Underwater Cave Diver Finds Massive African Treasure

for decades the kingdom of kush was dismissed by archaeologists it was believed that the egyptians were the reason for all of the cushite's culture yet a new excavation of a royal tomb underneath a nubian pyramid might just find the truth about how great these ancient people once were however the excavation isn't simple the archaeologists will have to overcome a massive aquatic issue to proceed through the chambers today we're going to tell you what these archaeologists have found and their potential monetary value we'll also give you some history on the region and the impact it's had to this day so let's get started in 2018 pierce paul kriesman headlined a new excavation of a site in sudan the area was once prominent during the kingdom of ancient nubia which is now based in modern day sudan this excavation site is known as nori it was an ancient necropolis for the former capital of napata altogether there are around 20 pyramids in nuri for various kings and queens that once ruled the kingdom of cush the tombs for the royalty weren't placed within the pyramids which is the case for the rulers of ancient egypt instead the tombs and chambers are directly below the stone monuments however in recent years rising underground water has flooded many of the tombs the cause of which is believed to be due to natural and human-caused climate change the water can erode some of the amazing treasures and writing within the chambers of the tomb but it can also stop grave robbers from entering and stealing from the royal remains since chrisman is a trained underwater archaeologist he's well educated to deal with the h2o problem the tomb that caught creaseman's eye belongs to the pharaoh nestacin who ruled between 335 bce to 315 bce the excavation was partly funded by national geographic kriesman and his team began digging out the staircase to nistasan's tomb during 2018 and into 2019. by the time they reached the entrance they realized the tombs didn't just have a bit of water within they were nearly completely submerged the team first secured the entrances to make sure the doorways didn't collapse then they could examine the chambers safely the first chamber had already been partly excavated in the past more on that later creaseman's team even used discarded red bull cans to help secure the safety line as the cans would bob on the water's surface the excavation team needed to use full diving equipment in order to brave the chambers safely however with every moment by the divers sediment from the ground would mix in with the water and thus make it hard to see the surrounding area using as many light sources as possible in the dark chambers eased that issue slightly the team eventually went through the first then the second and then the third and then the final chamber of nastasian's tomb there they found a site rarely seen in archaeology findings within ancient pyramids but before we get into that let's give you some information on what the kingdom of kush was from 1070 bce to 350 ce the kingdom of kush was based in ancient nubia which was located in the sudanese and southern egyptian nile valley the kush became the pharaohs of egypt in the 25th dynasty the most famous of which was taharka he was mentioned in the old testament for helping to defend jerusalem from attack after the nubian pharaohs lost power they retreated from egypt and arrived at the southern cushite capital of moreau for a while the new kingdom thrived as a port city that specialized in trading egypt on the other hand was consistently attacked by various forces however the cushites were in isolation so attacks by other forces were rare however once egypt was absorbed by the roman empire and dominated trading in the area moreau was abandoned by the remaining citizens as the entrance to the tomb is so narrow it wasn't possible for chrisman and his team to wear traditional scuba gear with a tank on their back otherwise they wouldn't be able to move and potentially get stuck as they explore the ruins which is a terrifying thought so they had to use surface supply diving equipment instead this means that the diver is connected to an air compressor on land that pumps breathable air through a long hose into the diver's regulator the air compressor that the excavation team used required petrol in order to work the divers did have a small tank of air on their back no bigger than a can of hair spray just in case they're cut off from the long hose this could happen if the tomb itself or the entrance caves in for this type of excavation the team would need an air compressor that can constantly run over long stretches of time as well as provide air for multiple people at the same time a compressor that does this type of job can be as much as 33 685 dollars the hose used by the team was 150 feet long this length of hose can cost as much as one thousand seven hundred dollars a regulator kit with all sorts of beneficial accessories can be as much as one thousand five hundred and eighty nine dollars but if you wanna be fancy and have a full face mask with a regulator built in then you're looking at a hefty fee of four thousand four hundred and thirty three dollars george andrew reisner was an american archaeologist that specialized in egypt nubia and palestine he went to the same area that chrisman is currently involved with reisner was there between the years 1907 to 1909 risner excavated the tomb of the legendary pharaoh to harka on top of this reisner mapped nuri's funeral monuments which includes 80 royal burials however reisner discovered that many of the tombs he encountered were already filled with groundwater making the excavation a lot harder especially back then reisner also examined nastasan's tomb the same one creesman is exploring chrisman's team have seen the attempted excavation within the first chamber however reisner never published his results it took an associate years later to put together the notes and publish them reisner wrongfully wrote off the kingdom of cush as racially inferior to the egyptians he instead believed the accomplishments of the cush were an inheritance from the egyptians as we've seen from research that was definitely not the case it's easy to think that underwater archaeology is a niche area of study that happens rarely however it's actually fairly common one example took place in 1999 whilst divers were exploring 36 feet below the soland an area of sea between england and the isle of wight a lobster caught their eyes it was throwing ancient worked flint tools from its burrow on further inspection with archaeologists they discovered the remains of an 80 000 year old human settlement that's now been claimed by the sea it's called boldner cliff one of the key pieces in an archaeologist isn't the whip and hat that indiana jones uses instead a permit is vital in order to get a permit for digging up ancient sites in nori you need to get in touch with sudan's national corporation for antiquities and museums or the ncam for short during the chrisman excavation there was a representative from ncam watching the proceedings to make sure the task was done correctly on top of securing a permit specifically to be able to do some underwater archaeology safely there are a number of courses that you need to take the cost of training in underwater archaeology varies online one course will take you to pompeii in italy to study ruins that have been claimed by the sea it'll set you back around two thousand dollars in order to go on such courses you'll also need to be padi certified in scuba diving the combined open water and advanced open water courses can cost around one thousand and fifty dollars in egypt if you find a rare ancient item and attempts to take it out of the country without the proper authority then you're looking at a hefty punishment firstly you'll be punished by quote intensive imprisonment for a period of time you'll also get a fine of no less than one hundred thousand egyptian pounds around six thousand three hundred dollars and no more than one million egyptian pounds roughly sixty three thousand dollars on top of this all the items and equipment including machinery and cars used in the illegal excavation are confiscated by the government as of the time this video is being put together the excavation of nastassen's tomb has been paused at the moment however the team has high hopes of returning in the near future in order to properly access the tomb and secure more knowledge on humanity's ancient past as we mentioned earlier the team did discover some valuable pieces of information in their brief time within nouri even though the tombs are flooded with water the team have so far seen a couple of artifacts after all the water works as a deterrent against would-be grave robbers one of the items found are a number of shabti dolls also known as ushabti these dolls were created as company for the person buried as they transition into the afterlife they would aid the person in acting as servants it's actually possible to purchase genuine shabti dolls online from ancient egypt so if you want to pick up a minion of your own for the next life it can cost between one hundred and thirty dollars to one thousand seven hundred dollars per doll online yet this is perhaps the most amazing discovery after reaching the third and final chamber in nostesson's tomb creesman stumbled upon the royal sarcophagus of nestescen which seems to be undisturbed for around 2 300 years in ancient egypt a sarcophagus was made from stone and often acted like an outer shell inside there would usually be a coffin containing the remains as of yet nastasan's sarcophagus hasn't been opened at least that's what it appears at the moment it's very rare for this to happen as the tombs of ancient royalty were often looted for treasure and mementos over the centuries with all the water and the lack of space removing the massive sarcophagus at this time is very difficult since the sarcophagus will often have remains within it's not possible to purchase an authentic ancient egyptian one after all they're incredibly valuable for museums in order to study but you can pick up a replica of king tutankhamun's sarcophagus as a decoration around your house all for one thousand six hundred and fifty dollars it will definitely attract the attention of your guests the actual sarcophagus of king toot and common is said to have contained three coffins one of which was covered in thick solid gold it's believed this golden coffin is worth over one million and two hundred thousand dollars after looking through the chambers and pausing the excavation a remaining army of archaeologists found the remains of a christian cemetery nearby after looking through the area they came across a piece of greek steely these were created for a number of reasons they were used as markers for past battles as a sort of ancient tombstone as well as marking property boundaries since it was found at a cemetery it's likely this is of the tombstone variety it's actually possible to purchase genuine greek steely if you so desire in 2018 the auction house sotheby's in london england sold a fragment of a greek steely that was made between 375 bce to 350 bce it was sold for 298 000 pounds or nearly 387 thousand dollars however a more complete greek steely that was made in the 4th century was sold by sotheby's in new york during 2012. it went for an astonishing nine hundred and two thousand five hundred dollars and that's it do we have any underwater archaeologists watching if so please tell us the sights you've explored in the comments if you enjoyed the video please like share and subscribe all of those actions really help us out finally thanks for joining us today we'll see you next time

Channel: TheRichest

Views: 1,309,418

Rating: 4.5645289 out of 5

Keywords: Underwater Archaeology, Egyptian Pyramids, Nuri Excavation, National Geographic, Ancient Treasure, mystery, treasure hunt, found, divers, scuba, cave diving, true story, the richest

Id: TAGO5xN3ZrQ

Length: 10min 54sec (654 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 07 2020