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NARRATOR: 100 ft beneath the Egyptian desert, a team of archaeologists is carefully dismantling an ancient stone wall. RAMADAN: We are expecting the unexpected. NARRATOR: They're searching for evidence of a burial chamber, hidden for the past 2,500 years. The work is risky. DR HAMED: Is it safe to remove the wall? Or not safe? NARRATOR: But the potential reward is a discovery that could help unlock the secrets of life and death in Ancient Egypt.
PROF IKRAM: Oh, there's stuff in there. Ramadan, there's stuff in there. RAMADAN: Let me see. No way. We thought it's going to be big, but this is huge. I think I am a very lucky Egyptologist. NARRATOR: Saqqara, Egypt. In the shadow of the world's oldest pyramid, renowned Egyptologist, Doctor Ramadan Hussein and his team of archaeologists are investigating a ground breaking new site.
RAMADAN: This is one of the most beautiful mummies I have ever seen in my life. NARRATOR: A 2,500 year old funeral home where ancient Egyptians, rich and poor, were mummified and buried deep underground. What makes the site so special is that nothing remotely like it has ever been found before. RAMADAN: Personally, I never thought I would be making discoveries like this, we were always collecting information about ancient Egyptians. But discovering this magnitude is absolutely unprecedented in Egyptian archaeology.
NARRATOR: The first clue that this is no ordinary site is a deep pit carved from solid limestone. RAMADAN: We made a big discovery in the form of an intact shaft, it's about 13 meters deep. At this point I've realised this shaft is an embalmers cache, a hiding place that the Ancient Egyptian embalmers used to collect all the tools and the vessels they used during mummification. NARRATOR: The team has also found other deep shafts.
Now it's using the latest laser scanning technology to take its investigations to the next level. DR LANG: We use a laser scanner to get the big picture of the whole site. MALE: We're doing the two scans, put them over there. DR LANG: To reconstruct the whole site with all context, with all objects in high resolution. NARRATOR: By stitching dozens of scans together, the team is mapping the complex both above ground and below. The scans reveal a network of shafts and passageways stretching nearly 100ft down
and leading to a set of burial chambers untouched for thousands of years. From the style of pottery found in the shaft, the chambers have all been dated to around 600 BC when the practice of mummification was at its peak. It's Ramadan's mission to decode this sprawling site and re-write the book on mummification and burial in Ancient Egypt.
To reach the burial chambers, the team has had to clear over 450 tons of sand from a vertical shaft known as K24. PROF IKRAM: This is a fabulous shaft, this one's been cut through limestone of varying qualities. You can see that the Ancient Egyptians have shored it up a bit to make sure that things don't come collapsing down. And it's extraordinarily deep, it's 30 meters. NARRATOR: At the bottom of K24, 100ft is a hallway with five adjoining chambers; two to the west, two to the north and one to the east.
Inside these rooms, Ramadan and his team are uncovering an incredible range of treasurers, including the first silver mummy mask found in Egypt for nearly a century. RAMADAN: It's very rare, you don't find it every day. NARRATOR: Grave goods to provide the dead with everything they needed in the afterlife, plus dozens of embalming cups containing traces of the actual oils used during mummification. And Ramadan suspects that the complex has even more secrets to share.
RAMADAN: Today we're very interested to explore this area right here. Where we standing on the first hallway, we have one burial chamber on the west, but on the east we have this wall, the Egyptians were always consistent, I think there might be another burial chamber behind this wall. We're moving one stone so we can get a better look at what's behind.
PROF IKRAM: Oh, there's stuff in there! Ramadan, there's stuff in there. RAMADAN: What's in there? PROF IKRAM: There's this dark stuff that looks as if it's mummy residue, resonate substance of some sort. NARRATOR: It's an encouraging start, but not everyone is happy. DR HAMED: Yes, I'm concerned because some of these rocks are cracked, so cracking means that it is overloaded. Now what we were discussing, is it safe to remove the wall, or not safe? NARRATOR: After weighing up the risk, Ayman gives the okay to continue.
RAMADAN: Let me see. (foreign dialogue) No way. PROF IKRAM: It does seem to be an opening of some sort that keeps on going. RAMADAN: This is the surprise we're looking for. Oh my God. This is the hole that keeps giving. (laughs)
Oh wow, this is unbelievable. This looks bigger than everything we've seen here. MALE: This is unreal. ARCHAEOLGISTS: Ah! RAMADAN: We're just happy because we thought it's going to be big, but this is huge. NARRATOR: Discovering the tomb is just the start. Now Ramadan must investigate the new chamber to see if it can shed any new light on the ancient practice of mummification.
RAMADAN: A nine year old me came from a really humble background, it's a lot of work. Everything I went through is worth it. I came into this field, a lot of passion and love but I don't think a lot of people have my luck and this is what's so emotional about it. NARRATOR: 100ft beneath the desert, Egyptologist Doctor Ramandan Hussein and his team are opening the newly discovered burial chamber.
(foreign dialogue) For Ramadan, its contents are a golden opportunity to learn more about the mysterious practice of mummification. RAMADAN: We can just have a peak at a really big room with a number of wooden coffins, so we have multiple burials in there. And I could see already a wooden box with a calcite canopic jar that I'm seeing right there. NARRATOR: Canopic jars like this were used to store the organs of the dead as a way of guaranteeing eternal life. And on one of them, Ramadan, an expert in hieroglyphics, spots a name.
RAMADAN: Now we have a photograph of the canopic jars and I could see the name we have here is Didi Bastet so it's good to find a mummy, it's good to find a coffin, it's good to find a canopic jar. It's much better to be able to put the name on this. NARRATOR: The name, Didi Bastet is also significant for another reason. Across the hallway on the sarcophagus of a priest called Tjanimit is a painted inscription. It describes not only his titles but also the name of his mother, one Didi Bastet RAMADAN: It makes you happy as a family reunion here,
you get the son and the mother in the same place and you don't find this very often in archaeology. NARRATOR: Armed with this crucial new information, the team gets ready to enter Didi Bastet's chamber for the first time. RAMADAN: We're setting up some light in here, 'cause the room is quite dark.
NARRATOR: 2,500 years of heat and humidity have taken their toll and the room's contents are extremely fragile. So the first job is to create a carbon copy. DR LANG: We have seen all the wood inside the chamber, as soon as someone touches it, it will just fall apart and it will fall into dust. So the only possibility to preserve it is to have a digital 3D model. NARRATOR: The team is using a digital imaging technique called photogrammetry. It involves stitching together hundreds of overlapping photographs to create a 3D model.
(foreign dialogue) RAMADAN: It's always exciting, it's always, always exciting to get inside a burial chamber and be the first to explore it. NARRATOR: The project is using technology like this, to document every inch of the site and the scans are revealing that it was much more than just a handful of tombs. In their quest for eternal life, customers like Didi Bastet
weren't only buried here, they were also mummified. PROF IKRAM: One of the key parts of having a good afterlife is to preserve your body because the Egyptians believe that if your body is preserved and recognisable, your spirit essence can go into it and reanimate it. And mummification was key to that because that made your body well preserved. NARRATOR: From written records, we know that Egyptian embalmers could take as long as 70 days to produce a finished mummy.
Much less though is known about where mummification took place. Just to the north of K24 is another shaft leading to an empty chamber. In it, Ramadan has found intriguing evidence that it was used for mummification. RAMADAN: Hey. DR BUCKLEY: Hi, great to meet you. RAMADAN: Good to meet you. DR BUCKLEY: And you, and you. NARRATOR: To test his findings, Ramadan has invited along mummification expert, Doctor Stephen Buckley.
MALE: We're gonna put a climbing harness on for you, so it's just like putting on a pair of pants really, one foot in each leg loop, there we go. NARRATOR: Until now, the only archaeological evidence for mummification has been above ground. DR BUCKLEY: The reality of mummifying a body is quite a challenging one as you need not only the right materials but the right environment to achieve that. NARRATOR: If Ramadan is right about the chamber then it would be the first proof that mummification was also performed underground.
RAMADAN: Don't worry, we're here. Almost there, -Good, good, good, good. DR BUCKLEY: Yeah, it's good. RAMADAN: Good? DR BUCKLEY: Yeah. RAMADAN: Okay, so, yeah. DR BUCKLEY: Okay. NARRATOR: Compared to the glaring heat above, the atmosphere in the chamber couldn't be more different. DR BUCKLEY: That's what you notice straight away, that it's a lot cooler and that airflow as well, very different to up there.
RAMADAN: This corridor, this is what brings fresh air and keeps the air moving all the time inside this place. DR BUCKLEY: That's exactly what you need for successful mummification. Bodies can start to decompose relatively quickly, so their special space with airflow would've been the perfect place for mummification. NARRATOR: Ans there's another clue that this air conditioned chamber might have been used for mummification. RAMADAN: The interesting thing that I've noticed here is that large vessel.
First it's in the corner, second there is a wall that is built around it. Third is traces of charcoal burning on the side right here. DR BUCKLEY: I can see that, yeah. RAMADAN: So I'm thinking this is a large incense burner. DR BUCKLEY: I agree with you completely, you need a cool ventilated space for mummification, that's vital. But you've still then got the biggest killer for mummification which are insects. So the way to actually deal with them is to burn incense, so the coolness, the ventilation combined with this as an incense burner would mean that it would be the perfect environment.
RAMADAN: I have one last thing to show you, that this ledge cut in the bedrock, it's occupying the entire space of the eastern wall, but the back of it, there's a small channel that runs on the side right here and then runs on the floor and you could see it all the way around. NARRATOR: From studying the contents of canopic jars like Didi Bastet's we know that one of the key stages of mummification was the removal of major organs like the intestines, liver and lungs.
This ensured that the body didn't rot from within. DR BUCKLEY: And what's interesting about the evisceration, the removal of the internal organs is if it's done by someone who's very skillful then they can put their hand in, perhaps even a large hand into a relatively small incision and pull out one by one, all the internal organs and they all come out as one. NARRATOR: Could these channels on the floor be the final proof that this is where that grizzly procedure was performed? DR BUCKLEY: It makes perfect sense to me that this was used to eviscerate the bodies where you could take the internal organs out and any blood would go down the channels.
This, as a space for mummification, evisceration, is absolutely perfect. RAMADAN: So amazing to hear that, it's fantastic. NARRATOR: This remarkable chamber is the first evidence of underground mummification ever found in Egypt, it suggests that this was no ordinary funeral home but a place where the art of mummification was being reinvented. To learn more though Ramadan must inspect Didi Bastet's hidden chamber for the first time. RAMADAN: Archaeology is a field of being a detective on the site, you're collecting the information, you're asking questions until you reach a conclusion.
And this is what we do. NARRATOR: Beneath the pyramids of Saqqara, Doctor Ramadan Hussein and his team are carefully excavating Didi Bastet's hidden burial chamber. RAMADAN: They might look to somebody like old dusty bones but for us they're not, they're humans.
NARRATOR: To document the chamber, the team has been creating a digital copy in 3D and Ramadan is anxious to see the results. MALE: This is the perspective we have from there, let's call it the entrance. RAMADAN: Mmm hmm. MALE: But to get like a better idea what's really going on we can zoom out and have like the overview of it. RAMADAN: Mmm hmm. NARRATOR: The first thing he notices is Didi Bastet's position. RAMADAN: It's separated from the rest of the burials.
MALE: Yeah and the ledge. RAMADAN: By this wall. MALE: Yeah, that small ledge. NARRATOR: Looked at from above, the model shows that separating Didi Bastet from the other burials is a low stone wall. RAMADAN: And the other thing is the elevation of it, it's higher than everything in the burial chamber. NARRATOR: Is this careful positioning significant? RAMADAN: If this is correct it will speak about the status of this person and the specialness of this burial again. NARRATOR: And there's an even bigger surprise; the model reveals something very odd about Didi Bastet's grave goods.
RAMADAN: There's one right here. This is something unique. NARRATOR: Specifically the canopic jars containing her internal organs. While it was the Ancient Egyptian custom to be buried with four canopic jars, the model appears to show two extra jars, placed either side of Didi Bastet's mummy. RAMADAN: To my knowledge, unprecedented, I haven't seen something like that, I haven't heard something like that. I've been in contact with colleagues to ask them, have they seen a set of six canopic jars,
so far the answer I'm getting, this is unheard of, this is something new. NARRATOR: If Ramadan's interpretation of the model is correct then it's a potentially groundbreaking discovery. (foreign dialogue) RAMADAN: Is it, is it okay? NARRATOR: The only way for him to be sure is to inspect the jars for himself. RAMADAN: Happy to see a burial that have not been touched for 2,600 years. NARRATOR: The first thing to catch his eye is a set of shabti figurines.
RAMADAN: Oh, blue as it could be on the shabtis. PROF IKRAM: One of the most popular objects to put into your tomb were called shabtis and these shabtis are there to work for you, so it meant the more shabtis you had the more you could have a really relaxing afterlife. NARRATOR: And lying beside the shabtis, Didi Bastet's canopic jars. RAMADAN: What is so strange is to have two sets of these canopic jars, normally it's just one set of four, but we have those four; one, two, three, four. And all of a sudden they have one here on the western side of this coffin and then the eastern side there's another one. That's a first for me, that's something new.
That is something new, this complex is unlike any other burial chambers that we have seen. NARRATOR: While there are still questions to answer such as why Didi Bastet has six jars, it would appear that the embalmers from the site were breaking with thousands of years of tradition. What's more, Ramadan thinks that he may have uncovered yet another first. RAMADAN: This rectangular structure right here, I think it has to be connected with the process of mummification. NARRATOR: Just a few feet from the burial shaft K24, workers are carefully excavating a new discovery. A 2,500 year old mud brick structure who's unusual layout Ramadan has seen once before.
Some 10 miles to the north of Saqqara, beneath the pyramids of Giza is a beautifully decorated tomb, belonging to a high ranking official called Qar RAMADAN: I haven't been here for almost ten years, but the scenes and the decoration of these tombs are all lin my mind all these years, especially that scene here. NARRATOR: In the middle of the depiction of Qar's funeral procession is what's brought Ramadan here. One of the few surviving illustrations of an ibu or embalming tent.
RAMADAN: An ibu is a temporary tent made for the deceased for the purpose of purification during the embalmification process and we know that this structure is an ibu because Egyptians like to label everything. And here's what we have, is the word for ibu; the reed leaf with the, for an E and then the leg is for the B sound and then the quill chick is for the U. So what you can read here is ibu. NARRATOR: What's so striking about the ibu though is its shape. RAMADAN: So this rectangular structure right here is what makes the ibu, but the main thing in it is that ramp in the middle and the two equal rooms on the side.
And what I have here is a 3D scan of our new structure with a ramp in the middle and two equal rooms or spaces on the sides. So I am 100 percent sure that what we have in Saqqara is an ibu. NARRATOR: If Ramadan is right and the structure at Saqqara is an ibu where the bodies of customers like Didi Bastet were purified and preserved, then the site should hold more clues. Back at Saqqara, Ramadan and mummification expert, Stephen Buckley are investigating. DR BUCKLEY: I mean what interests me is both the layout and what you've found.
NARRATOR: They're looking for evidence of a crucial process that it's thought to place inside the ibu. DR BUCKLEY: Having removed the internal organs and used the resonance and the incense, now it's the key aspect of the mummification which is the use of the natron, it's special, magical if you like, salt that was so crucial to the preservation of the body. NARRATOR: Natron salt was used by Egyptian embalmers to stop the body from decomposing and one theory is that it was applied using some form of bath.
DR BUCKLEY: I think it's interesting, I mean what intrigues me is, is that depression there. From my point of view, this would be the place where they were treating the body with natron and I think if this had been waterproofed at some point, then a body would fit in this space very nicely and that would work perfectly with the natron bath to produce a very well mummified individual. RAMADAN: Music to my ears.
DR BUCKLEY: This is fantastic because a question is often asked of me, I've done the experiments, I've shown how it was done, but where was it done. RAMADAN: Where? Yes. DR BUCKLEY: That's always been asked, yeah and I haven't had an answer until now. RAMADAN: Fantastic, wonderful to hear that. NARRATOR: This combination of an underground workshop for the removal of internal organs and an ibu, a tent in which the body was preserved and embalmed, is a ground breaking discovery. As it's evidence of a hugely sophisticated approach to mummification.
RAMADAN: We always knew about the procedures of mummification from text and also scenes, but this is the first time we have different structures where mummification and the preparation of the mummies took place. This is very rare. NARRATOR: In fact, it's totally unique which is why it will allow scholars like Ramadan to build the most accurate picture yet of how Ancient Egyptians buried their dead. But for now, Ramadan has a more pressing mystery to solve; why Didi Bastet was buried with so many canopic jars. RAMADAN: The Ancient Egyptians wanted to tell us a story, they wanted to leave everything they believed in a burial chamber like this, on the floor, around the coffin.
It is our job now to decode this particular context and explain it to everybody. NARRATOR: Far beneath the desert, Ramadan and his team are preparing to take away Didi Bastet's canopic jars for analysis. RAMADAN: When Didi Bastetpassed away 2,600 years ago, her body would've been brought and lowered into this shaft 30m deep, then put inside a coffin along with six canopic jars.
This is definitely unusual; we haven't seen something like that. NARRATOR: But as they're about to enter Didi Bastet's tomb, they notice a problem. The high humidity has caused a mould to appear on some of the mummies. DR BUCKLEY: Being down here in the tomb now, you can feel the moisture, the water in the air and that matters because that water can re-initiate the bacteria that would cause decay. So that's the real enemy of the mummies. NARRATOR: If left untreated, the spores could be harmful to both the mummies and the team. So work is put on hold while the chambers are sprayed with a special mixture
of natural oils, similar to those used by ancient embalmers. For centuries, our knowledge of these oils has come mainly from written text. But thanks to some remarkable discoveries, that is beginning to change. RAMADAN: In the mummification complex, one of the most amazing discoveries for me is that we found mounds of pottery pieces, broken pottery vessels, all these cups and shards inscribed with labels. NARRATOR: Many of these cups still contain rare traces of the actual oils used during mummification. RAMADAN: One of the cups like this one, this is my little treasure here, because it has residue of the oil trapped inside the walls.
We don't know what this oil is, we don't know the plant base of it, but now we have our golden opportunity to know exactly what kind of oil was once inside this cup. NARRATOR: So, a team of specialists is analysing this residue. And the first set of results is now in, from a piece of pot labelled 'Entiu', thought to be the ancient Egyptian word for myrrh.
DR RAGEOT: So, we studied the first organic residue on the pot. RAMADAN: And what did you find? DR RAGEOT: We find some marker of conifer and this small marker among the conifer family is cedar, it will be cedar. RAMADAN: So, you telling me that you have found residue of cedar by-product trapped in the walls of this potshard? DR RAGEOT: Exactly. RAMADAN: This is interesting because we normally just translate Entiu as myrrh but now you're giving me a completely different idea about Entiu.
You know if you think of cedar wood it was very important for Egyptians, it's fragrant, it's antibacterial, also insecticides. All these three properties makes it really perfect substance for embalming. NARRATOR: What these results show is that previous assumptions about the embalming oil Entiu were inaccurate and that it was derived not from myrrh but cedar oil, just as revealing is where this cedar came from. RAMADAN: Cedar doesn't grow in Egypt, so it has to be imported. DR RAGEOT: As you see in the, in, in the map, if you look for the cedar there is two kind of origin, one in Morocco area
and other kind of cedar from Lebanon and Turkey. RAMADAN: Yeah, so we're talking about highly expensive product here and it's not Egyptian product, it's imported. DR RAGEOT: Probably. NARRATOR: All of which suggests that mummification was far more than a religious right, it was also big business. RAMADAN: It's all just putting in this context that I always think about is the economics of embalming, how much do you have to pay in order to get your body mummified in a complex like this? Especially if you have to use foreign products. DR RAGEOT: Yeah as you say its high value products.
NARRATOR: So could there also be a business reason for Didi Bastet six canopic jars? Now that the chambers have been sprayed, Ramadan can, at last, find out. RAMADAN: It is very exciting, what will be in them, this is a big question, we're waiting for an answer. NARRATOR: Inside the hidden burial chamber, it's now safe for Ramadan and his team to start removing some of Didi Bastet many grave goods.
RAMADAN: I have never seen something like this, this is beautiful. MALE: It's treasures, you have to be careful. NARRATOR: Among the items being packed up and hoisted to the surface are her canopic jars. Since it was the norm to be buried with four jars, each containing a different organ, Ramadan is intrigued to know why Didi Bastet was buried with six. MALE: Everything must be slowly-slowly. (foreign dialogue) NARRATOR: So the two extra jars are being taken to Cairo's Egyptian museum
Under armed escort. RAMADAN: So we are on our way now to the museum. The canopic jars, they're safe in the box and also with the high security escort that we have right now, I'm very confident everything will go very well today. Yeah, I'm very excited about it.
NARRATOR: Using the museum's CT scanner, Ramadan is hoping to reveal the jar's contents. PROF SALEEM: The great power of this machine is that it gives us an idea about what is actually inside the object. Do we expect to find a mummy organ? Can we see a liver? It's an adventure. NARRATOR: The first jar depicting the jackal headed God, Duamutef, is placed inside the scanner. PROF SALEEM: This is very interesting; this is such a unique piece.
NARRATOR: It's followed by the falcon headed jar. PROF SALEEM: We did CT scans of the two small canopic jars and the first one is the jackal, what we can see here is the inside of this is almost totally filled with this greyish material. Now we are adjusting the view and here the material is totally occupying the inside of the jar and this is really peculiar thing that I would say that this is tissue.
RAMADAN: So just to double check with you that I understand you correctly, the grey area which is pretty much the majority of the content is human tissue, is that true? PROF SALEEM: It could be like linen wrappings or so but this doesn't look like a wrapping, I don't find the layers of it, I find a lump, a lump of tissue. NARRATOR: And it's the same story with the falcon headed jar, which also appears to contain human tissue but what type? RAMADAN: We should be thinking about other organs that we traditionally don't see in burials in the canopic jars, something like the brain, something like the kidneys.
It's possibility, why not, but I'm very happy to know that there's soft tissue inside the two canopic jars. NARRATOR: The discovery that the two small jars could contain extra organs is a fascinating new piece of information. RAMADAN: We could have all the organs of Didi Bastet being taken out, embalmed and put inside six canopic jars. There might be the brain of Didi Bastet and the kidneys, the two organs that never been embalmed in Ancient Egypt. We never seen this happening for any person but that could be the situation with Didi Bastet NARRATOR: So why was this done?
RAMADAN: We're guessing that Didi Bastet would have brought an extra package where her brain and kidney been embalmed and placed in two extra canopic jars. It says something about this business of mummification, this establishment were willing to move away from tradition in order to up-sell, perhaps, or cater to the needs of a certain customer. NARRATOR: It's not just the discoveries inside Didi Bastet's chamber that are helping to rewrite the book on mummification.
Just as revealing are the finds from the rest of the complex. DR BUCKLEY: What's interesting to me is that Egyptologists have long had a reasonable understanding of how mummification took place, but what was far less clear was where these processes of the mummification took place and this is what this site provides us with. RAMADAN: We can now very safely talk about the archaeology of mummification, about embalming taking place in an actual real life structures right here.
NARRATOR: But most exciting of all is that the decoding of this unique site and all that it contains has only just begun. PROF IKRAM: Discovering and excavating a site is only the first step in a very long journey, it takes a very long time, sometimes even decades, to truly understand what one site has to tell us. RAMADAN: I consider myself lucky because what we're learning from here, it's the big discovery and also what we're learning from it. But also we're developing this personal attachment to this site.
That is what keeps us really wanting to come back every season, every year to work in this place. This site will live for another 30, 40, 50, 60 years. Captioned by SubTitlePro LLC
