This site is unbelievable.
Deep underground a 2,000-year-old tomb filled
with mummies has been devastated by tomb raiders.
Finding a burial shaft like this.
It makes our stay in the desert worth it.
Archaeologists scan through the wreckage in search
of clues to what happened.
OK, that's it.
Unbelievable.
The mummy, it's not looking usual.
We're going to investigate it right now.
The Great pyramids of ancient Egypt.
These structures were created to protect the tombs of the
mightiest kings and queens of the ancient world and the
unimaginable wealth they were buried with.
But ever since they rose from the desert floor,
they have been a target for attack from tomb raiders.
The battle between tomb builders and tomb robbers has
raged for millennia.
Now, archaeologists across Egypt are unlocking the
secrets of the origins of tomb raiding.
How pyramids and tombs evolved to better protect the dead and
how the latest technology can salvage vital information from
the wreckage these ancient raiders left behind.
In Saqqara, British archaeologist John Ward has
come to Egypt's first-ever pyramid the
Great Step Pyramid of Djoser.
Man's first skyscraper in effect.
What an achievement.
John and his wife, archaeologist Maria Nilsson,
have spent 14 years exploring the quarries of the
great pharaohs on the banks of the Nile.
Today, John is investigating how the builders of the first
pyramid tried to keep the riches contained within,
safe from tomb raiders.
For the robbers, this huge structure just literally
dominating the landscape was like a beacon.
Tomb raiders were the scourge of Ancient Egypt.
Egyptians were often buried with gold and other valuables,
with the richest taking vast stores of
treasure to their graves.
For robbers this was irresistible,
and the pyramid builders knew it.
Beneath thousands of tons of limestone a vertical shaft
descends 90 feet to the burial chamber.
Here, the pharaoh's mummy was laid to rest within
a vast granite sarcophagus.
A 3.5-mile-long labyrinth of underground tunnels,
strewn with offerings,
protected the burial chamber,
in order to preserve the pharaoh's body
and riches for eternity.
What's amazing is that the achievement is supposed to
be the pyramid above us that rises out of the desert floor,
but actually it's this labyrinth.
These tunnels just keep on going on and on and on.
With multiple false doors and dead ends,
builders designed the labyrinth to confuse and deter
any would-be thieves.
I've only been in here for about ten minutes and
already I've completely lost my bearings.
If they got past the labyrinth,
the robbers then needed to break into the burial chamber,
to access the riches it contained.
Ancient Egyptians believed they could take their
luxurious possessions, like jewelry and furniture,
with them into the afterlife.
So, to protect the pharaoh and his treasures,
the builders plugged the entrance to the chamber with
huge granite blocks.
After going through all of the challenges the labyrinth,
getting lost like I did,
they were confronted by all of this stacked red granite and
hiding behind it all was the actual sarcophagus of the living God,
the pharaoh himself.
This pyramid was specifically engineered from top to bottom
to keep thieves out.
But like almost every other pyramid in Egypt, it stands empty.
Robbers found a way in.
These pyramids failed in their fundamental task in
protecting the Pharaoh and his wealth,
and we see evidence of that everywhere.
When robbers broke into tombs,
they looked for high-value, easy-to-carry loot,
such as jewels and gold.
They often headed straight for the mummies,
as they contained highly prized sacred amulets,
concealed beneath the bandages.
They even stole the valuable white limestone that covered the pyramids,
to use for their own building projects.
But ancient Egyptians punished tomb robbers severely.
If caught, they were impaled on a giant spike,
in a public execution.
Despite the risks, looters ransacked almost
all of ancient Egypt's elite burial sites,
including the pyramids.
How did raiders get into such well-protected tombs?
To find out, John is traveling to the site of
one of the most audacious robberies in ancient Egypt,
perfectly preserved for thousands of years.
In Luxor's Deir El-Bahari,
behind the cliffs of the Valley of the Kings
Egyptian Archaeologist Fahty Yaseen,
and his 70-person team, are excavating a colossal tomb
built around 1,500 years after the Great Pyramids.
Fahty dreamed of becoming an archaeologist ever since
visiting nearby Luxor on a school trip.
He has worked here for the last 30 years.
The tomb was part of a grand complex,
with an ornate courtyard, built to flaunt the high
social status of those buried inside.
But, like the Great Pyramids,
this ostentatious site was a magnet for raiders.
It's a mess of bones, mummified remains and
fragments of pottery.
It will be very difficult for us
because we lost a lot of information.
Fahty wants to know why this particular tomb has
been so thoroughly disturbed.
Surprisingly, in Ancient Egypt,
wealth and riches were not the only prize that raiders were after.
The tomb itself was also valuable for later re-use by
elites and their families.
Was this damage all down to robbers hunting for treasure?
Or was the tomb cleared out so it could be used
by someone new?
To find out, Fahty is searching for the tomb's original owner.
We have to make our excavation here slowly, slowly
with patience and hope.
His team is clearing a path to the tomb's burial chamber,
where they hope to find the tomb owner's body.
Whoever the owner was, they were rich.
The tomb stands in prime position next to the mighty
temple of Hatshepsut.
Its lavish entrance and large sunken courtyard was designed
to impress, during special festivals of the dead.
Carved on the western wall of the tomb's hallway, a false door.
which Ancient Egyptian's believed acted as a portal for
the tomb owner's spirit.
During elaborate celebrations, ancient Egyptians came here to
leave offerings of food, drink, and flowers,
they believed the spirits could take back
into the afterlife.
The revelers even slept here at night to communicate with
the souls of their ancestors in dreams.
But these tombs became a target,
not just for raiders,
but also for people who wanted the tombs for themselves.
After several weeks' work, Fahty's team have cleared the
way to the burial chamber at the tomb's heart.
Fahty can now enter it for the first time,
to see if the original owner is still inside.
FAHTY Wow, wow. Huge tomb. Big tomb.
Oh my God.
Like the rest of the tomb,
the mess of debris strewn across the burial chamber floor
is a sign ancient tomb robbers ransacked this room long ago.
All of the stuff suffered a lot from
the robbers, during the last ancient time
because it is not arranged in the original way.
But it's not clear when, or why,
this tomb was disturbed.
Was it looters on the hunt for treasure?
Or did someone remove the original owner,
and re-use the tomb,
with a new mummy installed in their place?
The robbers during that time, they broke everything.
The burial chamber contains no mummies.
The original tomb owner has been removed or destroyed.
For this moment we don't know yet.
It is not clear in front of me.
But back in the main chamber,
Fahty's head technician, Sayed,
has made a breakthrough.
He's found what looks like a pristine mummy.
We are so lucky
because we found a really beautiful mummy here.
From the first look, I think it's in really good condition.
In Philadelphia, an ancient city in the desert south of Cairo...
Come on, guys. Lift!
Egyptian archaeologist Basem Gehad has
spent years uncovering an ancient necropolis buried
under the desert.
Today, he and his team are on their way to a tomb from the
final years of Egyptian civilization.
It was built almost 2,500 years after the first pyramid.
And was created with one thing in mind,
keeping raiders out.
The builders learned from the mistakes of their predecessors.
They left no pyramid or temple to mark the tomb's location,
and hid it in the middle of the desert,
at the bottom of a perilous, 36-foot shaft.
The idea behind this deep burial shaft and hiding
it in the mountain was to keep it very safe and secure from
these tomb raiders.
It's a kind of securing the afterlife.
And we are very enthusiastic to see what could be inside.
But how successful were the tomb builders?
Did they manage to keep the raiders out?
Basem needs to go down and investigate.
To do that...
Come on.
The team needs to haul a 440-pound,
hand-operated winch up the mountain,
and secure it over the shaft.
Come on Hamdy.
Tighten the bolts, tighten the frame.
We have to keep ourselves secure.
With the winch in place...
Slowly.
Basem is ready to go down...
Bring it over.
OK.
Move it down.
Careful so my head doesn't hit the wood.
Come on, one by one.
OK, move it down slowly and carefully.
Come on, down, Bismillah, OK.
BASEM It's really scary and it's really dangerous.
If the winch fails, the fall could kill him.
Excellent!
Relax.
Loosen up.
When he finally arrives at the bottom,
he's greeted with an astonishing sight...
BASEM Unbelievable.
Dozens of mummies.
30 feet underground,
Basem begins to explore the hidden tomb.
Did it protect its occupants, or have raiders looted it?
This site is unbelievable for me.
I can see here one complete mummy.
And also, at the end of the room there is
one complete mummy.
So, it's another mummy here.
It's a huge complex,
measuring 300 square feet,
that proves that this was an elite tomb.
Inside, builders carved three burial chambers out of the bedrock,
which housed around 80 intricately wrapped mummies.
Finding a burial shaft like this.
It makes our stay in the desert worth it.
But something isn't right.
Basem isn't the first person to set foot in this tomb.
It shows clear signs of being raided,
and most of its contents have been destroyed.
So, the tomb raiders came here and then it seems to
me that they took most of the precious materials,
the wonderful objects.
When Ancient Egyptians died,
their relatives placed food, drink,
and everyday objects in their tombs.
The wealthier elites took more lavish personal belongings,
like weapons, golden furniture and even chariots.
Ancient Egyptians believed they could take these grave
goods with them into the afterlife to protect
and sustain them.
But the treasures in the tombs of the elite made rich
pickings for thieves.
Basem's job now is to see what the robbers left behind.
They took all the masks,
except one gilded mask remains of one gilded mask here which
is shining in front of us,
an amazing example of what could be the state of art during this period.
The mask proves that there could be a lot left to
discover in the wreckage left behind by the raiders.
Basem will need to scour the tomb for clues to find out
when, and how, it was robbed.
It's like working on a crime scene.
You have to collect all the evidence,
gather all the kind of clues.
We still have a lot of things to do.
In Luxor's, Deir El-Bahari
Fahty is hunting for the original owner of
this raided tomb.
His team has found a spectacular mummy next
to the main entrance.
This is the best mummy found here in our site.
It's a very, very complete mummy.
You see from the head, the arms, the body, the legs here.
In his three decades working as an archaeologist,
this is one of the most pristine mummies Fahty has ever found.
Wow. Complete huh?
Yeah, complete.
Very, very good.
I don't believe.
Looks like
mostly complete mummy.
But I am wondering why it is here.
Why is this mummy here?
The mummy's location in this first hallway is a mystery.
If they are the owner of the tomb,
they should be buried in the burial chamber.
To be here, it is
for us it is not clear.
Because it is not in original situ.
But it could be brought here by robbers
after the main burial
after the time of the owner of the tomb
somebody used this tomb.
If this mummy is the original owner of the tomb,
it could be a clue to what happened here.
Was it robbers, or later elites re-using the tomb?
To know more,
Fahty has to run further tests on the mummy.
So, I hope it will give us
a lot of information
and you will know that
belongs to the
owner of the tomb
or later.
But first, he has to remove the mummy from the tomb.
Careful.
It's an incredibly delicate procedure.
The fragile mummy is thousands of years old and could easily
crumble when moved.
We have to be stable.
Can these ancient remains reveal clues
to what happened here?
Is this mummy the tomb's original owner
or a later imposter?
In the shadow of the ruined Meidum Pyramid,
John is investigating one of the greatest heists of the ancient world.
He wants to find out how tomb raiders got inside one of
Ancient Egypt's most well-protected tombs.
It's truly an astonishing monument this.
This magnificent structure literally just rises out of
the desert floor.
This huge, 300 by 150-foot mound
is called a mastaba,
a style of tomb that predates the pyramids.
Known as Mastaba 17, this is one of the biggest,
and most impressive in all of Egypt.
Unlike the pyramids that were built with
a complex network of tunnels to get in and out,
Mastabas were completely sealed.
Once finished, it was never meant to be entered.
It was a house of eternity for those who were going
to be entombed inside.
At the heart of the mastaba,
a single body lay inside a solid granite sarcophagus
secured with a three-ton lid.
The sarcophagus sat within a solid limestone chamber with
colossal limestone blocks sealing the only entrance.
The chamber itself sat around 30 feet underground in a
deep, natural recess.
Finally, a vast mudbrick and rubble structure covered the
chamber and the recess it sits in,
with no way in, or out.
100 feet of rock stood between the inhabitant
and the surface.
Like a fortress for the dead layer after layer after layer,
literally protected that one single person lying
inside the sarcophagus inside the main chamber.
But even this protection was not enough to
keep the robbers out.
On the southern side, John identifies a hand-cut tunnel
carved out of the walls by looters.
Wow, look at this.
Not only have they cut through all of this
mud brick exterior facade.
But they've actually tunneled underneath the mastaba.
To understand how the robbers carried out such a daring raid,
John has been granted special access to
enter their tunnel.
I must admit, I'm not looking forward to going
into dark tunnels.
Oh, wow.
At the necropolis of ancient Philadelphia,
Basem is investigating a hidden tomb.
He wants to find out who looted these burial chambers,
and when.
He's already discovered mummies that appear to be
undisturbed, and an intact burial mask.
There could be more evidence hidden among the debris.
Maybe we could find one clue, about the tomb raiders.
Therefore, we could understand when and who did this
disturbance inside this room.
Basem must investigate this chamber,
inch by inch.
Normally, it would take days of painstaking work.
But his team is armed with some cutting-edge technology
more at home on a modern-day crime scene.
BASEM It's the most advanced technique to be
used in the archaeological field.
I can't wait to see the results.
As Basem's laser scanner pans around the chamber,
a camera records hundreds of images every second,
while a laser measures the space with pinpoint accuracy.
Together, they create a high-resolution model of the
entire tomb, allowing Basem to see things that are invisible
to the naked eye.
OK, that's it.
Unbelievable.
We have every single detail of this room now in our hands
As they analyze the imagery,
Basem notices something unexpected.
From the assessment of the scan,
there is something interesting.
The mummy, it's not looking usual.
We are going to investigate it right now.
The mummy could provide another clue to who
raided the tomb, and when.
Ahmed.
But to investigate properly, first, they'll need to move it.
Come on Ahmed, we need to lift this mummy.
At the Asasif necropolis,
Fahty's team has unearthed a pristine mummy among the
debris of a heavily raided tomb.
Fahty wants to find out if this mummy
was the tomb's original owner.
That will offer a vital clue to whether this tomb was
raided or reused.
He's enlisted the help of physical anthropologist Jesus Herrerin,
who's brought a state-of-the-art
X-ray scanner.
With it, he should be able to tell the mummy's sex,
and even how much manual labor they did.
Already, he likes what he sees.
90% of the mummies in Egypt are broken.
90%? 90%.
Only 10% is a complete mummy like this.
That's a great, great discovery.
Embalmers wrapped this mummy with an
extraordinarily high level of precision.
They even wrapped each finger individually.
Look at the fingers.
This wrapping each one.
Uh-huh.
Individual independence from each another.
A high-quality mummy like this could be the tomb's
original owner.
But they need more evidence.
Jesus painstakingly scans the entire body.
Good, great image.
He must take dozens of images to piece together a
full picture of what's beneath the bandages and
reveal the mummy's identity.
At the necropolis of ancient Philadelphia,
Basem is investigating a robbed tomb.
He's discovered a strange-looking mummy that
could give him a crucial clue to when, and how,
this tomb was raided.
But to investigate further,
he needs to remove the mummy from the burial chamber.
It's really unsafe to work and maneuver around an
object with this kind of roof inside,
so we need to take it outside.
Let's do it Ahmed, from the legs.
Raiders have already disturbed the mummy,
making it extremely delicate.
No, no, no.
One wrong move and it could crumble to pieces.
Go out, stop!
You go out OK.
Get Mohammed, let Mohammed come in.
Mohammed go in the middle.
In the middle, quick!
Support the middle, take it!
Good, move out.
Now he's safely removed the mummy from the burial chamber,
Basem is able to take a closer look.
The mummy is twisted in a strange way.
The face is looking downwards.
It's the first time we've seen a mummy this way.
It's not in the usual articulation of the body
it's very, very strange.
It appears that the mummy's neck has been twisted
delicately to remove its precious burial mask,
while leaving the mummy itself intact.
For Basem, this suggests that this tomb was raided
relatively recently.
Tombs raided in antiquity tend to be much more disturbed,
with mummies deliberately smashed to pieces.
So, for me, it looks like it was
raided like 100 years ago.
It's a big discovery.
It means this hidden tomb, built in 300 BC,
managed to keep its dead safe from raiders for two millennia.
Only in modern times, armed with modern equipment,
did treasure hunters finally manage to break in.
Around a century ago, it was the most interesting
thing for people from different places in the world
to come to Egypt and to collect wonderful objects from
the tombs and from different sites in Egypt.
This so-called 'Egyptomania' craze spread
around the world in the early 20th century.
Culminating in 1922 with the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb
by Howard Carter.
During this period, European explorers took
countless precious artifacts from ancient tombs.
They ended up in museums or sold to private collectors.
This mummy survived the modern-day raiders.
Now Basem wants to make sure it is properly conserved
for the future.
To do this, he has to remove it from the tomb.
In Meidum, John is following a narrow tunnel
deep underneath a heavily fortified tomb.
He wants to find out how looters robbed it nearly
4,500 years ago.
Wow.
Their first challenge was to reach the
center of the vast stone filled mastaba.
I can't imagine working in such an environment,
so enclosed.
Would have been horrible, the dust on one's lungs.
Digging a tunnel like this involves shifting
hundreds of tons of rock and the constant
threat of the tunnel collapsing.
Okay...
It would have taken months of dangerous
painstaking work.
JOHN You can see all the chisel marks on the walls are still intact.
Using the most rudimentary tools,
they've been able to create this tunnel.
At the end of the tunnel,
a vertical shaft drops 20 feet straight down.
Oh my God, there's nothing holding this ladder in place.
I'm putting my foot into darkness here.
Wow.
At the bottom of the shaft,
John comes across something incredible.
JOHN That is absolutely unbelievable.
Oh, wow.
John has reached the end of the robber's tunnel.
It's hit the rock casing of the burial chamber with
incredible precision.
The robbers have tunneled, all the way along,
then dropped the shaft and then literally tunneled this
tiny little tunnel here and hit this limestone
casing dead on.
The tomb raiders undercut the mastaba on its
south side and chiseled their way through the limestone
bedrock in a straight line for 60 feet.
Then they stopped and dug a shaft straight down through
the loose infill of the hollow until they hit the limestone
wall of the burial chamber.
Just imagine just them sitting here exactly kneeling
where I'm kneeling right now, just chiseling away
frantically at this limestone, knowing what lay behind it was
treasures that would elevate them in this mortal life.
Wow.
To hit the outside of the burial chamber with
their tunnel with such accuracy,
John believes the looters must have known the layout of the
tomb in exceptional detail.
They would definitely have had to have had inside
information to know where to go.
Whoever led this party knew exactly where to place this
final tunnel because it led them directly,
directly onto the chamber.
Inside...
Wow.
The burial chamber is beautifully finished in smooth-cut limestone.
Wow.
I'm like a little giddy kid in a sweetshop.
But John is not alone in the tomb.
Bats.
Dozens of them, and John has a serious phobia.
Oh my god they're hanging.
Oh, my God, they're everywhere.
In Luxor's Deir El-Bahari at the Asasif necropolis,
Jesus has finally stitched dozens of X-ray images together
to build a complete,
detailed scan of the mummy Fahty has discovered.
He wants to know if this mummy is the tomb's owner.
It could be a vital clue to whether this tomb was raided
for treasure, or if it was reused.
By analyzing the bones, Jesus can identify the mummy's
gender and social standing.
Whoa, it was a complete mummy in very good condition.
You can see the skull, the torso and the sex is male.
So, is a man?
Yes, it's a man.
We can see very clear in the morphology of the hips.
The bones also reveal a clue to the man's
social status in life.
In the vertebral column,
there aren't any signs of osteoarthritis.
The excellent condition of the bones suggest
that this man did not do any hard,
manual work during his life.
He was probably a high-ranking nobleman.
The owner of the tomb is a very important one
to create the tomb, big tomb like that.
And he is in a good position, good job,
with a high social rank also.
This is a sign that this mummy could be the
original owner of this lavish tomb.
Normally, high-status mummies would have amulets of precious
stones wrapped inside its chest.
These should show up on the x-ray.
For the chest, did you see any amulets?
Unfortunately no
there aren't any amulets in the chest.
Maybe they had an amulet in the chest
but the thief took it.
Took it. Yeah, unfortunately.
The evidence suggests a complex series of
crimes and events.
It looks like this mummy was the tomb's original owner.
But someone moved it from its initial location inside the chamber,
and robbers took its precious jewelry.
Meanwhile, the rest of the tomb has been almost
completely destroyed.
For Fahty, this suggests the tomb wasn't simply robbed,
or reused once.
It was raided and reused many times,
across hundreds of years.
Like the pyramids, this elaborate tomb
drew people to it.
Not only raiders for treasure,
but people who wanted to be buried in it themselves,
when they passed away.
With more investigation from our side
we will know if he's the owner of the tomb,
but we still need time to study all the objects.
Fahty still has a long way to go to piece
together the mess that generations of robbers left behind.
But with every new clue,
and with the help of new technology,
he's getting closer to unravelling the
mystery behind this tomb.
In Meidum, John is investigating how ancient
tomb raiders carried out a spectacular heist on one of
the biggest Mastabas in Egypt.
The ceiling of the burial chamber is teeming with bats.
I don't do bats.
It's like giant flying spiders.
4,500 years ago, instead of bats,
this chamber would have contained riches,
such as gilded furniture and pottery.
But to reach the most valuable bounty the robbers faced
one final challenge:
A giant stone sarcophagus,
which contained the mummy's gold death mask and precious jewels.
This red granite sarcophagus,
weighs in excess of eight ton.
It's one of the biggest sarcophagi in all of Egypt.
But still the robbers were able to get in,
and they left a 4,500-year-old clue
to how they did it.
JOHN Oh, wow, look at that.
Amazing!
The original mallet that the looters used and they've left it there.
The thieves used long wooden levers to prize the lid open,
then propped it up using their wooden mallets.
It's actually quite amazing to think that this lid
is just literally sat on top of that mallet in exactly the
same position that the robbers left it.
This was a truly spectacular heist,
and the evidence preserved for millennia reveals how determined,
and well prepared, the looters were.
But the real secret to their success was their inside
knowledge of the layout of the tomb.
Armed with that information,
and the promise of untold riches,
the tomb builders didn't stand a chance.
One can only imagine when they crawled through and
then walked into this chamber.
What lay in wait for them...
treasures beyond their wildest dreams.
It would change their lives completely.
At the necropolis of ancient Philadelphia,
Basem has discovered that this raided tomb kept its occupants
safe for two millennia, before modern treasure hunters
looted it a century ago.
I'll help you with the head.
Now, he wants to make sure this mummy is preserved for posterity...
Come on, together.
By removing it from the tomb and taking it to a
museum for safe keeping.
To do that, he'll need to haul it up a 36-foot burial shaft.
Most of us are a bit stressed.
I'm a bit afraid that this operation is a delicate one.
That's why we have to do it in a proper way to save it.
Lift it, be careful, the box is heavy!
The box weighs 220 pounds,
and his team must pull it out of the tomb by hand.
Watch your hands, everybody watch your hands.
Lift.
OK.
BASEM You see how, how tough is this operation?
It's really hard.
OK.
The shaft is only seven foot wide and cut
from loose rock.
If the box smashes into a wall, it could collapse.
Be careful, be careful.
This is not safe!
It's not safe to be inside the shaft while they are lifting the box.
This is the, the most nervous part of the work today.
All good, yes?
God bless!
Good, good, good, good.
Finally, they lift the mummy to safety.
Basem has discovered that this humble,
secret tomb was in some ways more successful than
the Great Pyramids.
It protected its occupants for 2,000 years and now,
at least some of its precious artifacts can be
preserved for the future.
BASEM I believe that there are still wonderful things
that we could recover from this burial shaft.
Our role now is to safeguard these objects and to record it
for the future generation.
Protecting the people buried within ancient
tombs like this,
remains a challenge even today.
But this hidden desert tomb, undisturbed for two millennia,
proves how tomb builders adapted their methods
to beat the raiders.
The earliest tombs, the mastabas,
couldn't keep robbers out,
so builders improved the design.
Pyramids with elaborate anti-theft devices came next,
to try and keep the tombs safe.
But adding huge structures on top just made them an even
bigger target.
So eventually, tomb builders abandoned pyramids and temples
and hid their tombs deep in the bedrock of
sacred and secret valleys.
Every season, with the help of new technology,
archaeologists understand more about the centuries-long
battle between tomb builders, and tomb raiders.
How the earliest robbers used inside knowledge to break into
the richest tombs.
How wealthy tombs were raided and reused
in a cycle that lasted hundreds of years and how,
at the end of Egyptian civilization,
some tombs were finally able to protect their occupants for millennia.