficulty
41:40was to build a structure
41:41that was perfectly straight
41:43vertically
41:44with no misalignment
41:45between the chambers.
41:47So, here we do see
41:49that those lines
41:50were painted on the beams
41:51in the center
41:52of a discharge chamber
41:54to determine the position
41:56of the discharge chamber above.
41:58And so they all fit perfectly
42:00one on top of the other.
42:10In these chambers,
42:11Auro Giavati
42:12has been able
42:13to discover something
42:14even more exceptional
42:15left by the king's builders.
42:20Here we are at last.
42:21It's amazing.
42:22We're on the west side
42:24of the chamber
42:24and the first thing we see
42:26is the name of Khufu
42:28engraved right here.
42:38We can see here
42:40the name of a royal team
42:41of builders or gang
42:43with a mention of the name
42:44of king Khufu himself.
42:48This inscription is back to front.
42:50It wasn't made to be read.
42:52It was meant to be useful
42:53at some point.
42:55That's why we see it
42:56completely reversed.
42:58To experts,
42:59these inscriptions
43:00take on a completely
43:02new dimension.
43:04What I wanted
43:05was to be able
43:06to see those builders' marks.
43:12Those marks
43:12were purely functional.
43:14They were not at all
43:15ornamental.
43:16They're not hieroglyphs
43:17properly drawn
43:18or engraved on the stone.
43:20They're signs
43:21hurriedly made
43:21with a brush
43:22in red ink.
43:24Their purpose
43:25was to indicate
43:25the gang that was working
43:26on a particular block.
43:30The mysteries concealed
43:32in these discharge chambers
43:33were unveiled
43:34for the first time
43:35in the 19th century.
43:38Explorer John Perring
43:39recorded his findings
43:41in a book.
43:45It's a very old book
43:47in quite a bad state,
43:49unfortunately.
43:51Its title is
43:52The Pyramids of Giza
43:53and it's one of the first
43:54publications,
43:55along with those
43:56by Colonel Weiss,
43:57which report
43:58their expedition
43:58and the discovery
43:59of the discharge chambers.
44:05Here's an example
44:06of the first records
44:07of marks
44:08made by the builders
44:09who took part
44:10in the construction
44:10of the discharge chambers.
44:14Here, for instance,
44:15we can see a gang name
44:16that mentions
44:17the name of King Khufu.
44:21Nearly two centuries
44:23after the first explorers,
44:24Orochiavati finds
44:25the same marks
44:26superbly preserved.
44:31It's amazing
44:32to be in front
44:33of these marks
44:34made by builders
44:34over 4,500 years ago,
44:37if not longer.
44:40This is the cartouche
44:42of King Khufu himself,
44:43which qualifies
44:45the gang that worked here
44:46and left their name
44:47on this wall
44:47eight times.
44:55These discharge chambers
44:56also contain
44:57key information
44:58to understanding
44:59how the construction
45:00work was organized.
45:03Among those marks,
45:04we see many times
45:05the names of the gangs
45:07that contributed
45:07to the construction
45:08of this monument.
45:11We observe at least
45:12three distinct gangs.
45:15The Pure Ones of Khufu,
45:18then there's
45:18the Friends of Khufu gang,
45:21and there's a third gang
45:23with a more complex name.
45:24They were the followers
45:26of Khufu,
45:27also named
45:27the White Crown of Khufu
45:29is powerful.
45:29powerful and powerful.
45:33Those gang names
45:34give us the impression
45:35that there was
45:35some sort of competition
45:37at play on the construction site,
45:38which, when you come
45:39to think of it,
45:40sounds absolutely logical
45:41because they had
45:42to break records.
45:43Everyone had to be
45:44300% motivated
45:45if the monument
45:46was to be finished
45:47by the end of the reign.
45:53Each gang was entrusted
45:55with a particular task.
45:56One of them
45:57would build the north walls
45:58and another one
45:59the south walls.
46:01And there was a gang
46:02dedicated to the construction
46:03of the chevron vault
46:04of Campbell's chamber.
46:07Those testimonies
46:09by anonymous workers
46:10which have crossed
46:11the centuries
46:11to reach us
46:12also tell the story
46:14of a collective
46:14human adventure.
46:19It's possible
46:20that while working
46:21on such a construction project
46:22those workers
46:23and technicians
46:24considered that it was
46:25also a monument
46:26for themselves
46:27in a way.
46:29They were leaving
46:30a part of themselves
46:30in it
46:31and so they would
46:32also have access
46:32to eternity
46:33at the same time
46:34as the pharaoh.
46:41The craftsmen
46:42who contributed
46:42to the construction
46:43of the king's tomb
46:44had to use
46:45their intelligence
46:46to create a key room
46:47of this architectural masterpiece
46:49the antechamber
46:51that leads
46:51to the sarcophagus.
46:56The pharaoh's body
46:57you need to protect it
46:59because the Egyptians
47:00believed that the mummy
47:02was a lodestone
47:03like an anchor
47:05for the spirit
47:06for the vital force
47:07of the king.
47:10The entire Egyptian civilization
47:12was based on one belief
47:14life after death.
47:17And everybody
47:18associated with him
47:20all the members
47:21of his court
47:21the villages
47:22everybody in Egypt
47:24will be secure
47:25in that world
47:26in that city
47:28of the afterlife.
47:29But if the king's mummy
47:31is violated
47:32the connection
47:33between this world
47:35and that world
47:35is broken.
47:37The most important thing
47:39was therefore
47:40to protect
47:40the king's remains.
47:42The Egyptians
47:43had to apply
47:44all their ingenuity
47:45and more
47:46to the accomplishment
47:47of that task.
47:49This is like
47:50a gigantic
47:51primitive machine.
47:53It is truly
47:54a lock
47:55that locked
47:56the door
47:56on the king's chamber.
48:00It was the first
48:01line of defense
48:02against robbers.
48:07There's a ledge
48:09up above
48:10to receive
48:11wooden logs
48:12massive wooden logs.
48:15We have channels
48:17semicircular
48:19for ropes
48:20and here
48:22they carve bars
48:24into the granite wall.
48:27They form slots
48:28for big granite slabs
48:32portcullis slabs
48:33that would
48:34boom
48:34slide down
48:36boom
48:37slide down
48:39controlled by the ropes
48:41wrapped around
48:42the giant logs.
48:45This portcullis system
48:46wasn't the only defense
48:47in the pyramid.
48:49Another part
48:50of outsized dimensions
48:51in the history
48:52of ancient Egypt
48:52also played a key role.
48:57The grand gallery
48:59in its interior arrangement
49:00feels when you're
49:02inside of it
49:02almost like
49:03a cathedral-like space.
49:04It's huge
49:06and what I always
49:07think of
49:08is this
49:09great achievement
49:10of the Egyptian
49:11architects
49:12of creating
49:12interior space
49:14in a massive
49:15mountain of stone.
49:16It's truly
49:17extraordinary.
49:18Forty meters
49:19in length
49:20and nearly
49:20nine meters
49:21in height
49:21this was
49:22the largest
49:23architectural space
49:24built until
49:25the Middle Ages.
49:26We're at the bottom
49:27of the grand gallery.
49:28It's one of the
49:29marvels
49:30of the ancient world.
49:34It's a great hall
49:35more than
49:35eight meters tall.
49:37It's angled up
49:38at 26 degrees
49:39and it's vaulted
49:41by corbelling.
49:42They brought
49:43each
49:44course of stone
49:46in
49:46a few centimeters
49:48and the next one
49:49a little bit further
49:50until at the top
49:52what was the purpose
49:53of the grand gallery?
49:55Once again
49:55not even the leading
49:57experts have been
49:58able to determine that.
49:59So you still wonder
50:01why the grand gallery?
50:03Maybe it was a parking
50:04garage for the
50:05plugging blocks.
50:06This space may have
50:07been used as a
50:08storage facility
50:09until the final
50:10construction phase
50:11was reached
50:11which would complete
50:12the pyramid.
50:13After they had
50:14lowered the
50:15portcullis slabs
50:16in the antechamber
50:17locking the door
50:18to the king's chamber
50:21the workers
50:22came down
50:23all the way
50:24to the bottom
50:24of the grand gallery
50:25they let loose
50:27the brake logs
50:28and boom
50:29boom
50:30boom
50:31boom
50:32the plugging blocks
50:33slid down
50:34into the ascending passage.
50:37One question
50:38is left
50:39how did the workers
50:40get out
50:41after the grand gallery
50:42was definitively blocked?
50:44Once those stones
50:45were put in
50:46nobody could escape
50:48and of course
50:49there's these fantasies
50:50that workers
50:51died inside
50:52and starved to death
50:54but in fact
50:55they created
50:55an escape route
50:56down to one
50:57of the lower chambers
50:58and in doing this
51:00they enabled the workers
51:01perhaps once the pharaoh
51:03had been buried
51:03to escape
51:04and come out
51:05through the entrance hall.
51:09Perhaps this space
51:10with its exceptional vault
51:11also had a symbolic role.
51:15What was the real purpose
51:17of the grand gallery
51:18are still mysteries to us.
51:20I think it reflects
51:21things they were feeling
51:23and thinking
51:23about the unity
51:25of the king
51:25as a divine being
51:27with the sky itself.
51:34One thing is certain
51:35with his burial procession
51:37the king passed
51:38through this majestic gallery
51:40to arrive
51:40at his final resting place.
51:48Khufu set out
51:49on his long journey
51:50to the afterlife
51:51leaving in the world
51:52of the living
51:53a heritage
51:54without comparison.
51:57The End
51:57The End
51:59The End