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NARRATOR: 100 feet beneath the Egyptian desert, archaeologists are working in a newly discovered tomb complex. RAMADAN: We're about to open a 2,600-year-old sarcophagus. NARRATOR: The sealed stone casket could contain a mummified body. RAMADAN: You're always thinking about the person who's buried in the sarcophagus. Who are you? NARRATOR: The task requires extreme care. AYMAN: This is so much stress. Very dangerous. RAMADAN: The lid is about 5 tons.
The tiniest mistake in this moment could be a grave mistake. NARRATOR: What lies inside the sarcophagus could help unlock the secrets of life and death in ancient Egypt. RAMADAN: I have to go in right now. I have to look. I need to go.
Oh my god. This is fantastic. (theme music plays). NARRATOR: Among the ancient pyramids of Saqqara, renowned Egyptologist Dr Ramadan Hussein and his team of archaeologists are excavating one of the most important sites in Egypt today. RAMADAN: I started thinking about Egyptian history when I was nine years old. But now, I have my chance to lead a multinational team. And, pretty much enjoy that dream that I had when I was nine years old. And, I can't imagine myself doing anything else.
NARRATOR: Ramadan's unique discovery is a 2,500-year-old funeral home, where dozens of ancient Egyptians, both rich and poor, were mummified and buried deep underground. RAMADAN: We tend to think that only Pharaohs, the kings and queens of Egypt, would be the ones who would be mummified. But, we're not dealing with kings and queens. What we have here is a segment of ancient Egyptian society that we need to learn about. Not a king or a queen. Not a prince. But, a normal person like you and me.
PHILIPPE: Ibrahim, ten. Yes, yes. NARRATOR: Now, the team is using the latest laser scanning technology to record and uncover the sites secrets. RAMADAN: So, you are scanning the shaft itself now? PHILIPPE: No. Now we have the connection scan. RAMADAN: Okay. By connection scan you mean we're connecting features above ground to other ones that is under ground. PHILIPPE: Yes. NARRATOR: By stitching together dozens of scans, the team is mapping the site both above ground and below, revealing a huge complex of shafts and passageways extending nearly 100 feet down.
And, leading to a set of burial chambers dating back thousands of years. RAMADAN: 30 meters deep we have this complex of burial chambers. SALIMA: How cool. Love it. NARRATOR: For project consultant, Salima Ikram, the complex is a time capsule of evidence about ancient Egyptian burial practices and beliefs. SALIMA: The ancient Egyptians were very interested in their afterlives and very invested in it. One of the key parts of having a good afterlife is to preserve your body. If your body is preserved and recognizable,
your spirit essence can go into it and reanimate it. So, mummification was a crucial component of attaining a happy afterlife. NARRATOR: It's the team's mission to decode this sprawling site and rewrite the book on mummification and burial in ancient Egypt. At the site's core is a vertical shaft known as K24.
RAMADAN: So, 9 meters down we found this burial place packed with rows of mummies on top of one another. 17 meters down we found ten mummies arranged in two rows, stacked on top of one another. NARRATOR: Almost every inch of the complex seems to have been used for burials. RAMADAN: 20 meters, we found in the south wall this entrance. Two people buried inside, an uncle and his nephew.
NARRATOR: At the bottom of K24 is a set of burial chambers dating back to 600BC. They contain numerous mummies, stone sarcophagi, and decayed wooden coffins. There are multiple burials in every chamber, apart from one. RAMADAN: What is so mystifying about this burial chamber is that, unlike the rest of the burial chambers where we have multiple burials. In this one, we have just one person with a large sarcophagus.
(speaking native language). RAMADAN: It is a mystery. NARRATOR: Solving the mystery of why this person was buried alone will require painstaking work. They'll use ancient techniques and the latest technology to open this lone sarcophagus and investigate its contents. RAMADAN: The opening of sarcophagi is one of the things that goes down in history as pretty much the highlight of every archaeologist's career.
I'm absolutely lucky. My team is lucky. This is a career first for me. NARRATOR: Throughout the complex, Ramadan and his team have found an array of treasures, including the first gilded silver mummy mask found in Egypt for nearly a century. And a wealth of grave goods, objects placed with the dead to help secure the best possible afterlife.
Early scans of the lone sarcophagus reveal that it too was originally surrounded by grave goods, now kept in a secure store room. For Ramadan, these grave goods could hold vital clues. RAMADAN: We found a full set of shawabti figurines, something around 405. So, this is a large number of those figurines. NARRATOR: Shabtis were symbolic servants, a workforce, to help the dead enjoy an easier afterlife. RAMADAN: They're so important for archaeologists because usually we have them inscribed with the name of the deceased.
Ta-di-hor. NARRATOR: The occupant of the lone sarcophagus now has a name, Tadihor. And, there's more. RAMADAN: Just by looking at this shawabti figurine, we are 100% sure that the person buried here is a woman because it's a feminine name, Tadihor. This is a woman, definitely. NARRATOR: Archaeology has given Tadihor back her name. (speaking native language). NARRATOR: To investigate further, the team must now open her giant stone sarcophagus. RAMADAN: Tadihor is the only person with the single burial chamber, and it is time to open it up and see why.
RAMADAN: There is so many questions and so many things to worry about. Biggest thing for me is, what is inside this sarcophagus? Is a mummy inside or not? NARRATOR: They'll first try to raise the 5 ton lid, just a few inches, to see if there is a coffin or mummy inside. NARRATOR: It's a task fraught with danger.
RAMADAN: My concern is that this slide toward the back and everything would fall. But, they're assuring me that it's not going to happen this way. NARRATOR: The lid is open. NARRATOR: Just enough to reveal what, if anything, is inside. RAMADAN: We get very excited when we have to open up something. We get this excitement. I always think of it like a child on Christmas Eve.
NARRATOR: 100 feet beneath the desert, Ramadan is on the brink of discovering what's inside Tadihor's sarcophagus. MAN: Yeah, hang on. RAMADAN: I think we're in the position to get a little peek inside. Oh my god. This is fantastic.
What a privilege, to be able to look at something that has been hidden and concealed from the eyes of humans for 2,600 years. NARRATOR: Having found Tadihor's mummy, Ramadan will now see if it can tell him why she was buried alone. RAMADAN: Can I have the endoscope? NARRATOR: The inspection camera gives him a closer look.
RAMADAN: Oh, it's unbelievable. It's amazing. I could see what I think is a wooden coffin, and I think some inscriptions are there. I'm not sure though. This excitement is killing everybody around here. NARRATOR: If it's a decorated coffin, as Ramadan suspects, then it would have been expensive. A clue that Tadihor had an elaborate funeral. As the team continues inching up the lid, Ramadan delves further into the meaning of Tadihor's grave goods.
RAMADAN: If you imagine the entombment of a person, it is a moment where there is a lot of people involved. A lot of specialists involved. Priests are involved in the bringing of this mummy into the tomb and reciting rituals. And, bringing all this assemblage of grave goods inside, and arrange it in a neat way that we found in it. There is a lot of action happening. This is one of the things we all think about. Reconstruct this human action. NARRATOR: As well as Tadihor's shabti figurines, the team has found a collection of other ritual objects,
including jars, oil cups, and a jackal-headed charm. RAMADAN: But, what I personally like the most is this model of a boat. It's symbolic because the Egyptians believed that the sun god has two boats, in order to cross the sky. The main wish of every deceased person is to join the sun god in a journey into the afterlife. NARRATOR: Objects and rituals must have been important to Tadihor. To reveal why, project consultant Salima Ikram is 300 miles south of Saqqara, in a prime burial spot for ancient Egyptian royalty.
The Valley of the Kings. SALIMA: The ancient Egyptians had a really deep belief in the afterlife, and so a great deal of effort, economic wealth, and all sorts of things, were put into making sure that the afterlife was going to be fantastic because it really was an extension of this life, except better, and for eternity.
NARRATOR: And, having the right grave goods was essential. SALIMA: Grave goods fall into two categories. The first is to help you get from this world to the next, so they had all sorts of magical and ritual objects that protect you or guide you. The second are things for your soul to feed on. Things that you enjoy in the afterlife, the same way you did in this life. All of these objects would be put inside the tomb, as well as having paintings of them as insurance. NARRATOR: This tomb belonged to a queen called Tawosret, and is about 600 years older than Tadihor's.
SALIMA: This is one of the most important images in the tomb because it shows the boat of the sun god, Ra, making his way across the night sky. Tadihor had a very sweet little boat in her tomb. It wasn't as grand as this thing. But, she too was using this as her way of making it from this world into the next together with the sun god, so she too could live eternally. NARRATOR: But, Tadihor's extensive set of grave goods is evidence of more than just her beliefs. SALIMA: Grave goods are a very good clue as to telling us what status someone enjoyed in life.
The fact that Tadihor is buried in a small chamber, all by herself, with these grave goods and a sarcophagus really do tell us that she was amongst the wealthier people at Saqqara. NARRATOR: The evidence is stacking up. It would appear Tadihor was an affluent woman. (speaking native language). NARRATOR: More clues may lie inside her stone sarcophagus. RAMADAN: We have to continue jacking it up. Definitely nervous. Every person here is absolutely focused.
NARRATOR: Deep beneath the pyramids of Saqqara, in the cramped and humid conditions of K24, the team prepares to remove the vast stone lid of Tadihor's sarcophagus. RAMADAN: You're always thinking about the person who is buried in the sarcophagus. Who are you? Why are you in this single burial chamber alone? NARRATOR: They plan to slide the lid out on steel rollers. (speaking in native language). NARRATOR: But, there is a disagreement between Ammar, the site foreman, and Ayman, the project engineer.
RAMADAN: Ayman is advocating for resting the rollers right on the edge of the sarcophagus itself. But, Amar is talking about a technology that he inherited and were passed down from one generation to another, that the rollers should be resting on wooden planks. So, the question, on the edge of the sarcophagus or on wooden planks? RAMADAN: The final decision is that our rollers will be resting on the wood. (speaking native language). RAMADAN: Their debate must end now.
We need to get to work. NARRATOR: The team will make use of the large hallway outside Tadihor's burial chamber. Rolling the 9 foot block of stone all the way out on wooden planks. In such a tight space, there can be no room for error. To insert the wooden planks, they must tilt the lid up further. RAMADAN: I always have a concern about the shifting and the tilting of this lid. If you think of a family car, it weighs just one ton. That stone is the same weight as five family cars. The tiniest mistake in this moment could be a grave mistake. AYMAN: I'm worried about everything. So I have to take care of every minor thing.
It's very narrow place, and too many people. Without a good balance, it will turn up quickly, and it will crush anyone. RAMADAN: Absolutely their life is on the line right now. RAMADAN: I'm not gonna feel calm until everybody is safe, out of this burial chamber, and this lid is dragged out. NARRATOR: While work continues underground, project consultant Salima Ikram is at the surface investigating another grave that puts Tadihor's expensive burial in perspective. SALIMA: Oh my god! This is astonishing.
NARRATOR: Close to the entrance of the tomb complex, this grave lies just beneath the desert sand. SALIMA: One, two, three. Got it? Okay. None of these bones is fused, so it's not an adult. It's actually a child, probably between eight to 11, 12 years old. You can see some of the hair. And then, you can see part of the textiles from the mummification. And, the coffin is not very elaborate.
Just a rectangular box into which the person was thrust. And so, it's not as wealthy or prestigious a burial as the ones that are cut into a shaft that goes down for 30 meters. NARRATOR: This might be a humble grave, but its location, so close to K24, is important. SALIMA: It's a desire to be within a sacred space, within a pure space, and a space where you have some good juju on your way to the afterlife. This shaft, filled with the burials of important people, was really a power spot, and this is why people wanted to cluster here because it would give them that extra blessing. And, quite possibly at half the price because they didn't have to buy their own,
you know, major tomb, because they were just sucking off the power from everyone who was buried around them. NARRATOR: This modest grave is the other end of the spectrum from Tadihor's prestige solo burial. RAMADAN: It is very interesting to think about this complex as a business place offering different packages, according to the economic abilities of every person coming into this establishment. If you don't have Tadihor's money, there is always cheap alternative. (speaking native language). NARRATOR: Down in the tomb complex, a cloth goes in to protect Tadihor. And, the sarcophagus lid is at last on the move.
RAMADAN: What is happening, right now, we're getting a look into the sarcophagus of Tadihor. The open sarcophagi, that remained sealed, untouched for 2,600 years. This is one of these rare moments. I have to go in right now. I need to look inside the sarcophagus of Tadihor. I have to look. I need to go. Oh my god. This is fantastic. This is the first time, since 2,600 years ago, somebody takes a closer look at Tadihor. Just getting to meet this lady, feeling so connected to this woman, it's emotional.
It's not just making a discovery. I have always loved the ancient Egyptians. Their contribution to human culture is immeasurable. To be able to meet one of those people, it's not just. it's something you can't describe. I think it's time that she can speak to us. NARRATOR: The tomb complex at Saqqara is finally giving up its secrets.
After opening Tadihor's sarcophagus, Ramadan and the team must next make sense of its fragile content. SALIMA: Okay. RAMADAN: Watch out. There you go. So, this is our Tadihor. SALIMA: This is so cool. You can see her face. RAMADAN: Yeah. SALIMA: Oh, Ramadan, this is amazing. NARRATOR: Ramadan's hunch has been confirmed. Tadihor's coffin is elaborately decorated. SALIMA: I guess there is a lot of problems with the humidity.
RAMADAN: Yeah. SALIMA: So, all the wood from this beautiful coffin has turned into dust. NARRATOR: Text, painted on coffins, can be an important source of information about the person inside. RAMADAN: So far, the only text we have is just naming her as Tadihor. But, we don't have anything about her titles. SALIMA: It's really weird to have such an elaborate burial and nothing really to indicate who she was. RAMADAN: But, the very fact that she is here alone makes her very remarkable. It says something about women financial independence and autonomy over their wealth.
SALIMA: Yeah, absolutely. Ancient Egyptian women were very powerful. So, an ancient Egyptian woman could own property, choose whom she married, divorce people, disinherit people, engage in trade and exchange. They had more rights than most women did until the 1940s in Europe and the United States. NARRATOR: So, will the faded inscriptions reveal anything more? As the coffin is crumbling to dust, Ramadan must wait while the team makes a copy of it using a technique called photogrammetry.
PHILIPPE: I need a lot of pictures from different angles. Then, you can really get a good 3D model out of it. RAMADAN: Excavation is a destructive process. My team have had the privilege of looking at the coffin of Tadihor. And, after that, it will be a pile of dust. But, you know what, we're doing our job. We're saving this object, but in a different format. And, this is what makes us so happy.
NARRATOR: The 3D map of the burial complex now contains photogrammetry of Tadihor's coffin. The model provides a permanent, high-resolution record that can be studied in minute detail. And, after noticing something in the model, Ramadan heads back to re-examine Tadihor's text. RAMADAN: The first thing that caught my eye is the name Tekem, right here. That flat blue sign with the three dots underneath is pronounced Te. And then, the faded basket sign underneath is pronounced Ke. And then, the owl is M. So, the three together are Tekem. This demon guard, is the guard that protects the last gate to heaven.
The Egyptians believed that a written word, on a medium, like a coffin here, has a power. If this text is written on the coffin, this is pretty much a passport for Tadihor into heaven and eternity. NARRATOR: To shed light on Tadihor's passage to the afterlife, Salima is in the Valley of the Kings. SALIMA: The ancient Egyptians believed that, once you died, you had to go through this long journey to the afterlife, because the afterlife wasn't easy to get to. And, the route was beset by horrible things.
There were spitting cobras. There were lakes of fire. And there were lots and lots of demons guarding the gates that you needed to go through. NARRATOR: Demon guards like Tekem, and other obstacles, could be overcome with certain instructions, or spells, written on tomb walls and coffins. SALIMA: A lot of it is about knowing the name of the gatekeeper, or the guardian, because that's where your power lies in dominating them, by knowing their name.
NARRATOR: Royal tombs like this, were richly decorated with spells, forming collections of text. The most famous of which is known as the "Book of the Dead". SALIMA: The "Book of the Dead" is a guidebook, really. You use it, as you would a guide book, on a journey to go from the life of the living and into eternal life where the dead live. So, it was a terrifying proposition, that if you were badly equipped, you couldn't make it. For an ancient Egyptian, like Tadihor, you had to have these kinds of spells, otherwise you would not reach the afterlife.
NARRATOR: Tadihor invested in text, written on her coffin. Along with all her ritual grave goods, it was part of a premium funeral package to secure her the best possible afterlife. (speaking native language). NARRATOR: The next step is to try and find out more about the woman herself. RAMADAN: We still have a gap in our information about this remarkable woman. Age, health condition. There is a lot of questions to be answered about Tadihor, and the only way to do that is by examining her body.
NARRATOR: A task that begins with removing her fragile coffin lid. RAMADAN: It is my job to know more about this person. It is my job to tell everybody the story of this person. What the ancient Egyptians tried to do, spending all the money and the effort into a burial like this, they wanted to tell us a story. This is unbelievable.
NARRATOR: In the tombs beneath Saqqara, Dr Ramadan Hussein and his team prepare for the most delicate stage of their investigation so far. Now the coffin lid is off, they can examine Tadihor's mummy in detail. RAMADAN: Oh my god. NARRATOR: The mummy would have been wrapped in textiles and coated in resin. But most of that has been lost to time.
RAMADAN: This heavy coating of this bitumen on the linen bandages, it's crumbling into pieces. And, what we could see are the bones of Tadihor. Arms, fingers, and also, of course, the skull. It seems that Tadihor has missed a couple of her teeth. They have a lower jaw, and also the upper jaw. NARRATOR: Ramadan is most intrigued by the position of Tadihor's arms. RAMADAN: The left arm has been crossed over the chest, and the right arm is just extending along the body here.
It was pretty much restricted for women that has connection to the royal palace, in some capacity, or being a priestess. This position of the arms is definitely for a woman of high status. NARRATOR: This indication of religious, or even royal connections is startling, and further evidence, not only of Tadihor's wealth, but also her social rank. RAMADAN: We inched closer to Tadihor. It's a process of unwrapping something, and every time you lift one thing, you feel like you're getting closer to that person.
You're getting to meet this person and know more about her. NARRATOR: Tadihor's mummy is one piece of her story. And, the complex itself contains other information about her burial. Scans and excavations reveal not just tombs, but also specific areas dedicated to the 70-day process of mummification. Tadihor would have been mummified on this very site. SALIMA: Mummification was a very delicate and careful procedure surrounded by secrecy and ritual. Tadihor would have arrived at this complex as a dead body.
She would have then been washed and anointed, and taken into the embalming house, where she would have been, basically, processed. So, her internal organs were removed. She was washed with palm wine. She was dried. Then, oils and ointments would have been anointed all over her body. And then, she would have been wrapped up in linens, before she was then taken and buried in this complex here. Embalmers themselves, of course, would be selling you different kinds of, sort of, plans for mummification. They could give you different levels of embalming.
They could give you high class resin, lower class resin, fabulous oil, and not so fabulous oil. Are you using the finest linen? Or, are you using coarse linen? It was all down to what you could afford, and what kind of deal you made with the embalmers. NARRATOR: For the next stage of investigation, Ramadan and the team will use specialized equipment to x-ray Tadihor's delicate mummy, right here in the tomb complex.
They're hoping that looking inside her mummy will reveal more about how she lived, and the way she was embalmed. (speaking native language). SAHAR: The x-ray can help with a lot of information about the person, about the ritual practices, and also about the culture. I'm looking forward to see the mummy face-to-face. NARRATOR: For the x-ray, Tadihor must be lifted from her sarcophagus.
(speaking native language). RAMADAN: We can't really x-ray Tadihor while she is in the sarcophagus. We have tried, but the burial chamber is so narrow. NARRATOR: One slip and her crumbling mummy could completely disintegrate. (speaking native language). AMAR: Very good. RAMADAN: She was some remarkable woman. She was in this closed room for 2,600 years. And now, we would like to know more about Tadihor.
NARRATOR: Safely removed and wrapped in gauze, to protect her delicate bones, it's time for Tadihor to give up her final secrets. RAMADAN: The story of a single person is wrapped in this linen and waiting for us to unwrap it. (speaking native language). NARRATOR: 100 feet down, in the oppressive heat of the tomb complex, Ramadan's team prepares to x-ray Tadihor's mummy.
RAMADAN: We can learn so much about the individual. Their age, their gender, their diet, their disease. We're trying to piece together evidence to reconstruct the story of a human. RADIOLOGIST: Clear. SAHAR: Okay, shoot. (beep). Yeah, okay. This is very nice. I see the smoothness of a female skull. This is clearly the skull of a woman, and the, the shape of the pelvis also indicates a woman. NARRATOR: X-rays provide hard evidence, allowing the team to make conclusive statements about Tadihor. SAHAR: All the bones are fused, so this is an adult.
She is likely more than 18 years old. And, from the mild osteoarthritis in her spine, I would tell that she died in her 40s. RAMADAN: In terms of life expectancy in antiquity, this is an old age. 45 to 50, this is pretty old. And you don't reach that age unless you had access to good nutrition, which puts Tadihor in a certain socioeconomic status that is actually matching access to good nutrition and good food. NARRATOR: The x-rays offer yet more information. SAHAR: Here I can see several objects, dense objects.
It has a scarab shape, and these really seem to be amulets. NARRATOR: Amulets are small ritual objects, paid for by the deceased, and placed in the wrappings of their mummy. SAHAR: Here is an amulet, which is the head rest. It's interesting. And, yeah. And here, the Eye of Horus. NARRATOR: A headrest amulet symbolically protected the head for rebirth in the afterlife. Jewelry, like scarab beetles symbolized the repeating cycle of life. A gemstone heart amulet represented Tadihor's wisdom, purity, and moral strength. And, the Eye of Horus protected and regenerated the soul.
For Ramadan, the x-rayed amulets are final evidence of Tadihor's wealth and status. RAMADAN: The mummy is lavishly decorated with amulets everywhere, and it just confirms that what we've seen from the other burial equipment, the calcite canopic jars, the shawabti figurines, the embalming cups. Everything in this burial chamber says Tadihor was a woman of status. NARRATOR: And, the ultimate proof of Tadihor's social standing, her lone sarcophagus in a chamber all of its own.
As the team begins replacing Tadihor's sarcophagus lid, Ramadan has rekindled her life. RAMADAN: The return of this lid back into the burial chamber is not quite the end of the story of Tadihor. It's just the closing of one chapter. We will continue telling the story of Tadihor through our digital data. This is exactly what Tadihor hoped for, her name to be remembered, and her story to be told. NARRATOR: Tadihor's story began with a mystery. Why did this person have the only private chamber in a packed tomb complex?
RAMADAN: We're trying to reconstruct the story of a person who lived here 2,600 years ago. Tadihor was a person of wealth, a person of status. She might have had it because of her family background. She might have had it because of her career as a working woman, or as a priestess. But, what we know is that we are in front of a remarkable woman. SALIMA: It really is an indication of the status of women in ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptian women commanded a great deal of power, prestige, wealth, and independence. So, we really get a sense of the woman who had this tomb.
RAMADAN: In the minds of the general public, archaeologists are always about discovering objects. But, we're trying to reconstruct moments of history. So, archaeology is not really about finding objects. We are about discovering and decoding knowledge that is put inside these objects. This is, for us, a lifelong research project. Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.
