Tutankhamun - The Golden King & The Great Pharaohs

over 3,000 years ago ancient Egypt one of the most powerful empires of all time during its 18th dynasty a young boy just nine years old ascended the throne his name was Tutankhamun King Tut might have remained a minor footnote in history but for an amazing discovery in the 1920s British archaeologist Howard Carter made a remarkable find a stunning tomb of gold and artifacts the trappings of a pharaoh whose people saw him as a living God Tut's predecessor the Pharaoh Akhenaten who may have been his father created turmoil by replacing Egypt's many gods with only one the Ottoman or Sun disk Tutankhamun's plans to restore the traditional beliefs were cut short when he died unexpectedly at just 19 years of age how he died is still a mystery now come face-to-face with the boy King the story of Tutankhamun the golden King and the great ferrets I'm Bill Curtis more than 5000 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 to my opinion without that you will never see the pyramids it is a belief in the afterlife who made everyone in ancient Egypt to work for the national project the national project was building a pyramid or building a tomb 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 Egyptians 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 jewelry 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 points 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 4th 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 a pharaoh early Kings had smaller tombs 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 x' 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 lesson in each of each other these wonders of the Fourth 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 fit all of the tombs were robbed and you know and even the the Pharaohs realize that they put in blocking stones 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 to 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 on the dead this isolated location did however provide a very significant Natural Landmark you know the Asia Egyptian when they came to this valley they wanted ready to hide their tools they won't look at a place of silence a place of mystery a place that can keep the tombs of far of the kings of the new kingdom who ruled Egypt in the time of the Golden Age they built pyramids in the whole kingdom and the Middle Kingdom but pyramids never saved their mammoths and this why 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 yet 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 Tutankhamun Tutankhamen 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 hutton it wasn't something the Egyptians really liked apparently because when I cannot and died and when to non-common died and then eventually the last successor died then everything was hacked out all of the images every name everything and so while monotheism may have actually taken root someplace else in Egypt it was finished 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've ceased to exist this is not what the ancient Egyptians want to hear they've been dealing with a religion that is all about encapsulating their soul in materiality that's about their existence in the future and if you just ignore one of the chief problems of humanity which is death that we're all going to die your religion will not last the biggest mistake in might be him that technically did that he made the Egyptian to worship then you got through him is only Adam the power behind the Sun is giving the hand to him and he's giving it to the people you know 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 Tut's father was DNA samples may provide the answers who really the father of Tutankhamun is he ik natural or I mean hot of the third we do have for the first time DNA and we hope we'll be able to reveal for the first time the members of the family of the golden boy - Tong Xiao Jia 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 raise him since Egyptians rarely depicted princes we really know little of his early years Tutankhaten eventually succeeded Akhenaten at about nine years old inheriting an empire in disarray soon Tutankhaten embraced the gods of his forefathers even having himself depicted in their image he then changed his name to Tutankhamun to honor the former National God of Egypt Amon 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 blood poisoning 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 darkness t18 for the Egyptian to with the liquid for mummification and we found out that there is a fracture in his left leg and he I had an accident one day before he died what kind of an accident would it no 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 what are 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 coffin --it is inlaid worth 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 this coffin at held the Pharaoh stomach the small tomb never meant to be a royal burial was finally ready before 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 when we come back more from our story and a preview of some of the many treasures that will be on display in a brand-new exhibition that will make its North American debut at the Atlanta Civic Center this fall british-born Howard Carter moved to Egypt in his late teens he had incredible artistic talent and was able to use that skill working as an illustrator for archeologists he served with some of the best field archaeologists and used his time wisely learning valuable lessons from the Masters 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 indications 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 of 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 find 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 one after the war Carter and Carnarvon resumed their excavations but success still eluded them the excavation and develop the kings is always interesting and many people came here and they made all this discovers but here at Carter in my opinion was a unique man he was working in develop the Kings you know he did major important things in the tunnel of City his all restored this beginning of the tunnel eventually connivance 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 Carter and carnival's sat down and part of an who had gone to Egypt because he was in ill health who had gone to Egypt because he couldn't stand the cold English winters and wanted to entertain himself and so started to fund a dig and it got out of control and by this season before the 1922 season he was going to pull the plug it become much too expensive for him to continue and Carter said look I'll fund it if you don't find anything but fund it and I think I have a place to look where we haven't looked yet who lorded carnival found that this archaeologists really think that you'll discover the tomb he gave him the money by early November history was made Carter had found the first step of a staircase of sixteen 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 understatements yes wonderful things November 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 in that lattice but then the real work began it took almost 10 years to clear photograph record conserve pack and ship and astounding five thousand artifacts from the tomb in southern Egypt and move them to the Cairo Museum in the north well the New Kingdom as far as funeral ritual was concerned was an era of conspicuous consumption so tombs were loaded not only with objects of daily life but also ritual objects and magical instruments ton in common of course being a king had even more and then the the inheritor of the material from the tombs of his ancestors at Amarna when the court moved back to Thebes he was given those as well so he had multiple sets of material so this tomb was probably the richest one that ever existed the ancient Egyptians believed that the afterlife was very much like everyday life people place many household objects inside their tomb for the next world they also included shap tees 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 shop teas had tiny tools in preparation of their role in the next world this chopped tea of Tutankhamun is unusual due to its size and details among the many treasures found in touch to whom were hundreds of items of jewellery to adorn the King games for his abuse 'men tells for oils and as Carter himself stated everywhere the glint of gold many of the objects in the tomb are made of gold or covered in gold leaf and gold had important religious significance to the ancient Egyptians the according to Egyptian mythology the flesh of the Gods was gold which is why you have gold finger stalls and toast dolls on the mummies and gold mummy masks because when you died you actually became a God he became one with the god Osiris you know gold were plenty in Egypt we know the location of the quarry of gold in Nubia we have the first map of gold in the Museum of Turin in Italy it shows to us exactly the location of gold one good litter sent by the king of of Makani do I mean hut of the third was telling him Cinda me gold because gold in your country like dusts and the tomb of Tutankhamen was all the gold can show how Egypt gold was everywhere the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb 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 Tutankhamun actually is one of the most interesting stories that people love to hear all the time and became famous in the time of the time sermon because Lord Carnarvon gave exclusive to London Times to publish anything about the tomb other reporters what they will say and this why they existed stories that anyone will enter inside the tomb of Tutankhamun will be murdered this textbook true and Lord Carnarvon death three months after the discovery also many stories happen to him but I will kill you I never really believed in the curse of the Pharaohs when we come back preview of some of the many treasures that will be on display in a brand-new exhibition that will make its North American debut at the Atlanta Civic Center this fall many decades have passed since the discovery of Tutankhamun 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 finds have revealed the entrances to two new tombs over twenty six to four kings existed in this place and more than 37 tombs for none royal kings but still the valley never explored well but there is many tombs of kings that never discovered until now like the tomb of Ramesses eight and the tomb of top of the second and all the Queen's of dynasty 18 they should be buried here all the excavation that has been done here done by foreigners and this why I started the first Egyptian expedition in the valley between the tomb Bhavan runs of the second and the tomb of his son mary matha you have this big mound that they always believed that the Dumba francis 8 should be existed her who 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 beginning of the tube it shows Esther's coming down and if you look down here you can see that this is exactly the same style of kV 63 I really cannot say if this royal tomb or none royal tomb because as we know in the value of the Kings the King can bury anyone looking at each two of the 63 tombs that found them develop the kings each one has a story each one has magic each one is a mysterious place and that is the bit that can lead us to the entrance of a new tool kV 64 and if we discover another intact tomb the people will talk about this tomb all their lives it will take the glory from King Tut excavators from all over the world work in Egypt and a large group of Americans has been excavating at the site of Abydos the area sacred to the god Osiris and dr. Joseph Wagner of the University of Pennsylvania recently began uncovering the unusual burial of the Middle Kingdom Pharaoh we're here at South abidos excavating the tomb of senwosret the third he's a king of the 12th dynasty who built one of the most magnificent tombs in all of Egypt 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 king 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 and so many aspects of ancient Egypt are reflected in the remains here most of my work has been here to buy toes I've worked at a number of other sites in Egypt Saqqara being the main one my my true love is for a bye toes however the reason being this is one of the greatest ancient centres of ancient Egyptian civilization but in many ways one of the least explored despite there being more than hundred years of work here everywhere we look we're discovering new things and so you know there are many centuries in fact of future excavation here I think 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 like a close the tomb of City it's a unique tomb that cannot be repeated and I would like to close the tomb of Tutankhamen but this will come through the site manager with a program that you are doing not only for develop the Kings but almost for every sides in Egypt the pyramids and the Sphinx and the treasures of Tutankhamen provide a glimpse into Egypt's past its legacy however is so much more Egypt's great architects gave the world building techniques and elements we still use today their scientific knowledge produced medical papyri and the first scene of medical implements they created the world's first zodiac and their artists produced some of the most beautiful and accomplished statuary of all times over the years the sands of Egypt have revealed many of these treasures and today we have a rare opportunity to see a large group of them along with more than 50 artifacts from Tut's tomb since 1922 and through the 70s Tutt mania has gripped the world and now once again Tutankhamun returns to the United States in all his glory Tutankhamun the golden King and the great Pharaoh's is a new exhibition from arts and exhibitions international in cooperation with Egypt's Supreme Council and National Geographic well this is a great opportunity for Atlanta people were very disappointed when we first touched it with 1970s bypass Atlanta we waited a long time for the show to come to Atlanta it was well worth the wait because this show is much larger than the original touch show this exhibit includes spectacular artifacts from Tutankhamun but even more it details not only the discovery rain and burial of the best-known Egyptian pharaoh it presents a comprehensive analysis of ancient Egyptian pharaohs over a span of more than 2,000 years Amenemhat the 3rd reign during the Middle Kingdom from around 1818 BC to 1772 BC during a time of prosperity and peace his body is youthful but his features show a more mature ruler these mythical creatures with the head of a king and the body of a lion embodied the authority of the Pharaoh with the power and virility of a lion sphinxes often guard an entryway or define a boundary the most famous is the Great Sphinx of Khafre at Giza a momentous structure carved out of a single piece of stone standing over 65 feet tall it guards the front of khafre's pyramid complex Sinemet a famous architect was thought to be hot cheap suits lover he was also tutor to her daughter princess never re here we see him affectionately embracing the young child pets mostly cats and dogs often appeared on monuments his limestone sarcophagus was carved for the pet cat of Akhenaten sold her brother pin status Thutmose was first in line for the throne but died before he could become king it ishe do was an overseer of tomb builders during the times of Khafre and his father Khufu these statues are unique because they show a low ranking official at different stages of his life here we see a proud older man comfortable with his social status this simple bed made of white painted wood was found in the antechamber of Tutankhamun's tomb the mattress is made of woven reeds and the beds legs are in the form of Lions feet Egyptians most likely lay with their heads toward what we would consider the foot and their feet toward the headboard I hope that people will take away from this exhibit an appreciation for the great beauty of Egyptian art the long-lasting nough severe civilization their great humanity in many ways there are the ancestors of our own civilization and also I hope that they'll support the Carlos museum so that we can have Egyptian art in Atlanta all the time visitors will come face to face with some of the greatest names in Egypt's history Khafre the builder of the second pyramid at giza hatshepsut the first woman who ruled as a king Akhenaten the ruler who introduced the concept of a single God and Ramses whose name and exploits appear prominently in the Bible a gallery of traditional gods will provide an overview of the hundreds of gods that comprised the traditional religion and a spectacular gallery will house the gold of the Pharaohs exquisite creations of gold silver semi-precious stones and glass and the solid-gold death mask of Susan Lee's the first of the 21st dynasty well this exhibition is a wonderful introduction to ancient Egypt because it spans the gamut of Egyptian civilization from its earliest heights in the Old Kingdom all the way to the late period and shows the great high points of Egyptian history so it puts ton of gummin in context so it's a very rich exhibition so I think it will really benefit anyone who sees it and really give them a good introduction to Egyptian civilization as well as the story of archaeology because we have represented some of the greatest finds in Egyptian archaeology from the first pioneers and re-add in Maspero to Zahi Hawass who's done so much for Egyptian archaeology so it's really a wonderful celebration of the material of ancient Egypt no other civilization lasted so long nor 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 you

Channel: Darryl Kinson

Views: 321,280

Rating: 4.7012005 out of 5

Keywords: Tutankhamun (Monarch), Pharaoh (Noble Title), Egypt (Country), Zahi Hawass, King Tut, Bill Kurtis, Egypt Exhibition, Valley of the Kings, Howard Carter, Lord Carnarvon, Tutankhamen, Egyptian Artifacts, Egyptian History, tombs, Ancient Egypt (Literature Subject), National Geographic Society (Production Company)

Id: BRIA_8oscIA

Length: 35min 0sec (2100 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 20 2015