0:00:03 > 0:00:04Camel, get up.
0:00:04 > 0:00:06Woo!
0:00:06 > 0:00:09SHE LAUGHS
0:00:09 > 0:00:11This is brilliant.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13This is obviously an iconic image -
0:00:13 > 0:00:16taking a camel ride by the pyramids.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Surely, it encapsulates the spirit of Egypt.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24But such an image is completely misleading,
0:00:24 > 0:00:26because there weren't any camels here
0:00:26 > 0:00:29when the pyramids were built 4,500 years ago.
0:00:31 > 0:00:32And that's the thing.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36Ancient Egypt is instantly recognisable
0:00:36 > 0:00:39but all too often completely misunderstood.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44So, I'm going to try and change that.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46- Good luck!- Shukran jazeelan.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52The Great Pyramid of Giza,
0:00:52 > 0:00:54the final resting place of King Khufu,
0:00:54 > 0:00:58over 140 metres from bottom to top.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03No wonder it still pulls in the crowds...
0:01:03 > 0:01:05and the occasional Egyptologist.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15- Sabah al-khair. MEN:- Sabah al-khair.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20It's hard to really get it into words, but we are now entering
0:01:20 > 0:01:25into the depths of this iconic monument of ancient Egypt.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27Sabah al-khair.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29It's a very busy iconic monument, though.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33- Sabah al-khair.- Sabah al-khair.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38And as we set foot on this journey upwards, it's a brilliant metaphor
0:01:38 > 0:01:42for the way that the ancient Egyptian civilisation literally rose up
0:01:42 > 0:01:45from the Earth to a real zenith.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48So, come with me and I'll show you something really brilliant.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53Because the pyramids are really only the tip of the iceberg.
0:01:57 > 0:01:58Oh!
0:01:58 > 0:01:59Oh, flipping heck.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05So all this was a big city.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07- Overwhelming in size.- Yeah, it is.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11That is absolutely superb.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15In this series, I am going to explore the story
0:02:15 > 0:02:19of what I consider to be the world's greatest civilisation -
0:02:19 > 0:02:23more than 4,000 years of history that has shaped our world
0:02:23 > 0:02:27and left unmistakable marks that can still be read today.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32I'll be looking into every nook and cranny,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35from little-known tombs...
0:02:35 > 0:02:36It's staggering.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39I've never ever been into a tomb quite like this before.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42..to the hidden corners of vast monuments...
0:02:42 > 0:02:44It's like being on top of the world, isn't it?
0:02:44 > 0:02:46Yeah, we are on the top of Karnak.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53So it's really no surprise that weird and wonderful theories
0:02:53 > 0:02:56about ancient Egypt crop up all the time.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03But what I find so amazing is that this most intriguing civilisation
0:03:03 > 0:03:08was actually created by people not so very different from you and me.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10And that's the story I want to tell.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17The story full of secret treasures, dark deeds...
0:03:19 > 0:03:22..and sometimes controversial theories.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25This mask was originally made for someone else.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30And for the first time, I'll be piecing it all together...
0:03:31 > 0:03:36..from the earliest Egyptians to the last of the pharaohs.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38Wow! Look at that, look at that!
0:03:38 > 0:03:41Oh, that is... Oh, that is so beautiful.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Welcome to my story of ancient Egypt.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07The big question is, how did ancient Egypt begin?
0:04:09 > 0:04:11Where did the first Egyptians
0:04:11 > 0:04:13and their extraordinary culture come from?
0:04:17 > 0:04:21This immortal civilisation was thousands of years in the making,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24so to pull it all together is a daunting task.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29But bear with me, as it's utterly fascinating.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38But we won't begin with massive monuments
0:04:38 > 0:04:41but with some enigmatic clues you could easily miss.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53This is Qurta, around 100 kilometres south of Luxor.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57Unless you're an archaeologist,
0:04:57 > 0:05:00you almost certainly won't have heard of it,
0:05:00 > 0:05:05because there aren't any great temples or royal tombs to admire.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08But high in the cliffs,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11you can see real signs of ancient life here.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18Thousands of years before the pyramids,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22and this is where our story begins.
0:05:22 > 0:05:23Welcome to Qurta, Joann.
0:05:23 > 0:05:24Thank you so much
0:05:24 > 0:05:26for letting me come here.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29It's incredibly exciting.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31- It's the first time you're here, I suppose?- Yes.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Nothing escapes the sharp eye of Dr Dirk Huyge,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37and he's got something very special to show me.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39Not many people have been here before you
0:05:39 > 0:05:41because it's a quite recent discovery.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50These carvings in the rock reveal an amazing story
0:05:50 > 0:05:52about the beginnings of Egyptian life.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58It's a 19,000-year-old picture gallery.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Complete with its own hippo.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Back line, very short tail, hind legs,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14belly line, front legs.
0:06:14 > 0:06:15And the mouth is shown.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18The hippo was smiling. But then again, a hippo is always smiling.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24But another type of animal is by far the most common here.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27That's...that's cattle.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29Ah! It's not just cattle,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32this is the mighty aurochs - the wild bovid, wild cattle.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38And extremely powerful images that seem to be in movement.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40They are, they're charging down towards us, aren't they?
0:06:43 > 0:06:47These wild aurochs were ancestors of the domestic cow.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53And nearly 20,000 years ago, beef was the main thing on the menu.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59About maybe 50% of their diet was composed of aurochs.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06So they were experts and masters in representing this animal.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15It's always high on the cliff - very prominent positions that give
0:07:15 > 0:07:18an excellent panorama over what must have been in the Palaeolithic,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20the hunting grounds of the people.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28It's easy to picture these early hunters here
0:07:28 > 0:07:30as they tracked their prey.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37But the landscape would've looked very different from today.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40Because back then, this was savannah grassland -
0:07:40 > 0:07:42a green and fertile region.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51Do we have any idea why these creatures
0:07:51 > 0:07:53were engraved on these rocks here?
0:07:54 > 0:07:56We can guess, Joann, but we don't know.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Maybe they wanted to
0:07:59 > 0:08:01influence the hunting,
0:08:01 > 0:08:03maybe this is some sort of hunting magic.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16It really is magical to sit here and imagine Egypt's earliest
0:08:16 > 0:08:20nomadic people passing right through this spot and portraying
0:08:20 > 0:08:23on these very rocks the animals that they saw all around them.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Human figures and boats joined the animals as the carvings
0:08:31 > 0:08:34became stranger and stranger.
0:08:35 > 0:08:36But these carvings are also
0:08:36 > 0:08:39the earliest glimpse of the amazing things to come.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50These are the first signs of what makes ancient Egypt,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52well, ancient Egypt.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01As for its ancient landscape,
0:09:01 > 0:09:05this evolved under dramatic circumstances.
0:09:05 > 0:09:1010,000 years ago, gravity tilted the entire earth off its axis
0:09:10 > 0:09:12by about half a degree,
0:09:12 > 0:09:16and this had a profound effect on climate.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18And as the world began to change,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20Egypt would never be the same again.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26Now, these early people were nomads, seasonally mobile pastoralists
0:09:26 > 0:09:29who moved around, following the summer rains.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32THUNDER
0:09:35 > 0:09:38And these rains really were the vital, life-bringing force
0:09:38 > 0:09:42which created the greenery on which wild animals depended.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44But of course, with climate change,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47these rains began to dry up.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49OK, you can cut the rain.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00The diminishing rainfall forced both animals and people towards
0:10:00 > 0:10:03large lakes, which formed during the rainy season.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07One such area is Nabta Playa,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10100 kilometres southwest of Aswan.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15And here, these nomadic hunters began to settle into communities.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18But still reliant on the annual summer rains,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21they needed to predict exactly when these would return.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24And so they turned to the night sky.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Welcome to the beginning of time.
0:10:28 > 0:10:29Quite literally,
0:10:29 > 0:10:32because this is Egypt's oldest calendar.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36It's around 7,000 years old.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38This stone circle from Nabta Playa
0:10:38 > 0:10:40is the earliest evidence
0:10:40 > 0:10:42of how Egyptian weather forecasters
0:10:42 > 0:10:43became astronomers.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50They aligned its central stones to the circumpolar stars,
0:10:50 > 0:10:52visible in the night sky all year round.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57When the sun appeared directly overhead,
0:10:57 > 0:11:00the stones cast no shadow.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03The mid-summer rains were approaching.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06THUNDER
0:11:06 > 0:11:08This meant that the animals would drink,
0:11:08 > 0:11:13the plants would grow and the world would survive for another year.
0:11:13 > 0:11:14So in many ways,
0:11:14 > 0:11:21this circle represents the solution to the very real problem of survival.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24But the Egyptians would take this a step further.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28I think the really great thing about these mini monumental markers
0:11:28 > 0:11:31is that this is the earliest example
0:11:31 > 0:11:34we have of the way in which the Egyptians are aligning
0:11:34 > 0:11:39their monuments to various things, to the sky, to the cardinal points.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43And from now on, every tomb, every temple, every monument
0:11:43 > 0:11:47will be aligned to the heavens, to the very gods themselves.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55If the stars and the rain were this closely linked...
0:11:56 > 0:11:59..then this world and the next must be one and the same.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Now, this has been described as Egypt's earliest
0:12:05 > 0:12:10sculpted stone monument and dates from around 5000 BC.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16This chunk of sandstone was quarried over a mile away from where
0:12:16 > 0:12:18it was eventually discovered.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22This certainly suggests a kind of sense of community where
0:12:22 > 0:12:27people were already working together to achieve a desired aim.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30In this case, the stone was hauled into place,
0:12:30 > 0:12:32and then there are clear signs
0:12:32 > 0:12:36that it has been sculpted into a specific shape.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39Now, you might have to go with me on this,
0:12:39 > 0:12:42but some believe that this is in fact a cow...
0:12:44 > 0:12:46..with its large hind quarters...
0:12:47 > 0:12:49..and this sculpted head.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55Now, the cow was a vital part of everyday life for these people -
0:12:55 > 0:12:58it was a source of meat, of milk and of blood -
0:12:58 > 0:13:01key sources of protein they needed to keep them healthy.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03And yet so important was the cow,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07they chose to take it through into the afterlife with them,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10to sustain them on a spiritual level.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15And this is the very beginnings of the great cow goddess, Hathor.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23Hathor may have started off as a source of milk and meat,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25but eventually she would be loved
0:13:25 > 0:13:28and idolised by millions of Egyptians,
0:13:28 > 0:13:34since she represented love, joy, beauty and motherhood.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40And although her image develops from a lifelike animal
0:13:40 > 0:13:43to a female face with cow's ears,
0:13:43 > 0:13:47this may be Hathor's very earliest incarnation.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55Yet Hathor is only one of a multitude of gods and goddesses.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58The Egyptians just couldn't get enough of them!
0:13:58 > 0:14:01Over the centuries, emerged hundreds -
0:14:01 > 0:14:03if not thousands - of deities,
0:14:03 > 0:14:07each with a specific purpose and appearance.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10Some came in human form.
0:14:11 > 0:14:12Some had animal heads.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18They could be male, female, even androgynous.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23It seems that there were few aspects of life
0:14:23 > 0:14:25that didn't have their own gods.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30We know that in the very earliest times,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33their gods resembled familiar things,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35the world around them - elements of nature
0:14:35 > 0:14:37and certainly animals.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41And over time, the animals, their forms, their shapes,
0:14:41 > 0:14:43their characteristics
0:14:43 > 0:14:46were distilled down into this sort of divine figure,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49each one worshipped for a different quality.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51In the case of the ram,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54they were worshipped for their procreative powers.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56In the case of the cow,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59for their nurturing, motherly instincts.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02And of course, you've got rather different creatures -
0:15:02 > 0:15:06the dangerous creatures, the ones that lived on the edges
0:15:06 > 0:15:07of the Egyptian world -
0:15:07 > 0:15:10the lions, the crocodiles, the jackals.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17But it wasn't just about finding the appropriate divinity,
0:15:17 > 0:15:19it was about gaining power over them.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24The goddess Sekhmet was a ferocious lioness
0:15:24 > 0:15:27and the bringer of death to humans.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31So the Egyptians transformed her into a deity
0:15:31 > 0:15:35as a way of controlling her destructive powers.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38By worshipping Sekhmet, it was believed that she could be
0:15:38 > 0:15:42placated and transformed into a more benign deity.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48On so many levels, the Egyptians were trying to tap into nature
0:15:48 > 0:15:53to affect the way that nature then in turn affected them.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57LION GROWLING
0:15:57 > 0:15:58In many ways,
0:15:58 > 0:16:03Egypt's unique religion was the glue that held society together,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05uniting the population
0:16:05 > 0:16:08and underpinning almost every aspect of life.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11It's everywhere, in tombs and temples,
0:16:11 > 0:16:13in everyday life.
0:16:13 > 0:16:19And yet, there is another, even more fundamental element
0:16:19 > 0:16:23without which ancient Egypt never would have existed at all.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Later, Greek historians famously observed that Egypt was
0:16:37 > 0:16:40the gift of the Nile.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42And how right they were.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44Because as the climate continued to change,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47the desert lakes eventually dried up,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51leaving the Egyptians with just one source of water.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10This is an incredibly special place. Located in modern Sudan,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14it nonetheless forms the very source of Egypt,
0:17:14 > 0:17:19for it's the place where two great rivers meet - the White Nile
0:17:19 > 0:17:21and the Blue Nile - which combine here
0:17:21 > 0:17:23to form the world's longest river,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27flowing from the heart of Africa and out into the Mediterranean Sea.
0:17:32 > 0:17:33For much of the year,
0:17:33 > 0:17:37the wide, lazy White Nile is the main source of water,
0:17:37 > 0:17:41until annual rainfall in the Ethiopian highlands swells
0:17:41 > 0:17:44the faster-flowing Blue Nile.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49Today, the modern Aswan dams hold back these floodwaters.
0:17:49 > 0:17:54But until the 20th century, huge volumes of water and fertile silt
0:17:54 > 0:17:58surged downriver to flood the entire Nile valley...
0:18:00 > 0:18:04..bringing life and fertility to the desert that is Egypt.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17This annual Nile flood was the single most important event
0:18:17 > 0:18:20in the lives of every ancient Egyptian,
0:18:20 > 0:18:24for its life-giving waters brought the nutrients and minerals
0:18:24 > 0:18:27which enriched the soil all along its banks,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30and this allowed agriculture to flourish.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36Egypt is blessed with some of the most fertile land in the world...
0:18:38 > 0:18:42..where farmers can grow everything from sweet corn and garlic
0:18:42 > 0:18:44to bananas, sugar cane and cotton.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54Badaway, it's quite intensive farming, isn't it?
0:18:54 > 0:18:58The land gives the people a lot, doesn't it?
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Yes, but we need to give the land also a rest.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05We grow one time and we leave it for one month.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Then after, we use the land again to grow again.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12That's amazing that it only needs one month rest time
0:19:12 > 0:19:14and then it can be planted again.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17- Yes, sometimes 15 days, sometimes one month.- Wow!
0:19:17 > 0:19:20But it really does emphasise that this land of Egypt
0:19:20 > 0:19:24has always been so rich and so giving to the people -
0:19:24 > 0:19:27it's always given the people everything they need.
0:19:33 > 0:19:38And it's the Nile that turned this desert land into a paradise.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48And 7,000 years ago, the people who could no longer
0:19:48 > 0:19:51survive in an increasingly desert landscape
0:19:51 > 0:19:53were forced to migrate towards it
0:19:53 > 0:19:56as their only source of water.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01So ancient Egypt took shape as these people came together along the banks
0:20:01 > 0:20:03of the Nile.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08In the north, settlements clustered around the delta and the Faiyum.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13And in the south, around the Qena Bend.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18This was the beginning of Egypt's so-called two lands -
0:20:18 > 0:20:20Upper and Lower Egypt,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23which developed into two distinct cultures.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33But what they both had in common was the astonishing fertility,
0:20:33 > 0:20:37replenished every year by the miracle of the Nile.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44El Kab, located to the south of the Qena Bend,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47is one of Upper Egypt's earliest settlements.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53And while it may lack the wow factor of the pyramids,
0:20:53 > 0:20:58it's actually far more revealing to see traces of this amazing evolution.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Because here, we can see how a nomadic lifestyle
0:21:03 > 0:21:06was soon replaced by a settled, social structure.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12And although it was a slow and gradual process,
0:21:12 > 0:21:14archaeologist Elizabeth Hart
0:21:14 > 0:21:18can identify each stage of this transformation.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Descending into small pits...
0:21:22 > 0:21:25- Yes.- Wow, you do work in an enclosed space.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28- But it's much cooler down here. - It's lovely, actually.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32So down at this level, we have sterile soil
0:21:32 > 0:21:34where nobody lived.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36And then starting around 4200 BC,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39are layers of silt from the Nile flood,
0:21:39 > 0:21:44followed by wind-accumulated sand, and then another layer of silt and
0:21:44 > 0:21:46then more sand. And here you can see it really well -
0:21:46 > 0:21:48a thin silt layer from the Nile
0:21:48 > 0:21:50coming up and flooding, and then the sand.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52And over here,
0:21:52 > 0:21:54we have a hearth feature.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58So this tells us that humans were actually living on these
0:21:58 > 0:22:01and coming into the Nile valley and then moving back out.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05And we also found lots of pot shards and stone tools in these layers.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07You know, it might be a small space,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10but you've got people's real lives unfolding within it, haven't you?
0:22:10 > 0:22:12And we have thousands of years of it here.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15When we started, people were just moving into the Nile valley,
0:22:15 > 0:22:17they were just starting to farm.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21And by the end here, we have pharaohs and a whole united Egypt.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24It's really impressive when you think about all the change that
0:22:24 > 0:22:26happened over this chunk of sand.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34Although we are still centuries away from the grand pharaonic monuments,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38you can still find traces of the lives these ancient people lived,
0:22:38 > 0:22:40if you look hard enough,
0:22:40 > 0:22:42for very little has survived,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45except for tonnes of pottery.
0:22:47 > 0:22:48Yeah, this one is... Yeah.
0:22:48 > 0:22:49So it's 5,000 years old?
0:22:49 > 0:22:53- So it's 5,000 years old.- Still so tactile, these things, aren't they?
0:22:55 > 0:22:59These pots help us to identify when this early society began
0:22:59 > 0:23:01to produce a food surplus,
0:23:01 > 0:23:06a pivotal transition which required robust pottery for the storage
0:23:06 > 0:23:09of large-scale food and drink production.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14These bread moulds, from slightly later,
0:23:14 > 0:23:16are one of the most common finds.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18So, you heat the mould,
0:23:18 > 0:23:20then the dough gets into it.
0:23:20 > 0:23:21And by the heat of the mould,
0:23:21 > 0:23:25- the bake...the bread will be baked. - Brilliant!
0:23:25 > 0:23:28But this comes in massive amounts
0:23:28 > 0:23:29These are the beer jars.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33- Ah! Bread and beer.- Bread and beer. - The Egyptian staples.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35Oh, nice for a beer jar.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39This is the nuts and bolts of how Egyptian chronology all came
0:23:39 > 0:23:41- together in the early days, isn't it?- Yes, yes.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44The pottery is especially fundamental to understand
0:23:44 > 0:23:45how people were living.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Yet in Egypt, living was only half the story.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Because what really sets the ancient Egyptians apart
0:24:01 > 0:24:03is their view of death.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13To them, death wasn't the end of life but a new beginning.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17A transformation from the world of the living
0:24:17 > 0:24:19into an everlasting afterlife.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25And such a belief would shape Egypt's most mysterious practice -
0:24:25 > 0:24:28and my favourite subject.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Mummification!
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Although the origins of this enigmatic tradition are only
0:24:39 > 0:24:41now becoming clearer,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44the burial of their dead had a strong significance
0:24:44 > 0:24:47from the very earliest times.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54This is a typical burial from around 3400 BC.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58The body is curled into the foetal position
0:24:58 > 0:25:02and here placed within a reconstructed pit grave,
0:25:02 > 0:25:06surrounded by the belongings he might have had in his earthly life -
0:25:06 > 0:25:11like pottery, jewellery and a palette for preparing cosmetics.
0:25:12 > 0:25:18Everything that was important to him in life accompanied him into death.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22And I think that's quite significant because it shows that already,
0:25:22 > 0:25:265,500 years ago, the Egyptians wanted to take it all with them.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30They clearly believed that something happened beyond death.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34Death was simply a transition into another state of existence,
0:25:34 > 0:25:39when you continued to live and it was assumed you would need everything
0:25:39 > 0:25:41you'd needed in your life on Earth.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46His body was naturally mummified in the hot desert sand,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50but its placement here may not have been accidental.
0:25:52 > 0:25:53Because even when dead,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56the body had to be preserved
0:25:56 > 0:25:59in order to house the soul for eternity.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03A skeleton simply wasn't good enough.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07Skeletons, bones, they are very, very anonymous.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11And yet, when the soft tissue, the skin, the hair is all present,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13we are ourselves.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16And that's exactly what this individual represents.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Being face to face with one of the very earliest Egyptians
0:26:21 > 0:26:24gives us insight into the development of their ideas
0:26:24 > 0:26:26about the afterlife.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29It started off as a practical thing -
0:26:29 > 0:26:34burying the dead in a relatively small space, bundled up -
0:26:34 > 0:26:38and then it developed these layers of kind of like the symbolism.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42The foetal position - this idea in rebirth into the next world.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45It's almost like the seed
0:26:45 > 0:26:49from which the Egyptian funerary belief system evolved.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52This is the very beginning of a process which would be repeated
0:26:52 > 0:26:56a million fold, throughout Egyptian history.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00It's this combination of the esoteric
0:27:00 > 0:27:02underpinned by the practical
0:27:02 > 0:27:05which really does sum up the Egyptians in a nutshell.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12From the very beginning, the Egyptians were masters
0:27:12 > 0:27:14of making sense of their world,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17no matter how complex and mystifying it might seem to us.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26And this same ability to bring order is also found in the way
0:27:26 > 0:27:28they structured their early society,
0:27:28 > 0:27:33adopting levels of bureaucracy that border on the obsessive.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36In the ancient city of Abydos,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40the site of Egypt's first royal burial ground,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43archaeologists found the origins of a system
0:27:43 > 0:27:45that we still have to put up with today.
0:27:47 > 0:27:52It's most fitting that this city of death was the find spot
0:27:52 > 0:27:57of the earliest means of calculating that other great certainty - taxes!
0:28:02 > 0:28:06The evidence comes from small bone and ivory labels like these,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09which have been dated to around 3250 BC.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16The originals are probably the size of a postage stamp,
0:28:16 > 0:28:20and you can see that each one is engraved with images of animals,
0:28:20 > 0:28:22of birds, of plants, and so forth.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26And each one is pierced for suspension to a chest
0:28:26 > 0:28:27or pottery vessel,
0:28:27 > 0:28:30which would have contained oil, linen, grain.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34And it's thought that these symbols represent the regions that produced
0:28:34 > 0:28:35these commodities, which were then
0:28:35 > 0:28:37brought here to Abydos.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40Thought to have been sent as tax payments,
0:28:40 > 0:28:42these tiny labels
0:28:42 > 0:28:45show how these early people were already capable of collecting
0:28:45 > 0:28:49duties from a vast geographical area.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53Some experts even believe these symbols can be vocalised.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56By turning the simple drawings into sounds
0:28:56 > 0:28:59makes this the world's earliest known writing.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10Now, isn't it interesting that the world's earliest writing
0:29:10 > 0:29:14wasn't developed to express some great outpouring of emotion
0:29:14 > 0:29:16or express grand passion?
0:29:16 > 0:29:20It was simply a means of calculating taxes.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27These symbols soon became a sophisticated writing system of
0:29:27 > 0:29:32elegant signs we call hieroglyphs, which means sacred carvings.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38And these signs represented every aspect of the Egyptian world,
0:29:38 > 0:29:41which were only translated in 1822
0:29:41 > 0:29:44with the discovery of the Rosetta Stone.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52And a common language was needed, as goods were transported
0:29:52 > 0:29:56between the two lands of Upper and Lower Egypt.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59The people of Lower Egypt had also developed trade links
0:29:59 > 0:30:01with the rest of the ancient world.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05But as more war-like regions began to emerge in Upper Egypt,
0:30:05 > 0:30:09it soon became clear that the Nile had spawned two very different
0:30:09 > 0:30:10and distinctive cultures.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18And in many ways, the only thing they really had in common
0:30:18 > 0:30:19was this great river.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30The inevitable clash between these cultures is recorded
0:30:30 > 0:30:34on what many consider to be ancient Egypt's founding document.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42Taking the form of a giant ceremonial cosmetic palette,
0:30:42 > 0:30:44this is an exact copy
0:30:44 > 0:30:47of the original Narmer Palette.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49And however idealised and embellished,
0:30:49 > 0:30:53it depicts the pivotal moment when the southern king Narmer
0:30:53 > 0:30:55defeated his northern enemy.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58A split second after this mace comes down
0:30:58 > 0:31:00onto this northern enemy's head,
0:31:00 > 0:31:03and he's executed, he's killed, he's no more,
0:31:03 > 0:31:05Narmer himself remains,
0:31:05 > 0:31:08the first king of a united Egypt.
0:31:08 > 0:31:10And what this means is
0:31:10 > 0:31:12that the whole of the country
0:31:12 > 0:31:15is now united under one man's rule.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20He is setting himself up quite literally as the god-king,
0:31:20 > 0:31:24as the one central figure at the very pinnacle
0:31:24 > 0:31:27of the pyramid that forms Egyptian society.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31And from him, everything else flows.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35Egypt is now the world's first nation-state.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47What made ancient Egypt ancient Egypt is all here.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51The art forms, their forms of religion
0:31:51 > 0:31:56and even the world's first writing - hieroglyphic script.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58And this is the name of Narmer.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01The catfish - Nar.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03And the chisel - Mer.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05Narmer - the striking catfish.
0:32:06 > 0:32:11As the first king of Egypt, Narmer is protected by the cow goddess, Hathor,
0:32:11 > 0:32:15stands beside Horus, the falcon god of kingship,
0:32:15 > 0:32:17and is dressed in all the same paraphernalia
0:32:17 > 0:32:20as every king who succeeds him.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22He has the tie-on false beard
0:32:22 > 0:32:25to emphasise his virility and his strength.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28And this is matched, of course, by the tie-on bull's tail.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32It's a wonderful feature - this idea you could just tie
0:32:32 > 0:32:34a little tail onto the back of the belt,
0:32:34 > 0:32:37and then take into yourself the power of a bull.
0:32:38 > 0:32:43This palette is Egypt's earliest historical document.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48It's the blueprint of how every future pharaoh
0:32:48 > 0:32:51will be portrayed, in the company of the gods.
0:32:53 > 0:32:58Yet perhaps most significant is Narmer's smiting pose.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02This powerful image with the mace held high will be endlessly repeated
0:33:02 > 0:33:05throughout Egypt's long history.
0:33:07 > 0:33:12This is a horrible way to die - to have your brains bludgeoned out.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14And yet, even this the Egyptian artists can show
0:33:14 > 0:33:18in an almost ballet-like pose.
0:33:18 > 0:33:19It's been sanitised,
0:33:19 > 0:33:23it's been elevated to a piece of art,
0:33:23 > 0:33:25and yet the message still gets through.
0:33:34 > 0:33:36For the next 3,000 years,
0:33:36 > 0:33:39every one of Egypt's subsequent rulers
0:33:39 > 0:33:42would try and link themselves to Egypt's first pharaoh.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46To rule legitimately and successfully,
0:33:46 > 0:33:48they had to be absorbed into the complexities
0:33:48 > 0:33:50of the Egyptian hierarchy,
0:33:50 > 0:33:53both in this world and the next.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57So their names were recorded on a series of king lists,
0:33:57 > 0:33:59a kind of royal family tree.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02And the best preserved of these is here,
0:34:02 > 0:34:05in the temple of Seti I at Abydos.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09It lists himself and 75 of his royal predecessors,
0:34:09 > 0:34:12going right back to the very dawn of Egyptian history,
0:34:12 > 0:34:15with the very first king up there, King Narmer.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19And the other important detail about this is that it's essentially
0:34:19 > 0:34:25emphasising that royal continuity because Seti has his own young son,
0:34:25 > 0:34:27Ramses, the crowned prince,
0:34:27 > 0:34:31actually reading out these names on a piece of papyrus paper.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33So it's as if Seti is saying to the gods,
0:34:33 > 0:34:36"Look, I'm now pharaoh,
0:34:36 > 0:34:39"and this is my son who'll succeed me
0:34:39 > 0:34:43"to become yet another name on this remarkable list."
0:34:44 > 0:34:47In all, Egypt had over 300 pharaohs,
0:34:47 > 0:34:50organised into 30 dynasties.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55But in the case of Egypt's earliest kings,
0:34:55 > 0:34:58being merely mortal was not enough.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00They needed to prove their divinity
0:35:00 > 0:35:04by exercising absolute control over their subjects.
0:35:15 > 0:35:16And the evidence for this was found
0:35:16 > 0:35:20in the desolate desert surrounding the ancient city of Abydos.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31This was Egypt's first royal burial ground,
0:35:31 > 0:35:34the original version of the Valley of the Kings.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45Now, being here, you get a real sense
0:35:45 > 0:35:48of the importance of this place for the ancient Egyptians,
0:35:48 > 0:35:53for as the wind funnels down this valley and swirls around the sand,
0:35:53 > 0:35:56if you listen very carefully, you can hear a whispering sound.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08A whispering once thought to be the voices of the very dead themselves.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20And here, Egypt's earliest kings were laid to rest
0:36:20 > 0:36:23within huge subterranean burial chambers.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27Like this, the location of the final resting place
0:36:27 > 0:36:31of Egypt's third pharaoh, King Djer,
0:36:31 > 0:36:35one of the largest and most complex tombs of the first dynasty.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38And although it's been recovered in sand,
0:36:38 > 0:36:44it clearly demonstrates the power that Djer still wielded...
0:36:44 > 0:36:45even in death.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51Djer himself was buried here, in the central chamber.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56But all around, are 318 subsidiary graves of his courtiers.
0:36:56 > 0:36:57Not only that,
0:36:57 > 0:37:01a little way beyond, many others were also buried.
0:37:01 > 0:37:08In total, 587 individuals accompanied this man into the next world.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11Which is incredible enough, but there is evidence
0:37:11 > 0:37:13of a more sinister twist.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17The fact that this tomb was all sealed over at the same time
0:37:17 > 0:37:22suggests these people may have been victims of ritual sacrifice,
0:37:22 > 0:37:26perhaps even ritual stabbing, as portrayed in art of the time.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30And certainly, that power over life and death would give any king
0:37:30 > 0:37:31a god-like status.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47Now, later kings seemed to have realised that killing
0:37:47 > 0:37:50all their courtiers in one go was not the best use of people,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53who were a precious state resource.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56After all, who'd be around to make the next king his cup of tea?
0:37:59 > 0:38:02Although this cruel and short-sighted practice of ritual killing
0:38:02 > 0:38:05soon died out, it had, nonetheless,
0:38:05 > 0:38:10demonstrated that Egypt's rulers had complete control over their subjects,
0:38:10 > 0:38:14an essential step along the route towards building the pyramids
0:38:14 > 0:38:16and indeed Egypt itself.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19HORN BEEPS
0:38:19 > 0:38:21- Hello!- Welcome, welcome!
0:38:23 > 0:38:26Yet the Egyptian people were not slaves.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30By this time, Egypt was a land of plenty,
0:38:30 > 0:38:35where all could enjoy its bounty, both in life and in death.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45This is the later tomb of an official called Irukaptah.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49And here he is, greeting as he's coming to the door of his own tomb,
0:38:49 > 0:38:50emerging from the walls,
0:38:50 > 0:38:54captured in all his splendour with his finery on,
0:38:54 > 0:38:57his jewelled belt and his white linen kilt.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00Even details down to his little sort of pencil moustache.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02Looks a little bit like Clark Gable, to be honest.
0:39:05 > 0:39:10The scenes in his colourful tomb depict a refined life
0:39:10 > 0:39:13that's a world away from Egypt's earliest farmers.
0:39:17 > 0:39:22We have Irukaptah seated in front of a table of food offerings -
0:39:22 > 0:39:25there is fruit, vegetables, wine and so forth.
0:39:25 > 0:39:30The bearers are coming forward with offerings to sustain his soul.
0:39:34 > 0:39:39Irukaptah was the royal butcher, an important member of court.
0:39:39 > 0:39:40And with royal courtiers
0:39:40 > 0:39:43no longer sacrificed for burial with their king,
0:39:43 > 0:39:46they could now make their own elaborate preparations
0:39:46 > 0:39:48for the afterlife.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52There are a couple of scenes up here of the household servants
0:39:52 > 0:39:54making the beds of Irukaptah
0:39:54 > 0:39:58and his family there - stretching out the linen sheets.
0:39:58 > 0:40:00They're bringing even a little fly whisk
0:40:00 > 0:40:03and the ancient Egyptian pillow, the headrest there.
0:40:03 > 0:40:08So even in the afterlife, Irukaptah will be comfortable.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14Irukaptah's tomb is in Saqqara,
0:40:14 > 0:40:19a sprawling city of the dead for Egypt's first capital, Memphis.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26Yet Saqqara wasn't just the burial site of courtiers...
0:40:26 > 0:40:31but of kings. And the site of a revolution in royal tomb-building.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39And whereas previously the dead had tended to be buried away
0:40:39 > 0:40:41in the desert, hidden away almost,
0:40:41 > 0:40:44here at Saqqara, high on the desert escarpment,
0:40:44 > 0:40:47the dead were literally placed on display.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54Up to this point, the Egyptians had tended to build their tombs
0:40:54 > 0:40:56and temples - like their houses -
0:40:56 > 0:40:58from organic materials -
0:40:58 > 0:41:02from the mud-brick, wood and reeds which rarely survive.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06But in the third dynasty,
0:41:06 > 0:41:08the great innovator King Djoser
0:41:08 > 0:41:10built his legacy
0:41:10 > 0:41:12in something far more permanent.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16For he built in stone,
0:41:16 > 0:41:19which could potentially last forever.
0:41:20 > 0:41:25Djoser built this huge stone wall to surround his tomb complex,
0:41:25 > 0:41:27although his architects and workmen
0:41:27 > 0:41:30still drew their inspiration from the natural world.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34You can see that the masons are just trying to get their head around
0:41:34 > 0:41:36how to actually work with this stuff,
0:41:36 > 0:41:38what forms to put it in.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41So we have Egypt's first hypostyle hall of columns, sure.
0:41:41 > 0:41:46But it's taking the form of reeds bound together to make the kind
0:41:46 > 0:41:50of columns that would have been in Djoser's palace down by the Nile.
0:41:53 > 0:41:55But this, of course, is a house for death.
0:41:55 > 0:41:57This is a palace of eternity
0:41:57 > 0:42:00and must be built in something as solid as stone.
0:42:09 > 0:42:14At the rear of his complex is an intriguing stone shrine,
0:42:14 > 0:42:18where I can come face to face with King Djoser himself.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24The shrine looks like it's suffering a severe case of subsidence.
0:42:24 > 0:42:29And yet, the Egyptians purposefully built it on this very definite tilt.
0:42:34 > 0:42:39And it has these two holes here where modern tourists can see Djoser.
0:42:41 > 0:42:42But Djoser can see them.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44He can actually see beyond them,
0:42:44 > 0:42:46cos this faces true north.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48It faces the northern stars,
0:42:48 > 0:42:51which the Egyptians called the Imperishable Ones.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53And so at death,
0:42:53 > 0:42:57Djoser's soul could rise up and merge with these stars,
0:42:57 > 0:43:00so he too would be imperishable and he too would never die.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10In order to ensure that his soul could live on, Djoser's body
0:43:10 > 0:43:16needed somewhere safe to rest - within a tomb truly fit for a king.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19Most burials were topped by a simple, single-storey building
0:43:19 > 0:43:22called a mastaba, meaning bench.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25But Djoser did something radical.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30Djoser really wanted to impress with his funerary monument,
0:43:30 > 0:43:34so another step was built on top.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38And I think Djoser must have quite liked the effect that this gave
0:43:38 > 0:43:42and so built a third step,
0:43:42 > 0:43:44a fourth step,
0:43:44 > 0:43:46a fifth step,
0:43:46 > 0:43:48a sixth step...
0:43:48 > 0:43:50And when they stood back and looked,
0:43:50 > 0:43:54they realised - they'd built Egypt's first pyramid.
0:43:54 > 0:43:55Pretty impressive.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03The step pyramid stands over 60 metres tall
0:44:03 > 0:44:06and still dominates the Saqqara landscape.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09At the time, it was the largest building on Earth,
0:44:09 > 0:44:15reinforcing Djoser's status as a living god in the grandest of ways.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22It certainly secured his place in Egyptian history,
0:44:22 > 0:44:26with ancient visitors flocking here to marvel at his achievements.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31Now, Djoser had created a true landmark,
0:44:31 > 0:44:34but he'd also created Egypt's first tourist attraction.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37And if you come with me, I'll show you the evidence.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43Because in here, we have what many tourists still leave today -
0:44:43 > 0:44:45appreciative graffiti.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48And this is the original handwriting
0:44:48 > 0:44:51of a couple of ancient visitors from around 1300 BC
0:44:51 > 0:44:56who were so impressed by what they saw, they described Djoser's pyramid
0:44:56 > 0:44:58as if heaven were in it.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02And they credit Djoser with being the inventor of stone.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20But why did Djoser build this?
0:45:20 > 0:45:23Was it just an ego trip or an exercise in personal vanity?
0:45:23 > 0:45:28Or was it designed to show the world just how far Egypt had come?
0:45:28 > 0:45:30Because in only a few centuries,
0:45:30 > 0:45:32these disparate people had come together
0:45:32 > 0:45:35to create the world's first nation-state.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45Egypt was now an unstoppable powerhouse,
0:45:45 > 0:45:49a nation unified both politically and culturally
0:45:49 > 0:45:53under a single ruler, whose authority was limitless.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Yet it wasn't just the king who could achieve immortality,
0:45:57 > 0:46:00for the man who designed and built Djoser's pyramid
0:46:00 > 0:46:03was destined to become even more famous
0:46:03 > 0:46:05than the pharaoh he had served.
0:46:11 > 0:46:16This statue base once held a full-sized figure of King Djoser.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20But carved into the base is also the name of his architect.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23And here we can see it, with this reed,
0:46:23 > 0:46:28the owl and then the little mat with a little bread loaf on,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31which reads Imhotep.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34And here is the man himself.
0:46:37 > 0:46:39Although most likely a commoner by birth,
0:46:39 > 0:46:41Imhotep rose through the ranks
0:46:41 > 0:46:45to become one of Egypt's most powerful officials.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49He was made the royal chancellor, the prime minister,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52he was even made high priest of the sun god.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54He was the ultimate local boy made good
0:46:54 > 0:46:56because he then gained a reputation
0:46:56 > 0:46:59as an academic, as a great healer
0:46:59 > 0:47:02and he was famous the length and breadth of Egypt.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05He was ultimately worshipped as a god.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10Imhotep represents the ultimate in social mobility,
0:47:10 > 0:47:14a kind which was certainly possible within Egypt's unique society.
0:47:21 > 0:47:26This was a society in which ideas were often taken to extremes.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30With 1.5 million people united by an absolute belief
0:47:30 > 0:47:32in the power of their king
0:47:32 > 0:47:34and in the certainty of the afterlife,
0:47:34 > 0:47:38Egypt enters its most ambitious era so far.
0:47:42 > 0:47:43The pyramid age.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52Over 130 pyramids would be built across Egypt,
0:47:52 > 0:47:57and they represent the zenith in royal tomb-building -
0:47:57 > 0:48:00huge state-sponsored civil engineering projects
0:48:00 > 0:48:05that used vast resources of materials, man-power and time.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16The largest of all, the Great Pyramid of King Khufu,
0:48:16 > 0:48:19which took over 20 years to build.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28And in order to build something so ambitious,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31an entire city was created
0:48:31 > 0:48:34specifically to house the construction workers,
0:48:34 > 0:48:37just beyond this monumental wall.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39It's known as the Wall of the Crow
0:48:39 > 0:48:43and it separated the silent, sacred space of the dead
0:48:43 > 0:48:46from the busy, bustling city of the pyramid builders.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04This five-hectare site once housed workshops, bakeries,
0:49:04 > 0:49:08a tool-making facility and a fish-processing area,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11for this was an integrated, self-sufficient community
0:49:11 > 0:49:14of over 8,000 people,
0:49:14 > 0:49:16who even had their own medical care.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29Anthropological archaeologist Dr Richard Redding
0:49:29 > 0:49:32has been excavating the site since 1991.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34Where we are now, this is kind of a big workshop
0:49:34 > 0:49:38a big industrial park where there's lots of activity going on.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41Out here, they were probably producing granite statues,
0:49:41 > 0:49:43maybe granite columns.
0:49:43 > 0:49:44We find tools out here
0:49:44 > 0:49:47for polishing the granite.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50We find tools out here for chipping at the granite.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52It's very well planned. We have three streets -
0:49:52 > 0:49:55we have north street, main street we're on
0:49:55 > 0:49:56and we have south street down there.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59- So we are walking down main street? - You're walking down main street.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05The pyramid workers lived cheek by jowl in two-storey barracks.
0:50:07 > 0:50:08You would've walked in
0:50:08 > 0:50:10and you would've been in a very quiet, dark,
0:50:10 > 0:50:13long, narrow room.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15This is where they would have slept.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18There would've been a higher bed
0:50:18 > 0:50:19for the overseer at each end.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22And then everybody would have laid down,
0:50:22 > 0:50:24probably with their head
0:50:24 > 0:50:26in this direction or the other direction,
0:50:26 > 0:50:29exactly like this. You'd be lying here like this, and this would be
0:50:29 > 0:50:31your night-time position.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33Very comfortable(!) Can I try out the overseer's bed?
0:50:33 > 0:50:36- Sure.- Is that OK?- You want to try out the overseer's bed there?
0:50:36 > 0:50:37Delusions of grandeur.
0:50:37 > 0:50:38Is it this one or that one?
0:50:38 > 0:50:41Yeah, it's... That's the wall, so right where you are.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43Oh, so this is all right. So if I sat down here...
0:50:43 > 0:50:45Yeah, the overseer's bed is actually buried
0:50:45 > 0:50:47under a few centimetres of sand,
0:50:47 > 0:50:50and the floor here is probably under about a half metre of sand.
0:50:50 > 0:50:51- No, this is nice.- Yeah.
0:50:51 > 0:50:53I can keep my eye on you now.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56That's right, you can see me. If I got up in the night and I tried
0:50:56 > 0:50:58to sneak out to go someplace, you would see me.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02Everything the workers needed was here, on site.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05The team have recovered data that shows that workers consumed
0:51:05 > 0:51:1174 cattle and 257 sheep and goats each week.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14This corral area could hold a week's supply of cattle,
0:51:14 > 0:51:17before more were shipped in from Egypt's grasslands.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19You could have almost just-in-time delivery,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23another small heard coming down from Kom el-Hisn,
0:51:23 > 0:51:25or the delta, coming down and in.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27Well, it's a really well-oiled machine. You can see now
0:51:27 > 0:51:31how efficient the Egyptians were at obtaining their food,
0:51:31 > 0:51:33bringing it to the right place at the right time
0:51:33 > 0:51:36for the right people - it's brilliant.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38It wasn't just simply the food, it was everything.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41There was the copper to make tools,
0:51:41 > 0:51:45there was the stone being brought in here from Aswan and other areas.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47So a lot of things were coming into here.
0:51:47 > 0:51:48These were government workers -
0:51:48 > 0:51:50they got everything from the government.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57In many ways, this settlement is Egypt in microcosm -
0:51:57 > 0:52:02a highly ordered social structure with job specialisation
0:52:02 > 0:52:04and mass cooperation.
0:52:04 > 0:52:08It's hard to believe that in a relatively short period of time
0:52:08 > 0:52:12Egypt had been transformed
0:52:12 > 0:52:16from simple subsistence into a united state
0:52:16 > 0:52:20which could provide for everyone who worked on its behalf.
0:52:24 > 0:52:25What we are seeing here
0:52:25 > 0:52:29is the final building block in Egyptian culture
0:52:29 > 0:52:31but not just for the pyramid age.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34For once this infrastructure was in place,
0:52:34 > 0:52:35it would never change.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37So whether they are building a pyramid
0:52:37 > 0:52:40or setting up a colossal statue,
0:52:40 > 0:52:44the level of organisation and cooperation would remain the same,
0:52:44 > 0:52:48for this was the foundation stone of Egypt.
0:52:54 > 0:52:58The pyramids are eternal testament to just how powerful
0:52:58 > 0:52:59Egypt had now become.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03And in many ways, they are Egypt at this time -
0:53:03 > 0:53:06dominating everything around them on a gigantic scale.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16And towering above the Giza landscape is the Great Pyramid.
0:53:24 > 0:53:29It took around 20,000 people to set in place the 2.3 million
0:53:29 > 0:53:31blocks of limestone.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34It remained the tallest structure anywhere in the world
0:53:34 > 0:53:36for 3,800 years,
0:53:36 > 0:53:40until the building of Lincoln Cathedral spire in 1300 AD.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44It's a phenomenal achievement for any civilisation at any time.
0:53:45 > 0:53:50But for me, its exterior can't compare to the sense of wonder
0:53:50 > 0:53:52once you venture inside.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59The roof of the Grand Gallery passageway is built
0:53:59 > 0:54:02of multiple layers of enormous limestone slabs
0:54:02 > 0:54:05rising over eight metres high.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08Massive, massive blocks of masonry
0:54:08 > 0:54:12built on a god-like scale, that is surely what Khufu wanted.
0:54:15 > 0:54:20I sincerely hope Khufu's eternal resting place was rather less
0:54:20 > 0:54:22congested than it is today.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25But it still gives a real atmosphere of the busyness that must have been
0:54:25 > 0:54:27here on a daily basis.
0:54:31 > 0:54:36These guys were hauling massive blocks hundreds of feet up,
0:54:36 > 0:54:37literally, into the air.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39These guys were magicians!
0:54:43 > 0:54:47Just look how brilliantly these courses have been laid.
0:54:47 > 0:54:49These are perfect.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52I defy any modern architect to be able to replicate this
0:54:52 > 0:54:56using the tools that the ancients had at their disposal.
0:55:07 > 0:55:08Wow.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12Here we are at the zenith. We are at the heart of the pyramid now -
0:55:12 > 0:55:14King Khufu's burial chamber.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16And we've hit it at exactly the right moment...
0:55:16 > 0:55:19because the pyramid is closed for lunch!
0:55:19 > 0:55:21So we've got the whole place to ourselves.
0:55:21 > 0:55:26And you really get a sense of the sanctity of this divine mausoleum.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36The walls and roof of the burial chamber are lined entirely
0:55:36 > 0:55:38in granite.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42And it was within here that the body of the great King Khufu was sealed,
0:55:42 > 0:55:46ready for his final journey into the afterlife.
0:55:49 > 0:55:53We are at the heart of the pyramid in terms of its architecture,
0:55:53 > 0:55:57but we are literally in the heart of ancient Egypt.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02I feel like I should be speaking in a whisper
0:56:02 > 0:56:04cos the acoustics are so extraordinary.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09It's a sterile,
0:56:09 > 0:56:11plain, stark room.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14It's pretty much like a bank vault.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16And when you think about it, that's exactly what it is
0:56:16 > 0:56:20because it once contained Egypt's greatest treasure -
0:56:20 > 0:56:23the mummified body of the god-king -
0:56:23 > 0:56:27which contained the soul not only of Khufu
0:56:27 > 0:56:30but of all the generations of pharaohs,
0:56:30 > 0:56:32stretching way back to King Narmer.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39Forget the jewels, forget the gold,
0:56:39 > 0:56:43Egypt's real treasure was in here.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45And it's the first time I've ever been in here
0:56:45 > 0:56:49without crowds and crowds of other people.
0:56:49 > 0:56:54And speaking now, the sound of the voice reverberating around,
0:56:54 > 0:56:58immediately takes you back 4,500 years to the day of the funeral,
0:56:58 > 0:57:02to the sacred words the priest would've chanted
0:57:02 > 0:57:06to revive the soul of the god-king.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09It's miraculous. It's a wonderful,
0:57:09 > 0:57:12spectacular place that affects every sense -
0:57:12 > 0:57:16visually, audibly...
0:57:16 > 0:57:20In every sense, it's...it's beyond words, really.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23I think I'd probably better stop talking now.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36So now all the elements that made up ancient Egypt were in place -
0:57:36 > 0:57:39a well-fed, highly organised population
0:57:39 > 0:57:42that unswervingly followed their god-king,
0:57:42 > 0:57:45and all of whom shared this fervent belief
0:57:45 > 0:57:48in an afterlife.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50Life in Egypt was good.
0:57:58 > 0:58:00Now, of course, none of this could last.
0:58:00 > 0:58:06Economic disaster and famine plunged Egypt into chaos.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09This is ancient Egypt beginning to suffer.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12With the pharaoh's power melting away,
0:58:12 > 0:58:16local warlords ransacked its most sacred sites.
0:58:19 > 0:58:22Egypt's dark age was coming.
0:58:22 > 0:58:25Make no mistake, this is the home of the dead.