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Okay, so we're ready to head back into the burial chamber. What's the plan? It's all about the king's burial today, Josh. We're going to really get in there and see what's inside. Our first dive in the tomb revealed that the slab here is really a sarcophagus lid, but the lid was also cracked open as a result of a partial ceiling collapse. This terrifying development has given us the unprecedented opportunity to look inside Nesen's sarcophagus. The whole container is full of silt just like the rest of the room from the collapses earlier. So, our goal today is to move enough of it to get down to the bottom and see what's in there, right? Because if Nasin is still in
there, it's likely he's at the bottom. He very well could be. So, let's get the guys ready and start moving a lot of silk topside. I'm driving across Mongolia to meet a prominent archaeologist searching for the lost tomb of Changaskhan. And my convoy is struggling to pass through a nasty thunderstorm. Little slippery in here. Got it. HANG ON. There we go. It's fine. We're going to be fine. Good lord. Once we're all back facing in the same direction, we start again toward our meeting with Professor Miji George.
Along the way, we're passing by a critical location in the hunt for Chingis Khan, the now abandoned capital city he founded in the year 1220. This is the city of Kakorum, or what's left of it. Changaskhan actually established this city as a supply base and a military outpost. This is also the last place that Chingaskhan's body was ever seen. After he died somewhere in what is today China, his funeral procession emanated from here. After that, well, that's what everybody's trying to figure out.
Even by Mongol standards, Changaskhan went to great lengths to ensure that his burial site would remain a secret. According to one legend, his soldiers murdered anyone who witnessed the funeral procession. Another story says a stampede of horses was used to stomp out all signs of the grave. Some even say that an entire river was diverted to flow over the tomb. Thanks to Khan's extraordinary precautions, the pursuit that began with his death in 1227 still continues today. Miji George and Byer of Ulan Batar State University is one of the archaeologists leading the hunt for Changis Khan. I
hope to join him. That is if we can find Okay. So Danny, walk me through where are we headed? Egg River. Yep. Lots of archaeological diggings are happening there. They say that about 300 tombs has been found. Bronze Age, Stone Age, even the Hunu era. And the Hunu era is before the Mongols, right? Yep. This is before Genghaskhan. Before Chenghaskhan, which is the Mongolian ancestors, right? These Hunu tombs may be the key to finding Chingaskhan since his tomb may be based on their general design. We're close to the dig site.
Unfortunately, there's a river that threatens to make the last half mile take half a day. That is a big river. In the greatest equestrian nation in the world, getting across a river is simply a matter of borrowing a couple of ponies from a local rancher. All right, let's do it. This seems like a bad idea. Getting deep. I don't swim. You can't swim? What are you doing out here on a horse? No road, no ferry. No problem. Now he's getting better. Yeah, just push through it. Now on the right side of the river, we take off like a shot and make for the dig site.
Soon we arrive at Professor Miji George's excavation where he's discovered 300 Hu tombs that predate Chingis Khan. Oh, that's the his duty. Yeah, it's the job, right? We've arrived in time for a momentous occasion. Professor Miji George and his team are about to open this ancient tomb. It's really thrilling. I've never seen a tomb open before in my life. I've never seen this. Anything I can do to help? Together, we start moving the hundreds of heavy rocks that hide the tomb below. So, how's it how does your feeling?
Great. Are you kidding? It's exciting. Really incredibly rare opportunity to be able to open a tomb like this and to see it happen in real time. We keep excavating, driven by the possibility of a find just a little further below our brushes. Is it stone rock bone? Yeah. It's a male because of the shape of the eye. It's male. This tomb is 4,000 years old. And the skull that we've uncovered could be a direct ancestor of Chenis Khan himself.
It's a remarkable find. Miji George explains that most Hunu tombs were originally round and later more square with the bodies pointed north at prominent locations like this hill. It's these clues that are helping Miji George as he prepares to travel to the location where he thinks Khan is buried. I ask him about how he discovered the prospective burial site. We used satellite photos to look at a sacred mountain that was important to Jingis Khan. We found a squared of shape on the mountain that we think is a temple. I think that temple is a sign that Khan's tomb may be at the summit.
There's just one problem. The mountain known as Burhan Haldun is considered sacred. While Miji George has special permission to access the mountain, it is strictly off limits to outsiders. Is it possible to go there? Is it possible to visit the mountain? It is possible, but you're going to need some help. Okay. Who do we talk to? The only person who might be able to get you and your crew onto the mountain with us is my colleague, Professor Erden Bajel. He and I have been working together to find Khan's tomb. Is very influential. If you want to try, I'm happy to make the introduction. Okay. How do we find this guy? In Hungary's pillish mountains, I'm helping an archaeological team peer into this hillside in search of the lost tomb
of Aillaa the Hun. That actually looks like it opens up into a room. Then what? Whoa. There. What is that? Okay, it looks structural. There actually is a chamber in here. After dozens of feet of indistinct tunnels, the rock in this chamber appears to be carved. There are straight edges and corners that are compelling to say the least. The question is, are these hollow spaces natural or do you think somewhere down here there's a tomb? It's not uh natural. It's artificial. Could you keep your mouth closed? Keep my mouth shut about this. Shut up. Yeah, it's just the three of us. Nobody else will know.
Chronicles are true. The history is true. This is Sumbria. This is it. This is the Necropolis. Professor Lansky clearly doesn't have any doubts. But I remain unsure. The underground spaces here could be man-made. But he has a long way to go before his theory that this was a city, let alone Seambria, can be verified. Hopefully, somewhere around here is Aillaa. When you find him, you call me. Yeah. I do. I appreciate it. I climb back into my Soviet heap and I head out to meet one final seeker of Aillaa. Like Dr. Lansky, this prominent researcher is conducting an active dig for the tomb here in the pillish mountains. But unlike the professor, he
lives behind a big iron gate. The gates open and I find myself approaching the Hungarian version of Wayne Manor. I just hope this guy doesn't have any guard dogs. Hi. Hello. How are you? Welcome. Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it. Meet Leventi Sereni. You may not know who he is. I may not know who he is, but if you're Hungarian, you definitely know who he is. Part of a Beatles style rock band in the 60s and a solo sensation in the 70s, he's been described as the John Lennin of Hungary. If John Lennin had written a rock opera about Aillaa the Hun.
Like most archaeologists, he gives me a quick tour of his mansion's rock memorabilia collection. Guitar. Who's this guy? It's a big concert. You look good. You look good here. You clean up well. We still haven't exchanged a single word on a Tilla of the Hun. And Levente is insisting on showing me his wine seller where he makes every Hungarian's favorite drink, a deadly fruit flavored brandy known as Palanka. Okay. Cheers. That's some. Sir, that's 50. 50% 50% what? Alcohol. That's 100% alcohol. That is racing fuel. Only one shot of Palena and I get a command performance of one of his greatest hits.
WOOHOO. NO, I love it. Amazing. How does a guy who's, you know, Hungary's biggest rock and roller write an opera about Itilla the Hunt? How does that happen? Where did the interest come from? My father was an archaeologist who spent years looking in the mountains here for ruins of the Romans of King Arpad and Datila. For years, I wanted to be like him, but he didn't want me to follow in his footsteps. So, I went into music. This is like the reverse of how this is supposed to happen. Like, usually kids say they want to be a rock star and their parents tell them to become a doctor or an archaeologist. You went the other way.
Rock and roll grabbed me. Right. Exactly. Of course. So in the opera, how is Attilla portrayed? Hanm, he was a monolith, man of great strength. You know how great he was because people are still debating his role and character 1,800 years later. So in terms of his burial, where do you think that was buried? Historic sources indicate the tomb of Atila must be somewhere here in the Pilish mountains near the burial of King Arpat. You haven't just written an opera about it till you're actually doing excavations. Correct. Yeah. So, in terms of the excavation, what have you guys been doing up there? I've been devoted to the search for almost two decades, and I believe we're on the verge of a major find. Do you want to see it?
I would love that. That would be amazing. You can show it to me. Yeah, for sure. Let's go. Please. Since my rental car is almost as dead as Brev, I let Levente drive his 4x4 into the mountains, which might be a mistake. We are going to hell. We're going to hell. Yeah. Okay. And here this people, tents. Okay. Eventually, we pull up at the dig site and I meet Levente's team, including Tamas, the lead archaeologist. Nice to meet you, Tomas. How are you? And Dome. Nice to meet you, Josh. My name is D. An independent researcher who looks like the librarian at Studio 54. Wow, look at this place. This is amazing. It's like a little town here.
Yes, it's base camp. I like the pipe, too. A nice touch. You don't see a lot of pipe smoking anymore. How far is the site from here? It's not too far. It's like 15 minutes walk. Lead on. I'm standing on Jaguar Paw Temple in the ancient Maya city of Elmiridor, seeking the tombs of the snake kings. Our radar found what appears to be a cavity to see what lies inside. We're drilling a test hole. Get through it. And deploying a snake cam to search for a snake king. Okay, here we go. Moment of truth. Let's see what's down here.
Oh, hold on. It's opening up there. Some kind of a chamber. Yeah, definitely a cavity. There is a void here, but could it be a burial chamber? So, let's see. Let's take this thing down to the bottom. No. So, we're coming through this loose layer and then bam, bottomed out. Yep. So, we're in we are in a void. The radar the radar is working. It's seeing void space down there, but it's fairly small. It looked like a large cavity, six foot, you know, long cavity. In fact, it's seeing probably a sixft section of loose fill.
Yeah, it's just a whole bunch of little voids as opposed to one big one. To make these temples, they would make these kind of these cells, these blocks, right? These boxes and they uh just dump in that loose rubble. The loosely packed rock triggered a false hit. The radar read dozens of small cavities as one massive chamber. So maybe there are other chambers down there, but for today it snake kings have foiled us again. That's right. Foiled us again. On the other hand, this could be the first hole of your new Mayan mini golf course, Richard.
Yeah, right. I'm just saying it could be a money maker. We didn't hit a hole in one, but in archaeology, that's part for the course. And with the sun setting, we need to get moving back to camp. With the highest density of jaguars in Latin America, these jungles are no place to be lost after dark. Okay, here we are. This is where we're posting up while we're here. Ready, guys? All right. All right, let's do it. Some pretty good digs. We got little a little bunk in here and everything. We put little beds in these because uh trying to keep you off the floor. Creepy crawies can get in during the night. The
nocturnal population of the jungle includes all of your venomous favorites from daytime, like snakes, scorpions, and spiders. Only at night, they're a lot harder to see. It's 1,000°, but I'm off the floor. I'm dry. Therefore, I am happy. Morning comes quickly in the jungle and the indigenous residents of Elmiridor are up and foraging for food and so are we. This looks nice. They got a little stove. They got a whole kitchen operation going out here. It's amazing. Inside the messole, the smell of fresh tortillas attracts my crew and everyone gathers for a morning bite.
Breakfast is served. All right, we got rice. We got pasta. And of course, beans. All carbs. But just when you let your guard down out here is when these jungles remind you who's really in charge. Hey, Richard. Yeah, we got to fall here. Oh, that was pretty hard. Took a bad fall and just slipped back. Oh, look at this. Our tech supervisor, Danny, has gotten injured walking through camp. muddy boots, muddy steps, and just came down pretty hard on my elbow.
This is not Danny's first mishap. The man can fly a drone like an X-wing, but when it comes to walking, well, he's managed to cut himself down to the bone. He's going to need a couple stitches. We need three good stitches on that. Fortunately, Richard's camp is equipped with basic medical support. So, we take Danny to the doctor. Come on in, guys. Hey, Doc. Hey, buddy. How you doing, man? Good. What's your name? Miguel. How long you been working out here? Uh, 12 years. So, you know what you're doing?
Yeah. I know where. The doc gives Danny a local anesthetic before stitching him up. Oh, you okay? Oh, yeah. Good man. Go. Right here. Come on. Right here. Here we go. Hit it. That's not going to hurt. Don't look at it. He takes the needle like a champ and a couple of minutes later he's ready for his lollipop. That's not a huge cut. This part's not a big deal. Keeping it clean is a big deal. Yeah. Bacteria thrive in a warm, moist environment. Places like well this entire jungle. Hey Doc, thanks man. Second man. It's a pleasure. Okay. Well, back to work.
We'll keep an eye on Danny's cuts to prevent infection, but Richard assures me folks have survived far worse out here. And as we trek out of camp to continue our search for the snake kings, he shows me proof. Oh my god. Are you kidding me? Hey, let's punch it. After being chased out by a storm, I returned to Elm Miridor with Dr. Richard Hansen and his team searching the vast pre-classic Maya city for the tombs of the snake kings. And we may have just found one.
Up. What is it? OH MY GOODNESS. LOOK. Look at that. It's carved. Oh my gosh. Look at it. Look at that. Is that a leg? That's a leg. Here's the thigh. Comes up here so we know he's facing this way. Here is a glyph. That's a Mayan glyph. Yeah, it's a portrait of a king. This figure on the monument is clearly a king delineated by his ceremonial belt. So, we could literally be looking at a snake king here. Yeah. This Stella is a monumental find. Literally, it is the only one of its kind ever found in Elmiror outside of the city center. Why is it so important to understand this civilization? Through the lens of archaeology, we can see the
whole story from the beginning to the end. Right. We can see what they did right and we can see what they did wrong. At one time, this is the largest ancient city in the world and it all vanished. Yeah, that's right. There's a problem that we call the conspicuous consumption of resources. The Maya's appetite for the lime plaster that covered Elm Miridor was the engine of their own demise. With the basin's trees harvested for fuel, a layer of clay in the ground once held back by the tree roots seeped into their growing fields and poisoned their agriculture. The bigger Elmiridor grew, the more accelerated the process of their end became. That's a lesson for all of us. You know,
we have to pay attention to the history to avoid repeating those errors. Once again, I depart Elm Miridor, thrilled to have played a small role in this archaeological breakthrough. I ask Richard to contact me if he finds anything new. Well, it is 3:30 in the morning and I am at the airport because we got an email from Dr. Richard Hansen. And that means I'm going to Guatemala. Traveling to Elmir hasn't gotten any easier in the past year, and I'm grateful when I reached a helicopter with my old friend Gabriel at the stick.
Let's go. Okay, here we go. You know, no matter how many times I take this helicopter flight, I'm absolutely aruck by how wild it is outside. 360°. Wherever you look, there is nothing but pure jungle. After all this, it's the sight of Leanta pyramid that tells me I'm back. There she is. Leont. Incredible. As we touch down, I'm greeted by a familiar face. There he is, the man himself. How you doing, Doc? And if Dr. Hansen is rushing up to a running helicopter, he must be excited about something. We take the hike into base camp, and inside the messaul is another pleasant surprise. Haha, the Bobs. What's going on? How you doing, sir?
You finally made it. Turns out the father-son GPR team of Bob and Bob Leonard are back as well. Richard has brought them in to help peer inside the pyramids for any open chambers that could be snake king tombs. What' you find? We're seeing on several of these structures a pattern emerge. Well, that's intriguing. The same anomaly is in the same location on several of these structures. And that pattern makes us think it could be something important for him to investigate scientifically. So that's exciting. Well, one of the things that this lets us see, Josh, is I'm trying to understand the construction of these buildings. And some of this information is showing us those patterns. When it
comes to these snake kings, their burial pattern, as we know, has not been found. Well, we have 19 recorded kings on dynasty pots, and we think they're here. This is a potential bombshell. It means that if they have discovered a snake king tomb, they may also have the key to finding all of them. And so, how many of these potential voids or cavities did you find? So, we think we found four. Um, and then there's one in particular that, you know, we think is the most interesting. Okay. So, the million-dollar question is where is it? I think it'd be best if we show you.
I've traveled on Richard's so-called moto mules before and have the sciatica to prove it. Oh, Richard, you've made some upgrades since I was here. Which is why I'm a little surprised to see this. Josh, we now call it the Moto Limousine. The Moto Limo. Okay, here we go. The brand new mule speeds into the jungle. And my anticipation builds. Give up the goods. Where is this? Where is this anomaly, Richard? Well, we thought it was going to be in the on the southern side of the plaza.
We looked there. Yeah. In reality, it's just in front of you. Here on the western end of the city stands the massive pyramid complex known as Elte, second in size only to mighty Leanta. This is clearly one of the most important ceremonial structures in the city. And now the Bobs have gathered promising data that this pyramid may have a longforgotten chamber inside. If it's a burial, it could be a snake king. We grab our gear for the long hike up to the pyramid platform. Richard, remind me again. How did I end up carrying the generator? After doing about a month's worth of the stairmaster in one go, we arrive.
Welcome to the upper platform of Tigra Pyramid. Wow. It may have taken me three trips to Elmiridor, but we may finally be in the presence of a snake king. Wow, look at this. After repairing a collapsing wall and moving literally tons of sand, I along with Dr. Wizeri and his colleagues Dr. Muhammad Al-Sedi and Muhammad Ysef have descended into the pit where we make a remarkable discovery. WE GOT A VAULT. OH MY GOD. IT'S A TOMB.
It's fully decorated. LOOK AT THIS. HOLY. Oh my god. The crew sings in celebration of the find and Dr. Wizeri wastes zero time in exploring the new chamber. I can't wait. It's beautiful colors Dr. El Say and I follow coming in. LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL COLOR, JOSH. OH, THIS IS INSANE. OH, AMAZING. Look at it. Look at this place. Every inch of every wall is covered in stunning decoration. Scenes of offerings and hundreds of hieroglyphs all painted by hand and all unseen for thousands of years.
Look at those beautiful, beautiful colors. We can see red, we can see white, we can see black. If we start looking at the top here, we can see heric inscriptions. All of them they are talking about the titles of the guy himself. HIS NAME IS THERE. HIS NAME IS HANU. HERE. He was a mayor. He's the mayor. Oh yes. And also he was a soul friend to the king. This is something typical one famous title of those guys of the old kingdom. Like I'm your soul friend. You are my close friends.
Soul friend. Okay. Soul friend. Look. Wizeri and I have been so focused on looking up at the walls that we almost miss something lower down. WAIT. JOSH. OH WOW. The seven sacred oils. This is something really very important. Known to the Egyptians as mer or sometimes the eye of Horus. Seven different scented oils were considered the divine breath of the gods used to anoint the deceased for the afterlife. If we start counting here, this is 1 2 3 4 5 6 and seven. used in mummification rituals. The refinement of these oils is the ancient prototype for modern perfumes. The oils were offered up in
tombs like this in precious stone and crystal carved vessels. Look, look at this one. Absolutely. Look how beautiful. I like it, Josh. Stunning. Huh? Yes, it is. It's really stunning. Wow. We know that these belong to Henu because, well, the receipt is literally on the wall. Look at that. Those are the seven sacred oils right there. Unbelievable. This is really perfect. Ah, we can see here is the facade of the palace.
What do you call it like this? So, a symbolic representation of the palace just like the tomb of the noble named that we saw earlier. This is meant to imitate the tomb of a pharaoh. The symbolic representation of the palace on the walls, the ceiling painted to resemble granite. By going to these lengths, Henu was taking some of the power that only a pharaoh had, which even for a mayor took some big stones, literally. This is old kingdom. Yes. No question. This is for sure. No question. It's old kingdom. And we believe that it's sixth dynasty. The sixth dynasty. This is the pharaoh Marinra, which the pyramid is right next door to us here after our excavations. So we believe that we may find connections between
this guy and the king Nerra, right? Because if he's a mayor, soul friend of the king, he would have been someone who was an elite under Marinra, right? Yeah. Have you ever seen something like this in all of your life just upon discovery? What a sensation to come into this tomb to be the first people in here after 4,000 years. I know. It's a feeling that you were never ever going to forget for the rest of your life. I know. I'm trying not to cry. It's unbelievable.
I'm shaking with excitement here in the tomb, but there's much more left to do. We're on top of about 5 ft of sand and much of the painted walls and perhaps Henu himself lie beneath us. We'll need to vacate the chamber in order for the workers to continue. Okay, shall we? We'll let them start sifting the sand and we'll investigate the other side of the site. Yeah. Yes. Okay. We'll be back. This is unbelievable. Kenu's tomb is a major discovery, and we've only begun to dig it out. I ascend by bucket and head over to the other corner of the site to explore progress on a smaller burial shaft being excavated by the team.
Muhammad. Yes. Do you fall down there? No. You okay? Yes, I'm okay. Thank you. Protect that for me, will you? A few days ago, this area was simply a low hill of sand. Then digging revealed a huge collection of beer vessels next to a burial shaft. So I count more than 40 vessels now. This is huge. Now we're ready to see what's at the bottom. Not enough space for both of us. I'm not sure there's enough space for one of us. Yes. Burial shafts were constructed with a smaller vated upper chamber where we are now. This space would often house offerings for the deceased who was interred in a burial chamber below.
Okay. Muhammad. Yes. Hold on. I got something. Oh, good. Come here. Here the edge of something. Show it to me. It has paint on it. Is that ceramic? I don't think so. I think it's a face. Face of what? A face of a person. You mean a statue? Yes. I think it's a statue. Good. Yes. Good one. There's more here. Look. I think there's a leg.
Oh my word. Wa. And look at this. It just goes back and back. Look at the size of this chamber. Egyptologist Aiden Dodson and I have just entered the longsealed tomb of an Egyptian vazier unlike any other. One that may reveal something about the story of Moses. Oh, and look at the roof decoration. That ceiling decoration is gorgeous, isn't it? Wow. It's beautiful. The tomb is chiseled into the rock itself. Posts and beams from previous excavations here have been installed to stabilize the ceiling. But the best is behind you, Josh. Look there.
Wow. Absolutely stunning. While Aiden knows the contents of the tomb from the publications of previous excavators, this is his first time inside. That means we're both getting our bearings. All of this is unbelievable. Mhm. What are we looking for? We're looking for the name of the vizier. All right. Usually, these guys plaster their names all over everything in their tombs, don't they? They do. The trouble is this tomb is unfinished and also damaged. So therefore, it's less easy to find undamaged names. The tomb owner's name will be enclosed within clusters of hieroglyphs along the walls. So that's where we need to look.
All right. Well, should we split up in a creepy ancient tomb and look for it? Seems reason enough to me. Yeah. What could go wrong? All right. I'll look back here. You want to start on this side? I will do. Okay. Here we go. Right. Aiden's insistence that we find the name of this vazier would normally be a welcome challenge, but I soon realized this particular tomb is more like an underground maze. Going down. Wa! Wow! This is unbelievable. Look at this. So, these appear to be human remains from the last excavation that was done here in the tomb. And there are thousands of bones here. What we don't see here are any decorations of any
kind. The walls are just raw in this part of the tomb. No paintings, no inscriptions, nothing. And here it looks like we have the actual burial shaft which just goes straight down. Our vazier would have been buried down there. Aiden, I'm going to go down the Gary shaft of death. I'll be back. Okay, I'm down to the next level, which is a tiny wooden platform. And then it keeps going. Oh man, I literally cannot see the bottom from here. This is the greatest length I've ever gone to find out someone's name. Well, there was this one girl in college, but never mind.
Oh my word. Wow. So, here we are. These are the actual burial chambers for not just the vazier, but his whole family would have been buried down here. What I don't see down here are any inscriptions at all. We'll keep looking in these side chambers, but I don't think it's down here. The further I explore the pitch black chambers of this tomb, the more I start to worry I might become a permanent resident. Lucky for me, Aiden has a sharp eye.
George. Yeah, I think I may have found it. Coming You got it. Yep. Found it. It's right in the corner here. Right in the far corner. The bottom is a little seated man. Yes. Above it is that flattened oval little stripe next to it. So this is our vazier. It is. All right. And his name is Apperel L. Apperel. Okay. And why is that significant? Well, what's exciting about that is it's not an Egyptian name. His name is not Egyptian.
Not at all. So what is it? It's a Semitic name. Semites in this case refer to the people who according to Exodus left Egypt and would later be known as the Hebrews or Israelites. Moses who was said to have been raised in the pharaoh's court was their earliest named leader. It is therefore remarkable that here in ancient Egypt at the possible time of Moses. We have archaeological evidence of a Semite serving as a highranking member of the Pharaoh's court. There are interesting biblical links here too. The L in the name Apparel is how God is referred to in the Torah and appears in other biblical names like Daniel and Raphael. And Apparel's resume is every bit as intriguing as his name. Among his many titles listed on the walls is child of
the palace, meaning he likely grew up alongside the Pharaoh, just like Moses. Another interesting thing is that Aparel died under King Akenatan. Mhm. The Sun King indeed. Who introduced what looks like a monotheistic religion into Egypt. Right. Akenatan is this renegade pharaoh who basically says all of these gods that we've been worshiping for a very long time, we're going to chuck all them out and we're going to worship the sun. This monotheism didn't last long for the Egyptians, but it stuck for other emerging religions.
Some people have wondered, could this have some kind of influence on the Hebrew idea of one God? Right? To be clear, nobody is claiming that this apparel is Moses himself. But confirmation that a highranking Semite who grew up in the palace at a time when one god was worshiped makes the story of Moses in Egypt feel much more possible. Still, I have many more questions about the Exodus story. So, I thank Aiden for kickstarting my journey, and I hit the road to look for more evidence. Ready to do this, Josh? I'm ready. Let's do it. Let's get after it. All right, I am headed into the chute. Dive team, this is top side.
No copy. This is Josh. I read you loud and clear. Top side, confirmed. I hear you. I got a little bit of visibility in here today. It's not great, but it's better than usual. Oh, that's surprising. Make the most of it. All right, J. Good luck. Stay safe. So, I'm through the shootute. It looks like I'm sweeping up to find the cave line. I have it in my hand. I am making my way through chamber one. I can see your light. You're coming in the right direction.
Okay, great. Moving forward. Go another body length and then you can come up and surface. Okay, hold on. And I'm coming in. And I'm coming up surface. Okay, so we're ready to head back into the burial chamber. What's the plan? It's all about the king's burial today, Josh. We're going to really get in there and see what's inside. Our first dive in the tomb revealed that the slab here is really a sarcophagus lid. But the lid was also cracked open as a result of a partial ceiling collapse. This terrifying development has given us the unprecedented opportunity to look inside Nesen's
sarcophagus. The whole container is full of silk just like the rest of the room from the collapses earlier. So, our goal today is to move enough of it to get down to the bottom and see what's in there, right? Because if Nasin is still in there, it's likely he's at the bottom. He very well could be. So, let's get the guys ready and start moving a lot of silt top side. Try not to touch and bump into the walls as much as possible. This thing has collapsed in the past and so we don't want to encourage another one.
Okay, I'm going in. Right behind you. I can see the edge of the third chamber. It's a bit cooler in the third chamber today. The cracked stone lid is a reminder that this room is incredibly unsafe to be in. But Pierce Paul doesn't slow down for a second. He dives right in. Literally, I now have my head, neck, and shoulders entirely underneath this slab. Unbelievable. All right. That's going to give me some purchase. Give me a place to work under here. Pierce Paul wastes no time and starts filling buckets with silt from inside the sarcophagus.
Dive team, all divers are in the water. The rest of us have taken up our familiar positions in the second and first chambers to restart the bucket brigade. And can you feel the bottom of it? Maybe. It's tough. I'm not It's tough to feel the difference between the floor and broken rock. Nawson does not give up his secrets easily. All right, take that bucket. You got it. Taking it all the way out. Pierce Paul passes another bucket to me, which I hand down the line.
Okay, bucket is headed your way, Justin. Over the next couple of hours, we work relentlessly filling buckets and mesh bags again and again. I'm going to move on from this bucket. All right, I got both Justin and Fred outside. Well, they need to come back cuz we got another bucket. What are you doing there, Pierce? I'm working on a layer that pulls right nicely off. I just need to do it methodically.
Copy that. Gentlemen, we have 22 minutes left. 22 2 I understand. Check the gas. I'm not coming out till I get this. Have another bucket here as well if you need it. The gas is running low in the generator that is supplying our air. But Pierce Paul is determined to dig his way to the bottom of this sarcophagus. I got a bucket coming out now. So, I'm hopeful that this will have some artifacts in it. will be of interest to us. Affirmative. You have 2 minutes left. 2 I'm headed back out through chamber one.
We return to the surface with the last set of buckets before our air runs out. It's time to see if we hauled anything out of there other than sand. All right, so this is pretty much the deepest area underneath this lid. So, let's see what's in it. There's like gold right there. Look at that right there. So here we've got something. This looks like the sandstone. So what the heck is this rock right doing inside underneath the slab? More that comes out of here, the more you start to feel like offerings, ceremonial, burial. I mean, it just all starts to fit together in our mesh bag.
What do we got there? Oh my god, we got something here. More gold leaf. Nope. Oh, what is that? Wait, what is this? Check it out. Something big hit. Yeah, this is where this just right uh behind us. In a churchyard outside of the Polish town of Vololan, I'm working with a team searching for the lost tomb of the Viking King Herald Bluetooth. And our ground penetrating radar is indicating there's something large beneath us. How deep down is that? Well, it's 6 to 10 feet down. Oh, it's huge. Here it is. So, this runs this whole area here.
Exactly. How wide is it? Well, it's three 3 ft wide and 3 ft uh height. 10 ft is a pretty big hole. You think we can dig down to that? I think we can. We can bring in the equipment. We have a Kapara. Oh, I love a kapara. A kaparka is what the locals call an excavator. And it just so happens to be the only word I know in Polish. Hey, not my first rodeo here, people. The kaparka goes to work next to the anomaly. Believe it or not, as I watch, the only word for this I can come up with is gentle. So, even though we've got this piece of heavy equipment here, he is using the excavator like a scalpel, just shaving
off an inch or two of top soil at a time so that we carefully go down creating a profile and not damaging whatever's buried here. While this hole is being dug, let's assume that Bluetooth is here. Yeah. What would we be looking for? What do we expect to find here? Well, uh, first of all, we're looking for a crypt, right? He's not just going to be laid out in the ground. No. Ideally, he'd be in a chamber of some kind. In a chamber, we would expect to find a place with treasure. We would expect that he would probably be in finery, in armor, maybe with a sword on his chest, right?
Uh, other weapons. In other words, I think we'll know it when we see it. Yes, absolutely. The excavator slowly digs deeper and deeper, but nothing is visible in the profile of the earth until Stop the stop. Wo! Wait, wait, wait. Is that ceramic? Okay. Something. It's ceramic. No, I think so. Is that bone? Yeah, it's it's a skull. This is part of a human skull. Boy, check. Skull. Yes. Skull. We're not in a burial here, though. No, these are not preserved graves. The layers of soil near the surface have been churned like a laundry machine for centuries, and bone fragments, both
animal and human, are littered all over the area. Okay, but we may find more bones then. Yeah, we could expect more. All right, let's continue. As we move deeper, we continue to find scattered remains from long ago. So, we got another bone here. It looks like this is arm bone. Yeah, this is for the arm. Yeah, this is humorous. It's There's nothing funny about this fortune. Sorry, that's a little skeleton humor. The GPR disturbance we're following lies several feet further down. We keep digging in the hopes of finding Bluetooth's crypt.
Oh, stop. We have wood here. Yes. Yes, we have wood. This coffin, you think? I think so. I think we're certainly at the top of a coffin, it looks like. Have a corner here for sure. You can see the edge of this right here and it goes up that way. So, we're coming down on the top of a coffin, it looks like. What's the alignment here? This is aligned to the east and then the west. We've reached a new layer that is clearly the church's graveyard. One that is very old but more modern than the Vikings. It means we can't excavate further without disturbing these preserved burials. Our GPR hit, however, is still a few more feet down. So, to
make sure we're not missing a crypt below our feet, we bring out an augur. Okay, we're going for 10 ft, guys. We got this. to drill a minimally invasive hole outside the coffin and down to the target. One, two, three. When we hit the 10T mark, we bring up the augur. Okay, so we are at 10 ft. We are at our target depth and we got nothing. We have this white featureless sand here and we have this looser sand above. So the anomaly is not an object. It's a change in the soil. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. The GPR has done its job, but there's no crypt to be found. As to the Crimson disc, it is a terrific story, but without physical evidence to connect it to a specific site, that's all it is.
So, in terms of the location where this disc was found, this supposed burial area, still a mystery. Mhm. So, where does that leave us? Well, we still have the forest site. What forest site? It's a site we've started investigating about 10 minutes away from here uh which could be the uh ancient mythical fortress of the Yums kings. And you're working out there? We have people digging there. Yatsk and Voych think they're on the trail of the legendary Yamsborg Bluetooth stronghold mentioned in the Viking sagas which has never been found. This is potentially huge. And it's how far from here?
It's not far. It's 10 minutes. Okay. If it is a Viking site, that would be hugely significant. That would be groundbreaking. That would be very significant. We quickly pile into my car and head to the site. In moments, we're driving into dense forest and away from civilization in search of GPS coordinates that Voych hopes are part of Harold Bluetooth's legacy until finally we arrive at our destination. Okay, perfect. In the middle of nowhere. Let's go. Welcome to the circle. The circle? Yeah. Okay. I do not see a circle.
No, you can't see it from here. You actually can only see it from above. It's Alexander the Great. That's Alexander. Yes. This is the head of Alexander. Yes. I'm in Alexandria, Egypt at a dig site searching for evidence of a fortification wall that we hope once surrounded a mysterious building that could be the tomb of Alexander the Great. Right now though, we found some cold, hard, and historic cash. He's looking to the right.
Yeah, you can see his nose and mouth. Alexander the Great. Yes. As we can see with a slightly less weathered coin. Alexander's very face was currency here in Alexandria, but surprisingly not in his lifetime. It's a coin that the Tomies meanted, not Alexander. That means that Tomies continue to make coins with the head of Alexander. This tells you everything you need to know about his influence, his power. Yes, of course. That's why Tommy wanted to bring his body in Alexandria. Whoever had the body of Alexander should be the greatest uh king.
Incredible. Well, it's not the tomb of Alexander, but it's Alexander. At least we have a coin. Yes. That's history right there. The coin stamped with Alexander's face is likely from the centuries after his death when the pharaohs that followed him co-opted his image to consolidate their power. But it's a huge sign that our dig is getting close to the layer from the time of Alexander's burial. We return to the trench knowing from the coin that we're likely right above the layer where the fortification wall should be. On our way down, we find the remains of ceramic wine vessels.
Look, it's very beautiful. Eh, so we can see, you can get a sense here of the size of these containers. A lot of them. Look at that big piece of the neck. Ooh, part of the handle down there. Very good. You go. Broken, but beautiful. Yes. Why do you think all these vessels were here? Because there were people working or living here. Something else, right? All right. So, this would be the very top of the vessel. Look at that beauty. But no wine left. This is a tragedy.
Yeah, this is a tragedy. And speaking of wine, I'm going to start drinking if we don't find something soon to confirm that this line of stones was once a wall. Of course, we will continue. We have to excavate all this area. Right. I hope that in another spot we'll find also this line to be continued. Collopy has been in this position before, but doesn't give up easily. So, we cross our fingers and keep going, finding only small pieces of broken stone. Look how many pieces there. Limestone everywhere. Yeah. Wow. But we could. Yes, this is better. This really you found a stone.
Yes. Yes, it continues. Yes. Ah, this is for sure another one of these big limestone blocks that continues right through here. This is just broken up in here. Oh my god, I will start crying now. No, I was disappointed when I didn't see this area having the same stones. I said maybe I'm wrong. But now you see, look at it. You see, it's amazing. That means I'm right. Yeah. Great. Let's go and take a look. Come here. So, up close and personal here, we can see this big limestone block, which looks exactly the same dimensions as the one leading up to it here. So, this does continue. This is a long continuous
foundation of some kind. I mean, that's pretty cool. We measure the stone to see if it matches the width of the previously found section. How wide? 60. 60 cm. Okay. Let's check this one now. 60. Exact same width. Yes. Great. This could be it. We've confirmed that there was likely a fortification wall that surrounded our building. A wall like the one mentioned in the ancient account of Alexander's tomb. We have this huge building with massive foundations right in the middle of the city may be surrounded by a large wall in the royal quarter of ancient Alexandria.
Do you think that could be his tomb? For sure. It's it is a very important building of the royal area of the royal quarter. We need more evidence, more clues to understand the identity. Are you hopeful? Of course. Hope is everything in our work. Alexander is one of the most towering figures in history. It is kind of remarkable that he's lost in a way. Yes. That's why it's so important to find the tomb. So now we just need to excavate all of this all the way to the end of the site.
Uh today I don't promise you this. We can do it. Come on guys, let's get digging. Got a lot of work to do. Collopy has invested decades into this dig, and I rest easy knowing that she won't stop until she's turned over every stone to confirm whether this is Alexander's tomb. But while she continues to investigate here, another theory has emerged from an expert who believes Alexandria was not the final stop for the conqueror's remains. In fact, he's got a wild theory that if true would change everything we think we know about Alexander. To meet this researcher, I bid farewell to Egypt and fly 2,000 miles to London.
The River Tempames is flanked by some quintessentially English landmarks. This is not one of them. Cleopatra's Needle is a 70ft tall, 180 ton Egyptian obelisk. Here to tell me how this 3,500year-old monument ended up here is historian and author of five books on Alexander the Great, Andrew Chug. How wild is that to see uh an ancient Egyptian monument right in the middle of London? Yes. Uh it's migrated its way from Helopoulos in Egypt to Alexandria and from Alexandria eventually to here. Yeah, we actually have one of these as well right in the middle of Central Park in New York City. That's right. they uh used to stand
together in the middle of Alexandria outside the Cesarium temple. Right? So, this was at one point where I've just come from, Alexandria, Egypt. And I guess it's a good reminder that uh many treasures from the ancient world uh had a way of migrating uh to other empires. Yes. Things didn't always stay put. Exactly. And that brings me to Alexander. You know, I've just seen these incredible excavations happening in Alexandria. What do you think? Do you believe Alexander and his tomb are still buried somewhere in the city? Well, I think it's more likely that they too have migrated like the needle here.
Like the needle here. Exactly. Okay. And what about his tomb? Part of his tomb may also have migrated. Not just that, but I'm hoping to show you the proof. Okay, I'm ready to be convinced. Where do we go? It's not far from here. Just down the street. Okay, follow me. Down the street.
