NARRATOR: Egypt, the richest source
of archaeological treasures on the planet.
MAN: Oh, whoa, look at that!
NARRATOR: Hidden beneath this desert landscape
lie the secrets of this ancient civilization.
[man speaking native language]
MAN: I 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 front line of archaeology.
WOMAN: This is the most critical moment.
NARRATOR: Revealing buried treasures.
WOMAN: Oh! MAN: We'’re lucky today.
MAN: Wow! Lots of mummies. WOMAN: The smell is horrible.
NARRATOR: And making discoveries
that could rewrite ancient history.
MAN: We'’ve never had the proof until now.
WOMAN: This is where it all started.
MAN: My goodness, I never expected this.
[clapping]
NARRATOR: This time, archaeologists unravel
the enigma of the Great Sphinx.
MAN: It'’s the most iconic statue anywhere in the world.
NARRATOR: John goes where no archaeologist has gone before.
JOHN WARD: I'’m gonna be the first man underneath this sphinx
in 3,500 years.
NARRATOR: Alejandro unearths evidence of a crocodile cult.
ALEJANDRO JIMEÉNEZ-SERRANO: It'’s a challenge to explain
why the crocodiles were mummified.
NARRATOR: And Jared discovers a mummified dog.
JARED CABALLO PEREZ: It was a complete surprise
to find something that you don'’t really expect.
♪
NARRATOR: The Great Sphinx of Giza,
one of the most famous monuments in the world.
Egyptologists believe it was built
around the same time as the Giza pyramids,
4,500 years ago.
This colossal statue has an animal'’s body and a human face.
It'’s as enigmatic as it is iconic.
All over Egypt, archaeologists are attempting to unravel
the riddles of the Sphinx.
Egyptologist Dr. Chris Naunton is on a mission
to unlock its most controversial secret:
whose face is carved on it?
CHRIS NAUNTON: We can begin to sort of imagine
how this might have looked in ancient times,
and with that in mind,
we can perhaps begin to compare that face to known faces.
NARRATOR: Chris thinks the face was modeled
on an ancient pharaoh.
In the age of the pyramid builders,
the Sphinx had a delicate nose
and was painted in bright colors.
But whose face is this?
It could be King Khufu, who also built the Great Pyramid.
He had a square chin, like the Sphinx, but no one is sure.
The only image archaeologists have of Khufu is a tiny statue.
The Sphinx once had a beard, just like Khufu'’s son, Khafre.
When Khafre became pharaoh,
he built the pyramid directly behind the Sphinx.
But the original beard was lost during antiquity
and another one added later.
The identity of the face
remains a secret yet to be revealed.
CHRIS: Trying to match faces in Egyptian imagery
is an inexact science.
It seems to be that it'’s a pharaoh of the fourth dynasty.
Khafre'’s perhaps the leading candidate.
NARRATOR: The usual role of an Egyptian sphinx
is to protect a sacred site.
If this is Khafre'’s sphinx,
it'’s perfectly positioned to guard his pyramid tomb.
Chris must investigate clues
to unravel more mysteries of the Great Sphinx.
400 miles south of Giza, in Gebel El-Silsila...
JOHN: Everybody here?
MARIA NILSSON: I believe so. We'’re late.
NARRATOR: Husband and wife archaeologists
John Ward and Maria Nilsson are on their way
to investigate a site
where the ancient Egyptians created sphinx statues.
But their commute along the River Nile is slow to start.
JOHN: The boat'’s not working.
MARIA: It'’s coming.
JOHN: Everybody send positive vibes.
MARIA: Ohh. Come on, Abdullah.
JOHN: By the time we get on site,
it will be at least 8 o'’clock, so that'’s another hour lost.
MAN: I knew it would happen.
[motor starts] MARIA: Yay!
[clapping]
JOHN: Ah, only 35 minutes late.
NARRATOR: Every minute counts
when they only have a limited number of days for excavating.
Last season, Maria and John
found a sphinx statue at this site.
Unlike the Great Sphinx at Giza,
this statue has a ram'’s head.
It'’s called a criosphinx.
MARIA: Of course, what we see is a raw state of a sculpture,
but we got the head here,
so the ram'’s face, the ram'’s horn.
The area in front would most probably hold
the statue of the ruling king.
NARRATOR: The craftsmen would carve out
the sandstone criosphinx right here in the quarry,
before transporting it to a sacred site.
MARIA: Once it reached the main destination,
the artists would continue the process
of making it into its fine details and final dressing.
We have them guarding tombs or other monuments.
So in a simplified version,
you can say that each sphinx is a guard, it'’s a protector.
NARRATOR: Maria believes this sacred statue
was built for the Avenue of the Sphinxes,
a road between the temples of Luxor and Karnak,
lined with ram-headed sphinxes,
but for some unknown reason, it didn'’t make the journey.
It was never finished.
Now Maria wants to discover why.
MARIA: Why was it left here?
Why is this not sitting at the Avenue of Sphinxes
in modern day Luxor?
We'’re hoping that through this excavation,
we will be able to solve a little bit of the mystery
of the sphinxes and add to history in general.
NARRATOR: A large rock under the sphinx
brings the investigation to a halt.
JOHN: Watch your toes, guys, watch your toes.
[men yelling]
[all grunting]
MARIA: You guys are amazing!
[yelling]
[cheering]
NARRATOR: Now the rock is gone,
they can see there'’s a gap under the sphinx.
MARIA: Anyone who watched "Indiana Jones,"
I'’m sure will understand the excitement for an archaeologist
when you suddenly see a hole.
NARRATOR: Despite the danger,
John wants to get under the sphinx.
JOHN: I'’m gonna be the first man underneath this sphinx
in 3,500 years.
NARRATOR: 40 miles south, near Aswan...
at the ancient necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa,
Professor Alejandro Jiménez-Serrano
heads one of the largest foreign teams
working in Egypt today.
ALEJANDRO: During the last 11 years we have been excavating
this huge complex of tombs where the governors of
the 12th dynasty were buried.
NARRATOR: These burial chambers were built for the nobles
governing southern Egypt,
500 years after the Sphinx was built.
ALEJANDRO: We will see what we will find.
You never know what is going to happen today,
what we will find, or which surprise we will have.
NARRATOR: Close to a cliff side,
the team reports a skull emerging from the sand...
followed by a second.
The huge jaws include some teeth two inches long.
RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ: At first, we can only see this head only,
and we was like, "Wow, a crocodile, a crocodile."
And then something appeared here,
and it was like, "Oh, my God, there are two crocodiles."
NARRATOR: The crocodiles are an especially lucky find
for Raquel Rodriguez.
It'’s her first-ever dig in Egypt.
RAQUEL: I asked, "Oh, this is something common?"
And it was like, no, no, no, this is the first crocodile
that we'’ve seen in 11 years.
So, I'’m very happy about it.
NARRATOR: The crocodiles may be close to the River Nile,
but this is not a natural nest.
The bones have black marks; the remains of skin and flesh.
They are so well preserved,
Alejandro thinks they must have been mummified.
ALEJANDRO: It'’s a challenge to explain
why the crocodiles were mummified.
NARRATOR: Mummified crocodiles are an unusual find
and have only ever been unearthed
at a small number of sites in Egypt.
They could be a sign of a rare form of animal worship.
As the team slowly unearths more skeletons,
they count 11 in total.
And they'’re deteriorating-- all except one.
ALEJANDRO: Unfortunately, they are not in a good a state
of preservation.
But this one, it is almost perfect.
NARRATOR: The intact crocodile is extremely fragile.
They can'’t risk damaging it.
Before they attempt to move it,
they carefully extract the surrounding bone fragments.
In the midday sun,
the temperature is over 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
It'’s hot and smelly work.
RAQUEL: They say that it smells gross.
I'’m not smelling anything because I'’ve got a cold,
but they say it smells bad.
NARRATOR: Now the crocodile is exposed to the air and sun,
it'’s rotting fast.
Alejandro has to get it out of here.
NARRATOR: Raquel is working with the team
tasked with moving the crocodile out of the sun.
RAQUEL: It'’s scary, because it'’s been there for a lot of years,
and now you take it off and you take the sand
and what'’s covering it away,
and the sun gets into it, the oxygen, everything,
so it'’s deteriorating at each second that pass.
So you need to work fast, but not rush,
because things can go bad and you can destroy it completely.
So, it'’s a tense situation.
NARRATOR: They'’re finally ready to move the crocodile mummy.
The main challenge is moving the skeleton in one piece.
ALEJANDRO: We basically are following the same protocol
that we use with the human mummies.
NARRATOR: The tail is not well connected to the body
and could easily break off.
ALEJANDRO: We are in a very delicate moment,
because we want to put the mummy of the crocodile
on a wooden board
in order to move the mummy to the conservation lab.
I'’m quite nervous now.
MAN: Uno, dos, tres.
NARRATOR: 100 miles north,
on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor...
archaeologist Professor Miguel Molinero
is returning to a 4,500-year-old necropolis
near the Valley of the Kings.
MIGUEL MOLINERO: My first season working in Egypt
was 32 years ago.
So it'’s like coming home every year, always fantastic.
NARRATOR: Miguel'’s team is from Tenerife, in Spain.
Last season, they excavated a family tomb
at a site called South Asasif.
They unearthed mummified remains,
but their dig permit ran out before they could investigate.
MIGUEL: It always happens.
The last day something new appears that is exciting,
but has to be kept there waiting for us for the next season,
and that'’s what happened last year.
NARRATOR: 26-year-old Jared Carballo Pérez
can'’t wait to continue their dig.
JARED: Egypt is quite addictive in that sense,
and it'’s always nice to be back, to keep doing the work.
NARRATOR: After an anxious year-long wait,
today is their first day back on site.
MIGUEL: We had to leave it as it was found,
because we did not have the time to take it out carefully.
NARRATOR: The team covered the mummies
in an attempt to prevent deterioration.
MIGUEL: Now we are anxious
to see if the protection has worked.
We have been waiting one year to see what happens inside.
NARRATOR: There'’s a chance they may have deteriorated
over the past year.
JARED: So we have to be very careful.
MIGUEL: Oh, so, yeah.
Oh, perfect.
They are well preserved.
Oh, yes.
NARRATOR: Now they can begin their investigation.
Two mummified human skeletons still intact,
and a third, much smaller mummy.
JARED: It was a complete surprise to find something
that you don'’t really expect.
NARRATOR: As they look closer,
they notice it'’s been embalmed in a very strange way.
There'’s just one layer of bandage around the head,
instead of three,
and the limbs are wrapped together, not separately.
But it'’s the shape of the skull that'’s most surprising.
JARED: First, by the shape,
we thought it was a baby that was abandoned,
but then we started seeing some features right there.
By the teeth and the shape of the bones,
we can know it'’s a mummified dog.
NARRATOR: A mummified dog in a human tomb is highly unusual.
JARED: As far as we know, it'’s a very rare case,
because we have found a lot of dogs across Egypt,
but they are not next to the human bodies.
NARRATOR: The discovery may help shed light
on the significance of animals in ancient Egyptian belief.
The dog could be a religious offering to a particular god.
According to ancient Egyptian belief,
dogs are associated with the god Anubis.
The jackal-headed Anubis was the god of mummification.
He weighed the heart of the dead against a feather.
If the heart was lighter, the soul could enter heaven.
But if it was heavier, they were eaten by Ammit,
the devourer of the dead.
Depictions of Anubis would often be present in tombs
to offer protection to the mummy.
This mummified dog could be an offering to Anubis,
but there'’s something that doesn'’t add up.
MIGUEL: When we started cleaning it,
we found something very unusual.
NARRATOR: They discover a perplexing clue
in the alignment of the mummies.
NARRATOR: In Qubbet el-Hawa, archaeologists are racing
to save a rare mummified crocodile.
Their discovery may help demystify
the ancient Egyptian practice of animal worship.
Could it also help explain the purpose of animal statues,
like the Great Sphinx?
[chatter]
Raquel and the team carefully move the crocodile mummy
to the laboratory.
♪
RAQUEL: We made it.
We'’ve been working for three hours and a half now in the sun,
and it all came out extremely, extremely well.
I wasn'’t expecting this success.
NARRATOR: The crocodile survives its journey intact
and can now be examined in more detail.
Alejandro is puzzled
as to why these mummified crocodiles are here.
ALEJANDRO: It'’s something that always happens in archaeology,
surprises that, well, it'’s a challenge to explain them.
NARRATOR: There could be a connection
with a mysterious cult
that worshipped an ancient god called Sobek.
ALEJANDRO: Sobek is always represented as a crocodile.
It'’s an animal that was living on the banks of the Nile.
It'’s related with the fertility
that the river gave to ancient Egypt.
NARRATOR: Sobek was the crocodile god
who built the world and created the River Nile from his sweat.
Ancient Egyptians feared his power,
but also revered him as a protector and a healer.
In some versions of the myth,
when the god Osiris was dismembered in a fight,
Sobek gathered up the body parts
and put the god back together.
Some wealthy Egyptians bred pet crocodiles
that they adorned with jewels
and fed with fine food and wine.
When the crocodiles died,
they were mummified and buried as votive offerings to Sobek
to ensure protection in the after-life.
But the existence of a crocodile cult
at Qubbet el-Hawa is news to Alejandro.
ALEJANDRO: As far as we know,
there is no reference to the worship of crocodiles in Aswan.
NARRATOR: The discovery challenges the idea
that crocodile rituals only happened
in a small region of Egypt.
It'’s further evidence that the worship of animal gods
wasn'’t just practiced by pharaohs
building sphinx statues.
People all over Egypt were making offerings
to different animal gods in the form of mummies.
ALEJANDRO: The popularity of Sobek
was bigger than we thought before.
NARRATOR: Alejandro'’s team looks for further evidence
of a crocodile cult.
If these animal mummies were protecting a human burial,
a tomb could be close by.
[man speaking foreign language over walkie-talkie]
[Alejandro speaks foreign language]
ALEJANDRO: Two skulls have been discovered.
NARRATOR: Just yards from the crocodile burial,
Alejandro'’s team makes an intriguing discovery.
ALEJANDRO: Yes! [chuckles]
NARRATOR: In the quarry at Gebel El-Silsila,
Maria and John are investigating
a ram-headed sphinx.
Like the Sphinx at Giza,
it could have been built to protect a religious site.
They'’re now looking for evidence
to explain why it was abandoned unfinished.
JOHN: I can'’t believe I'’m putting my head
underneath this bloody sphinx.
She'’s actually sat on a stone.
She'’s ready to lift.
They'’ve quarried underneath her to put a sledge in to lift her
to get her out of here.
NARRATOR: John'’s discovery shows
how the sphinx was ready to be moved.
So why did the ancient Egyptians
leave it here unfinished?
Maria explores the surrounding area
for an explanation as to why the Egyptians gave up
on the protective powers of this sphinx.
MARIA: Well, we'’re looking for more clues.
If they painted something, if they'’ve written something,
if they'’ve given us any form of clue.
Do you see a red mark there, painted?
NARRATOR: The red markings are on a nearby plinth,
but they'’re too faint to decipher.
Maria needs to get photos for close-up analysis.
MARIA: I'’m gonna sneak carefully behind here
and try not to get the entire wall behind me,
which is about four meters of spoil just packed up,
try not to collapse it on top of me.
So, wish me luck.
NARRATOR: Maria'’s mission is a dangerous one.
Loose rocks are piled next to the stone.
If she'’s unlucky, one false step could trigger a landslide.
400 miles north, at the Great Sphinx...
the ancient Egyptians believed many animal gods
had divine powers to protect.
If it was King Khafre who commissioned the Sphinx,
he wanted to harness that power for himself.
CHRIS: The Great Sphinx is one of the great icons of Egypt.
You could argue it'’s perhaps the most iconic statue
anywhere in the world, but it remains an enigma.
NARRATOR: Chris searches for evidence of how it was built.
The ancient Egyptians carved the Sphinx from limestone,
and it'’s a match with the surrounding bedrock.
CHRIS: The Sphinx wasn'’t built in an empty space.
It was cut out of solid bedrock.
So you have to try to imagine, where we'’re standing now,
until the ancient Egyptians came along, was solid bedrock.
NARRATOR: The Great Sphinx wasn'’t built with stone
from remote quarries.
It was carved out of the Giza landscape.
CHRIS: In order to create this sphinx,
the Egyptians first have to kind of free it
from the natural rock,
and they did that by creating a kind of quarry around it,
and they just left some of the living, natural rock
in the center,
which they then cut into the shape of the sphinx.
NARRATOR: Chris has discovered how the Sphinx was built,
but he still wants to solve the mystery of its animal form.
NARRATOR: The Great Sphinx is a human-lion hybrid.
CHRIS: Here, you get such a strong sense of the fact
that it'’s the body of the lion
that conveys that kind of sense of strength and power.
From this angle in particular, the forelegs of the lion
and these massive paws are absolutely huge.
It'’s difficult to imagine a statue that has a human body
having that same idea of strength and ferocity of a lion.
NARRATOR: Ancient Egyptians feared and revered lions
in equal measure.
CHRIS: The lion is the embodiment of a goddess,
Sekhmet, who in a particular Egyptian myth
wreaks death and destruction on mankind.
NARRATOR: According to the myth,
the sun god Ra was furious
humans were turning against him.
He summoned his daughter, Sekhmet,
the lion-faced goddess of destruction,
to teach them a lesson.
Sekhmet went on a killing spree
until the Nile ran red with blood.
Ra was worried his daughter would wipe out all humanity.
So he used a trick to stop her.
He poured 7,000 jugs of red-tinted beer onto Earth.
After Sekhmet drank it, she passed out for three days.
When she woke up, she had been transformed
into the benevolent god Hathor,
and humankind was saved.
Egyptian gods, like the sun goddess Sekhmet,
are often portrayed as humans with animal heads.
But the Sphinx is the other way around;
a human head on a lion'’s body.
Chris thinks whichever pharaoh built this statue,
he had ambitions to embody the power of the divine,
and present himself as a god.
CHRIS: The Egyptians looked all around them,
all around the natural world, for their inspiration,
and that'’s exactly what you'’ve got here.
This great, mighty, powerful animal, the lion,
as a kind of a symbol of the king and of kingship.
NARRATOR: The Sphinx wasn'’t just a spiritual guardian.
Its creator may have wanted to project himself
as the protector of the Egyptian people.
Or is there an even grander purpose for the Sphinx?
Chris explores the remains of an ancient temple
at the Sphinx'’s feet.
300 miles south in Luxor,
at a site built over 500 years after the Sphinx,
Miguel and Jared are faced with another riddle.
They'’ve discovered intriguing evidence of a different animal
also considered sacred by ancient Egyptians.
They'’re trying to understand why this mummified dog
was buried in a family tomb with two human mummies.
JARED: The dog, curiously, has been put on top of the legs
of these two individuals.
NARRATOR: According to Egyptian belief,
dogs are a living representation of Anubis,
the god of the after-life.
This dog may be mummified as an offering to Anubis,
in the hope of his protection in the after-life.
But there'’s a problem.
JARED: Normally animal mummies are buried and separated
from the human mummies.
NARRATOR: Miguel has another idea.
MIGUEL: He'’s buried on the feet of two mummies,
one female and one male.
So we think it was the owners of the dog
and they wanted to keep her company for the after-life.
JARED: It could be a pet instead of an offering to a god.
NARRATOR: If the mummified dog is a family pet,
it would be a rare discovery.
JARED: We know there were pets in the past in ancient Egypt.
It'’s not something as common
as it is as a concept in modern times.
NARRATOR: Miguel searches for further evidence
to confirm the dog was a pet,
and discovers an intriguing inscription
identifying the owner of the tomb.
At the man'’s feet is a pet dog.
MIGUEL: He is sitting on a chair with an offering table
in front of him and his dog, whose name is Heken,
below the chair.
NARRATOR: Miguel and Jared believe the inscription is key
to understanding the mystery of the mummified dog, Heken.
The people in this tomb wanted their beloved dog
buried with them to ensure it joined them in the after-life.
JARED: It was kind of touching to find.
As modern humans, it'’s something you can really relate
when you have a pet.
NARRATOR: 100 miles south near Aswan,
Alejandro'’s team has found two human skulls just yards away
from where they discovered 11 mummified crocodiles.
ALEJANDRO: Another skull.
So we have now three individuals.
NARRATOR: Alejandro wants to investigate
the intriguing connection,
but he'’s under pressure to excavate first.
It'’s the hottest part of the day,
and the skulls could crack in the 90-degree heat.
ALEJANDRO: We have always toilet paper,
but not only for natural reasons,
but also for research. [laughs]
NARRATOR: They spray the toilet paper with water
and apply it to the skulls.
It'’s an emergency measure
to keep them moist before they are excavated.
Alejandro looks for clues to explain why the skulls
are so close to the mummified crocodiles.
He discovers that one is the skull of a young boy,
and as the team excavates,
something fascinating emerges with it.
ALEJANDRO: The coffin is an empty timber
where they put the children inside.
NARRATOR: The social status of a person
was reflected in their burial.
The tree trunk coffin is convincing evidence
this boy was poor.
ALEJANDRO: This boy was, uh, had the honor to be buried here
in Qubbet el-Hawa, but was not part of the elite.
NARRATOR: Only wealthy ancient Egyptians
could afford mummified crocodiles,
a religious offering to the god Sobek.
It'’s a puzzle why this apparently poor boy
might be part of a crocodile cult.
NARRATOR: Alejandro looks for answers
to explain the boy'’s grave.
The team doesn'’t just unearth skulls,
they uncover three skeletons.
And the bone structure of the second one
indicates it'’s a female.
It'’s buried with something interesting.
ALEJANDRO: During the excavation of individual number two,
it appeared this interesting amulet.
NARRATOR: The jewelry is in the shape of Bes,
the god of childbirth, who was popular with Egypt'’s poor.
The female skeleton was also buried with something else.
ALEJANDRO: And beside this skeleton,
we have the burial of a baby.
NARRATOR: Infant mortality was tragically high
in ancient Egypt.
Only one child in two lived past adolescence.
ALEJANDRO: It'’s always sad when you find these kind of burials.
[sighs]
NARRATOR: The skeletons are stacked on top of each other.
It'’s another clue this was a shared tomb
for a non-elite family.
It could help explain why they were buried near crocodiles
in a necropolis reserved for the rich.
ALEJANDRO: Sometimes it was very important for the people
to be buried here beside their master.
NARRATOR: They could be favored servants.
ALEJANDRO: It'’s not the quality of the funerary equipment
that you might have.
In certain ways it'’s much better
to buried beside an important person,
because you can benefit from the offerings
that he is going to receive.
NARRATOR: If these servants were getting the protection
of the mummified crocodiles,
their rich masters could be close by.
The hunt for a wealthy tomb filled with treasure is on.
As the team searches the surrounding area,
it'’s not long before they unearth
a mysterious gap in the rock.
ALEJANDRO: It seems that it'’s another tomb.
MAN: Good, good.
NARRATOR: In the quarry at Gebel El-Silsila,
Maria is looking for clues to explain
why a ram-headed sphinx was left abandoned.
MARIA: We got a series of symbols or text
that we still haven'’t been able to decode in a simple way.
It'’s very difficult to work there
because of the risk of this collapsing.
JOHN: Well, I wanted to go down there, but my...
MARIA: No, we can'’t. It'’s not safe.
JOHN: I'’m frightened of this.
MARIA: No, no, no, it'’s not safe.
JOHN: If this comes down. Go on.
NARRATOR: At a safer location, Maria uses computer software
to enhance the colors of the ancient graffiti.
She begins to see something incredible.
MARIA: It is amazing.
We actually have a face here.
It'’s a long snout, so the eye is emphasized,
and these, they'’re teeth.
We have a crocodile face.
NARRATOR: As Maria looks closer,
she discovers it'’s not a crocodile,
but something even more intriguing.
MARIA: It is indeed a line of the belly,
and that tells me one thing: this is the hippopotamus body.
NARRATOR: She identifies the enigmatic drawing.
It'’s Taweret, the hippopotamus goddess.
Taweret was the principal female deity at this quarry,
and was often cast in the role of protectress.
Egyptians prayed to Taweret to keep them safe from harm,
and Maria believes a quarry worker drew this sketch.
MARIA: It'’s not a royal official stela
dedicated to this goddess.
This is a personal wish
to be safe-kept and protected from mishaps.
NARRATOR: The laborer asked Taweret for protection.
Work here was dangerous, and life expectancy short.
MARIA: They wanted to be safe.
This, for me, is like shaking the ancients
directly in their hands.
Regardless of all the technologies that we have today
and how much the world has evolved,
we'’re still looking for safety.
We still want to be keeping our families safe and protected
and to be able to see yet another day.
NARRATOR: Maria investigates further.
She needs to date this inscription.
MARIA: This mentions the year 34,
the opening of this quarry.
So it gives us the clue
it'’s the end of the reign of Amenhotep III.
NARRATOR: Amenhotep III ruled Egypt
during the New Kingdom era, over 3,000 years ago.
His son, Amenhotep IV, revolutionized Egypt.
He banned the worship of multiple gods--
all the animal deities, like Taweret the hippo,
Sobek the crocodile,
and even the mighty Sekhmet, the lion.
Amenhotep worshipped just one: the sun god Aten.
He declared himself the representative of Aten on Earth
and changed his name to Akhen-aten.
Maria thinks the inscription is a clue
to why the sphinx they found here in the quarry
was abandoned.
MARIA: We know that Akhen-aten broke off
from the state religion, but still we have the production
of these beasts at a time when he starts to get into power.
Maybe it was that they were abandoned here on site
because he came to power.
NARRATOR: Akhen-aten instructed the workers
to down tools on this sphinx.
MARIA: What we know is we had Amenhotep III here.
When Akhen-aten turned from Amenhotep IV to Akhen-aten,
he destroyed everything.
This site wasn'’t used again.
NARRATOR: In Aswan, at Qubbet el-Hawa,
before Alejandro'’s team can enter the tomb,
they must first excavate the entrance.
But it'’s perched dangerously close
to the edge of a steep cliff.
The soft rock crumbles away.
An accident could easily happen.
ALEJANDRO: We need to take care of our every step that we make.
NARRATOR: Finally, they access the entrance,
and there'’s a promising sign
they'’re on the verge of a huge discovery.
ALEJANDRO: We have just discovered that the tomb
is intact because the stones are sealing the door.
NARRATOR: It means tomb robbers haven'’t beaten Alejandro to it.
ALEJANDRO: Fingers crossed
to know if we are going to be lucky.
NARRATOR: Alejandro explores the untouched tomb.
ALEJANDRO: Here there is something that is quite strange.
NARRATOR: Two coffins lie inside,
but it'’s disappointing news.
Termites have got in there first.
ALEJANDRO: We have these kind of days in the excavation.
What a pity.
NARRATOR: Termites are a problem
worse than tomb robbers.
They destroy coffins.
Just before Alejandro gives up hope,
he notices another chamber.
ALEJANDRO: Oh, it'’s amazing!
NARRATOR: And fortunately,
the termites haven'’t destroyed what'’s inside.
ALEJANDRO: For the first time we are lucky
and we discover without the problems of the termites.
NARRATOR: Two ancient colored coffins.
ALEJANDRO: I never seen something like this.
NARRATOR: It'’s a triumphant moment for the whole team.
The discovery of the wealthy tombs
they'’ve been searching for.
[singing]
They could hold evidence of a crocodile cult
and finally resolve the mystery of the mummified crocodiles.
The colored coffins need weeks of restoration work
before they can be safely moved.
Until then, they seal the burial with an iron door,
to keep the coffins safe from tomb robbers.
ALEJANDRO: Perfect.
Now I can sleep more relaxed. [chuckles]
NARRATOR: It'’s a satisfying end to an amazing day.
ALEJANDRO: We did not expect to find anything important.
However, we have found two amazing tombs,
one with the coffins, and the other with the crocodiles.
It has been one of the most intensive days of my life.
NARRATOR: 400 miles north, on the Giza Plateau,
Chris continues to explore the ancient Egyptians'’ reverence
for animal gods and their role as divine guardians.
At the paws of the Great Sphinx,
he finds a tantalizing clue
that could reveal the statue'’s true purpose.
CHRIS: This, we think, is some kind of temple.
It'’s a building which sits
right in front of the paws of the Sphinx.
It'’s built in the same way as well,
with these absolutely massive local limestone blocks.
NARRATOR: The temple'’s limestone blocks
are a match with the Sphinx.
The Egyptians built it at the same time
from the Sphinx'’s leftover stones.
Chris steps back to the eastern corner.
From here, he notices something intriguing.
CHRIS: Where we'’re standing here,
we'’re looking straight on at the face of the Sphinx,
and, in fact, the Sphinx is aligned to the pyramid.
So its right shoulder is absolutely aligned
along the axis of the temple in front of it,
and behind it, the corner of the pyramid.
What'’s even more interesting is that at the two equinoxes,
that is the exact point
where you see the sun setting in the sky.
NARRATOR: The temple, the Sphinx and Khafre'’s pyramid
could all be part of one master plan.
During solar events
their alignment reveals something extraordinary.
When the sun sets on the equinox,
it drops into the shoulder of the Sphinx
and the south side of Khafre'’s pyramid.
These two mighty monuments are symbols of the king,
and as the sun sets, their shadows become one.
On the summer solstice,
the sun sinks between the two great pyramids,
and looks like an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph
that represents the cycle of divine rebirth.
The architects who built the Sphinx pyramid temple complex
had an in-depth knowledge of cosmology.
They would have known that Sekhmet the lion
is also a sun goddess.
CHRIS: Perhaps this helps us to explain
the meaning of the Sphinx,
and what the Egyptians were doing in a temple like this,
what rituals they were performing.
If this is a solar deity,
then perhaps the worship in the temple
was all connected with the sun and the setting sun.
NARRATOR: The ancient Egyptians believed the rise and fall
of the sun equated to human resurrection.
The Sphinx could have been central to a complex
built by King Khafre to harness the spiritual power of the sun.
Today, the Sphinx sits alone in the pyramids'’ shadow.
But back in the time of the pharaoh Khafre,
it was at the figurehead of a grand design,
a great temple complex with a huge causeway
connecting the Sphinx to Khafre'’s pyramid...
the pharaoh'’s final resting place.
The temple complex stretched to the Nile,
where there was a magnificent port.
When Khafre died, it was here
that the boat carrying his body would dock...
before he was entombed in his giant pyramid
to wait for his resurrection.
♪
The Egyptian belief in the divine powers
of their animal gods was so great,
they built the Sphinx to be the protective figurehead
in a resurrection machine designed to guarantee
King Khafre'’s journey into the after-life.
Captioned by Side Door Media Services