Documental. La Construcción de las Pirámides: Misterios Revelados

Documentales en Español

Acompaña a Dara Ó Briain en un fascinante viaje a través de la historia de las **pirámides de Egipto**. En este documental, Dara, junto al egiptólogo **Dr. Chris Naunton** y la arqueóloga **Raksha Dave**, explora las técnicas de **construcción de pirámides** y los secretos que rodean a estas impresionantes estructuras. Descubre cómo la existencia misma de las pirámides fue el resultado de una constante batalla entre saqueadores y constructores de tumbas. Este episodio no solo revela los misterios de la **egiptología**, sino que también ofrece una visión única de la **historia de Egipto**. ¡No te pierdas esta aventura educativa llena de descubrimientos!   ### Mejores 3 Hashtags:  #PirámidesDeEgipto #HistoriaDeEgipto #Egiptología

Transcript

00:00:00PYRAMIDS OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS

00:00:03Crossing the globe, from the lush jungles of Central America

00:00:07to the arid deserts of Sudan,

00:00:09the pyramids rise as mysterious monuments of ancient civilizations.

00:00:14The human being has marveled at their precision,

00:00:17the effort required, and their scale.

00:00:20And he has made, and will continue to make, questions.

00:00:23How were they built?

00:00:24Why were they built?

00:00:26It's a resurrection machine.

00:00:28The entire pyramid is basically the finish on top of the pyramid.

00:00:33What do we still not know?

00:00:35And what are the most crazy theories to explain those gaps?

00:00:40There is a theory that the structure of the pyramid

00:00:44is somehow divine and can channel energy.

00:00:47It really goes beyond what the ancients should have been able to do.

00:00:51I'm going to explore the mysteries behind these incredible structures.

00:00:55It's incredible.

00:00:57There are more than 5,000 pyramids on our planet

00:01:00that have intrigued us for millennia.

00:01:03But what better place on earth to start than Egypt?

00:01:06Oh, my God.

00:01:08To help me solve these mysteries, I will count on archaeologist Raksa Dey.

00:01:13Why don't they weigh their tombs? I would.

00:01:16And with Egyptologist Chris Knowton.

00:01:19In the Egyptian mentality, something much bigger was happening here.

00:01:22Would it make sense for that pharaoh to become a star?

00:01:26Of course.

00:01:28So join me as we explore the mysteries of the pyramids.

00:01:33The Mysteries of the Pyramids with Dara O Briain

00:01:37Look at the magnificence of the pyramids of Giza,

00:01:41built more than 4,500 years ago,

00:01:44at a time when Stonehenge was nothing more than a strip.

00:01:50I will start with the largest and most disconcerting pyramid of all.

00:01:54The last surviving wonder of the ancient world,

00:01:57the Great Pyramid of Giza.

00:02:00This construction has been standing for more than 4,500 years,

00:02:04and most of the time people have been climbing it,

00:02:07digging underneath and inside.

00:02:09And even now, an era in which we have all the information in the world

00:02:13at our fingertips, this structure asks more questions than answers.

00:02:19The imposing exterior of the Great Pyramid

00:02:22hides a disconcerting interior of narrow passages and hidden chambers.

00:02:30This is the entrance tunnel to the Great Pyramid of Giza.

00:02:34All these stones were placed in their place by a man.

00:02:38This path should lead to the place of burial of Pharaoh Jufu.

00:02:43Around 2600 BC,

00:02:46it is believed that Jufu reigned for approximately 30 years

00:02:50and left seven children, including two future pharaohs,

00:02:53as well as this impressive building.

00:02:57My God!

00:02:59It is incredible!

00:03:02It is a huge gallery of three floors high.

00:03:06After going through a series of hot and claustrophobic tunnels,

00:03:10I emerged in a cavernous atrium called the Great Gallery.

00:03:14And it's not even where they buried the king,

00:03:17it's just the entrance vestibule.

00:03:19What a huge space!

00:03:22You could do a lot of things with a space like this.

00:03:25Let's see, obviously it wouldn't be a place to be.

00:03:27You could throw...

00:03:28No, wait, you couldn't throw it.

00:03:32It's a totally impressive place.

00:03:35Conceived as the eternal resting place of Jufu,

00:03:39the pyramid attracted me to its central chamber.

00:03:46It's incredible!

00:03:48Wow!

00:03:50The king's funerary chamber.

00:03:53What a huge room in the middle of an immense structure.

00:03:59And that's a big sarcophagus.

00:04:04Imagine being the first to get here,

00:04:07and then find nothing.

00:04:11Yes, the remains of Jufu are not here.

00:04:13No one knows where the remains of Jufu are.

00:04:15That's one of the many mysteries of these pyramids.

00:04:19Fortunately, I had the help of the Egyptologist Chris Knownton

00:04:22to show us around,

00:04:23and it looks like he was also suffering from the heat.

00:04:27Chris, how are you?

00:04:28Hi, Dara, I'm fine, thanks, how are you?

00:04:30Too warm, that's how I am.

00:04:32It's a little hot.

00:04:33I didn't expect so much heat.

00:04:34This is the funerary chamber.

00:04:36We think it is, yes.

00:04:38Because there's nothing here.

00:04:40Yes, so that's a little problem.

00:04:43There is no mummified body of the king,

00:04:46but then, actually,

00:04:47hardly any human remains have been found

00:04:50in any of the pyramids.

00:04:52We believe they were all looted a long time ago.

00:04:55It is also said that there could be another funerary chamber.

00:04:58Well, yes.

00:05:00So, if we look closely at these immense pieces of granite,

00:05:05there are cracks on the sides,

00:05:07and these seem to have been repaired.

00:05:09Perhaps at the time they were building the pyramid.

00:05:13So it was probably the enormous weight of the stone

00:05:16that we have on us

00:05:18that was so intimidating to cause these cracks.

00:05:21And there are others who have suggested

00:05:23that if this funerary chamber was about to collapse,

00:05:26it is impossible that they would have buried the king,

00:05:29and they must have buried him somewhere else.

00:05:31And there are other chambers in the pyramid

00:05:34that we are aware of.

00:05:36There are also other indications of other chambers

00:05:40that we don't know so much about.

00:05:42So we don't know if the king is still in the pyramid,

00:05:45only that in a chamber that we have not yet found.

00:05:50And then how could we know?

00:05:54Well, there are a few clues,

00:05:57but there could be cavities behind what we think,

00:06:01until recently,

00:06:03that were totally solid walls.

00:06:06But of course, until we prove one thing or another,

00:06:09we can let our imagination run wild.

00:06:13Although the journey had just begun,

00:06:15we already had enough mysteries.

00:06:18And going through the bowels of this construction,

00:06:21perceiving its magnitude,

00:06:23makes you wonder

00:06:25why they made such an effort to build a tomb.

00:06:29It's extraordinary, an incredible space.

00:06:32Yeah, I mean, it's incredible,

00:06:34but in the end it's a good question.

00:06:36Why did they do this?

00:06:37In the Egyptian mentality,

00:06:39something much bigger was happening here.

00:06:41The reality is that the pharaoh is a god.

00:06:43And if you want everything to go well,

00:06:46and Egypt to continue to be the greatest,

00:06:49then you have to build these huge monuments.

00:06:53It just seems inefficient.

00:06:56I mean, it's majestic and fantastic,

00:06:58but from what we saw, there's not much more.

00:07:00There's not much more.

00:07:01There's not like a west wing or many other things.

00:07:04Not that we know for sure, right?

00:07:07And since there's so little certainty,

00:07:10people have filled those gaps with crazy ideas of all kinds.

00:07:14The alternative, perhaps more spiritual or paranormal,

00:07:18way of thinking about the pyramids,

00:07:20is that the Great Pyramid is an exceptional structure

00:07:23that would point to the ancient Atlantis.

00:07:27And it is an ancient race of people

00:07:30who had knowledge that far exceeded

00:07:33what we have in the modern era.

00:07:36They had technologies that allowed them to build the pyramids

00:07:40and things that no other civilization was able to achieve.

00:07:47You know me, I'm not into those things.

00:07:50But I understand how strange theories can be propagated

00:07:53when the pyramid itself offers so few clues.

00:07:58Well, it's also the most enigmatic of the pyramids

00:08:01because there's barely any detail in there.

00:08:04Yeah, so one of the reasons that makes us so perplexed

00:08:08is that, unlike other monuments,

00:08:11there's no inscription here at all.

00:08:14But if we look elsewhere,

00:08:16perhaps we would get more information

00:08:18and perhaps that would allow us to reflect.

00:08:21Looking at other pyramids,

00:08:23we'll understand better the role of the pyramids.

00:08:25I think that's a good idea.

00:08:26Let's do it.

00:08:31So I traveled 34 kilometers south of Cairo

00:08:34to find a more enlightening pyramid.

00:08:39Saqqara.

00:08:41I went to Saqqara, where I met Salima Ikram,

00:08:44hoping that she would enlighten me

00:08:47about what these pyramids were for.

00:08:50Salima.

00:08:51Hi, Dara, how are you?

00:08:52Hi.

00:08:54Very good, but I have a lot of questions.

00:08:56I hope I can answer them.

00:08:58Salima is an Egyptologist

00:09:00who specializes in the funerary customs

00:09:02of the ancient Egyptians and this pyramid,

00:09:05built 100 years after the Great Pyramid,

00:09:08is of special interest.

00:09:10Mind your head.

00:09:11I will, yes.

00:09:12You're a bit tall for this.

00:09:15It was for a pharaoh called Unas

00:09:18and the first pyramid with inscriptions.

00:09:21These are our first hieroglyphics.

00:09:23Yes, here they are.

00:09:26Well, this is much more than I expected.

00:09:29Its absence is striking in the Great Pyramid,

00:09:32but I suppose these would be decorative.

00:09:34No, in fact, they are the means

00:09:36for the king to become one of the eternal stars.

00:09:39These are the texts,

00:09:41the magic that would take him from this world to the next.

00:09:45Basically, it's a machine to take the king and beyond.

00:09:48It's a resurrection machine.

00:09:50That's what it's used for, to protect the king.

00:09:53But it is the whole infrastructure

00:09:55to get to the beyond.

00:10:01So the idea is that at some point,

00:10:04after they buried the king here,

00:10:06he would get up and read

00:10:09these instructions left by the priests.

00:10:12Yes.

00:10:13According to legend, before reaching the beyond,

00:10:16Osiris, the god of the underworld,

00:10:19would preside over the trial of the soul of the dead pharaoh,

00:10:22among other 42 terrifying gods

00:10:25such as the bonebreaker and the gut-eater.

00:10:29If we enter the funeral chamber,

00:10:31I can show you the distribution.

00:10:33It looks a bit like a dormitory.

00:10:35Yes, please.

00:10:36Be careful with your head again.

00:10:38I will.

00:10:40Each allegation of innocence was of great importance.

00:10:43Failure meant a second agonizing death.

00:10:47This trial not only determined

00:10:49whether the pharaoh would be admitted to the beyond,

00:10:52but also the future of all of Egypt.

00:11:03This is totally beautiful.

00:11:05It is fabulous.

00:11:07If I were to get up from among the dead,

00:11:09where would I start reading this?

00:11:11The sarcophagus is here,

00:11:13and the king would be lying down,

00:11:15and then he would come out of his dormitory,

00:11:18and suddenly he would see the first spell,

00:11:21which says,

00:11:22Oho, Unas, get up.

00:11:24And then he would read spell after spell,

00:11:26and they would give him specific instructions.

00:11:29And that's the goal, right?

00:11:31That's why all of this was done,

00:11:33because he had to get up,

00:11:34become one of the eternal stars,

00:11:36and live forever.

00:11:37And of course, part of his job

00:11:39was to make sure to maintain the balance of the cosmos,

00:11:42that the sun would always rise,

00:11:44and Egypt would always be safe.

00:11:46And so his resurrection was crucial to that process.

00:11:50One question,

00:11:51does he go from left to right, or from top to bottom?

00:11:54Yes, from top to bottom.

00:11:55It's just easier to look at where the animals are looking,

00:11:58and read them.

00:11:59Okay.

00:12:00Here is his name,

00:12:02and the bunny is a good way to find him.

00:12:05You see?

00:12:06Okay, okay.

00:12:08The good thing about the beyond

00:12:10is that you could take a lot of earthly goods with you.

00:12:15Were the things you were taking

00:12:17to guarantee a safe trip,

00:12:19or were they things you would enjoy in the beyond?

00:12:23They were things you wanted.

00:12:25Because if you're going to live in the beyond,

00:12:27you want to live comfortable,

00:12:28and it's better to take everything with you,

00:12:30because you don't know what's going to be on the other side.

00:12:32It could be a motel instead of a five-star hotel.

00:12:35Of course.

00:12:37It's fascinating that in Egypt,

00:12:40the pyramid was a kind of machine to protect the pharaoh,

00:12:44and allow him to take useful things to the beyond.

00:12:48More than 2,000 years later,

00:12:5011,000 kilometers away in China,

00:12:52something similar happened.

00:12:55The Chinese pyramids of the Han dynasty

00:12:58are funerary tombs built for powerful rulers.

00:13:02In the tomb of Emperor Wu Di,

00:13:04swords and crossbows were hidden

00:13:06to protect the emperor in the beyond.

00:13:08But that's nothing.

00:13:101,200 kilometers away,

00:13:12in the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang,

00:13:14an army of 8,000 soldiers of natural size

00:13:18was found to protect him in the beyond.

00:13:21They were buried in 1974.

00:13:25But let's go back to Egypt.

00:13:27The pyramid of Unas, which I'm exploring with Salima,

00:13:30had also recently revealed a hidden secret.

00:13:33Can we turn off the lights?

00:13:36Okay, can we turn them off?

00:13:39Well done.

00:13:40Okay.

00:13:41Let's see if you can see.

00:13:43Oh, my God.

00:13:44Can you see it?

00:13:45I didn't see it before.

00:13:48This ghostly figure was discovered in 2007.

00:13:53When you look closer,

00:13:55you see a king wearing the crown of low Egypt

00:13:58and a harpoon in his right hand.

00:14:00He's hunting a hippopotamus.

00:14:02No, it's hidden.

00:14:04The hieroglyphics only reveal the beginning of his name,

00:14:07but many Egyptologists believe that it is none other than Jufu.

00:14:11This is totally impressive.

00:14:13Would they recycle that stone from one of the tombs or temples of Jufu,

00:14:17or was the intention to honor that legendary king,

00:14:20who had died a long time ago,

00:14:22who had built the largest pyramid?

00:14:24These places are truly magical.

00:14:26It's really cool.

00:14:33I'm exploring the mysteries

00:14:35of these magnificent wonders of the ancient world.

00:14:39Hello, welcome to Egypt.

00:14:42As I like numbers,

00:14:44some of the figures on the construction of the pyramids

00:14:47seem truly amazing to me.

00:14:50Perhaps the most incredible thing about these pyramids

00:14:53is the prowess of their engineering.

00:14:56In the first 100 years of construction of pyramids,

00:14:59they moved 15 million tons of rock from quarries to here.

00:15:03There's a piece of granite inside this pyramid,

00:15:06which weighs 80 tons.

00:15:08And even these most normal rocks here

00:15:11were brought here at a rate of between 200 and 300 per day,

00:15:15which meant that these rocks were placed one after another

00:15:19every two or three minutes.

00:15:24And if that formidable pace of work wasn't quite astonishing,

00:15:28archaeologist Raksha Dave has promised to show me

00:15:31something even more extraordinary.

00:15:34Raksha, of all the incredible things about the pyramids,

00:15:37which one is the most impressive to you?

00:15:39Well, I think the most amazing thing is just how accurate they are,

00:15:43how the structure was built.

00:15:45So, for example, if I take out my cell phone,

00:15:48I can show you with the compass.

00:15:51If I stand up straight, it actually points north.

00:15:54So, to get to the north,

00:15:56they would use the stars,

00:15:58assuming that they were aligned like this.

00:16:01Well, there's another method with which you could use the sun.

00:16:04So, you actually get a stake,

00:16:06put it in the ground during the summer solstice,

00:16:09and then you could keep your shadow.

00:16:11And obviously, at that time, there was no TV.

00:16:14So, somebody could stand there all day

00:16:17or follow the shadow and mark it.

00:16:19And when they did that, they could take a piece of rope

00:16:22and create an axis from east to west.

00:16:25And then you could take a 90-degree angle from there

00:16:28and you could mark the north.

00:16:31With a stick, a rope,

00:16:33and a good understanding of the solar system,

00:16:35the ancient Egyptians achieved alignments

00:16:3840 times more accurate than those obtained with the compass.

00:16:42So, maybe the ancient Egyptians

00:16:44just wanted to build something that was very precise,

00:16:47perfectly aligned with the skies,

00:16:50perhaps to honor their late king.

00:16:52And as they knew about the subject,

00:16:54they could do it.

00:16:56However, the perfection of the pyramid

00:16:58amazes and intrigues everyone who sees it,

00:17:00including a famous Frenchman, Bajito.

00:17:03Napoleon?

00:17:04Yes.

00:17:05When he came here for his campaign

00:17:07to take over Egypt and Syria in 1798,

00:17:11it was kind of like a propaganda.

00:17:14Obviously, he wanted to control the trade routes,

00:17:17the Red Sea.

00:17:18So, he brought a lot of scientists

00:17:20to see what had happened in ancient Egypt.

00:17:23And there was a young man called Jomart,

00:17:26he was 19 years old,

00:17:28and he was absolutely fascinated with the pyramids.

00:17:32He set about measuring them.

00:17:34He took the height, the length,

00:17:36he was very excited about the subject,

00:17:38and then he started to come up with crazy conclusions.

00:17:43Jomart concluded that the length

00:17:45from the central point of the base of the pyramid

00:17:48to its tip was exactly a stadium,

00:17:50an ancient measure of Greek length

00:17:52based on the circumference of the earth.

00:17:54But he let it go, and he overlooked something crucial.

00:17:59Was it correct?

00:18:00Actually, no.

00:18:01Because he forgot one thing.

00:18:03Oh, yeah?

00:18:04This thing, which we only see a small section of?

00:18:07Yes.

00:18:08And it is, could you say, a cover?

00:18:10I would call it an external cover.

00:18:12That's it.

00:18:13That's my archaeological term.

00:18:14Okay, fine.

00:18:15What is that, archaeologically?

00:18:17That's what we call the core.

00:18:19Okay.

00:18:20They are blocks, they are put together very well,

00:18:22but then you want it to look really pretty.

00:18:25So they would take white limestone

00:18:27and put it on the facade, and it would be smooth.

00:18:30So you would have triangular, smooth sides

00:18:33that would have been spectacular.

00:18:35I mean, can you imagine these pyramids?

00:18:38Is that what's left at the top of that pyramid?

00:18:41And that it would have reached all the way down?

00:18:44All the way down.

00:18:45And they have been removed over the years

00:18:47for other constructions.

00:18:48Yeah, but it happened to Jomar,

00:18:50so his measurements were incorrect anyway.

00:18:53A later examination, more precise,

00:18:55revealed different dimensions

00:18:57that did not extinguish Jomar's enthusiasm.

00:19:00He spent the next three decades

00:19:02writing a book that still raised speculative theories

00:19:06about the pyramids.

00:19:08So Jomar misjudged the pyramids.

00:19:10He became obsessed with them,

00:19:12wrote a book about them,

00:19:14and in many ways, his crazy extrapolations,

00:19:17his leaps to conclusions,

00:19:19marked the path that many people have followed since then,

00:19:23and based on his work, they said,

00:19:25aha, and they gave it more importance than it had,

00:19:28because people took it very seriously.

00:19:30Yes.

00:19:31Yes.

00:19:33The precision and accuracy of the pyramid

00:19:36makes it more intriguing.

00:19:40The precision was exaggerated for what was needed.

00:19:43If it was a tomb or a temple.

00:19:46You don't even get it today in some constructions.

00:19:49It's much better than what we have in the modern era.

00:19:52So why did they get to these extremes?

00:19:55Others have suggested that it's all about water,

00:19:58and there's a theory about a water pump,

00:20:00according to which they took out and put water in,

00:20:03and that would also create an energy system.

00:20:06When you enter the Great Pyramid,

00:20:08it doesn't look like a temple.

00:20:10It doesn't look like a tomb.

00:20:12It doesn't look like a sacred space.

00:20:15It looks like you're inside a machine.

00:20:18And of course, there's no scientific evidence to support that,

00:20:21although that level of obsession with the pyramids is nothing new.

00:20:27It's no wonder that later societies

00:20:30were obsessed with the pyramids and all of Egypt.

00:20:37In the year 30 BC,

00:20:39the Romans came to conquer the region.

00:20:42Antonio and Cleopatra maintained good relations,

00:20:45and the style, elegance and architecture of Egypt

00:20:48became very fashionable.

00:20:50So much so that several pyramids were built in ancient Rome.

00:20:54The pyramid Cestia was built in the year 12 BC,

00:20:58using the latest Roman building materials of the time,

00:21:02a nucleus of concrete bricks with a marble coating.

00:21:06Reaching a height of 36 meters,

00:21:08the Great Pyramid has a volume 600 times larger

00:21:12and continues to hang in the ancient wall of Rome.

00:21:17The Great Pyramids of Egypt date back to 4,500 years ago.

00:21:21Their size, precision and design

00:21:23have made some speculate a lot about who built them.

00:21:28I'm a science geek,

00:21:30so some theories leave me a little cold.

00:21:33But I was wondering, why are they so predominant?

00:21:37And that's why I'm going to talk to Nick Pope,

00:21:39who worked for 20 years for the British Ministry of Defence

00:21:42investigating UFOs.

00:21:44Nick, have pyramids always been so attractive

00:21:47for alternative theories, or is that something modern?

00:21:52No, I think they've always fascinated people,

00:21:55and I think people forget how old they are.

00:21:59Even in the time of the Romans,

00:22:01they were thousands of years old.

00:22:03And then in the Middle Ages, there was religious speculation.

00:22:07People theorized, for example,

00:22:09that maybe the devil had built them,

00:22:12or maybe some of the biblical figures.

00:22:15So I think it's been a long-lasting mystery.

00:22:18Describe some of the most common theories.

00:22:23Well, I think they're divided into two categories.

00:22:26Number one is that there was a mysterious lost race

00:22:32of pyramid builders,

00:22:36that spread that knowledge around the world,

00:22:40and made it known to the whole world.

00:22:43And many indigenous cultures and other ancient civilizations

00:22:47now have that narrative of people who came as teachers.

00:22:50The related theory, which is the ancient astronaut theory,

00:22:55essentially says that humanity had teachers

00:22:59who were actually extraterrestrials,

00:23:03who came here and were worshipped as gods.

00:23:07And then we construct great monuments and structures

00:23:13in their honor to commemorate their visit,

00:23:17perhaps even with their help or their technologies

00:23:21to be shared with us.

00:23:24The extraterrestrial theory is funny,

00:23:26but I think it's always interposed

00:23:28in what is a truly impressive human feat.

00:23:31Whatever the truth,

00:23:33I think the ancient Egyptians clearly knew much more

00:23:37about astronomy, mathematics, geometry,

00:23:41and architecture than we recognize them.

00:23:44Nick, it's been a pleasure talking to you.

00:23:48The pyramids seem to bring alternative theories

00:23:52and speculation about an extraterrestrial participation

00:23:55is not limited to Egypt.

00:24:01More than 200 years ago in Mexico,

00:24:03the Mayans founded the city of Palenque

00:24:06and built the Temple of the Inscriptions,

00:24:08which is the largest Mayan funerary pyramid on earth.

00:24:14King Pakal is buried just below the pyramid

00:24:17and on the top of his sarcophagus

00:24:19there is a carving that in many people's minds

00:24:21looks like an astronaut from a spaceship.

00:24:27The position of his grave is significant,

00:24:29flying over the living and the dead,

00:24:32the world below and the cosmos above.

00:24:40And with the sky in mind,

00:24:42I decided to enjoy the night sky of Cairo

00:24:45with the Egyptologist Arto Belekdania

00:24:47to explore the relationship

00:24:49that the ancient Egyptians had with the cosmos.

00:24:52At the time of the pharaohs,

00:24:54there were incredible views.

00:24:56Now there is a city of 22 million around Giza

00:24:59and its brightness means that there is Jupiter

00:25:02and there is Sirius and there is Orion.

00:25:04And that is literally all you can see.

00:25:06But it is very good that we see Orion

00:25:08because his belt for a long time

00:25:11seemed to people something very important.

00:25:14Yes, it is called the theory of correlation of Orion.

00:25:18And basically the idea is that the three pyramids of Giza

00:25:22are aligned and their relative positions

00:25:25reflect the configuration of the stars

00:25:28on the belt of Orion.

00:25:30But in reality,

00:25:32there is nothing that indicates that this is true.

00:25:35This theory gained popularity

00:25:37after the publication in 1995 of the book

00:25:40The Mystery of Orion.

00:25:42Although the pyramids are more or less aligned

00:25:45like the three stars of the belt of Orion,

00:25:47there is little evidence that it is intended.

00:25:50Let's see, there are three points in line.

00:25:52Okay, it's a nice coincidence.

00:25:54The other thing that has been mentioned sometimes

00:25:57is that there are two conducts

00:25:59that come out of the camera in the Great Pyramid.

00:26:01Yes.

00:26:02And people have thought that maybe

00:26:04they point to a specific point in the sky.

00:26:06In this case, we are on much firmer ground

00:26:10because sometimes they are called

00:26:12ventilation or respiratory conducts,

00:26:15but they seem to be passages from the underworld

00:26:18to the celestial realm with the ancestors of the kings.

00:26:21So it's like they're guiding you,

00:26:23pointing in that direction.

00:26:26These conducts that point to the cosmos

00:26:29have always generated many debates.

00:26:32In 2020, a robot designed by a team

00:26:35from the University of Leeds

00:26:37was introduced into one of the conducts

00:26:39from the Queen's Chamber.

00:26:41The conduct is a 20-centimeter square

00:26:44and rises with an angle of 45 degrees.

00:26:47After overcoming a stone that cut the passage,

00:26:49a small chamber was discovered

00:26:51painted with unusual marks.

00:27:02Entering through the conduct,

00:27:04the robot found another stone

00:27:06that blocked the passage.

00:27:08The frustrating thing was that it could not overcome that obstacle

00:27:11and the mystery was left unsolved.

00:27:13But putting that aside,

00:27:15the purpose of these pyramids was the notion

00:27:17of sending the pharaoh to the beyond.

00:27:19And the beyond was in the sky, right?

00:27:21Yes.

00:27:22We know thanks to texts that

00:27:24that was what the ancient Egyptians believed.

00:27:27The king, when he died and ascended to heaven,

00:27:30would become one of the stars.

00:27:32And it made some sense

00:27:34that when the pharaoh ascended,

00:27:36he would become a star?

00:27:38Absolutely.

00:27:40But at no time did they think,

00:27:42that new star has not yet appeared,

00:27:44where has the new star gone?

00:27:46New stars were promised

00:27:48and those promises were not kept.

00:27:50Did the Egyptians have constellations?

00:27:52Oh yes, and they had many associated

00:27:54with different deities.

00:27:58In fact, they had a very cheerful creation myth,

00:28:01set in the sky and starring the Great Bear,

00:28:04the constellation of Orion

00:28:06and his favorite god, King Osiris.

00:28:09Osiris was a wise and magnanimous ruler.

00:28:12He married his sister.

00:28:14Things were different at that time.

00:28:16His brother, Seth, was strong but rebellious

00:28:19and envied Osiris.

00:28:21So he became a ox

00:28:23and cooked Osiris until death,

00:28:25becoming king.

00:28:27But do not fear, Osiris was resurrected

00:28:29by the magic of his wife, his sister,

00:28:31enough time to reign over her

00:28:33with a golden phallus.

00:28:35Do not ask.

00:28:37She then gave birth to a son,

00:28:39Horus, who would later avenge his father

00:28:41and recover the throne of Egypt.

00:28:43I love stars,

00:28:45I love those huge helium balls

00:28:47that explode in the sky,

00:28:49but I also love the fact

00:28:51that they are basically a map

00:28:53of human imagination

00:28:55and each culture associates

00:28:58And the Egyptians were not different.

00:29:00No, they were not.

00:29:01Very nice.

00:29:02It is glorious.

00:29:03I wish we could see a couple of stars.

00:29:07Say it again,

00:29:09but the construction of most pyramids in the world

00:29:11was a great effort.

00:29:14The Egyptian pyramids, however,

00:29:16leave people bewildered.

00:29:19They are so ancient, precise and gigantic

00:29:22that they still raise the question

00:29:24of how they were built.

00:29:28We have seen how immense the pyramids are.

00:29:30Yes.

00:29:31And talking to Raksa,

00:29:32we saw the precision with which they were built.

00:29:34Yes.

00:29:35But what did they cut the stone with?

00:29:37Well, we believe they used

00:29:39harder stone tools.

00:29:41And then, for the final cut,

00:29:43they used brushes made of copper.

00:29:47Copper is a soft metal.

00:29:49Yes, exactly.

00:29:50So everything is based on technique.

00:29:52The truth is that they are doing a good job.

00:29:54They are milling it quite well.

00:29:56Yes.

00:29:58Most of the stone used

00:30:00to build the Giza pyramids

00:30:02is limestone from a quarry in the area.

00:30:05But crucial structural components

00:30:07were made of granite.

00:30:10Limestone is not as difficult to cut,

00:30:12mold and transport as granite,

00:30:14because the distance was much longer.

00:30:16It is a much harder stone.

00:30:18It has a high quartz level.

00:30:20But they did use it a lot in ancient Egypt.

00:30:23So they had some technique

00:30:25to do it.

00:30:26If we look at it from a modern perspective,

00:30:29there are engineers who have investigated it

00:30:31and have tried to recreate how they did it.

00:30:34And they believe they had to have electricity

00:30:36and electrical tools

00:30:38because you would need saws

00:30:40with diamond teeth to go through the granite.

00:30:43But when we look at some details

00:30:45of the precision that is found in Egypt,

00:30:48it really is beyond the capacity

00:30:50of the ancients.

00:30:52Well, they did it without electrical tools.

00:30:55Four thousand years before man

00:30:57took advantage of electricity.

00:30:59It is estimated that the workforce

00:31:01was between 30,000 and 40,000 men

00:31:03who had to know what they were doing.

00:31:05Can I try?

00:31:06Yes.

00:31:07Okay.

00:31:08I want to see how...

00:31:09Like this?

00:31:10Like this.

00:31:11Good.

00:31:12Precision is a big problem.

00:31:14Okay.

00:31:15If the civilization of Egypt

00:31:18had to recover,

00:31:19we would learn these skills again.

00:31:21Look, I don't have certain skills.

00:31:23No, I would be the one

00:31:24who tells jokes in the camp.

00:31:26What about the limestone?

00:31:28This limestone that I'm chopping

00:31:30was very popular

00:31:31for the construction of pyramids.

00:31:33Three thousand years after the Egyptian pyramids

00:31:36were built,

00:31:37it was also used for the construction

00:31:39of the pyramids of Egypt.

00:31:41The Egyptian pyramids were built

00:31:43Three thousand years after the Egyptian pyramids

00:31:45were built, limestone was also used

00:31:47as the main building material

00:31:49in the Yucatan Peninsula,

00:31:51in Mexico,

00:31:52for the Mayan pyramids of Chichen Itza.

00:31:55Using chisels made of stone,

00:31:57much harder,

00:31:58such as pedernal and obsidian,

00:32:00they cut grooves in which they later

00:32:02put wooden wedges,

00:32:04cleanly dividing the stone.

00:32:06The Mayans used advanced engineering techniques

00:32:09such as arches and stepped construction

00:32:11to build high and steep pyramids,

00:32:14just like me.

00:32:17Yes, almost there.

00:32:18Only seven thousand more to go.

00:32:21How long did they take?

00:32:23How long do I take?

00:32:25Yes, yes.

00:32:26Perfect.

00:32:27Yes?

00:32:28That's it.

00:32:29Very good.

00:32:30Thank you very much.

00:32:41Wait, wait.

00:32:42Jesus.

00:32:45It's a joke.

00:32:48My God.

00:32:49That's very smart.

00:32:51Wow.

00:32:52And then they squared it for another one.

00:32:55Wow.

00:32:56It's also comforting

00:32:58for everything that has been speculated

00:33:00about how they did it.

00:33:02Yes, yes.

00:33:03Yes, of course.

00:33:04Between six.

00:33:06A few.

00:33:07With the right knowledge.

00:33:09Yes.

00:33:10I suppose like these years and years

00:33:13of skill and experience.

00:33:15Yes.

00:33:19We have tried what can be achieved

00:33:21with the simplest manual tools.

00:33:23But what about the immense amounts of stone

00:33:26they transported hundreds of kilometers away?

00:33:29It seems Raksha has some revelations prepared.

00:33:33Raksha, with all his archaeological wisdom,

00:33:36told me to stay on the edge of the site

00:33:39of the pyramid in the port of Hufu.

00:33:41This is the part where the pyramids reach the city.

00:33:44I don't see any port here.

00:33:46In fact, the only water is that of the Nile,

00:33:49which is about three kilometers over there.

00:33:52So, what's going on?

00:33:55Where are we now?

00:33:57What do you think we're looking at?

00:33:59We're looking at Cairo.

00:34:02Well, I can tell you that there was the port

00:34:05that served the works of Giza.

00:34:09Wow.

00:34:10Do you see the wall of the port there?

00:34:12Yes, but we're kilometers from the water.

00:34:14Well, you said that.

00:34:16If you actually look at the ground,

00:34:18can you see wetlands everywhere?

00:34:20Are they underground waters?

00:34:22That's what I'm doing.

00:34:24I'm doing a lot of excavations

00:34:26and various pollen analysis.

00:34:28They found that there were freshwater plants

00:34:32growing in the bottom of a dry Nile spring

00:34:35that came all the way up here.

00:34:37At the time that they were building the pyramids.

00:34:434,500 years ago,

00:34:45Giza would have had a very different look.

00:34:48The climate would have been more humid

00:34:51and there would be more exuberant vegetation.

00:34:54The Nile River flooded every year.

00:34:57They dug a port and the water would have reached

00:35:00the base of the pyramids.

00:35:03Boats and ships from Egypt and beyond

00:35:06would come here full of granite, limestone,

00:35:09wood and all the materials necessary

00:35:12for the construction of the pyramids.

00:35:15Very, very close.

00:35:16And then they would unload the blocks

00:35:18to take them to the area of the work

00:35:20and they would shape them.

00:35:22Wow, that's incredible.

00:35:24Archaeologists had been very suspicious

00:35:26of the use of ships to transport stone to Giza,

00:35:29but they lacked solid evidence.

00:35:31However, in 2013,

00:35:33one of the most important archaeological findings

00:35:35of the century provided them with irrefutable evidence.

00:35:38Ancient fragments of papyri found near the Red Sea

00:35:42finally confirmed the transport of limestone

00:35:45to the Jufu Pyramid,

00:35:47in a kind of shopping list.

00:35:49There were a lot of pretty boring inventories.

00:35:52Yes.

00:35:53Feathers for this, leopard skin for this,

00:35:58but in this one it mentions this port

00:36:02and it mentions that some blocks

00:36:04were going to get to the port.

00:36:07The file is the diary of Merer,

00:36:09a supervisor in charge of 160 men.

00:36:12In it he detailed trips from quarries

00:36:14to 15 kilometers from the Great Pyramid.

00:36:17What is now known as the Red Sea Rolls

00:36:20seem to be concrete evidence

00:36:22that confirms that the ancient Egyptians

00:36:24built the pyramids,

00:36:26but for some it is not enough.

00:36:30Just because we have evidence

00:36:32that people ordered limestone

00:36:34to be taken to a pyramid,

00:36:36I don't think that invalidates the idea

00:36:39that that construction had a spiritual dimension.

00:36:43Was there an external influence

00:36:45in the construction of the pyramids?

00:36:48If you prefer,

00:36:49you could opt for the option

00:36:51of the ancient extraterrestrial astronaut.

00:36:55Is it something internal, something human,

00:36:58to have great visions and ideas

00:37:00about how to build something,

00:37:02or did he come from the outside?

00:37:06Those speculations must be frustrating

00:37:08for academics like Chris,

00:37:10who spends his entire career

00:37:12doing careful and concise scientific research

00:37:15on the subject.

00:37:19So, despite the fact that all the evidence

00:37:22that we have suggests

00:37:24that they are monumental tombs,

00:37:26there are people who consider them

00:37:28much older, not tombs at all.

00:37:31Why would they build something so big?

00:37:34They were relatively small,

00:37:36they must have been gigantic.

00:37:38It must have been something else,

00:37:40an alien technology, possibly.

00:37:42Are they even tombs?

00:37:44For some, even that is not plausible.

00:37:46They must have another purpose.

00:37:48Why not an electricity plant

00:37:50or a hydraulic power plant?

00:37:52It is a serious suggestion that has been made.

00:37:55People want a mummy with bandages

00:37:57to get out of the coffin and say,

00:37:59no, it's me, Hufu.

00:38:00Until we have that proof,

00:38:02the door seems open for people

00:38:04to reinterpret these things

00:38:06as they please.

00:38:07I know,

00:38:08but the fact that they could be

00:38:10gigantic ears of a statue

00:38:12buried by a cat, I believe that.

00:38:14That has something special.

00:38:17We know where the blocks come from,

00:38:19how big they were.

00:38:20Yes.

00:38:21And we know how they built the first layer.

00:38:23Yes.

00:38:24But do we know how they built the second layer,

00:38:26the third layer and so on?

00:38:28Well, the short answer is no.

00:38:30We don't know.

00:38:31We know that the Egyptians used ramps.

00:38:34That ramp would have to be

00:38:36absurdly steep or very long,

00:38:38and they would have to have built

00:38:40a ramp over a kilometre long

00:38:42with mud.

00:38:43For some, that explanation is not enough.

00:38:46Experts have spent centuries

00:38:48discussing the mechanics of how

00:38:50they would build these huge blocks

00:38:52hundreds of metres high.

00:38:54And it seems they don't agree.

00:38:58During the last decade,

00:39:00French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin

00:39:02has been developing an intriguing theory.

00:39:04The key to his idea is an internal system

00:39:06of ramps for which

00:39:08the great gallery is crucial.

00:39:12This is the great gallery

00:39:14where we were before.

00:39:15Yes.

00:39:16It's still hot.

00:39:17Yes, I'm sorry.

00:39:18And it's still amazing

00:39:20and also disconcerting.

00:39:22It's a fantastic, beautiful

00:39:24and totally impressive space.

00:39:26Yes.

00:39:27Why take the trouble

00:39:29to build such a huge,

00:39:31extremely high ramp?

00:39:33It's an unnecessarily large room

00:39:35because no one will see it

00:39:37and it won't help you get any further.

00:39:40Not according to what they tell us

00:39:42about what's here.

00:39:44But if you look closely,

00:39:46there are a few clues

00:39:48to give you an explanation.

00:39:51In the blocks on this side,

00:39:53at this level,

00:39:55there are what appear

00:39:57to be linear scratches,

00:39:59almost as if they had

00:40:01thrown something in this direction,

00:40:03very close to the wall,

00:40:05hitting it.

00:40:07Yes.

00:40:08Look at this.

00:40:10Here's a video they've made.

00:40:14Udan's theory suggests

00:40:16that the Great Gallery

00:40:18was built to accommodate

00:40:20a huge counterweight system.

00:40:22It would consist of a wooden carriage

00:40:24that would be loaded with

00:40:26some of the heaviest granite blocks

00:40:28by wooden rails and rollers

00:40:30to raise them to greater heights.

00:40:32So now we're descending.

00:40:34The theory is that, in fact,

00:40:36this is at least

00:40:38the largest blocks of granite

00:40:40that cover the funeral chamber

00:40:42and those that are placed

00:40:44at the top forming the ceiling,

00:40:46perhaps they would go up like this

00:40:48and would be dragged

00:40:50using counterweights and ropes.

00:40:52Like a kind of tramway.

00:40:54You could almost say that.

00:40:56In fact, when I said tramway,

00:40:58I meant funicular.

00:41:00If you had said funicular at first,

00:41:02then...

00:41:04You knew what I meant.

00:41:06It's a counterweight system.

00:41:08It's a counterweight system

00:41:10where you can put another weight

00:41:12and then you have to lift the weight

00:41:14again and put another weight.

00:41:16That's what I meant.

00:41:18And that's exactly what they did.

00:41:20That's the problem.

00:41:22Yes, there you go.

00:41:24Well, Egyptology is screwed.

00:41:26With all that solved,

00:41:28I think we can move on

00:41:30to King Jufu, who is still missing,

00:41:32but on whom there have been

00:41:34recent revelations.

00:41:36An international team of scientists

00:41:38and the latest in technology

00:41:40has scanned the pyramids

00:41:42and has discovered not one,

00:41:44but two previously unknown

00:41:46voids inside the pyramid.

00:41:48When they finally got

00:41:50to the first chamber

00:41:52with an endoscopic camera,

00:41:54they discovered that it was empty,

00:41:56but there is another one

00:41:58above the great gallery

00:42:00that has not yet been explored.

00:42:02The idea that there are more

00:42:04empty spaces is tempting.

00:42:06They love hidden cameras.

00:42:08We know that they are often

00:42:10full of treasures,

00:42:12so what could be there?

00:42:14Because that's the next thing.

00:42:16We have to get there.

00:42:18We have to get in.

00:42:20What would it take

00:42:22for someone to drill

00:42:24the entrails of the Great Pyramid?

00:42:26Well, the authorities

00:42:28would have to be very, very clear

00:42:30that there was a good reason,

00:42:32valid and convincing.

00:42:34That's why the show

00:42:36is not called Things we know

00:42:38about the pyramids.

00:42:40That's why it's called

00:42:42The Mysteries of the Pyramids.

00:42:46When I came to Egypt,

00:42:48I had my head full of questions

00:42:50about these surprising

00:42:52and enigmatic constructions.

00:42:54My heart was full of the desire

00:42:56to live like Indiana Jones

00:42:58for a while.

00:43:00Well, after climbing a lot,

00:43:02I asked myself,

00:43:04where is the body of Jufu?

00:43:06What is that hole that reaches the sky?

00:43:08That's the problem.

00:43:10They keep asking more questions.

00:43:12So in the next episode,

00:43:14we're going to address

00:43:16two of the main questions.

00:43:18First, why did they stop

00:43:20building pyramids?

00:43:22And also, what is the final score

00:43:24in the eternal battle

00:43:26between pharaohs

00:43:28and tomb raiders?

00:43:30Hello, Tut.

00:43:32You're the most popular.

00:43:34That's how history works sometimes.

00:43:36Everyone knows you.

00:44:00The Mysteries of the Pyramids

00:44:02Episode 1

00:44:04The Ancient Pyramids

00:44:06Episode 1

00:44:08The Ancient Pyramids

00:44:10Episode 1

00:44:12All over the world,

00:44:14the pyramids represent

00:44:16the power of ancient civilizations.

00:44:18It's a great sarcophagus.

00:44:20I've started a journey

00:44:22to explore the mysteries

00:44:24behind these impressive megaliths.

00:44:26And here I am,

00:44:28this incredible structure

00:44:30is the Great Pyramid of Giza,

00:44:32the zenith of the construction of pyramids.

00:44:34And people have been amazed

00:44:36for millennia

00:44:38at their precision,

00:44:40the effort they required,

00:44:42and their magnitude.

00:44:44But like all pyramids,

00:44:46this one failed.

00:44:48They failed at the only task

00:44:50that was entrusted to them.

00:44:52I call this episode

00:44:54Pyramids.

00:44:56You've got so much innovation

00:44:58from the thieves

00:45:00and the builders.

00:45:02It's one of the greatest

00:45:04ironies in history.

00:45:06That? In the showcase?

00:45:08Yes.

00:45:10And as usual,

00:45:12there's been a lot of speculation.

00:45:14It's not the sphinx itself

00:45:16that I'm interested in,

00:45:18but what's underneath.

00:45:20Did you carve it on the ground?

00:45:22Exactly, yes.

00:45:24It looks like a considerable work.

00:45:26I'm joined by archaeologist

00:45:28Raksa Dave.

00:45:30If someone catches you,

00:45:32you'll die.

00:45:34Oh wow, this is majestic.

00:45:36And the doctor in Egyptology,

00:45:38Chris Knownton.

00:45:40At a certain point in the construction

00:45:42cracks began to appear.

00:45:44We'll explore the secret passages

00:45:46intended to keep the dead pharaohs safe

00:45:48and we'll see face to face

00:45:50the most famous pharaoh of all.

00:45:52Let's explore the mysteries

00:45:54of the pyramids.

00:45:56The Mysteries of the Pyramids

00:45:58with Dara O'Brien.

00:46:08I began my research

00:46:10not in an ancient dusty tomb,

00:46:12but in Khan al-Khalili,

00:46:14the famous and lively bazaar of Cairo.

00:46:18Here you can find some

00:46:20of the most expensive,

00:46:22golden and exquisite treasures.

00:46:24Egyptian tomb artifacts

00:46:26were coveted from the moment

00:46:28they were placed in sealed chambers.

00:46:30Of course, the ancient Egyptians

00:46:32believed that not only the pharaoh

00:46:34was going further,

00:46:36but also the things he had next to him.

00:46:38So they buried him with treasures

00:46:40like the ones you see in the market.

00:46:42But the problem was that when they did that,

00:46:44people knew about it,

00:46:46and it was very tempting

00:46:48to steal those treasures.

00:46:50I had met with the Egyptologist

00:46:52Chris Knownton

00:46:54to explore the mystery

00:46:56of how the ancient Egyptians

00:46:58dealt with the problem

00:47:00that plagued the pharaohs,

00:47:02the tomb raiders.

00:47:04So Chris, we're going to Saqqara right now.

00:47:06Yes, we are.

00:47:08And in Saqqara is the first pyramid.

00:47:10And we'll get an idea

00:47:12of how to sneak into a pyramid?

00:47:14Yes, it's the only thing

00:47:16that's not as complicated as

00:47:18the construction of monumental tombs in Egypt.

00:47:20It's the theft of tombs.

00:47:22There's more or less as much innovation

00:47:24on the part of the thieves

00:47:26as there is on the part of the builders.

00:47:28Before they got the idea

00:47:30of building pyramids,

00:47:32the ancient Egyptians used simpler structures

00:47:34called mastaba

00:47:36to bury their nobles.

00:47:38These flat-roofed buildings

00:47:40found in Saqqara

00:47:42incorporated basic anti-theft measures.

00:47:44They were used to frustrate

00:47:46the tomb raiders.

00:47:48As a response,

00:47:50the ancient Egyptians

00:47:52designed a new solution.

00:47:54Here is the pyramid.

00:47:56This is the first pyramid,

00:47:58built by the pharaoh Zoser

00:48:00as his tomb.

00:48:08King Zoser ruled around 2660 BC,

00:48:10so this pyramid

00:48:12is almost 5,000 years old.

00:48:14They were buried under it

00:48:16like a platform,

00:48:18a large flat building.

00:48:20And then this guy

00:48:22in particular said,

00:48:24why don't we put another platform

00:48:26on top of it and another one

00:48:28on top of it?

00:48:30Because it looks like a series

00:48:32of increasingly smaller platforms.

00:48:34Yes, and of course,

00:48:36in the end they rose to the sky.

00:48:38And look where you have a pyramid.

00:48:40The stepped pyramid of Zoser

00:48:42was not only the place

00:48:44of eternal rest of the king,

00:48:46but also of his land possessions,

00:48:48and what is most important

00:48:50for the tomb raiders,

00:48:52of their treasures.

00:48:54There, where they buried a pharaoh,

00:48:56the golden coffins and amulets

00:48:58of precious stones were too tempting

00:49:00for the thieves.

00:49:02When the embalmers began

00:49:04to include amulets of gold or silver

00:49:06between the bandages of the mummies,

00:49:08the corpse of the king

00:49:10was seen threatened.

00:49:12If you were caught looting a tomb,

00:49:14they could dismember you as punishment,

00:49:16they cut your nose or ears,

00:49:18or they could impale you to death.

00:49:20Today, the market

00:49:22of illicit antiquities

00:49:24is the third largest black market

00:49:26in the world,

00:49:28after that of drugs

00:49:30and weapons.

00:49:32And the current punishment

00:49:34in Egypt for looting tombs

00:49:36is a prison sentence

00:49:38and a fine of one million dollars.

00:49:40But hey, at least they don't impale you anymore.

00:49:42Despite the high risk,

00:49:44the treasures continued to attract

00:49:46the tomb raiders,

00:49:48so it is not surprising

00:49:50that the ancient Egyptians

00:49:52took so much trouble

00:49:54to fortify their pyramids.

00:49:56Let's see, it will be dark, I guess.

00:49:58Darker than out here, yes.

00:50:00The stepped pyramid

00:50:02owes its creation

00:50:04to Imhotep,

00:50:06the esteemed king's advisor,

00:50:08whom many consider

00:50:10the first architect in history.

00:50:12Imhotep, who also served

00:50:14as a priest and doctor,

00:50:16later achieved a status of divinity

00:50:18among the Greeks

00:50:20and even came to shine

00:50:22under the spotlight of Hollywood.

00:50:24And Chris got a special government

00:50:26permit to explore his masterpiece

00:50:28through a passageway

00:50:30that most tourists

00:50:32absolutely labyrinthine,

00:50:34and I'm not entirely sure

00:50:36I can orient myself

00:50:38directly to the funeral chamber.

00:50:40We're going to have fun along the way.

00:50:42I like labyrinths.

00:50:44And we soon found

00:50:46some anti-looting resources

00:50:48of Imhotep.

00:50:50Imagine doing this in the dark,

00:50:52just with the light of a candle.

00:50:54If you include blind corridors,

00:50:56false chambers,

00:50:58the more complex you can make it,

00:51:00the more you can orient yourself.

00:51:04Can I stop and say

00:51:06how much I'm enjoying this?

00:51:08How fun it is?

00:51:10Totally, I know.

00:51:12History, history.

00:51:14I'm learning.

00:51:16But this is very fun.

00:51:18Does it bifurcate?

00:51:20Yes.

00:51:22Interesting.

00:51:24A dilemma for the Egyptologist.

00:51:26To the right or to the left?

00:51:28Oh my God.

00:51:30This is immense.

00:51:32High steps.

00:51:34Okay.

00:51:38We have to make another decision.

00:51:40I think we'll go this way.

00:51:42I don't know about tomb raiders,

00:51:44but Imhotep certainly

00:51:46was smarter than Chris and I.

00:51:48Are we going this way?

00:51:50We'll go this way and to the left,

00:51:52and hopefully we'll turn around.

00:51:54This way, do you think?

00:51:56Yes, let's go.

00:51:58Let's try.

00:52:00I've played too many video games in the first person.

00:52:02Yeah.

00:52:04Believe it or not,

00:52:0612,000 kilometers from there,

00:52:08more or less at the same time,

00:52:10they were also building

00:52:12stepped pyramids.

00:52:14In this case, the ancient Peruvians.

00:52:16The largest of these,

00:52:18known as the Great Pyramid,

00:52:20is almost 30 meters high,

00:52:22and has an area of approximately

00:52:24three football fields.

00:52:26Its purpose is difficult to determine,

00:52:28although anodized cords

00:52:30known as kipu,

00:52:32an ancient Andean method

00:52:34to register numerical information,

00:52:36were found here,

00:52:38suggesting that it was

00:52:40a highly structured society

00:52:42with a complex understanding

00:52:44of mathematics.

00:52:46The date for organic matter

00:52:48of the site has revealed

00:52:50Egypt.

00:52:54That two advanced civilizations

00:52:56built pyramids almost simultaneously

00:52:58is a coincidence

00:53:00that has amazed some,

00:53:02giving rise to crazy speculations.

00:53:04I discussed it with Nick Pope,

00:53:06who worked for 20 years

00:53:08for the British Ministry of Defence

00:53:10investigating UFOs.

00:53:12The idea that they did it repeatedly

00:53:14at different points on the planet

00:53:16at the same time,

00:53:18indicates that more than being

00:53:20a sign that humans

00:53:22like to assemble and build things,

00:53:24somehow it is a proof

00:53:26of an external force.

00:53:28Yes, I think the theorists

00:53:30of alternative beliefs

00:53:32say that it is often

00:53:34cultures that had no

00:53:36direct contact with each other,

00:53:38so they theorize

00:53:40that there must have been a common link

00:53:42whether it was a lost,

00:53:44mysterious civilization

00:53:46or extraterrestrials

00:53:48who came down from the sky

00:53:50and of course could easily

00:53:52visit towns around the world

00:53:54at a time when those cultures

00:53:56were not in contact with each other.

00:53:58And that's how they say

00:54:00that all these structures

00:54:02that are so similar

00:54:04emerged independently.

00:54:06I enjoy some of these ideas

00:54:08and they seem funny to me.

00:54:10It's more interesting to say this

00:54:12than that at a primitive level

00:54:14it's a way of building

00:54:16and stacking things

00:54:18and that the pyramids

00:54:20have a fundamental shape.

00:54:22Yes, this is what scientists

00:54:24and conventional academics say

00:54:26that if you wanted to build something

00:54:28this is really the most

00:54:30basic shape you would choose.

00:54:32And then there are people

00:54:34who simply say

00:54:36that we could not build

00:54:38the pyramids now.

00:54:40It seems too coincidental

00:54:42to be a scientific invention.

00:54:46Back to the stepped pyramid

00:54:48we had not yet found

00:54:50the Pharaoh's tomb.

00:54:52At some point we will get there, I hope.

00:54:54Yes, sooner or later.

00:54:56That's the nature of the labyrinths, right?

00:54:58Everyone knows that in the end

00:55:00you get to the right place.

00:55:02You end up getting there.

00:55:04Oh wow, this is majestic.

00:55:06Oh my God.

00:55:08Right?

00:55:10This is the funerary chamber.

00:55:12I did not expect it.

00:55:14It's amazing.

00:55:16And within the pyramid?

00:55:18No, that's the level of the ground above.

00:55:20We've gone down so much.

00:55:22We've gone down so much.

00:55:24Yes, exactly.

00:55:26This is all cut in the bed of rock.

00:55:28So this whole well is underground.

00:55:30And what's down below the well?

00:55:32That's the mass of the pyramid.

00:55:34It's incredible.

00:55:36So they dug this hole,

00:55:38they put this funerary chamber inside,

00:55:40and the entire pyramid is basically

00:55:42a shot above the hole.

00:55:44Yes, to provide a huge barrier

00:55:46between the possible looters

00:55:48and what was inside.

00:55:50There was a circular hole

00:55:52at the top of the funerary chamber

00:55:54cut into these blocks.

00:55:58That's where they put all the funerary material

00:56:00and the king's body in the chamber.

00:56:02And then they closed that hole

00:56:04with this huge block of six blocks

00:56:06so it should have been impenetrable.

00:56:08And it was as impenetrable

00:56:10as anything else.

00:56:22I'd highly recommend it, by the way.

00:56:24A morning of walking around tunnels

00:56:26under a pyramid has been a lot of fun.

00:56:28But also learning.

00:56:30Learning how they built those labyrinths

00:56:32and why they put that funerary chamber

00:56:34in the bottom of an incredibly deep hole

00:56:36and they put a pyramid on top of it.

00:56:38All to stop the looters.

00:56:40But it didn't work.

00:56:42The important thing is that with King Zoser

00:56:44began the longest period of construction

00:56:46ever seen on the planet.

00:56:48And after this came Giza,

00:56:50a whole area of giant stone pyramids,

00:56:52all of which started

00:56:54with this stepped pyramid in Saqqara.

00:57:04I like it,

00:57:06but I don't think

00:57:08it's what they were aiming for.

00:57:10Yeah, I think it's fair to say

00:57:12that this probably wasn't the aspect

00:57:14that they were aiming for

00:57:16for the pyramid to look.

00:57:18But I think it's part

00:57:20of the pyramid design innovation

00:57:22in the pyramids.

00:57:24Chris took me an hour

00:57:26to the south of Cairo,

00:57:28to the south,

00:57:30to the south of Cairo.

00:57:32To see how the first pyramids

00:57:34evolved to counter the threat

00:57:36of the tomb looters,

00:57:38of the pyramids stepped

00:57:40in the iconic way

00:57:42that we know today.

00:57:44But it wasn't all sewing and singing.

00:57:46At some point in the construction

00:57:48cracks began to appear

00:57:50in the funerary chamber.

00:57:52It is believed that

00:57:54under the immense weight

00:57:56of the pyramid.

00:57:58So instead of going to heaven,

00:58:00we better...

00:58:02Yes.

00:58:04It should have been

00:58:06a pyramid with super smooth sides

00:58:08and the sharpest angle possible,

00:58:10surpassing the protective function

00:58:12of the tomb and aspiring

00:58:14to mathematical perfection.

00:58:16This was built

00:58:18for the pharaoh Sneferu.

00:58:20He was also the builder

00:58:22of at least two other pyramids,

00:58:24one very far south of Meidum.

00:58:26The other one is also here,

00:58:28the red pyramid that we have

00:58:30right behind.

00:58:32So in fact, this one went wrong.

00:58:34But we think that in the end

00:58:36he got it right.

00:58:38And he did very well.

00:58:40Let's see, the red pyramid

00:58:42I would say it is a great pyramid.

00:58:44It is perfect, totally ideal.

00:58:46Of course.

00:58:48He is the great innovator.

00:58:50And if we look at the evolution

00:58:52of these three pyramids,

00:58:54the pyramid of Meidum

00:58:56and the pyramid of Meidum,

00:58:58the pyramid of Meidum

00:59:00had been successful

00:59:02with the pyramid anchored

00:59:04and they would have embroidered

00:59:06the design of a true pyramid

00:59:08and in the case of the red pyramid

00:59:10he nailed it.

00:59:12And if things go wrong,

00:59:14well, you know, bad pre-release,

00:59:16great show.

00:59:18This is the bad pre-release.

00:59:20The one that did not go

00:59:22quite right.

00:59:24Cholula.

00:59:26Two millennia later,

00:59:2812,000 kilometers from here,

00:59:30the opposite happened.

00:59:32The Great Pyramid of Cholula in Mexico

00:59:34holds the title of being

00:59:36the largest pyramid in the world.

00:59:38But no one would think so

00:59:40when they see it.

00:59:42It is actually four times larger

00:59:44and has twice the volume

00:59:46of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

00:59:48However, its large underground structure

00:59:50darkens its monumental scale.

00:59:52And unlike the Egyptian pyramids,

00:59:54it took a thousand years to build

00:59:56and reflects the different ethnic groups

00:59:58that controlled it

01:00:00throughout all that time.

01:00:02They used adobe bricks

01:00:04and it became known as

01:00:06the hand-made hill

01:00:08and at one point it was the central piece

01:00:10of a city of 50,000 people.

01:00:12Although now there is a church

01:00:14at its peak, Cholula was the center

01:00:16of worship to Quechatcoalt,

01:00:18one of the most important gods

01:00:20of the Mayas.

01:00:26More than 2,000 years ago in Egypt,

01:00:28a revolution was underway

01:00:30in the pyramids,

01:00:32headed by a single man.

01:00:34The pharaoh Sneferu,

01:00:36the visionary genius of ancient Egypt,

01:00:38fulfilled his ambition

01:00:40to build a real pyramid

01:00:42in just 30 years.

01:00:44And when they had the plans,

01:00:46their descendants continued

01:00:48that idea for a period

01:00:50of approximately 120 years.

01:00:52They cut, moved and used

01:00:54to build 35 million tons

01:00:56of limestone, granite

01:00:58and a little basalt.

01:01:02The achievements of the ancient Egyptians

01:01:04are really amazing,

01:01:06so it is frustrating to me

01:01:08that the merit of their work

01:01:10is attributed to aliens.

01:01:12Paranormal researcher

01:01:14Laura Routen

01:01:16The theory of ancient aliens

01:01:18that a lot of people subscribe to

01:01:20about structures like the Great Pyramid

01:01:22at first glance

01:01:24may seem laughable,

01:01:26but when you start to

01:01:28investigate a little bit more

01:01:30and think about those supposed

01:01:32entities in terms of a tapestry

01:01:34of wider beliefs,

01:01:36especially religious beliefs

01:01:38and how people have believed

01:01:40in deities of all kinds

01:01:42over time, that theory

01:01:44may seem less silly.

01:01:46If people can believe in a Christian god,

01:01:48then why not in extraterrestrials?

01:01:50It's a similar concept

01:01:52that we as human beings

01:01:54seek outside,

01:01:56knowledge about our purpose

01:01:58and origin.

01:02:00Well, it's another way

01:02:02to look at it.

01:02:04The fact is that for thousands of years

01:02:06the Great Pyramid was elevated

01:02:08as the highest artificial structure

01:02:10in the world, and the pyramids

01:02:12were supposed to be magnificent,

01:02:14elevating the kings who built them

01:02:16to a divine status.

01:02:18It's easy to see

01:02:20why the pharaoh enjoyed

01:02:22the idea of these great plans

01:02:24or his architect,

01:02:26but what about the workers?

01:02:28What about those who were

01:02:30under the midday sun pulling ropes,

01:02:32moving bricks, and carrying stones?

01:02:34What did they do?

01:02:36It's hard to imagine

01:02:38that this was how they imagined their lives,

01:02:40especially given the story

01:02:42that they told us for a long time

01:02:44that they did all this

01:02:46by whipping.

01:02:48In the end,

01:02:50in the centenary battle of the pharaohs

01:02:52against the tomb raiders,

01:02:54these workers were the army

01:02:56without which the pharaoh

01:02:58could not reach the beyond safely.

01:03:00To get more information,

01:03:02I returned to Giza.

01:03:04Hello, Raksa.

01:03:06You took your time.

01:03:08But what a great place you have found

01:03:10to wait for me.

01:03:12Right next to the pyramids,

01:03:14Raksa wanted to show me

01:03:16some extraordinary excavations.

01:03:18So the people who built the pyramids

01:03:20were slaves or not?

01:03:22No, they were not.

01:03:24And it's a very common mistake.

01:03:26They were not at all.

01:03:28And I think this notion

01:03:30that the pyramids were built by slaves

01:03:32comes from Hollywood.

01:03:34But I can assure you

01:03:36that in the last decades,

01:03:38archaeologists have discovered

01:03:40a town where 30,000 of the workers

01:03:42who built the pyramids lived.

01:03:44This settlement was the home

01:03:46of three generations of artisans

01:03:48and their families

01:03:504,500 years ago.

01:03:52And they buried their dead in tombs

01:03:54near the pyramids of Giza.

01:03:56This cemetery

01:03:58and the bones found here

01:04:00show us the real life

01:04:02of the people who worked here.

01:04:04How much did they worship

01:04:06and take care of them?

01:04:08This is incredible.

01:04:10Well, this looks like

01:04:12a considerable construction.

01:04:14It is.

01:04:16According to our modern criteria,

01:04:18it is a rather extravagant mausoleum

01:04:20and it is only for artisans.

01:04:22Yes, you are right.

01:04:24Basically, it is made

01:04:26in the image and likeness

01:04:28of how the pharaohs were buried.

01:04:30The funerary chambers?

01:04:32Yes, of course.

01:04:34And why not?

01:04:36They were the pharaohs' artisans.

01:04:38Why wouldn't they build their tombs?

01:04:40I would.

01:04:42I was still impressed

01:04:44by the great explosion

01:04:46of construction of pyramids

01:04:48that took place here

01:04:504,500 years ago,

01:04:52during a short period of time,

01:04:54only 120 years.

01:04:56And visiting the tombs

01:04:58of the people whose skill,

01:05:01So this was the normal life

01:05:03of the workers.

01:05:05What do we know about their daily lives?

01:05:07I think there was a lot of camaraderie

01:05:09between them,

01:05:11because they have found graffiti

01:05:13in Giza and its surroundings.

01:05:15And there is one quite famous,

01:05:17of a band

01:05:19that was called

01:05:21the drunkards of Menkaura.

01:05:23So they had a good time.

01:05:25In the pyramid itself?

01:05:27In the pyramid itself.

01:05:29It's not about the winners

01:05:31and survivors,

01:05:33but archaeology is about normal people,

01:05:35like you and me.

01:05:37With all this great communal effort

01:05:39to take the pharaohs

01:05:41without incident to the beyond,

01:05:43I can't help but wonder

01:05:45if the construction of the pyramids

01:05:47achieved more than the structures themselves.

01:05:49And I wanted to pose a theory to Chris.

01:05:51Can you do what I call

01:05:53the Teflon question?

01:05:55I don't know what you mean, but...

01:05:57I'll explain it to you.

01:05:59If I think of a great national effort

01:06:01to achieve something,

01:06:03I think of the space race.

01:06:05The space race took humans to the moon,

01:06:07but it also gave us better pans.

01:06:09Okay, okay.

01:06:11Did this have the same effect?

01:06:13Did it speed up Egyptian science

01:06:15or architecture or art?

01:06:17We know that they constantly innovated

01:06:19in terms of architecture and design.

01:06:21That's something that they kept doing

01:06:23during the next 2,000 years

01:06:25and beyond.

01:06:27The other thing is the type of administration

01:06:29and bureaucracy.

01:06:31They had to go to the construction sites

01:06:33and say, I need I don't know how many blocks,

01:06:35and someone would have to say, okay.

01:06:37So you have to multiply that by this other

01:06:39and all that is written.

01:06:41But wait, do we have a pretty sophisticated

01:06:43writing system?

01:06:45If not, then we'd better have it, right?

01:06:47And that lasts.

01:06:49That prepared Ancient Egypt

01:06:51to be a great successful society,

01:06:53and it lasted a long time.

01:07:01It's comforting to know that

01:07:03despite the myths,

01:07:05those things were not built by slaves,

01:07:07but those who built them were well fed,

01:07:09well taken care of,

01:07:11and there was a certain camaraderie

01:07:13with their companions.

01:07:15Even so, they knew they were building

01:07:17a funerary chamber full of wealth

01:07:19that would surpass everything

01:07:21in the world.

01:07:29The Egyptian Museum, Cairo

01:07:35Of course, climbing the pyramids

01:07:37is very fun.

01:07:39Although, on the other hand,

01:07:41they are still empty containers.

01:07:43Because at the time the pyramids were built,

01:07:45there was a great explosion

01:07:47of art, craftsmanship, and sculpture.

01:07:49Now I've come to the Egyptian Museum

01:07:51to see some of that,

01:07:53and hopefully to put some of those pharaohs

01:07:55to face.

01:07:59To make sure I know what and who

01:08:01I was looking at,

01:08:03I met with the Egyptologist Arto Belekdanean.

01:08:07Arto, thank you for bringing us

01:08:09to the legendary Egyptian Museum.

01:08:11I'm delighted to see so many treasures.

01:08:13Arto Belekdanean, Egyptologist

01:08:15This place is full to the brim.

01:08:17There's barely any room

01:08:19for anything else.

01:08:21Which is curious, because the pyramids

01:08:23themselves are naked.

01:08:25Everything is outside the pyramids.

01:08:27And then it's here.

01:08:31This is none other than Zoser.

01:08:33The one on the stepped pyramid.

01:08:35Exactly.

01:08:37Good memory.

01:08:39Thank you very much.

01:08:41Inside the pyramid,

01:08:43in the substructure,

01:08:45there are ceramic containers

01:08:47full of the things the king

01:08:49wanted to have in the afterlife.

01:08:51By general rule,

01:08:53everything that was inside

01:08:55was what they were trying to take

01:08:57to the afterlife?

01:08:59Exactly.

01:09:01In its spiritual form,

01:09:03they would have access to those things.

01:09:05The tomb raiders may have

01:09:07desecrated sacred places,

01:09:09but the truth is that

01:09:11perhaps we would not have had

01:09:13access to those things.

01:09:15That's incredible.

01:09:17Yes.

01:09:19That statue there,

01:09:21in my opinion,

01:09:23is not only one of the best

01:09:25sculptures made in Egyptian culture,

01:09:27but in human culture in general.

01:09:29This is King Hafra,

01:09:31the builder of the second pyramid

01:09:33on the Giza plateau.

01:09:35Yes, the one that still has

01:09:37some limestone at the top.

01:09:39Yes.

01:09:41The three great pyramids of Giza

01:09:43were built by three generations

01:09:45of Egyptian kings,

01:09:47Hufu, his son Hafra,

01:09:49and his grandson Menkaura.

01:09:51If you look at this statue,

01:09:53the way his safe features

01:09:55emanate power,

01:09:57the way his gaze

01:09:59is lost in the distance,

01:10:01almost looking over him,

01:10:03the idea is that this is

01:10:05a representation of you

01:10:07anchoring your soul

01:10:09forever.

01:10:11Yes.

01:10:13And for obvious reasons,

01:10:15you want to shine in your best moment.

01:10:17You want to leave a beautiful corpse.

01:10:19And for those of us who have passed this point,

01:10:21you know...

01:10:23You're not there yet.

01:10:25No, but I would prefer a statue of me

01:10:27at 25 years old than now.

01:10:29Okay, we've seen two pharaohs

01:10:31of the pyramids,

01:10:33but not the builder

01:10:35of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

01:10:37That's not necessarily impressive

01:10:39because that statue over there

01:10:41is of Hufu.

01:10:43That tiny thing.

01:10:45In the showcase?

01:10:47Yes.

01:10:49Hufu, the one who built the Great Pyramid?

01:10:51It's one of the biggest ironies

01:10:53in history that the only

01:10:55confirmed three-dimensional

01:10:57representation of Hufu

01:10:59that has survived to this day

01:11:01is this statue

01:11:03of 7.2 centimeters high.

01:11:05That is extraordinary.

01:11:07I'm sorry,

01:11:09as proof of how small it is.

01:11:11For the first time on the show?

01:11:13Wow.

01:11:19But Hufu was not the only one

01:11:21in the region that built pyramids.

01:11:23Nearby, in present-day Iraq,

01:11:25the Sumerians built

01:11:27the Great Ziggurat of Ur,

01:11:29only 400 years later.

01:11:31But unlike the Egyptian pyramids,

01:11:33the Ziggurat functioned as

01:11:35an administrative center and sanctuary

01:11:37dedicated to the god of the moon, Nanna,

01:11:39patron saint of the city-state of Ur.

01:11:41The structure, whose base

01:11:43is built with 750,000

01:11:45bricks of adobe,

01:11:47has undergone cycles of ruin and restoration.

01:11:49Initially, King Nabonidus

01:11:51rebuilt it in the 6th century

01:11:53BC. Then it was lost

01:11:55and was later rediscovered

01:11:57by the British archaeologist

01:11:59William Loftus in 1850.

01:12:01Saddam Hussein restored it in the 80s

01:12:03and then suffered damage during

01:12:05the Gulf War of 1991.

01:12:11Back in Giza,

01:12:13there is another famous monument

01:12:15that has been revalued in the modern era.

01:12:17The Sphinx.

01:12:21This gigantic sculpture,

01:12:23half man, half lion,

01:12:25went through an era almost lost under the sand,

01:12:27only to be reborn at the end of the 18th century.

01:12:29But its mere presence

01:12:31seems to invite to speculate.

01:12:35The Sphinx is one of the most intriguing

01:12:37aspects of the Giza plateau.

01:12:39Actually, next to the Great Pyramid,

01:12:41it is the symbol of all Egypt.

01:12:43Obviously, the head does not seem to be the original.

01:12:45There are many different theories

01:12:47about how it was created.

01:12:49But some have suggested

01:12:51that the water created the erosion

01:12:53around the area of the Sphinx

01:12:55and that would have happened

01:12:57until about 10,000 years ago.

01:13:01One of the ideas

01:13:03that seems intriguing to me

01:13:05is the fact that it is looking east,

01:13:07seeing how Leo's constellation

01:13:09rises at the time of the dawn

01:13:11of the equinox to the east,

01:13:13and that would have happened

01:13:15about 10,500 years ago.

01:13:19It's incredibly majestic.

01:13:21Yes.

01:13:23It's brilliant serenity.

01:13:25And it's totally unique.

01:13:27Indeed.

01:13:29That is important.

01:13:31And yet there are many things missing.

01:13:33Yes, there are parts that are missing.

01:13:35That said, it has been here

01:13:374,500 years.

01:13:39I think it has survived quite well.

01:13:41It is important to point out

01:13:43that human activity of any kind

01:13:45always leaves traces,

01:13:47debris of one type or another,

01:13:49usually ceramic,

01:13:51and the evidence of that type

01:13:53is in the inscriptions

01:13:55where they are,

01:13:57the evidence that we have

01:13:59of other buildings.

01:14:01They all belong to the period

01:14:03that should, according to conventional theory.

01:14:05It is assumed that it looks like

01:14:07one of the pharaohs, right?

01:14:09Exactly.

01:14:11It is known that it is a pharaoh

01:14:13by touch, so there is no doubt

01:14:15that it is supposed to be the king.

01:14:17The most iconic emblem

01:14:19of ancient Egypt,

01:14:21which has become as famous

01:14:23as the pyramids themselves,

01:14:25but its purpose is unknown,

01:14:27which increases its mystery.

01:14:29It was not to scare the thieves,

01:14:31right?

01:14:33Well, in a way,

01:14:35it does look like an animal.

01:14:37Yes.

01:14:39Guardian.

01:14:41But the truth is that if we think

01:14:43about what we know

01:14:45about all the ingenious

01:14:47engineering innovations

01:14:49the idea that someone thought

01:14:51that by putting a great statue on the ground

01:14:53the thieves were going to say,

01:14:55go, we will not steal it,

01:14:57what fear of that statue.

01:14:59That the cat will go for you.

01:15:01The truth is that it is another

01:15:03incredibly analyzed and studied monument

01:15:05about which we still do not know much.

01:15:07What is incredible to me

01:15:09is that when you come to visit

01:15:11you hardly see it because it is very low,

01:15:13because they did not make it

01:15:15with stones that they brought,

01:15:17it is completely cut in the bed of rock.

01:15:19We believe that this was used

01:15:21as a quarry to build the pyramids

01:15:23or the temples around here,

01:15:25but it is not impossible

01:15:27that someone would notice.

01:15:29Wait, guys, we have to stop.

01:15:31It looks a bit like a sphinx.

01:15:33It looks a bit like a sphinx.

01:15:35If we cut here and there,

01:15:37we could create a gigantic image

01:15:39of the king as the sun god.

01:15:41It's all speculation,

01:15:43but the lack of contrasted information

01:15:45is very curious.

01:15:47It's not the sphinx itself

01:15:49that interests me,

01:15:51but what is underneath it.

01:15:53People have been saying for a long time

01:15:55that the sphinx guards something

01:15:57that acts as a gate to something else.

01:15:59Several people have suggested

01:16:01that there could be tunnels

01:16:03or possibly cameras

01:16:05under the sphinx

01:16:07and the Giza plateau.

01:16:09A georadar was used

01:16:11that revealed that the sphinx

01:16:13had tunnels and cameras

01:16:15that were unknown until then,

01:16:17particularly under the legs

01:16:19of the sphinx.

01:16:21They were never excavated,

01:16:23but they claimed

01:16:25that there was something there.

01:16:29It was an American observer

01:16:31named Casey in the 1930s

01:16:33who announced that under the sphinx

01:16:35there was a great archive,

01:16:37a sacred library that contained

01:16:39ancient knowledge

01:16:41of the Atlantis.

01:16:43In 1978, a team of archaeologists

01:16:45cartographed the rocky bed

01:16:47that surrounds the sphinx

01:16:49and did not detect any secret camera.

01:16:51People have been looking for it non-stop.

01:16:53And there is nothing there.

01:16:55There is nothing there.

01:16:59The pyramids seem spectacular

01:17:01to me because of the scale

01:17:03of the construction project

01:17:05and also the communal human will

01:17:07required to create them.

01:17:09At that time, standing next to them

01:17:11feeling that mixture of pride

01:17:13and insignificance,

01:17:15marveling at their size,

01:17:17it is especially sad

01:17:19that suddenly there was a time

01:17:21when they were relegated to history.

01:17:23These constructions

01:17:25are undoubtedly magnificent,

01:17:27but they did not work.

01:17:29And it did not matter

01:17:31where they put the funeral chambers,

01:17:33whether under the pyramid

01:17:35or inside,

01:17:37because even with a hairpin

01:17:39to protect the pyramid,

01:17:41thieves kept coming in.

01:17:43This had to change,

01:17:45and it changed completely.

01:17:51After more than a thousand years

01:17:53losing the battle

01:17:55between tomb raiders

01:17:57and pyramid builders,

01:17:59the factual powers

01:18:01were finally given up.

01:18:03The pyramids were destroyed.

01:18:05The city,

01:18:07more than 600 km from Giza,

01:18:09became the preferred place

01:18:11to bury the dead pharaohs.

01:18:13I am in the Valley of the Kings

01:18:15and there is not a single statue,

01:18:17temple or pyramid.

01:18:19I mean, there are funeral chambers,

01:18:21but they are hidden at great depth.

01:18:23Because after a thousand years

01:18:25of all the funeral chambers being looted,

01:18:27the wise men of Egypt would say,

01:18:29wait, we are not really

01:18:31helping the pharaohs

01:18:33In any case, we are advertising

01:18:35where the boot is,

01:18:37with a big triangle on top.

01:18:39And they changed the plan

01:18:41for something much more hidden.

01:18:43They came to this valley,

01:18:45thousands of kilometers away,

01:18:47with indiscreet gazes,

01:18:49and built a secret cemetery

01:18:51for the deceased pharaohs

01:18:53and their journey to the afterlife.

01:18:55I went to the tomb of Seti I,

01:18:57a pharaoh who ruled Egypt

01:18:59about 3,000 years ago.

01:19:01Would this escape the clutches

01:19:03of the tomb raiders?

01:19:07Sadly, no.

01:19:09The tomb raiders sneaked in

01:19:11and stole everything,

01:19:13even the mummy,

01:19:15which they quickly decapitated.

01:19:17However, the mummy was later recovered,

01:19:19hidden, and finally rediscovered

01:19:21in 1881, when it was reunited

01:19:23with its head, and instead of

01:19:25the eternal rest of Seti,

01:19:27it is a museum of Cairo.

01:19:29What they were able to steal

01:19:31were these incredible interiors.

01:19:37As I walked back through

01:19:39another empty tomb,

01:19:41I could not help but think

01:19:43that something was happening.

01:19:45There is a constant pattern

01:19:47that makes you think

01:19:49that all these robberies

01:19:51would have been committed

01:19:53by someone inside?

01:19:55You are back on the right track.

01:19:57We have to remember

01:19:59that, as with the pyramid,

01:20:01there were workers.

01:20:03These workers in the Valley

01:20:05of the Kings were secret.

01:20:07So this whole complex

01:20:09was secret.

01:20:11It was watched day and night.

01:20:13When the pharaoh died

01:20:15and proclaimed a new king,

01:20:17he needed money.

01:20:19So what he did was ask

01:20:21some workers who knew

01:20:23exactly where the tunnels

01:20:25were and what they were

01:20:27robbing for them.

01:20:29So we should not be so hasty

01:20:31in judging tomb robbers

01:20:33as history has done,

01:20:35because they basically

01:20:37reintroduced wealth

01:20:39into the economy.

01:20:41Exactly. They said, well,

01:20:43he's dead. He doesn't need

01:20:45so much jewelry. I want it for

01:20:47me because I need to declare

01:20:49war on the Persians here

01:20:51next door. But there was

01:20:53no money. If he didn't have

01:20:55money, he would have died.

01:21:01If this is now incredible,

01:21:03imagine how incredible

01:21:05it would have been,

01:21:07full to the brim,

01:21:09with gold, jewels,

01:21:11squares, but all that

01:21:13disappeared. Always disappears.

01:21:19Although there is a notable exception,

01:21:21a pharaoh whose humble condition

01:21:23could have been relegated to darkness

01:21:25and yet a twist of fate

01:21:27transformed him into an icon.

01:21:31He is the only pharaoh buried

01:21:33in the Valley of the Kings

01:21:35who prevented tomb robbers

01:21:37until the 20th century.

01:21:39King Tutankhamun.

01:21:41Tutankhamun.

01:21:49He was a less known pharaoh

01:21:51because his reign

01:21:53was very short.

01:21:55His father fell, unfortunately,

01:21:57and he lived a very short life.

01:22:01Tutankhamun's name was almost

01:22:03erased from the historical archives

01:22:05by the Egyptians who came later.

01:22:07Over time, his short reign was

01:22:09forgotten and they built the tomb

01:22:11of another pharaoh practically

01:22:13above his own.

01:22:15This fortunate turn of events

01:22:17kept the tomb of Tutankhamun

01:22:19intact and all his treasures

01:22:21for thousands of years,

01:22:23making his discovery

01:22:25the greatest discovery of the 20th century.

01:22:27Everyone lost their heads

01:22:29for Tutankhamun, they went crazy.

01:22:31So much so that it influenced

01:22:33the Art Deco movement.

01:22:35Even the Chrysler building

01:22:37was destroyed by the Egyptians.

01:22:39People were totally

01:22:41obsessed with him, right?

01:22:43The boy king, all these treasures,

01:22:45all these goods,

01:22:47because there is nothing

01:22:49like it in the world.

01:22:51The British archaeologist

01:22:53Howard Carter gave an exclusive

01:22:55to the Times newspaper,

01:22:57leaving the rest of the press

01:22:59quite frustrated

01:23:01for not getting the scoop,

01:23:03to such an extent

01:23:05that the tomb of Tutankhamun

01:23:07became a worldwide sensation.

01:23:09Stories spread about a curse

01:23:11that fell on anyone

01:23:13who tried to sneak

01:23:15into the tomb of a pharaoh.

01:23:17When Lord Carnarvon,

01:23:19who paid for the excavation,

01:23:21died a few months later,

01:23:23the rumors spread

01:23:25and the idea of a curse

01:23:27persists to this day.

01:23:29All this tunnel was

01:23:31totally full of rubble,

01:23:33and there was no way

01:23:35to get through here.

01:23:37They got to this door

01:23:39and he just went,

01:23:41he had a candle,

01:23:43he turned around

01:23:45and said,

01:23:47inside I see wonderful things.

01:23:49The famous tomb of Tutankhamun?

01:23:51Yes.

01:23:53And very different

01:23:55from the tomb of Seti.

01:23:57Isn't it smaller?

01:23:59It's much, much smaller.

01:24:01There are no inscriptions

01:24:03on the walls.

01:24:05And no reliefs?

01:24:07No reliefs.

01:24:09They painted directly

01:24:11on the walls,

01:24:13they left it there

01:24:15and closed the door.

01:24:17So it's all very mysterious.

01:24:19Why in such a hurry?

01:24:21Well, that's the eternal mystery

01:24:23of Tutankhamun.

01:24:25Nobody knows.

01:24:27And because it was practically

01:24:29impossible to go up

01:24:31the stairs,

01:24:33the people

01:24:35who had to go through

01:24:37the tunnel

01:24:39decided to go

01:24:41through the other door.

01:24:43There are no inscriptions

01:24:45on the walls to show

01:24:47that this is the way

01:24:49to go up.

01:24:51And there are no

01:24:53inscriptions on the walls

01:24:55to show

01:24:57that was inside this tomb.

01:25:00And that is why we know so much about this boy king.

01:25:05He had a great overbite, and the fact that he was buried with many sticks

01:25:09suggests that he could also have been limping.

01:25:13We even know that he was married to his sister

01:25:16and lost two babies who were buried with him.

01:25:19The boy king who became a pharaoh at the age of ten

01:25:23and died suspiciously at the age of 19, had a short and difficult life.

01:25:29Ultimately, it's a very sad story because in the end

01:25:34his tomb was desecrated by Howard Carter.

01:25:38His coffin was opened.

01:25:41His body was removed.

01:25:43Do you think it's appropriate that they returned the body

01:25:46to rest in his tomb?

01:25:49Yes, absolutely.

01:25:51Don't you think it's appropriate that they return him

01:25:55to his place of eternal rest?

01:26:10Hello, Tooth.

01:26:12You're the most popular, did you know?

01:26:14Yeah.

01:26:15That's how history works sometimes.

01:26:17You're the one everyone knows.

01:26:22We'd all like to think that our place of eternal rest will be peaceful,

01:26:27but for some, it was also their way to immortality.

01:26:32Now, you could also wrap your fingers individually.

01:26:37Yes.

01:26:38But today we're going to do like a mitten.

01:26:40Oh, that's good.

01:26:41Yes.

01:26:42The most important thing is the head.

01:26:44Of course.

01:26:45Yes.

01:26:46Can you breathe?

01:26:47Yes, I can.

01:26:48I don't want to be responsible for your death.

01:26:50No, no, no.

01:26:51I'd have to mummify you for real.

01:26:52Yes.

01:26:53That's it.

01:26:54Good.

01:26:55Okay.

01:26:56I'll take you to the tomb for the final rites.

01:26:57Okay.

01:26:58You're still there, aren't you?

01:26:59Salima?

01:27:00Salima?

01:27:01Salima?

01:27:02Salima?

01:27:07At the start I said that the pyramids only had one purpose,

01:27:11as if the only task of designing these constructions

01:27:14was to prevent the entry of tomb raiders,

01:27:17which they failed spectacularly.

01:27:19Yes, the robbers won that battle.

01:27:21But actually, these constructions had another purpose,

01:27:25which was to make the pharaohs immortal.

01:27:28In fact, in Egyptian society,

01:27:30the worst punishment of all was to erase your name

01:27:32so that no one would remember you.

01:27:34But thanks to these incredible, precise and huge constructions,

01:27:40the names of Menkaure, Jafra, Zoser and Jufu

01:27:46will live forever.

01:27:48Well done, guys.

01:27:49Good job.

01:28:16To be continued

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