KING TUT - PBS Special

ancient Egypt the land that fascinated the outside world for millennia its pharaohs were thought to be gods on earth its hieroglyphs considered magical symbols and it's sources of gold limitless mysterious King lists carved on temple walls recorded hundreds and hundreds of rulers spanning 3,000 years a time that saw the construction of the pyramids the world's first monumental buildings constructed entirely of stone the introduction of the concept of a single God advances in medicine architecture literature and art and the most sophisticated preparation for burial and eternal existence in the afterlife the world has yet seen what were the rulers of this magnificent culture like how did they live on earth what were their expectations for their afterlife in 1922 British archaeologist Howard Carter unearthed the tomb of the boy King Tutankhamun literally overflowing with gold gems and an intact burial ensemble the more than 5,000 items had contained immediately became a source of wonder for the public and an invaluable treasure trove of information about ancient Egyptian royalty but it also raised questions about the significance of the young kings short rule of about the ten years how did he compared to the Pharaohs who built the pyramids those have established Egypt's powerful empires those who introduced revolutionary ideology these questions and more are answered in a new exhibition tooth in common the golden king and the great Pharaoh's now meet these great rulers see how they lived how they ruled how they prepared for the future what they believed is and experienced the excitement of discovering the greatest tool of all Tutankhamun's [Music] [Music] I'm Bill Curtis more than 5,000 years ago an agricultural community was developing in northern Africa along the banks of the Nile from modest beginnings this new states Egypt evolved into one of the most powerful empires of all times ruled by Pharaohs whose names are still known to us today yet one stands out Tutankhamun whose royal burial is said to be the greatest archaeological discovery of all time Egypt has been called the gift of the Nile because the yearly flooding left a rich silt along the banks that provided the country with fertile soil that produced a wide variety of crops the country developed a vibrant belief system with many different gods and temples were built as their divine residence priests took care of the gods on a daily basis and the Kings officiated during ceremonies some temples were for state occasions such as Luxor and Karnak but others were part of the funerary complexes the kings built to ensure their immortality dr. Zahi Hawass is Egypt's general secretary of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and a world renowned archaeologist the thinking of afterlife built ancient Egypt built Egypt in my opinion without that you will never see the pyramid it is the belief in the afterlife who made everyone in ancient Egypt to work for the National fossa the national project was building a pyramid or building a tube it seems that the ancient Egyptians spent a good deal of their time building for eternity but why early in their history more than 5000 years ago the ancient Egyptians already had a concept of life after death the Egyptian essentially believed that death was a continuation of life only better and so as a result they stocked their tombs with everything they could possibly need food clothing to rape furniture as well as magical symbols and figures as time went on and burial procedures became more elaborate the process of mummification became more involved certain types of drying processes were used different styles and types of wrappings covered the body and a variety of jewelry and amulets accompanied the body in the coffin into the afterlife at some point prior to the Old Kingdom embalmers began to remove different parts of the body fearing that their decay might interfere with the preservation of the body some organs like the brain were discarded the heart was mummified separately but it was returned to the body the lungs liver stomach and intestines were embalmed and by the Fourth Dynasty burials began to include a separate chest for these organs most people connect Egypt with the pyramids they were royal tombs but represent only one stage in a long series of monuments created for the afterlife of the Pharaoh early kings had smaller tools with flat roofs but soon a stepped form evolved with many layers like a ladder for the King to ascend to heaven and reside with the gods forever Pharaoh Djoser 's Step Pyramid was the first monumental building in history constructed entirely of stone a generation or two later the true pyramid evolved for smooth sides rising to more than 400 feet Heights never reached before it's probably the precision of the way that these were made that astounds us today because a modern house doesn't even have the kind of precision that you can find in this pyramid each of the sides are pretty much exactly the same length within less than an inch of each other these wonders of the 4th dynasty their precision their monumentality and their size would never again be duplicated securing the pyramids treasures was a major task and elaborate traps would be designed to capture any trespassers no matter what security measures were set in place all the pyramids would share a common fate all of the tombs were robbed and you know and even the the Pharaohs realized that they put in blocking stone they tried everything by the 18th dynasty was clear the pyramids were a giant neon sign say this way to the gold in the beginning of the 18th dynasty the Egyptians changed tactics they moved the royal cemetery into the south at Thebes no giant monuments pointed the way to the Pharaohs treasure these tombs now were hidden deep within the craggy walls of a bleak area well beyond the cultivated fields near the Nile nothing grew there it was literally the land again this isolated location did however provide a very significant natural network you know the nation gyptian when they came to this valley they wanted ready to hide there too they won't look at a place of silence a place of mystery at least that can keep the tools of our of the kings of the new kingdom who rule the Egypt in the time of the Golden Age they built pyramids in the whole kingdom and the Middle Kingdom but pyramids never saved their moment and destroy when they came to the valley they looked at the top and they saw that peak which is a shape of a pyramid and they built all the tombs under this shape the Valley of the Kings would provide the final resting place for many kings and queens of Egypt's new kingdom tombs were prepared carved sometimes hundreds of feet into the bedrock meandering down until the final focus the burial chamber yep despite the secrecy of their construction official protection of the site and the magical images and spells that adorn the walls even these tombs were subject to robbery all that is except the tomb of the boy king Tutankhamen Tutankhamun was born in the palace King Akhenaten built in the new capital city our mana aside sacred to no other God the Pharaoh Akhenaton moved there during the 18th dynasty when he broke with tradition and began his religious revolution which introduced the belief in a single God the Akhenaten's religion is very very unsatisfactory for the ancient Egyptian populace because he does not address the question of death and the afterlife he ignores it utterly and so when you die you sleep and you cease to exist this is not what the ancient Egyptians want here they've been dealing with a religion that is all about encapsulating their soul and materiality it's about their existence in the future and if you just ignore one of the chief balances of humanity which is desk if we're all going to die your religion will not last the biggest mistake you might be that's not to date that he made the Egyptian worship when you got through him is only after the power behind the Sun is giving the hand to him and he's giving it to the people the movie when he died the Egyptian could not find the connection between them and the God in all likelihood the young prince Tutankhaten as he was called then was born in one of the palaces it's not known for sure who touched father was DNA samples may provide the answers who really the father of Tutankhamun is he a connection or a mentor to the third we do have of the first type DNA and we hope we'll be able to reveal for the first time the members of the family of the Golden Bowl two times keya a secondary wife of Akhenaten perhaps his mother died in childbirth as documented on the walls of her tomb at saqqara Maya a wet nurse would race him since Egyptians rarely depicted princes we really know little of his early years Tutankhaten eventually succeeded Akhenaten at about nine years old he then changed his name to Tutankhamun to honor the former National God of Egypt Hana the boy King would never reach his goals of completely restoring the traditional beliefs for he died unexpectedly at about 19 years of age why did he die was it a sudden illness an accident or was it murder it's hard to know exactly what caused toodank Commons death but recent cat scans that were done by the National Geographic Society have proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that the damage to the back of his skull was not because of an attempted murder and it seems to have been a post-mortem event so did he die from another cause it's hard to say if there is a possibility that there was a wound on his leg which did not heal correctly and he may have died of love when I moved the mummy and I put it under the cat scan machine I found out that at the age of 19 and I found out that this hole in the back of the head was opened in Donna's guillotine for the Egyptians with the liquid form of vacation and we found out that there is a fracture in his left leg and he I had an accident one day before tonight what kind of an accident wouldn't know Tutankhamun was probably too young for his tomb to have been completed so preparers had to make alternative plans for his burial during the 70-day period they had while mummification was taking place one of the first steps in preparing Tutankhamun's body for burial would have been removing his inner organs and preserving the lungs liver stomach and intestines each had its own container this solid gold covenant is inlaid work carnelian and colored glass it portrays the king as Osiris with his arms crossed over his chest and holding the royal insignia of the crook and flail each organ was guarded by a different God all four were the sons of Horus his coffin at of the Pharaohs stomach the small tomb never meant to be a royal burial was finally ready for the king with one of the four small chambers decorated as a burial chamber this chamber would be stocked with treasures beyond belief and it remained hidden until early in the 20th century british-born Howard Carter moved to Egypt in his late teens he had incredible artistic talent it was able to use that skill working as an illustrator for archaeologists he served with some of the best field archaeologists and used his time wisely learning valuable lessons from Nestor's he would eventually become an archaeologist himself always in the back of his mind was his desire to work in the Valley of the Kings the Earl of Carnarvon also had a great interest in Egypt and had visited the country in part for the health benefits it offered his frail Constitution like Carter Carnarvon was also fascinated by Egyptian archaeology and this common interest would bind the two men there had actually been indication that perhaps the tomb of Tutankhamun was still to be found an embalming cache that his fragments left over from making the mummy and the funeral feast had been discovered by an earlier excavator Theodore Davis who mistakenly thought that was all that was left to telling Hammonds tomb but in fact it indicated that there was a tomb possibly still nearby despite the warnings of wasted time and the conclusions of a few colleagues who had declared that nothing of value was left to be found in the valley Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon took their opportunity to start excavating Carter knew that a few artifacts found in the valley bore the name of Tutankhamun he pinpointed each of their fine spots and circumscribed the area carter painstakingly excavated the area he had outlined but season after season brought no success fines were meager and to make matters worse the work faced interruption due to the outbreak of World War after the war Carter and Carnarvon resumed their excavations but success still eluded them the excavation developed the king is always interesting and many people came here and they made all this discovered but your skirt sorry my premium was a unique man he was working and develop the things you know he did major important things in the tunnel of City he is all restored this beginning of the tunnel eventually can Arvin's interest was beginning to fade luck was not with them and in 1922 Lord Carnarvon told Carter he could no longer continue with the excavations Carter was not about to give up he immediately traveled back to England to meet with Carnarvon when Lord Carnarvon found that this archeologist really think that will discover the tomb he gave him the money my early November history was made Carter had found the first step of a staircase of 16 steps that would lead to the tomb after Howard Carter discovered the tomb he really wasn't able to open it because he had to contact his his financial supporter Lord Carnarvon in order to have him come and be present at the opening so he sent a telegram to Lord Carnarvon saying at last have made discovery days later a breathless Carter with Carnarvon behind leaned forward extended his candle into the first of the four chambers and when questioned by his patron as to whether he could see anything Carter uttered what may rank as one of the world's great under statements yes wonderful things move and very for our 1922 was very important day in the field of archaeology it is the first time actually that a major tomb to be discovered completely intact like that but then the real work began it took almost ten years to clear photograph record conserve pack and ship an astounding 5,000 artifacts from the tomb in southern Egypt and move them to the Cairo Museum in the north the New Kingdom was an era of conspicuous consumption so the tombs were loaded with material not only ritual material that had to do with the Pharaohs death and afterlife but everyday objects that would be needed by the Pharaoh in the next world of food clothing furniture chariots all this material along with two objects occurs to do his work for him in the afterlife amulets and protective images to protect his mummy and then not only to cut have all that material of his own but because he inherited the material from the Amarna court when the court moved back to Thebes and there two of his predecessors were dismantled he had multiple sets of material so this was probably actually even though a very small team probably the wealthiest film that had ever been made the ancient Egyptians believed that the afterlife it's very much like everyday life people place many household objects inside their tomb for the next world they also included shanties small mummy like figurines of servants when the deceased owner of the tomb reached the afterlife he or she uttered a magical spell to summon the shabti to life some Shakti's had tiny tools in preparation of their role this job T of Tutankhamun his unusual due to its size and the tail among the many treasures found in touch to him were hundreds of items of jewelry to adorn the King games for his abuse mentality are made of gold or covered in gold leaf and gold had important religious significance to the ancient Egyptians there it's according to Egyptian mythology the flesh of the gods was gold which is why you have gold finger stalls and post dolls on the mummy and gold money man the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb was the greatest archaeological find in history but soon tragedy would strike and the legend of Tutankhamun's curse would sweep the world Lord Carnarvon died three months after the tombs discovery never living long enough to see for himself the ultimate prize the coffin the golden mask and the mummy of Tutankhamun you know the curse of Japan Sam wood actually is one of the most interesting stories that people love to live all the time and became famous in the time of the time Simon because Lord Carnarvon gave exclusive the London Times to publish anything about the two other reporters what they will say and this why they existed stories that anyone who enters that the tomb of the Phantom only will be murdered this textbook true and Lord Carnarvon this three months after that is covered also many stories happened but I will tell you I never really believed in the curse of the Pharaohs many decades have passed since the discovery of to come today the sands of Egypt still hide many mysteries dr. Zahi Hawass is presently conducting his own archeological expedition near the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings where preliminary funds and reveal the entrances to two new tunes over twenty six to four kings existed in this plane and more than thirty seven tools for non royalty but still the valley never explored will because there is many tombs of kings that never discovered until now like the tomb of Ramesses eight and the tombs of top of the second and all the queens of dynasty eighteen they should be very clear we have been excavating in this place since November 2007 and actually we came through a major discovery you can see how really this area was completely covered and our excavation revealed the beginnings of the tooth it shows first coming down and that is the pits that can lead us to the entrance of a new tool KB 64 and as we discover another impact to the people will talk about this tomb all their lives excavators from all over the world work in Egypt and a large group of Americans have been excavating at the sites of Abydos bearing a sacred to the god Osiris we're here at South by tose excavating the tomb of senwosret the third he's a king of the 12th dynasty who built one of the most magnificent Tunes in all of Egypt's a huge underground tomb in which he was probably buried we're excavating this tomb to recover evidence on the nature of the burial of this game this place is a great kind of laboratory for studying ancient Egypt at this particular site we have a royal tomb we have a temple we have cemeteries of local people we also have a town so many aspects of ancient Egypt are reflected in remain sir but excavating is only part of the ongoing work in Egypt conservation is at least as important pollution and other negative environmental conditions threaten Egypt's existing monuments and art effects as excavations reveal new finds they too are subject to extensive damage all of us now need to be concerned about the future of the past I sometimes close to this is the only way to preserve them but across the dome of City it's a unique tool that cannot be repeated and I would like to close the tomb of Tutankhamun but this will come through the site management program that you are doing not only for the Valley of the Kings but almost for every sites in Egypt the pyramids and the Sphinx and the treasures of Tutankhamen provide a glimpse into Egypt past its legacy however is so much more no other civilization lasted so long they were produced such a wealth of information about its culture but the search continues all of the questions have not been answered Egypt's legacy to the modern world is an ongoing process [Music]

Channel: Darryl Kinson

Views: 1,856,205

Rating: 4.6611209 out of 5

Keywords: Tutankhamun, Tutankhamen, King Tut, Darryl Kinson, Tutankhamon, Valley of the Kings, King Tut Exhibition

Id: LwXfvfPy6fc

Length: 26min 40sec (1600 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 29 2017