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Welcome to Pa-demi, | 0:00:15 | 0:00:17 | |
an ancient Egyptian village where nobody's lived for over 3,000 years. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:21 | |
Believe it or not it was once really busy, | 0:00:21 | 0:00:24 | |
teeming with life, a very noisy bustling kind of place. | 0:00:24 | 0:00:28 | |
The village lies near a place called the Valley Of The Kings | 0:00:28 | 0:00:32 | |
where ancient Egypt's Kings, known as pharaohs, | 0:00:32 | 0:00:35 | |
were buried in huge tombs deep underground. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:39 | |
And the men who built these royal tombs lived in the village with their families. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:44 | |
Archaeologists exploring here can learn a lot about the everyday lives | 0:00:44 | 0:00:48 | |
of these working people, and thanks to one very special discovery, | 0:00:48 | 0:00:52 | |
we can actually study two of the people who used to live here. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:56 | |
Their names are Kha and Meryt and they were husband and wife. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:02 | |
When they died their bodies their bodies were mummified to preserve them | 0:01:02 | 0:01:06 | |
and placed with all their clothes, furniture and even food | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
in a secret underground tomb on the edge of their village. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:14 | |
The tomb was so well hidden that no-one entered it again for 3,000 years. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:21 | |
It wasn't until 1906 when an Italian archaeologist discovered it | 0:01:21 | 0:01:26 | |
and took all the contents back to a museum in Turin in Italy. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:31 | |
So who were Kha and Meryt? | 0:01:31 | 0:01:36 | |
These are the mummies of Kha and Meryt in the museum. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:38 | |
By using computer eye scanning we can create an image of what | 0:01:38 | 0:01:42 | |
they looked like beneath the many layers | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
of linen strips in which they are still wrapped. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:49 | |
We know that Kha, who stood about five foot six, | 0:01:49 | 0:01:52 | |
was a very striking-looking individual, | 0:01:52 | 0:01:55 | |
with a rather prominent nose | 0:01:55 | 0:01:58 | |
and a great fondness for lots of black eyeliner. | 0:01:58 | 0:02:00 | |
But then when we turn to his little wife, Meryt, | 0:02:05 | 0:02:08 | |
a very dainty little lady, standing about five foot two. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:12 | |
She also had a long, crimped wig of dark brown, wavy hair | 0:02:14 | 0:02:19 | |
which would have made her look really, really beautiful. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:22 | |
The objects found in Kha's tomb are inscribed with hieroglyphics, | 0:02:24 | 0:02:28 | |
which is how the Egyptians used to write. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:31 | |
These little pictures and symbols tell us that Kha designed | 0:02:31 | 0:02:35 | |
the royal tombs and was in charge of the workmen who built them. | 0:02:35 | 0:02:39 | |
which, of course, made Kha and Meryt very important people, | 0:02:39 | 0:02:44 | |
both to their neighbours and to the Pharaoh. | 0:02:44 | 0:02:48 | |
But how did they live here? | 0:02:48 | 0:02:50 | |
What did they eat? What did they drink? | 0:02:50 | 0:02:53 | |
How on earth, in this really, really hot climate, | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
did they keep themselves clean? | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
Kha and Meryt lived with their family in this close-knit community | 0:03:00 | 0:03:05 | |
in homes like these. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
Over 3,000 years ago these houses would have had roofs | 0:03:08 | 0:03:12 | |
with much higher walls which have crumbled away over time. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:17 | |
The houses gave them shade from the burning sun | 0:03:17 | 0:03:20 | |
but I have to use an umbrella. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
Archaeologists have carefully studied these houses | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
to discover more about what each room was used for. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
So we go into the front room here. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:32 | |
And this would be an area, really, | 0:03:34 | 0:03:37 | |
where the woman of the house hung out, | 0:03:37 | 0:03:39 | |
chatted, gossiped and so forth. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:41 | |
Kids running in and out. Up the stairs. | 0:03:41 | 0:03:44 | |
Around the corner into perhaps the most important room in the house, | 0:03:44 | 0:03:47 | |
where the men would retire in the evening. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
This piece of furniture is what is left of an ancient Egyptian sofa. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:55 | |
The gentlemen of the house, with enough time on his hands, | 0:03:55 | 0:03:58 | |
could recline with his friends, drink beer, have a natter. | 0:03:58 | 0:04:01 | |
Then back up this little step and then into this area, | 0:04:05 | 0:04:08 | |
which is quite a considerable size for a room like this. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:12 | |
Probably storage but also a bedroom. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
In the case of Kha and Meryt we know they had some beautiful beds. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:20 | |
These beds were found in their tomb. | 0:04:20 | 0:04:23 | |
The ancient Egyptians didn't have pillows, | 0:04:23 | 0:04:25 | |
but used these wooden headrests | 0:04:25 | 0:04:27 | |
which looked rather uncomfortable to us today. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
As we progress further into the highest part of the house, | 0:04:32 | 0:04:36 | |
we come into a storage area, maybe for clothes, | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
but almost certainly for food and drink also | 0:04:39 | 0:04:41 | |
because this area directly adjoins this wonderful fitted kitchen. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:46 | |
This is extraordinary, because we've actually got the built-in oven | 0:04:46 | 0:04:49 | |
at the back of the house. | 0:04:49 | 0:04:51 | |
And then here an Ancient Egyptian refrigerator. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:54 | |
You'd want a cool drink - on a day like this, you can understand why. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:58 | |
And the only way to do this was to sink the vessels | 0:04:58 | 0:05:01 | |
into a pit deep in the ground. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:03 | |
A little temporary roof over it to keep it as chilled as possible. | 0:05:03 | 0:05:07 | |
So fridge, oven. They've got everything they needed. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:12 | |
Mud brick ovens, just like Kha and Meryt had, | 0:05:12 | 0:05:15 | |
are still being used in Egypt today. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:19 | |
Just as in ancient times, they are still used to make bread. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
I've come to the house of this Egyptian lady to see how it is done. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:27 | |
Now, bread was the key ingredient in the Ancient Egyptian diet. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:32 | |
This bread has been made using very similar ingredients to those used in Kha's day. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:38 | |
It is an easy recipe made with wheat and barley flour, water and salt. | 0:05:40 | 0:05:45 | |
Around 50 loaves of bread of all different shapes and sizes | 0:05:46 | 0:05:50 | |
were found in Kha and Meryt's tomb. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:53 | |
It's a real direct link back into their world. | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
The smell of this wonderful stuff, the feel of it, the way it was made. | 0:05:59 | 0:06:04 | |
All Egyptians would have eaten this on a daily basis. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:11 | |
Egyptian bread is fantastic. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
so I am eating the very stuff that Kha and Meryt would have eaten | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
every single day of their lives. It's fantastic. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:22 | |
And this is where the grains to make the flour for the bread, | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
the wheat and barley, were once stored. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
In ancient Egypt money didn't exist, | 0:06:31 | 0:06:34 | |
so people were paid with things like sacks of grain. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:38 | |
And as well as making bread with it, | 0:06:39 | 0:06:41 | |
they could also use some of the grain two exchange for clothes, | 0:06:41 | 0:06:44 | |
furniture and other things to eat. | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
As well as bread many different kinds of food were discovered | 0:06:49 | 0:06:53 | |
in Kha and Meryt's tomb, including fruit, vegetables, | 0:06:53 | 0:06:56 | |
meat and spices. | 0:06:56 | 0:06:58 | |
Although this fruit now looks very old and dry, | 0:06:58 | 0:07:02 | |
it would have looked delicious 3,500 years ago, when it was still fresh. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:06 | |
And it's quite wonderful stuff. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:13 | |
You have the staple of the ancient Egyptian life here, the bread, | 0:07:13 | 0:07:16 | |
accompanied by the all-important onions and garlic. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:19 | |
This was a standard sort of workmen's packed lunch. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:22 | |
One of these on a daily basis with garlic here, | 0:07:22 | 0:07:25 | |
that's kind of ancient Egyptian packed lunch. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
The fruit, there were grapes, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
and these amazing things. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:33 | |
he had several sacks of these, these are dom palm nuts, although I have | 0:07:33 | 0:07:37 | |
never personally eaten one, they apparently taste like caramel. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:43 | |
There was another thing that the villagers needed a lot of, | 0:07:43 | 0:07:47 | |
and that was water. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:49 | |
Not that far away from the village is the River Nile. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
Flowing right through the middle of their country, | 0:07:52 | 0:07:55 | |
the Egyptians used the Nile to transport people and goods from place to place. | 0:07:55 | 0:08:00 | |
Most importantly, in a country with hardly any rain, | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
the Nile was the only source of water. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:06 | |
Donkeys were used to carry this water to Kha and Meryt's village every day. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:12 | |
Each family was given a daily allowance of about 100 litres of water, | 0:08:12 | 0:08:17 | |
which would have been used for drinking and cooking and washing. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:21 | |
3,500 years ago in the village you would have needed this stuff | 0:08:21 | 0:08:25 | |
at the end of a long day to have washed away the dirt and the sweat. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:29 | |
Now, of course, what goes in must come out. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
Just like you and me, the ancient Egyptians went to the toilet. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
But they didn't have flushing toilets and toilet paper and so on. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:42 | |
This unusual stool with a hole in it was discovered in | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
Kha and Meryt's tomb and it had a very important purpose. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
When Kha and Meryt needed the toilet, | 0:08:49 | 0:08:51 | |
they'd sit on this special stool, do what they had to do, | 0:08:51 | 0:08:55 | |
which would land in a bowl of sand on the floor underneath this stool, | 0:08:55 | 0:08:59 | |
and some rather unlucky servant would | 0:08:59 | 0:09:01 | |
have to come along, take the bowl, | 0:09:01 | 0:09:03 | |
and then they'd throw the contents out on the surface | 0:09:03 | 0:09:06 | |
of the desert, where the very hot sun would immediately | 0:09:06 | 0:09:10 | |
dry any contents and kill all the bacteria, | 0:09:10 | 0:09:13 | |
all the germs that would be found in whatever was in the bowl. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:18 | |
So it was a very, very clever way of dealing with the waste that | 0:09:18 | 0:09:23 | |
all of us produce on a daily basis. Very clever solution. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:26 | |
It's amazing to think that 3,500 thousand years after they lived | 0:09:28 | 0:09:32 | |
we can still discover | 0:09:32 | 0:09:34 | |
so many details about the lives of Kha and Meryt, and all thanks to | 0:09:34 | 0:09:39 | |
the hundreds of fascinating objects discovered in their tomb. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:43 | |
Kha and Meryt are two ancient Egyptians who lived 3,500 years ago. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:06 | |
Their home was this desert village, now known as Deir el-Medina, | 0:10:06 | 0:10:09 | |
but which they called Pa-demi, which just means "the Village". | 0:10:09 | 0:10:14 | |
The tomb of Kha and Meryt was discovered by | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
an Italian archaeologist in 1906, just over 100 years ago. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:26 | |
It was packed full of all their belongings, | 0:10:26 | 0:10:29 | |
now kept in a museum in Turin in Italy, | 0:10:29 | 0:10:31 | |
and these tell us so much about their lives. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:34 | |
We know that Kha and Meryt were husband and wife | 0:10:36 | 0:10:39 | |
but how did they meet and fall in love? | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
How did they marry, and did they have any children? | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
But it isn't just their belongings that can help us | 0:10:46 | 0:10:49 | |
answer these questions. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:51 | |
There are also clues to be found around their village. | 0:10:51 | 0:10:55 | |
On the edge of the village is a place called the Great Pit, | 0:10:55 | 0:10:59 | |
which became a massive rubbish dump, | 0:10:59 | 0:11:01 | |
and when archaeologists began to excavate this area by digging down | 0:11:01 | 0:11:06 | |
they made a remarkable discovery. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
And this is what was found here, | 0:11:15 | 0:11:18 | |
literally tens of thousands of these pieces of pottery and stone, | 0:11:18 | 0:11:23 | |
some with pictures, many more with words, | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
giving us the real history of the village, | 0:11:26 | 0:11:29 | |
because these are their notes, their reminders, their love songs, | 0:11:29 | 0:11:33 | |
their laundry lists, the very voices of this village. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
And it's these ancient letters, lists, | 0:11:38 | 0:11:41 | |
notes and poems which tell us so much about how couples | 0:11:41 | 0:11:45 | |
like Kha and Meryt might have met and fallen in love. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
Here are the words to a typical love poem that was | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
found near the village. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:55 | |
"Your hand is in my hand. | 0:11:55 | 0:11:57 | |
"My body shakes with joy. | 0:11:57 | 0:11:59 | |
"My heart is so happy because we walk together. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:03 | |
"To hear your voice is like pomegranate wine. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:06 | |
"I live just to hear it." | 0:12:06 | 0:12:08 | |
Such poems were very popular in Kha and Meryt's time | 0:12:08 | 0:12:12 | |
and some of the titles sound like modern pop songs today. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:17 | |
There's Your Love, Down To The River, All Night And All Day. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:21 | |
I wonder if Kha or Meryt ever sang any of these to each other? | 0:12:21 | 0:12:25 | |
When a couple fall in love today, they may decide to get married. | 0:12:28 | 0:12:33 | |
In ancient Egypt they didn't have the same kind of wedding ceremony | 0:12:33 | 0:12:36 | |
that we have but there was something called bringing the bundle. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:40 | |
To bring the bundle meant you wanted to indicate your desire to | 0:12:41 | 0:12:45 | |
move in with the person who took your fancy. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
You'd bring all your belongings in a bundle to the person you loved. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:52 | |
If they agreed, you'd move in together | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
and become husband and wife. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:57 | |
It seems both men and women could decide to bring the bundle. | 0:12:57 | 0:13:01 | |
Girls could be as young as 12, | 0:13:01 | 0:13:03 | |
while boys were usually older teenagers. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:06 | |
Now, although the ancient Egyptians didn't have a marriage ceremony | 0:13:08 | 0:13:12 | |
as we would understand it - they simply moved in together - | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
they nevertheless would exchange love tokens, | 0:13:15 | 0:13:19 | |
quite often in the form of rings. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:21 | |
Almost all of Kha and Meryt's belongings | 0:13:21 | 0:13:24 | |
are now in a museum in Turin in Italy. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:27 | |
This ring was discovered tucked under the funeral mask that | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
was placed over Meryt's face when she was buried. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:34 | |
It's so precious it's not yet on display in the museum. | 0:13:34 | 0:13:38 | |
It spent all those thousands of years just tucked away, | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
hidden away within Meryt's own wrappings. | 0:13:46 | 0:13:49 | |
This is an incredible thing to hold. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:53 | |
It represents the love between Kha and Meryt. | 0:13:53 | 0:13:56 | |
The ring has the image of a cow on it, which represents | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
one of the goddesses that Meryt would have worshipped. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
Her name was Hathor, the powerful goddess of many things, | 0:14:07 | 0:14:11 | |
including love and motherhood. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:14 | |
All ancient Egyptian women wanted to be like Hathor. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:19 | |
She's like a modern female celebrity that all women aspire to be. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:24 | |
She had it all and she was worshipped here. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:27 | |
Although only priests, | 0:14:27 | 0:14:28 | |
priestesses and royalty were allowed inside temples like this, | 0:14:28 | 0:14:32 | |
ordinary people would also come here, getting as close as they could | 0:14:32 | 0:14:37 | |
and praying to Hathor to help them have a baby. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:41 | |
It's possible Kha and Meryt would also have prayed to Hathor | 0:14:41 | 0:14:44 | |
and asked for her help. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:46 | |
And perhaps she did help, | 0:14:46 | 0:14:47 | |
because they had at least three children, two sons and one daughter. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:51 | |
We know Kha and Meryt had children because their son Nakht | 0:14:55 | 0:14:59 | |
is shown painted on one of their boxes found in their tomb. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:04 | |
Two of their children are also shown on the walls of this building, | 0:15:06 | 0:15:10 | |
called a chapel. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:11 | |
After Kha and Meryt died, | 0:15:13 | 0:15:15 | |
their children would come here with flowers | 0:15:15 | 0:15:17 | |
to remember their parents and to pray and even to talk to them. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:21 | |
Their daughter is pictured here several times. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:25 | |
She was also called Meryt, after her mother. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:28 | |
And this is Meryt the mother, here, | 0:15:28 | 0:15:31 | |
and this is Meryt the daughter, behind her. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:34 | |
The pictures on the walls of this chapel also give us clues | 0:15:34 | 0:15:37 | |
about the things Kha and Meryt enjoyed during their lives. | 0:15:37 | 0:15:41 | |
Here we have Kha and Meryt's band. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:44 | |
These are the musicians playing their music. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:47 | |
Modern musicians have studied music scenes from Egyptian tombs | 0:15:51 | 0:15:55 | |
and made copies of ancient instruments to create | 0:15:55 | 0:15:58 | |
the sort of music that Kha and Meryt may have listened to. | 0:15:58 | 0:16:02 | |
So Kha and Meryt will have listened to music rather like this. | 0:16:08 | 0:16:11 | |
And we also know they enjoyed playing board games. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:20 | |
Now, we're playing the ancient Egyptian game of Senet. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:24 | |
It's a board game that the Egyptians absolutely loved. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:28 | |
It was the ancient Egyptians' version of turning on a soap opera | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
on TV at night, putting their feet up and enjoying themselves. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:37 | |
It's wonderful to think that because of the discovery | 0:16:39 | 0:16:42 | |
of Kha and Meryt's tomb just over 100 years ago | 0:16:42 | 0:16:45 | |
we can now learn so much about them, | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
including the love they had for their family and for each other. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:51 | |
Archaeologists have spent many years discovering | 0:17:08 | 0:17:11 | |
and studying ancient Egyptian tombs, | 0:17:11 | 0:17:13 | |
so that we can learn more about this fascinating period of history | 0:17:13 | 0:17:17 | |
and find out about the people who lived at this time. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:20 | |
I'm about to go deep underground into an ancient Egyptian tomb, | 0:17:24 | 0:17:28 | |
the places where the Egyptians went when they died. | 0:17:28 | 0:17:31 | |
And it's really, really deep, really, really dark | 0:17:31 | 0:17:35 | |
and really, really dangerous, so I'm going to have to be careful. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:39 | |
This tomb belonged to a man named Kha, who lived 3,500 years ago. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:47 | |
He built it for himself and his wife Meryt. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:49 | |
Their tomb remained secret for thousands of years | 0:17:55 | 0:17:59 | |
but just over 100 years ago | 0:17:59 | 0:18:01 | |
it was discovered by an Italian archaeologist. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
How wonderful to have been in that team of archaeologists | 0:18:07 | 0:18:11 | |
who came down that day in February 1906. | 0:18:11 | 0:18:14 | |
A procession of men eager to know what lay at the end of this | 0:18:15 | 0:18:19 | |
really atmospheric series of tunnels and chambers. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:23 | |
At the end of the tunnel lay a small room known as a burial chamber. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:30 | |
Oh, and a little colony of bats. I love bats. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:34 | |
They certainly picked a great spot to live in. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:39 | |
Here the archaeologists found the mummies of Kha and Meryt, | 0:18:41 | 0:18:44 | |
still in their coffins. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:46 | |
But what a marvellous burial chamber. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:49 | |
Very plain, there's no decoration in here. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:51 | |
But it was also packed with a treasure trove of amazing objects, | 0:18:53 | 0:18:57 | |
the prized possessions of Kha and Meryt, | 0:18:57 | 0:18:59 | |
now stored in a museum in Turin in Italy. | 0:18:59 | 0:19:03 | |
The ancient Egyptians believed they could use all these things | 0:19:03 | 0:19:06 | |
in the afterlife, their version of heaven. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:09 | |
The discovery of Kha and Meryt's tomb was very unusual, | 0:19:11 | 0:19:14 | |
because most other tombs in the village had already been | 0:19:14 | 0:19:17 | |
broken into by thieves, who'd stolen their precious contents. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:21 | |
But Kha was clever. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:25 | |
He built his tomb in a very secret spot | 0:19:25 | 0:19:27 | |
so it would be difficult for tomb robbers to find it. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:31 | |
The importance of having a well-hidden tomb was something | 0:19:31 | 0:19:33 | |
he'd learned in his job as an architect. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:36 | |
But Kha wasn't just any architect. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:39 | |
He designed and built magnificent tombs for Egyptian royalty, | 0:19:39 | 0:19:44 | |
the great pharaohs themselves. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:46 | |
And his special work tools, found in his tomb, are now | 0:19:46 | 0:19:51 | |
kept in the museum in Turin, like this one. | 0:19:51 | 0:19:54 | |
This is called a cubit. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:56 | |
It's a bit like a ruler and was used to measure with. | 0:19:56 | 0:20:00 | |
And here's another cubit, which was also found in Kha's tomb, | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
but this one is covered in gold. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:06 | |
Now, it's a real honour to be allowed to hold this. | 0:20:07 | 0:20:10 | |
And to think Kha himself held this about 3,500 years ago. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:15 | |
He was given it as a reward for his magnificent tomb building. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:20 | |
The ancient writing, or inscription, on this cubit | 0:20:20 | 0:20:23 | |
shows it was one of the presents given to Kha by the Pharaoh | 0:20:23 | 0:20:27 | |
as a reward for all his hard work. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:29 | |
It was too precious to be used when Kha was working, | 0:20:29 | 0:20:32 | |
and instead would have been displayed like a trophy or a medal. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:36 | |
And he really did deserve it, | 0:20:36 | 0:20:38 | |
because it could be really tough building the royal tombs. | 0:20:38 | 0:20:40 | |
To find out more about Kha's work, I'm travelling to | 0:20:44 | 0:20:47 | |
the Valley of the Kings, where the tombs of the Pharaohs were built. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:50 | |
Here I'm meeting expert Steve Cross, | 0:20:54 | 0:20:57 | |
to visit a tomb that was never actually finished. | 0:20:57 | 0:21:00 | |
I'll follow in your footsteps. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:04 | |
'These are copies of some of the tools Kha's workmen would have used.' | 0:21:04 | 0:21:08 | |
We have a few of the small copper chisels, | 0:21:08 | 0:21:10 | |
replicas of Kha's tools that the decorators would have used | 0:21:10 | 0:21:14 | |
for the fine engraving, cutting out the hieroglyphs into the walls. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:18 | |
For actually cutting the walls when excavating the tomb | 0:21:18 | 0:21:21 | |
they used much larger chisels than these, something more like this size. | 0:21:21 | 0:21:24 | |
Up to about two centimetres wide. Well, feel the weight. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:28 | |
-Very different. -Very different. Heavy duty. | 0:21:29 | 0:21:31 | |
'If they came across a particularly hard piece of rock | 0:21:33 | 0:21:36 | |
'they'd use a heavy stone called a dolomite pounder to chip it off.' | 0:21:36 | 0:21:41 | |
Much more power. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:42 | |
The tools were made of very valuable metal | 0:21:43 | 0:21:46 | |
and at the end of each day they'd be weighed to make sure | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
the workmen hadn't chipped off any metal to steal. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:52 | |
The further along the workmen got cutting through the rock to build | 0:21:53 | 0:21:57 | |
the tombs, the deeper underground they went and the darker it became. | 0:21:57 | 0:22:01 | |
This is a lamp filled with sesame oil just like the ones Kha | 0:22:05 | 0:22:09 | |
and his workmen would have used to see in the dark. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:11 | |
Can you imagine if this was your only source of light, | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
in one of these really, really dark, pitch-black almost, rock-cut tombs? | 0:22:15 | 0:22:20 | |
Not only that, but you were hammering away with metal and stone tools, | 0:22:20 | 0:22:25 | |
chips of stone flying everywhere | 0:22:25 | 0:22:27 | |
and you couldn't always see what you were doing. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:30 | |
It's certainly not a job that I'd want to do. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:32 | |
One royal tomb could take 40 men or more many years to build. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:39 | |
But once it was finished, what would a tomb like this have looked like? | 0:22:39 | 0:22:43 | |
This is the place where my favourite pharaoh, Amenhotep III, was buried. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:49 | |
It's a tomb that Kha actually designed | 0:22:49 | 0:22:51 | |
and built with his team of workmen. | 0:22:51 | 0:22:53 | |
It's closed to the public, | 0:22:53 | 0:22:55 | |
but we've been given special permission to go inside. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:58 | |
It's so exciting to be going in here | 0:22:58 | 0:23:00 | |
and following in Kha's wonderful footsteps. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
The colours are fantastic. | 0:23:29 | 0:23:31 | |
Just think, Kha and his men designing these images, | 0:23:31 | 0:23:35 | |
it's taken my breath away. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:37 | |
I think the amazing detail in this tomb really does show why | 0:23:39 | 0:23:43 | |
Kha deserved his royal rewards like the golden cubit. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:47 | |
It's remarkable that 3,500 years after he died, | 0:23:47 | 0:23:50 | |
we can still appreciate some of Kha's greatest achievements. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:54 | |
If it wasn't for the work of archaeologists, who are still | 0:23:56 | 0:24:00 | |
exploring tombs like this one, we'd know far less about them. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:05 | |
These tombs are still revealing their secrets. | 0:24:05 | 0:24:07 | |
Let me introduce you to Kha and his wife Meryt. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:32 | |
These are two ancient Egyptians who lived 3,500 years ago. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:37 | |
But why on earth are they still here? | 0:24:37 | 0:24:40 | |
Their bodies haven't rotted away and that's because they were mummified. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:44 | |
They were preserved in a very careful way. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:47 | |
But why were they mummified? | 0:24:47 | 0:24:49 | |
And, more importantly, how on earth do you mummify anyone? | 0:24:49 | 0:24:53 | |
The Egyptians believed that even when you died, | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
your soul stayed alive and travelled to the afterlife, | 0:24:58 | 0:25:01 | |
a kind of heaven where you could live again for ever. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:04 | |
But because your soul could also come back into your body, | 0:25:05 | 0:25:08 | |
you had to look your best, just as you had done in life. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:12 | |
And this meant the ancient Egyptians had to find a way to stop | 0:25:13 | 0:25:17 | |
the body from rotting in such a hot climate. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:20 | |
So this is where mummification came in. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:23 | |
It was a process which had several stages and took 70 days. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:28 | |
The first thing the Egyptians did would be to take out | 0:25:30 | 0:25:33 | |
all their insides, starting with the brain. | 0:25:33 | 0:25:36 | |
They usually used a metal hook, like this one, which they'd stick | 0:25:36 | 0:25:39 | |
up the nose and then they whisked very vigorously inside | 0:25:39 | 0:25:43 | |
the top of the skull and allowed the brain to come out down the nose. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:48 | |
The next thing would be to take the inside of the body out | 0:25:48 | 0:25:52 | |
and they did this with a piece of volcanic glass called obsidian. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:55 | |
They used this to make a cut in the lower left side of the body, | 0:25:55 | 0:25:59 | |
just here, a very clean cut. | 0:25:59 | 0:26:03 | |
The people who did the mummification would stick their hands inside | 0:26:03 | 0:26:06 | |
and pull out all the internal organs and preserve them separately | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
and put them in jars called canopic jars. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:12 | |
The only thing they left inside the body was the heart, | 0:26:12 | 0:26:16 | |
so that would be left here, because for the Egyptians, | 0:26:16 | 0:26:19 | |
they thought it was rather like the brain. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:21 | |
It was the thing that allowed people to think and to feel, | 0:26:21 | 0:26:25 | |
it was the seat of all learning. So they left the heart in the body. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:29 | |
Then they would dry out the body with a salt called natron. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:34 | |
But the mummies of Kha and Meryt were prepared differently | 0:26:34 | 0:26:38 | |
because their insides were not removed. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:40 | |
Although their mummies have never been unwrapped, | 0:26:41 | 0:26:44 | |
they have been studied using X-rays and computerised scans. | 0:26:44 | 0:26:49 | |
This one shows the inside of Kha's skull, and although the brain | 0:26:49 | 0:26:53 | |
has dried out and shrunk, it's clearly been left inside. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:56 | |
This is because the Egyptians were still trying out different | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
and more effective ways to mummify people. | 0:27:04 | 0:27:08 | |
The scans also show that underneath Kha and Meryt's wrappings, | 0:27:08 | 0:27:12 | |
they wore special jewellery and charms known as amulets, | 0:27:12 | 0:27:15 | |
which the Egyptians believed would help protect them | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
on their dangerous journey into the afterlife. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
This shows the outline of huge necklace that Meryt is wearing. | 0:27:23 | 0:27:27 | |
And to find out what this necklace might actually look like, | 0:27:30 | 0:27:33 | |
I've come here to the Petrie Museum in London where they have | 0:27:33 | 0:27:36 | |
Egyptian jewellery found in tombs from the same time as Kha and Meryt. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:41 | |
This beautiful necklace is very similar to the one | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
we can see in Meryt's scan. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:47 | |
It's the typical Egyptian necklace that you see in the tomb scenes | 0:27:48 | 0:27:52 | |
and in the art. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:53 | |
It's basically made up of numerous little moulded amulets that | 0:27:55 | 0:28:00 | |
have been made in these sumptuous jewel-like colours. | 0:28:00 | 0:28:04 | |
This is exactly the same thing that Meryt still wears. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:10 | |
Her mummy is still adorned in this beautiful broad colour, | 0:28:10 | 0:28:13 | |
which we can see on the image of Meryt here. | 0:28:13 | 0:28:17 | |
The green amulets represent lettuces and the blue ones, grapes. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:23 | |
Both of these are like good luck charms linked to the gods that Meryt | 0:28:23 | 0:28:26 | |
worshipped in her life and wanted to still worship in the afterlife. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:32 | |
From Kha's scan, we can see that underneath the gold jewellery | 0:28:32 | 0:28:35 | |
all around his neck, | 0:28:35 | 0:28:36 | |
he also wears a type of amulet known as a heart scarab. | 0:28:36 | 0:28:40 | |
It lies on Kha's chest above his heart | 0:28:41 | 0:28:43 | |
and it's very similar to this one. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:46 | |
The Egyptians thought that one would be judged in the next world | 0:28:46 | 0:28:49 | |
for any crimes committed in life. | 0:28:49 | 0:28:51 | |
You had to answer to the gods. | 0:28:51 | 0:28:53 | |
Sometimes the heart might give false witness against you. | 0:28:53 | 0:28:56 | |
The heart would jump up and say, | 0:28:56 | 0:28:57 | |
"Well, actually in life the individual did this or that." | 0:28:57 | 0:29:01 | |
So the heavy heart scarab was a means of suppressing the heart, | 0:29:01 | 0:29:05 | |
keeping it quiet. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:07 | |
The spell implores the heart to keep quiet, | 0:29:07 | 0:29:11 | |
do not give full witness against me. | 0:29:11 | 0:29:14 | |
Basically, "Shut it." | 0:29:14 | 0:29:16 | |
After this special jewellery had been placed on their bodies, | 0:29:16 | 0:29:19 | |
Kha and Meryt were wrapped in an enormous amount of linen strips | 0:29:19 | 0:29:23 | |
up to 200 metres long. | 0:29:23 | 0:29:25 | |
Their bodies were then placed in their coffins | 0:29:25 | 0:29:28 | |
and taken to their underground tomb. | 0:29:28 | 0:29:31 | |
They were now ready for their journey to the afterlife, | 0:29:31 | 0:29:34 | |
where they would live for ever. | 0:29:34 | 0:29:36 | |
The ancient Egyptians believed that mummification was needed to | 0:29:37 | 0:29:41 | |
preserve their bodies for the afterlife. | 0:29:41 | 0:29:44 | |
But mummification has also preserved Kha and Meryt's bodies for us, | 0:29:44 | 0:29:48 | |
so that we are able to study them and learn about their lives | 0:29:48 | 0:29:52 | |
and deaths 3,500 years ago. | 0:29:52 | 0:29:55 | |
Kha and Meryt are two ancient Egyptians who lived 3,500 years ago | 0:30:12 | 0:30:17 | |
in a small village between the River Nile and the desert. | 0:30:17 | 0:30:21 | |
In 1906, their tomb was discovered by archaeologists. | 0:30:21 | 0:30:25 | |
And their mummified bodies and almost all their belongings | 0:30:27 | 0:30:30 | |
found in the tomb were brought to a museum in Turin in Italy. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:34 | |
In this room is pretty much everything that was | 0:30:35 | 0:30:38 | |
found in the tomb of Kha and Meryt. | 0:30:38 | 0:30:40 | |
Their jewellery and cosmetics, their furniture and clothes, | 0:30:40 | 0:30:44 | |
even their food and drink. | 0:30:44 | 0:30:46 | |
Because the ancient Egyptians thought they'd need all | 0:30:46 | 0:30:49 | |
these things in death, in the afterlife, | 0:30:49 | 0:30:52 | |
because this was their version of heaven. | 0:30:52 | 0:30:54 | |
The ancient Egyptians really loved life | 0:30:57 | 0:31:00 | |
and wanted it to last for ever. | 0:31:00 | 0:31:02 | |
They believed that death was like crossing the River Nile, | 0:31:02 | 0:31:05 | |
and that the afterlife would be just like their life in Egypt, | 0:31:05 | 0:31:08 | |
only perfect, | 0:31:08 | 0:31:10 | |
free from any dangers or illness. | 0:31:10 | 0:31:14 | |
Here they would become immortal, which means they'd live for ever. | 0:31:14 | 0:31:18 | |
But to get to the afterlife, you had to go on a long | 0:31:19 | 0:31:22 | |
and dangerous journey through the underworld. | 0:31:22 | 0:31:25 | |
So they made special guide books called the Book Of The Dead, | 0:31:25 | 0:31:28 | |
which would help and protect them and make sure they reach the afterlife. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:32 | |
This wonderful thing is Kha's Book Of The Dead, which is | 0:31:34 | 0:31:38 | |
really just a collection of magical spells that allow him | 0:31:38 | 0:31:41 | |
to find his way into the next world. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:44 | |
The spells are written out in this papyrus, | 0:31:47 | 0:31:50 | |
it's a sort of paper made from reeds, | 0:31:50 | 0:31:53 | |
which are dried and stuck together. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:55 | |
In fact, our word "paper" comes from the word papyrus. | 0:31:55 | 0:31:59 | |
Kha's Book Of The Dead is written on a rolled up papyrus scroll | 0:32:02 | 0:32:05 | |
nearly 14 metres long and this is a copy. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:09 | |
All of it is covered in these wonderful little signs, | 0:32:12 | 0:32:15 | |
this picture writing called hieroglyphs, which is how the | 0:32:15 | 0:32:18 | |
Egyptians wrote their language down. | 0:32:18 | 0:32:20 | |
In this case, all these little signs and symbols give all the secret | 0:32:20 | 0:32:25 | |
spells that Kha and Meryt would need to get through into the next world. | 0:32:25 | 0:32:29 | |
And in Kha's Book Of The Dead, | 0:32:31 | 0:32:33 | |
we can even see a picture of his funeral procession. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:36 | |
These men are pulling his large coffin, known as a sarcophagus, | 0:32:36 | 0:32:40 | |
towards his tomb. | 0:32:40 | 0:32:42 | |
As today, the funeral was a very important ceremony | 0:32:42 | 0:32:46 | |
when someone had died. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:47 | |
This too was built around the same time as Kha and Meryt's was. | 0:32:49 | 0:32:53 | |
The pictures on the walls | 0:32:53 | 0:32:54 | |
show us exactly what an ancient Egyptian funeral procession | 0:32:54 | 0:32:57 | |
would have looked like. | 0:32:57 | 0:32:59 | |
All the dead man's belongings are being carried into his tomb | 0:32:59 | 0:33:02 | |
so he can use them in the afterlife. | 0:33:02 | 0:33:05 | |
You've got all sorts of things - the jars of perfume, the chair, | 0:33:05 | 0:33:10 | |
the flowers, the food and drink. | 0:33:10 | 0:33:13 | |
And, of course, this wonderful group of ladies here. | 0:33:13 | 0:33:17 | |
These are the mourners, and yet these aren't this man's relatives | 0:33:17 | 0:33:21 | |
or friends, they were hired to make the maximum noise possible. | 0:33:21 | 0:33:25 | |
The more crying and wailing you had at your funeral, | 0:33:25 | 0:33:28 | |
the more important people thought you were. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:31 | |
If you look really closely, they are crying. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:33 | |
They are such professionals they are crying so much, | 0:33:33 | 0:33:36 | |
forcing themselves to produce tears, | 0:33:36 | 0:33:38 | |
that their thick black eyeliner is running. | 0:33:38 | 0:33:40 | |
And any women that wear mascara understand the problem. | 0:33:40 | 0:33:43 | |
You start to cry, the make-up runs down your face. | 0:33:43 | 0:33:47 | |
The ancient artist betrayed this so beautifully, | 0:33:47 | 0:33:49 | |
with these dots of black coming down the women's faces. | 0:33:49 | 0:33:53 | |
After the funeral procession got to the tomb, | 0:33:55 | 0:33:58 | |
Kha's coffin was raised upright so a special ceremony | 0:33:58 | 0:34:01 | |
called "the opening of the mouth" | 0:34:01 | 0:34:03 | |
could be performed by his eldest son. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
This magical ceremony was meant to bring all Kha's senses back | 0:34:06 | 0:34:10 | |
to life so he'd be able to see, hear, touch, | 0:34:10 | 0:34:13 | |
smell and taste again in the afterlife. | 0:34:13 | 0:34:16 | |
His mouth was magically reopened by touching it with a special | 0:34:17 | 0:34:21 | |
chisel called an adze. | 0:34:21 | 0:34:23 | |
Music was played to reawaken Kha's hearing, | 0:34:23 | 0:34:26 | |
while dancing helped bring back his sight. | 0:34:26 | 0:34:29 | |
Incense, perfumes and bouquets of flowers were presented | 0:34:29 | 0:34:33 | |
to his nose to restore his sense of smell. | 0:34:33 | 0:34:36 | |
And the finest food and wine presented to feed his soul. | 0:34:36 | 0:34:40 | |
The Egyptians believed that Kha's soul was now woken from the dead, | 0:34:44 | 0:34:48 | |
and safe within his mummy, was ready to face the long | 0:34:48 | 0:34:51 | |
and dangerous journey through the underworld. | 0:34:51 | 0:34:54 | |
It was a journey which they believed included many difficult | 0:34:54 | 0:34:57 | |
and dangerous tests set by the gods. | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
The last of these tests was known as "the weighing of the heart" | 0:35:00 | 0:35:04 | |
and was judged by Osiris, god of the underworld. | 0:35:04 | 0:35:07 | |
This would reveal if a person had been good or bad during their life. | 0:35:08 | 0:35:13 | |
If they'd been naughty, bad, done anything to upset the gods, | 0:35:13 | 0:35:19 | |
then the heart would be heavy with sin | 0:35:19 | 0:35:22 | |
and so the heart was literally taken up like a piece of meat | 0:35:22 | 0:35:25 | |
and thrown to this terrifying creature here. | 0:35:25 | 0:35:28 | |
This is the Great Devourer. | 0:35:28 | 0:35:30 | |
But if their heart was as light as a feather, the person passed the test | 0:35:32 | 0:35:35 | |
and their soul was allowed to enter the afterlife and live for ever. | 0:35:35 | 0:35:40 | |
In Kha's Book Of The Dead, | 0:35:40 | 0:35:42 | |
it describes the kind of afterlife he wanted. | 0:35:42 | 0:35:45 | |
His heart's desire was simply to sit with his beloved wife, Meryt, | 0:35:45 | 0:35:50 | |
in a garden in a summerhouse enjoying himself | 0:35:50 | 0:35:54 | |
and enjoying coolness of the north wind. | 0:35:54 | 0:35:57 | |
Having met Kha and Meryt, having entered their world, | 0:36:01 | 0:36:05 | |
I think they've really achieved a kind of immortality | 0:36:05 | 0:36:08 | |
because 3,500 years later, we're still talking about them. | 0:36:08 | 0:36:12 | |
The ancient Egyptians truly believed that to speak | 0:36:14 | 0:36:17 | |
the name of the dead was to make them live again. | 0:36:17 | 0:36:20 | |
And, surely, they do. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:23 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:36:39 | 0:36:43 |