NARRATOR: Egypt, the richest source
of archaeological treasures on the planet.
AHMED: Oh, wow! Look at that!
NARRATOR: Hidden beneath this desert landscape
lie the secrets of this ancient civilization.
[speaking in native language].
ALEJANDRO: I have never seen something like this.
NARRATOR: Now, for a full season of excavations,
our cameras have been given unprecedented access
to follow teams on the frontline of archaeology.
MYRIAM: This is the most critical moment.
NARRATOR: Revealing buried treasures.
SALIMA: Oh!
AHMED: We were lucky today.
NOZOMU: Wow! Lots of mummies!
KATHLEEN: The smell is horrible!
NARRATOR: And making discoveries that could rewrite ancient history.
JOHN: We'’ve never had the proof until now.
COLLEEN: This is where it all started.
ALEJANDRO: My goodness, I never expected this.
NARRATOR: This time we unlock the secrets of
Tutankhamun'’s golden treasures.
NARRATOR: Uncovering the mysteries buried with
the boy king, almost
three-and-a-half-thousand years ago.
ALEJANDRO: Definitely, we have something.
NARRATOR: Alejandro searches for the tombs belonging to the
rulers of the south,
who would have served the great Pharaohs.
ALEJANDRO: It'’s amazing.
NARRATOR: John and Maria head into the desert,
hunting for the lost quarries of Tutankhamun.
JOHN: My heart is pumping, yeah!
It'’s pumping.
NARRATOR: And Nozomu pushes excavation to the limit to
uncover the lost tombs of Tutankhamun'’s elite.
NOZOMU: It'’s really dangerous inside.
[theme music plays].
NARRATOR: Egypt.
Birthplace of one of the most enigmatic civilizations in history.
The pyramid tombs, and the Valley of the Kings.
The final resting places of powerful Pharaohs.
Of the possible 63 tombs in the valley,
there is one that outshines the rest,
and has captured the world'’s imagination.
The tomb of Tutankhamun.
The boy king was just 18 years old when he died,
but his priceless golden treasures have made him the
most famous pharaoh of all time.
His funerary riches have been displayed all over the world,
but now they are all coming back to Egypt.
Cairo, in the shadows of the great pyramids.
Engineers are building a $1 billion museum
and research facility.
The Grand Egyptian Museum will house all Tutankhamun'’s
5,000 treasures in one place,
for the first time in 100 years.
One of the centerpieces of the museum,
will be Tutankhamun'’s golden coffin.
Ahmed Abdrabou is leading the research process to get it ready.
NARRATOR: The coffin was one of many priceless treasures
found in Tutankhamun'’s tomb.
When Howard Carter'’s team opened the tomb in November 1922,
they discovered a wealth of treasures and gifts the king
would need in the afterlife.
Six disassembled golden chariots,
his throne and provisions of food and wine.
Concealed behind a false wall was a stone sarcophagus
protecting a gold-plated coffin.
Inside it, two more coffins,
the innermost made of solid gold and covered in gemstones.
And inside that, the mummy of Tutankhamun,
wearing a magnificent death mask,
the most famous find in all of Egypt.
Ahmed needs to discover how the ancient artisans built
Tutankhamun'’s golden coffin.
The inside is made of wood,
but the outside is covered with a thin layer of precious gold.
NARRATOR: Under the lens,
Ahmed discovers an extraordinary secret.
NARRATOR: The ancient artisans could craft gold as thin as shrink wrap,
but to get a flawless finish,
they could not apply the gold directly onto
the uneven chiseled wood.
Ahmed investigates closer and finds a mystery layer
between the gold and the wood.
NARRATOR: Ahmed finds a 3,300-year-old secret,
known only to the top craftsmen closest to the King.
NARRATOR: The ancient craftsmen used linen bandages
to smooth out the jagged wood and create a perfect
finish for the thin gold.
Almost three and a half thousand years later,
we are still solving the mysteries of Tutankhamun.
Ahmed is on the hunt for more clues.
425 miles south of Cairo is the ancient
stronghold of Aswan.
It'’s here Tutankhamun would have positioned his most trusted governors
to defend the southern border between
Egypt and gold rich Nubia.
[speaking in native language].
NARRATOR: Professor Alejandro Jimenez-Serrano...
[speaking Spanish].
NARRATOR: ...is back for his 12th season,
at the ancient site of Qubbet El-Hawa,
in search of the elite that once ruled here.
ALEJANDRO: What we have is the tombs of
the highest officials of the province.
Not only the officials,
but also their family and their assistants.
NARRATOR: For 16 years of his career,
Alejandro has been studying the tombs of the ruling
families of the south.
They would have served the powerful Pharaohs,
like Tutankhamun.
In 2017, he found the tomb of the brother of Sarenput II,
a powerful governor of Aswan.
Now, Alejandro is back,
in search of new evidence about this powerful clan.
[speaking Spanish].
ALEJANDRO: It seems that we have something interesting.
Let'’s go.
NARRATOR: This could be the discovery he has been waiting for.
ALEJANDRO: It is exciting.
NARRATOR: 40 miles north of Aswan,
sit the sandstone quarries of Gebel El-Silsila,
used by the great pharaohs.
The enormous temples of Luxor and Karnak were
forged from rock quarried there.
JOHN: Skol! GROUP: Skol!
NARRATOR: John Ward and Dr Maria Nilsson have been
excavating together here for eight years.
Their home is a houseboat on the Nile.
JOHN: Nils, what about you, mate?
NARRATOR: They are working with a team of archaeologists
to investigate the secrets of the ancient Egyptian quarries.
This year, John and Maria,
with their fittingly named dog, Carter,
want to solve an ancient mystery:
Was Tutankhamun also one of the powerful pharaohs
who used these quarries?
JOHN: There'’s always a delay.
NARRATOR: Today, they need to get to a remote spot
in the vast Egyptian desert with their workforce,
but their morning commute across the River Nile is
eating into precious sunlight hours.
MARIA: 28 minutes late already.
Every minute that we stand here waiting is a
lost minute on site.
NARRATOR: Workers finally on shore,
the hunt for Tutankhamun'’s lost quarry begins.
JOHN: Another day in paradise.
Sun, sand.
MARIA: Dirt. JOHN: Dirt. Stone.
Boiled eggs and cucumber.
NARRATOR: Their journey by road ends here.
To reach their destination,
they will have to carry their equipment by hand,
in 100 degree heat,
and across half a mile of steep, rocky hills.
JOHN: Okay then guys, are you ready?
MAN: Yeah. JOHN: Yalla Bina. MAN: Yalla Bina.
NARRATOR: Their late arrival means John and Maria will have
to split up to cover the massive site before it gets dark.
John is going to look for evidence of quarry workers'’ homes.
MARIA: Ready?
NARRATOR: While Maria hunts for clues that might date this
site to Tutankhamun'’s reign.
MARIA: I think the game of today is to establish
that this is from the time of Tutankhamun.
JOHN: Come on then, guys.
NARRATOR: John heads straight for an ancient
settlement maybe once used by a quarry workforce.
If he can find distinctive pottery with the tell-tale
markings, it could help him date the site.
JOHN: Look at the amount of pottery on the floor.
TRISH: This is where we should excavate.
MARIA: Where'’s the safest route down?
NARRATOR: While Maria starts her hunt for clues at
a quarry face that has been untouched for millennia.
40 miles south of Gebel El-Silsila, in Aswan,
workers excavating close to Governor Sarenput II'’s tomb,
find ancient chisel marks.
ALEJANDRO: Here there is something that is quite strange,
because we have a type of carving and this is smoother.
So this early we have no idea what we are going to find.
Hey, hey, hey, look!
Sand is going down,
probably indicating that here we have a hole.
I'’ve seen this only when we have a funerary chamber there.
NARRATOR: It could be a tomb.
But is there any treasure buried beneath the golden sand?
NARRATOR: Alejandro and his team have centuries of rubble
to dig through before they can uncover what is hiding
in this corner of Qubbet El-Hawa.
ALEJANDRO: We can see only a smooth carving
of 10 centimeters and now we have 30 centimeters.
NARRATOR: If it'’s a tomb, it could belong to a leading
member of one of Egypt'’s most influential families.
ALEJANDRO: Ah, look! Yeah, ha-ha!
Look at that, it probably it would be a chamber.
We still have much material to remove,
but sure we have the burial chamber.
NARRATOR: Just 55 yards away lies the tomb of the head of a powerful family,
Sarenput II, the Governor of Aswan.
Is it possible that the tomb Alejandro is unearthing
nearby, could belong to someone as prominent?
ALEJANDRO: This tomb shows the grandeur of the governors,
they wanted to show their power.
NARRATOR: Sarenput II was a rich and influential leader.
He was an important Chief from Aswan,
part of a ruling class of commanding and wealthy families.
From an island on the Nile,
they controlled the gateway to Africa and
guarded important trade routes along the Nile into Egypt.
African traders brought in luxury goods for the pharaohs,
such as ebony,
leopard skins and ostrich eggs.
But most importantly of all,
they brought in gold from Nubia that filled the tombs
of the mighty pharaohs, including Tutankhamun.
[speaking in native language].
NARRATOR: Just yards away from Sarenput II'’s burial chamber...
ALEJANDRO: OK. NARRATOR: Alejandro'’s team
excavates a tiny hole into their ancient tomb.
ALEJANDRO: Here we have some termites.
This is good evidence because they are always
looking for the coffins.
These are the great moments.
[grunts]
NARRATOR: Finally, this tomb can give up its secrets.
ALEJANDRO: It'’s amazing.
Some bandages, some bones.
We have the closing slab over there.
It'’s very well made, it'’s huge.
NARRATOR: Alejandro can see just the top of the tomb.
It will take his team days to excavate and
to discover its treasures.
400 miles north in Saqqara.
Tutankhamun expert, Professor Nozomu Kawai,
is back for his third season, excavating the Saqqara plateau.
NOZOMU: We just keep digging.
NARRATOR: He is looking for the tombs of the elite,
who would have served Tutankhamun.
An untouched tomb in this area could hold
priceless golden treasure.
NOZOMU: This is at the center of the administration and economy,
but the tombs of the high officials who are running the country,
has been missing.
NARRATOR: Nozomu found the entrance to what he hopes is a tomb.
This year he intends to go further and enter it.
NOZOMU: The entrance, it'’s covered with bricks.
NARRATOR: At the end of the tunnel,
Nozumu finds a mud brick wall and a stela.
An ancient inscribed stone, often commemorating the dead.
It'’s a clue to what could lie beyond the brick wall.
NOZOMU: If we excavate underneath,
we will probably find doorways.
So, actually, the entrance is pretty much
covered with the sand and rubble at this moment.
NARRATOR: It'’s a promising sign Nozomu is on the verge
of a huge discovery.
He knows this whole area houses burial chambers of the elite.
And a few hundred yards away, is a clue from one of
Tutankhamun'’s trusted servants.
Archaeologists in 1996,
found a rocky ridge buried under the desert sand.
Inside it, they uncovered a tomb.
When they removed the sand from the entrance chamber,
they revealed a stunning image on the wall.
A young King Tutankhamun,
sitting on the lap of a woman.
They identified her as Maia,
a nurse who raised the boy king and
this was her tomb.
How many more of his closest allies lie undiscovered
inside the ridge?
Nozomu'’s team carefully remove the stela.
NOZOMU: This is the first find of the project.
We are really excited.
NARRATOR: In the field research tent,
Nozomu gets a closer look.
The stela shows three gods,
Sokar, Thoth and Anubis.
They are gods sometimes associated with the underworld.
And he'’s seen them somewhere before.
On the back of the famous death mask of Tutankhamun,
Sokar and Anubis are engraved in the hieroglyphs.
Could this be another clue that behind the brick wall at
the end of the tunnel, lies a tomb?
375 miles south in the quarries of Gebel El-Silsila,
John and Maria are searching for evidence of
the lost quarry of Tutankhamun.
JOHN: Go into the fissure, go along it,
leave the big stone in situ.
NARRATOR: But to confirm it is Tutankhamun'’s quarry,
they need to date it,
and one way is to look for his distinctive style
of blue pottery.
JOHN: I need that to give me a definite chronology,
to put this squarely within Tutankhamun'’s period.
NARRATOR: Maria searches for clues at a quarry face
that has been abandoned for centuries.
MARIA: Sometimes an inscription can just pop out,
because the light is perfect.
NARRATOR: She works with fellow archaeologist,
Dr. Nils Billing.
MARIA: We got an ankh right into it.
NILS: Yeah. Where?
NARRATOR: Ankh, means '’Life'’ in ancient Egyptian,
and the sound is the middle part of Tut-ankh-amun'’s name.
Maria and Nils need to find Tutankhamun'’s complete name,
which they expect to be displayed on a royal seal,
known as a cartouche.
If it exists here, it'’s proof this quarry was once
officially used by the boy king.
MARIA: Okay, so we know what level to search for,
so let'’s just scout the area.
NILS: Yo.
NARRATOR: If they find it, it could mean that the young
Tutankhamun was quarrying here for massive building projects,
previously unknown to archaeologists.
MARIA: Nils, over here! We got something.
NARRATOR: Maria continues her hunt for evidence this ancient quarry,
hidden away in the deserts of the south of Egypt,
was once used by Tutankhamun.
She searches for a cartouche,
used by Pharaohs to mark their property.
MARIA: Yes!
NARRATOR: A cartouche is not just a royal name
written in hieroglyphs.
Ancient Egyptians thought they had magical powers.
In 1922, Howard Carter found a golden shrine in Tutankhamun'’s tomb
that contained vessels of mummified organs.
On the inside chest, he discovered two cartouches,
believed to offer powerful protection from evil spirits.
Seven hieroglyphs spell out Tutankhamun'’s name.
Three more spell: Ruler of Thebes.
On the second cartouche:
the sun disk and the scarab beetle,
both symbols of immortality and rebirth.
These powerful signs helped the pharaoh'’s spirit
and soul find his body and resurrect him.
At the quarry face, Nils decodes the hieroglyphs.
NILS: We have the name of Tutankhamun.
That is a loaf of bread,
it has the phonetic value '’T'’.
The bird is '’UH'’, then '’ANKH'’.
Amun you can read here.
A feather is the sign for '’A'’.
And this sign, which is the sign of a monument,
and that is spelled out '’MEN'’, '’A-MEN'’.
Tut-ankh-amun.
NARRATOR: But something catches his eye.
NILS: This waterline is an '’N'’,
but actually they'’ve added another '’N'’ here,
which is unusual, and then you would have expected
another '’T'’ up here to fulfill the word,
to make the word complete, '’Tut'’.
NARRATOR: Have the team found Tutankhamun'’s name...
or have they found ancient graffiti?
375 miles north in Saqqara.
Nozomu hunts for the tombs of Tutankhahun'’s
inner circle of advisors.
His team is excavating what Nozomu hopes is a tomb from
the time of Tutankhamun.
If he is right, it will be the discovery of his career.
And just yards away, outside the entrance,
they have a promising discovery.
NOZOMU: We found three mummies this morning.
NARRATOR: The mummies may reveal vital clues about the possible tomb.
So Nozomu works with mummy expert,
Professor Salima Ikram, to decode what they could be.
SALIMA: And the first thing to look at is this mummy.
It'’s really very lovely.
It'’s not oriented in the same way as the other ones.
NARRATOR: At this site, most of the mummies heads
point to the south.
This mummy'’s head, points to the north.
SALIMA: Oh!
And now we know why, because if you see here,
you'’ve got this band,
this tape with these two red strips on either side,
and this is very typical of the Coptic period.
NARRATOR: The Coptic period is Egypt'’s era of Christianity,
one-and-a-half-thousand years after the reign of Tutankhamun.
But Nozomu needs to know if all the mummies here
are from this later period.
The clues may be in how the mummies are prepared.
Long before the Pharaohs of Egypt,
mummies happened naturally when dead bodies dried up in
the hot Egyptian desert.
The early Egyptian priests then started to deliberately
preserve the bodies of the dead pharaohs for the
afterlife, by covering them with a mixture of salts and
removing their brains,
guts and other internal organs.
Mummification grew in sophistication over centuries,
as priests stuffed the nose with seeds and replaced
the eyes with onions to make them even more lifelike.
But after the Romans invaded Egypt in 30 BC,
more importance was placed on the appearance of coffins.
As Christianity spread across Egypt,
mummification became more basic.
Salima has a quick way to date this mummy.
If the remains are salty,
it means it could be an early Egyptian style burial,
when a lot of salt was used for preservation.
SALIMA: Desiccation was minimal,
but it'’s hard to tell, because the...
the sand a bit salty.
NOZOMU: Yes.
SALIMA: But, not enough for it...
NOZOMU: Yeah, yeah, we have crystals.
SALIMA: To precipitate but, it wasn'’t very salted.
NARRATOR: The lack of salt could mean this mummy is from the Coptic period,
when their simple mummification process did not
use as much salt.
SALIMA: You also in Egypt and at Saqqara,
have a lot of reuse of tombs,
but they don'’t throw people out,
because you might get a curse upon you.
NARRATOR: This mummy shows that the Saqqara necropolis
was used all the way from the time of King Tutankhamun,
right up until the Coptic period.
But Nozomu'’s potential tomb appears to be unopened and
there is a chance the original occupant,
possibly from Tutankhamun'’s reign,
is still there.
Getting inside however is a huge challenge.
NARRATOR: The ceiling is incredibly fragile and the
team worry it will collapse.
NOZOMU: If the humidity raises it'’s not good for the structure.
NARRATOR: If they put one foot out of place,
the tunnel might collapse on their heads.
NARRATOR: In the lab of the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo,
an army of specialists are working around the clock
to investigate and preserve Tutankhamun'’s treasures.
All 5,398 are set to go on display,
including a 3,300 year old chair,
once used by the Boy King.
It'’s down to Ahmed El Sheikha to restore it,
ready for museum visitors.
NARRATOR: But all Tutankhamun'’s treasures were
almost lost forever.
When Howard Carter discovered the tomb,
100 years ago,
he found it had been broken into long before,
but why did those first tomb raiders leave
so much treasure behind?
The robbers may have been the tomb builders themselves,
breaking in soon after sealing the tomb.
They stole as much as they could carry.
The theft was discovered and the shaft was filled
with limestone chippings.
But a second gang of robbers dug through the
rubble and carried away more of the riches.
Then a flash flood dumped a thick layer of rocks over
Tutankhamun'’s tomb,
protecting it for nearly three and a half thousand years.
In the lab, Ahmed is trying to save a chair,
once sat in by Tutankhamun and he'’s discovered it'’s
made from a very fragile material.
NARRATOR: After Howard Carter'’s team excavated these artifacts,
they hoped to prevent decay,
by coating them with paraffin wax.
NARRATOR: 100 years on,
the once soft wax has hardened and the papyrus
is starting to snap.
Tutankhamun'’s ancient chair could break at any moment.
Ahmed must act quickly to save this priceless artifact,
but he faces a problem.
NARRATOR: The wax has made the papyrus brittle.
To save the chair,
Ahmed must carefully remove the wax with a scalpel,
but time is not on his side.
NARRATOR: It'’s a painstaking task,
but without the museums army of specialists,
these artifacts would eventually disintegrate,
and the treasures of Tutankhamun would be lost
again and this time, forever.
400 miles south in Gebel El-Silsila.
NILS: This was not done in haste.
MARIA: No.
NARRATOR: Maria and Nils think they have found
Tutankhamun'’s name carved into the quarry face.
MARIA: I find it intriguing.
NARRATOR: But the spelling mistake has thrown the find
into doubt.
MARIA: If Nils can confirm, then it is like a claim that
says that this quarry was used during the time of Tutankhamun.
NILS: It'’s made in the size that it actually should be seen.
This is official.
NARRATOR: Nils and Maria are now convinced Tutankhamun'’s
name was inscribed here officially.
It is vital evidence he used the quarry.
JOHN: Just take this little bit here and just give
a sweep and see what we got.
NARRATOR: John looks for flashes of distinctive blue pottery,
pottery made in Tutankhamun'’s reign.
JOHN: Start in this area here.
NARRATOR: With this, he hopes to find a second way
to date the site and prove this settlement was used by
Tutankhamun'’s quarry workers.
JOHN: This is better, the smaller fragments is exactly
what I'’m after.
Heavy foot traffic within the encampment itself,
showing that people were coming and going.
NARRATOR: John has found small bits of broken pottery,
suggesting people once lived here,
but not the tell-tale Tutankhamun blue pottery.
MARIA: Where? Okay, hold on, follow, go, go!
NARRATOR: But they do find something astonishing.
JOHN: My heart is pumping yeah!
It'’s pumping.
NARRATOR: A rare amulet shaped like a scarab beetle.
MARIA: Now, the reason why we are excited about
scarabs is of course that if you turn them and we got an imprint on them,
then that can give us a firm date.
NARRATOR: The scarab beetle represented rebirth,
so the ancient Egyptians made scarab shaped amulets as lucky charms.
They were made from stone, metal or even precious gems.
JOHN: This is what it'’s all about.
NARRATOR: Scarabs were often inscribed with a depiction
or name of a God.
The identity of the god could help date it.
JOHN: Oh. Are you ready?
I'’m gonna let you see it first.
MARIA: Okay, it'’s got a God.
JOHN: Okay. I gotta see it now!
Yeah! Oh wow!
NARRATOR: Can the scarab help prove this is Tutankhamun'’s quarry?
NARRATOR: John and Maria try to decode the engraving on the ancient scarab.
JOHN: We got a bit of glyph. Bit of glyph at the top.
Oh.
NARRATOR: They hope it can help them prove Tutankhamun'’s
quarry workers once lived here.
MARIA: Probably Horus, so it lies quite nicely in
the time frame of Tutankhamun.
Look above us.
Horus comes flying as we find it.
NARRATOR: An engraving of an ancient Egyptian god,
Horus, could place the scarab in Tutankhamun'’s reign.
His rule brought with it religious transformation.
Tutankhamun'’s father, the pharaoh Akhenaten abandoned
Egypt'’s old gods and decreed the worship of just one god,
the sun god.
But at the age of nine, Tutankhamun became one of the
youngest pharaohs ever.
He abolished the worship of a single sun god and
reinstated all the old Egyptian gods, like Horus,
under the rule of their king god Amun.
Maria and John'’s discovery of the sky god Horus here
is a clue the site dates to Tutankhamun'’s time.
MARIA: It is a great find.
Can it get any better?
NARRATOR: But Maria and John need absolute proof this is a
Tutankhamun site and continue their search for the tell-tale clue,
Tutankhamun'’s distinctive style of blue pottery.
40 miles south in Aswan,
Alejandro is back on site.
He'’s hoping to discover more about the family of
Governor Sarenput II.
Alejandro'’s team has now excavated the discovered tomb
and he can investigate it properly.
The craftsmanship and location of the rock cut tomb
suggests this is the burial chamber of the elite.
But there is no mummy.
However, there are clues to who could have
been buried inside.
ALEJANDRO: These are the only remains that we found.
NARRATOR: The team finds fragments at the bottom of the
tomb that may hold the key.
These wooden shards are what'’s left of a coffin,
but Alejandro discovers unusual markings on them.
ALEJANDRO: I have just noticed the presence of a couple of eyes.
Here we have one eye and another eye.
NARRATOR: These eyes are '’wedjat'’ eyes,
meant to let the dead see outside the coffin and they
normally match exactly the size of the body inside.
The small size and shape of the eyes tells Alejandro who
possibly occupied the tomb.
ALEJANDRO: This is a coffin of a child.
Very, very young, I would say, almost a baby.
NARRATOR: With no more artifacts and without an
inscription to decipher, Alejandro will never know the
name of the tomb'’s owner,
but he can still decode more clues.
ALEJANDRO: Just from the colors and the type of wood,
this coffin was prepared for a member of the elite.
NARRATOR: Alejandro is closer to finding more of this powerful family.
His search for the governing rulers of Aswan and the Pharaohs'’
most trusted subjects continues.
ALEJANDRO: We do not have here Tutankhamun but we
have some information which is in the end
what we are looking for.
NARRATOR: 400 miles north.
In the labs of the Grand Egyptian Museum.
[speaking in native language].
NARRATOR: Ahmed is working on one of Tutankhamun'’s greatest treasures,
a golden processional chariot.
But like many of Tutankhamun'’s treasures found by Howard Carter,
it has also been preserved in wax.
Ahmed needs to remove all the wax,
but it has hardened to a brittle and precarious condition.
The delicate gold layer beneath makes this a precarious task.
NARRATOR: The task falls to conservation expert Ahmed.
He must make a special cleaning gel using ethanol
acetate and white spirit.
The slightest error in the solution risks
irreparable damage to the precious chariot.
NARRATOR: What should look like a thick gel,
has come out as a watery solution,
which could loosen more than just the wax.
NARRATOR: Ahmed cannot risk damaging the chariot.
All hopes are on the second batch.
NARRATOR: It'’s a nerve-jangling wait.
If Ahmed'’s got the mix wrong,
it could strip the gold from Tutankhamun'’s chariot.
NARRATOR: After ten anxious minutes,
it'’s the moment of truth for Ahmed.
Has the cleaning solution worked or has it caused
irreparable damage to the priceless chariot?
NARRATOR: Now, with a working solution,
Ahmed and the team will be able to restore the chariot to
sit proudly alongside Tutankhamun'’s other treasures...
Almost 400 miles south in Gebel El-Silsila.
John and Maria search for blue decorated pottery from
Tutankhamun'’s reign.
[speaking in native language].
[exclaims]
NARRATOR: One of the workers spots a flash of blue in the golden sand.
JOHN: You are about to make me a very, very happy man, ooh.
Absolutely beautiful!
Both me and Maria have always said that this is the quarries of Tutankhamun,
but we'’ve never had the proof, until now.
NARRATOR: Maria takes a look to check for certain if it is
from the time of Tutankhamun.
MARIA: I would place these in the Tutankhamun period.
Blue signify royalty, the gods as well.
Blue is a very rare color for them to find and work with.
They do indicate that our worker'’s village is from the
time of Tutankhamun.
JOHN: Couldn'’t have wished for a better piece of evidence.
Excellent.
NARRATOR: John and Maria have the evidence they need.
They think they can prove this is the quarry of Tutankhamun.
375 miles north in Saqqara.
It'’s Nozomu'’s life'’s work to prove Tutankhamun'’s
inner circle of elite are buried here.
After three weeks he'’s discovered the entrance
to a tomb and now it'’s the moment of truth.
NARRATOR: If the ceiling collapses, it could be fatal.
But to see what'’s in there, someone will have to crawl
down the long corridor inside the tomb.
NARRATOR: Despite the fragile roof and the danger of collapse,
one of Nozomu'’s team crawls deeper into the tomb.
The risk is worth it.
Archaeological treasures are everywhere he looks.
NARRATOR: The team need to reinforce the ceiling before
they can all venture inside and truly examine what they have found.
NARRATOR: Nozomu'’s team will be back to uncover more of the
plateau'’s secrets next year and see if the elite of
Tutankhamun are hidden below.
In the meantime, Nozomu must brick up the entrance to
protect the treasures inside.
NOZOMU: I'’m gonna dedicate to excavate here the rest of my life.
You know, this is just the beginning, you know.
NARRATOR: Almost three-and-a-half-thousand years
after his death and 100 years after his rediscovery,
Tutankhamun continues to beguile and fascinate.
Inspiring archaeologists from all over the world to come to Egypt
for the chance to add their names to history and find
their own lost treasures.
Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.