Documental. Dentro de las pirmides - La pirmide de Micerino
En la meseta de Giza, las pirámides de Keops y Kefrén superan casi en 80 metros a su hermana pequeña, la pirámide de Micerino. Esta pirámide tiene algo único, Micerino tenía una misión distinta a la de sus antepasados ya que prefiere centrarse en lo que hay en su interior, las cámaras. Micerino, el tercer constructor de Giza se diferencia de sus predecesores por sus innovaciones arquitectónicas, la joya egipcia es la más discreta de las tres pero quizás la que tenga más cosas que revelarnos.
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00:00In the Giza plateau, Keops and Kefren
00:05almost 80 meters above their little sister,
00:08the Pyramid of Mizerino.
00:13This pyramid has something unique.
00:15Mizerino had a different vision, that of his ancestors.
00:18He prefers to focus on what is inside,
00:20in the chambers.
00:23Mizerino, the third builder of Giza,
00:27differentiates himself from his predecessors
00:29by his architectural innovations.
00:35How wonderful, a chamber completely carved in granite.
00:40The most discreet Egyptian jewel of the three,
00:43although perhaps the one that has more things to reveal to us.
00:50Mizerino's pyramid complex is a bit like the script of a movie.
00:55Mizerino's history and destiny are speechless.
00:59Two centuries ago, his sarcophagus sank in the Mediterranean Sea.
01:03And it's never been recovered,
01:05so it's a mystery that's still hidden at the bottom of the sea.
01:11Mizerino, Keops' grandson, has become a legend.
01:16But the construction of his tomb is still an enigma to this day.
01:20To try to decipher his mysteries,
01:23our scientists have obtained an authorization
01:25to enter the most emblematic pyramids of ancient Egypt
01:28with a last-generation laser scanner.
01:32It's a little tight.
01:35Let's see if we can open it. Come this way.
01:38With this method, we can obtain a digital copy of the interior of the construction
01:42with millimetric precision.
01:44With a few clicks, measures are taken
01:46that would be difficult to achieve on the ground.
01:48These new tools will provide our experts
01:51with new clues in this scientific investigation
01:54that began 200 years ago.
02:21MIZERINO'S PYRAMID
02:29Heading to the Giza plateau,
02:31a few kilometers in a straight line from Cairo,
02:34to discover Mizerino's pyramid.
02:39The sphinx seems to be watching over the three jewels of Egypt.
02:47The first is Keops' pyramid,
02:49the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world,
02:52which is still standing.
02:53Then, in the center, the one of his son, Kefren.
02:57And finally, the last one built by Keops' grandson, Mizerino.
03:08The first thing that distinguishes the two sisters is their height.
03:13Why did the third king of the Giza plateau
03:15order to build a pyramid smaller than his father and grandfather's?
03:23The reasons for this are unknown,
03:25but there are those who say that there was not enough space
03:27on the Giza plateau for Mizerino to build a pyramid
03:30as large as those of his predecessors.
03:37Keops' pyramid is made up of between 2.5 million
03:40and 3 million blocks.
03:42We calculate much less for his grandson's.
03:47Approximately, it is one tenth of the volume of Keops' pyramid.
03:52And although it may seem small,
03:54in reality, Mizerino's pyramid is quite large.
04:00One tenth of the volume of the Great Pyramid.
04:04And yet, it is 105 meters wide
04:07and almost 63 meters high,
04:1010 meters more than the Arc de Triomphe.
04:14Experts suggest another reason to explain
04:17the dimensions of this pyramid.
04:19The economic resources were more scarce,
04:22and they considered it a waste to build a gigantic pyramid.
04:26It makes sense.
04:28For three generations, they built monuments of an important size.
04:34Did Egypt have enough resources?
04:41Probably.
04:42They had already abused the country's resources with Keops,
04:46and then even more for the Pyramid of Khefrel.
04:51His grandfather had the largest pyramid in Egypt built.
04:55Keops mobilized so many resources
04:57that the country no longer had enough for the next generations.
05:01They had to spend an immense amount of energy
05:04and concentrate all the resources of the kingdom
05:06on a national project that was not going to generate any money.
05:09Inevitably, this type of project has its limits.
05:12It comes to a point where they have to stop.
05:16With Mycenaean, the era of gigantism comes to an end.
05:20The ancient empire goes through a period of transition.
05:24Without a doubt, all this was happening
05:26while an elite was gaining power.
05:28An elite that would later be able to end the omnipotence of the pharaoh,
05:32which we do contemplate in the kingdoms of Khefrel and Keops.
05:36I think the reign of Mycenaean
05:38marks a before and after
05:40in this type of decision about what matters in a pyramid.
05:45But even so, the Mycenaean pyramid is an architectural jewel.
05:50It is the most delicate of the three pyramids on the Giza plateau,
05:54when we look at it in detail.
05:57The Egyptologist Basil Dobrev
05:59has been studying the Mycenaean pyramid for years.
06:05Unlike those of Khefrel and Keops,
06:07built with white limestone blocks,
06:10the Mycenaean pyramid is distinguished by its red color.
06:16There are many granite blocks,
06:18and the red color of the Mycenaean pyramid
06:23There are many granite blocks,
06:25and they are all from the covering of the pyramid.
06:30These tons and tons of granite scattered
06:33were at the time the covering of the pyramid,
06:36but the looters took it away.
06:40Granite is a little-used stone for several reasons.
06:43The first is that they brought it from afar.
06:46This red stone was transported
06:48from the quarries of Aswan to the south of the country.
06:52It traveled by boat more than 800 kilometers through the Nile
06:55until it reached Giza.
06:58In addition, it is much more difficult to work with it
07:01than with the limestone used by Keops and Khefrel.
07:05We see that the techniques evolved.
07:07They were transmitted from generation to generation
07:10and always included innovations.
07:12Above all, an especially effective tool.
07:15They had sands of sand,
07:17so when they closed two blocks and joined them,
07:20that is, when they leveled them and joined them,
07:23they stuck together, they did not need clay.
07:27The Egyptians used copper sheets.
07:30This famous saw is a bit difficult to imagine,
07:33but it had to exist
07:35because you can appreciate the marks on the blades.
07:38And there is not only one mark,
07:40but there is another one like this,
07:43and then another.
07:46Approaching the granite,
07:48Micerino dodged the difficult task.
07:52But he knew how to take advantage of the experience of his predecessors.
07:57Think that at this time
07:59they had been building large pyramids for 100 years.
08:02They had experience, a lot of experience.
08:06Egyptologists wonder
08:08about the surprising choice of Micerino's coating.
08:11Did he intend to build a completely red pyramid?
08:15And only 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 rows have been preserved, more or less.
08:22Micerino's pyramid has 9 rows of granite coating.
08:28Some people think that perhaps his intention
08:31was to cover the entire pyramid with granite
08:34to make up for the fact that it was smaller.
08:39A clue between the limestone blocks
08:41makes us lean for another more likely hypothesis.
08:46A little higher, at the height of the gap, to your left,
08:49there is a block of granite that looks like a coating block.
08:53This granite block, located more or less on row number 15,
08:56provides us with very important information about the original coating.
09:00Starting from the base, it is coated with 16 rows of granite.
09:05So it had to look different when they finished it.
09:09In fact, they probably never finished it.
09:13The coating of this pyramid had two colors.
09:16The base of the granite was dark pink, grayish pink.
09:19And then the rest of the pyramid was the color of the Tura limestone.
09:23In other words, we had a glistening pyramid
09:26on a much darker base.
09:29At the top, it was white due to the shining white limestone,
09:32and at the bottom, red and black due to the beautiful granite.
09:36Therefore, the pharaoh decided to have a bicolor pyramid.
09:39The remaining granite blocks reveal more information to us.
09:44At first, they placed the blocks perfectly against each other,
09:48and then they smoothed them out.
09:50But unfortunately, this work was not finished in the entire pyramid.
09:54They polished some blocks, others left them raw.
09:59This is a fundamental clue to understand the personal history of King Micerino.
10:04What we are sure of is that Micerino died.
10:08And we know that it is quite likely that he died before completing his pyramid,
10:13because the monument shows the different stages of work.
10:17The complex was unfinished.
10:21King Micerino died before they finished the construction of the monument.
10:25They gave the final touches in a hurry,
10:27and the structure, which is not fixed,
10:29allows us to warn views 4,500 years later.
10:33The building of a royal tomb in Egypt
10:36could only be carried out while the king was alive.
10:39The only work they did after his death
10:42was to reduce to concluding absolutely essential things.
10:54To better understand the history of the Pyramid of Micerino,
10:57we are going to accompany the Egyptologist Fran Monier on a mission.
11:01This expert studies the construction and operation of the pyramids of ancient Egypt.
11:10A miniature high-tech scanner
11:12will help us decipher the mysteries of the Pyramid of Micerino.
11:21I have drawn in a very schematic way
11:23the funerary chambers of the Pyramid of Micerino.
11:27What would be very interesting to scan in the first place
11:30would be the antechamber,
11:32this abandoned chamber with all its characteristics,
11:34and the funerary chamber.
11:36If we could get a very precise plan of the place,
11:39we could discover a lot of things
11:41about how the Egyptians built this funerary chamber.
11:49We have achieved exceptional access to this closed pyramid to the public,
11:53and we have entrusted this mission to Alvan Brice Pampou.
11:58The internal structure of Micerino presents a peculiarity.
12:02The funerary chambers are totally underground.
12:05Alvan Brice Pampou puts the new technologies at the service of archaeology.
12:09Equipped with a last-generation precision millimeter scanner,
12:13he is going to scan even the most remote corners of the underground chambers
12:17as it had never been done before.
12:19When entering the pyramid with the scanner,
12:21I will collect thousands of points that are 3D coordinates of the walls of the tomb.
12:25I'm going to make a very complex 3D plan.
12:27The goal is to move as much as I can through the spaces that are not accessible
12:31to document this funerary complex.
12:36Thanks to a high-precision lidar,
12:38for the first time in history,
12:40the Pyramid of Micerino may be able to provide us
12:43new clues about its construction.
12:49Come in.
12:50Come in.
12:51Come in.
12:52Come in.
12:53Come in.
13:18We just passed through the descending corridor
13:20and we have reached a first chamber decorated with bas-reliefs.
13:23Now we are going to go through the traces
13:25and through another small corridor
13:27until we appear in this huge room dug in the rock.
13:38The scanner can capture 420,000 points per second.
13:43Then it will analyze the data in Paris
13:45and the results of the scanner will be ready in a few weeks.
13:51The Pyramid of Micerino
14:04What do we know about the king who ordered the construction of this pyramid?
14:07Who was this man, Micerino, the grandson of King Cheops?
14:13More than 4,000 years after his death,
14:15there are very few references to this sixth ruler of the fourth dynasty.
14:21The Greek historian Herodotus
14:23is the first to write about the kings of the Giza plateau.
14:27Herodotus tells that Cheops was a tyrant,
14:30that the people hated him,
14:32that he imposed very harsh conditions on his workers.
14:36At that time, the priests who were here
14:38told Herodotus that Cheops had to prostitute his daughter
14:42so that he could get each of the stones from his pyramid.
14:46Imagine the amount of stones that a pyramid has,
14:49even a small one.
14:51Instead, they considered that Micerino
14:54was kinder and kinder, and a good leader.
15:00It's interesting that in the writings that have come to us
15:03from the Greco-Roman era,
15:06they left evidence that many Egyptians
15:08despised Cheops and Ephraim,
15:12and that, on the other hand, Micerino was loved.
15:16Herodotus also tells another story.
15:19The king could have chosen to build a small pyramid
15:22because the gods would have given him a warning.
15:26The oracle tells him that he is going to die soon,
15:29in about six years.
15:31Micerino doesn't like it, he has to hurry.
15:37We don't know if Herodotus is telling the truth.
15:40He tells what he has been told.
15:43It is difficult to trust these legends.
15:46To try to reconstruct the history of Micerino,
15:49you have to look for clues in a larger perimeter.
15:54You have to think that we don't just have a pyramid,
15:57we have a whole funerary complex
15:59that the pyramid is part of.
16:01There is a funerary temple on the east side,
16:04a great path leads to it,
16:06and down in the valley is the temple.
16:10You have to look at it all together.
16:12This temple in the valley is essential
16:14to understand Micerino.
16:17Here, archaeologists have made incredible discoveries
16:20that have revealed valuable information about the pharaoh.
16:24It should be noted that this is where the American Egyptologist
16:28George Reisner discovered impressive statues in 1908.
16:32He found some of the most fabulous works
16:35in the history of the art of ancient Egypt.
16:38The statues of Micerino, the deity of Micerino and a queen,
16:41are masterpieces of art worldwide.
16:46You have to go to the Cairo Egyptian Museum,
16:49a few kilometers from the Giza plateau,
16:51to admire this wonder.
16:54Meredith Bran knows it perfectly well
16:57and will guide us through this labyrinth
16:59to discover the triad of Micerino.
17:05These statues are pure works of art.
17:08The faces of the king and the goddesses
17:11overshadow beauty and realism.
17:13They are practically emblematic of the old empire.
17:17In the era of the great pyramids,
17:19it can be easy to overlook
17:21the true artistic skills of the craftsmen of that period.
17:26In fact, we know that at this time
17:29they were creating masterpieces in a very prolific manner.
17:34This shows the advances they were making
17:37not only in architecture, but also in art and portraits.
17:42This treasure of ancient Egypt is of amazing realism.
17:48A detail on his head reveals more information
17:51about this king and his power.
17:54He wears the white crown of southern Egypt
17:58and the known gods are linked to the southern part of the country.
18:03So these statues can also be indicating
18:06that Micerino had control of the entire country
18:09and that he was using the economic resources of all of Egypt
18:13to develop his pyramid and his cult.
18:16In this way, King Micerino is showing himself as a human being and as God,
18:21as well as as the legitimate king of all of Egypt.
18:29To get more information about the life of Micerino,
18:32you have to go to the south of his pyramid.
18:36Three smaller pyramids reveal to us more information about the life of the king.
18:42The Egyptologist Shabir Enaf knows the genealogy of the pharaohs.
18:47The point is that we do not have the name of the owners.
18:52But what we do know for sure is that normally
18:55these pyramids are intended to be buried by the pharaoh's wives.
19:01So Micerino would have had several wives.
19:04We know at least two.
19:06There is Hamerer-Nepti and another woman called Reina-Kaos.
19:12We only know that.
19:14We can not directly relate the names of the wives
19:17with the tombs we have here
19:19because we do not have a text that mentions them specifically.
19:23The polygamy is common among the Egyptians.
19:26All pharaohs have several wives.
19:28Some have up to seven and do not go far to look for them.
19:31In the time of Micerino, we are still talking about the fourth dynasty,
19:35when the royal family is still formed by a few members,
19:39that is, brothers, sisters, cousins and cousins and nothing more,
19:44they resort to something that today we would disapprove.
19:48Basically, they could marry between brothers or sisters
19:52to generate heirs.
19:56Exactly what Micerino did.
19:59Micerino married one of his sisters
20:02and maybe another queen was also either his sister
20:06or someone in the family, but we do not know for sure.
20:12Meanwhile, in Paris,
20:14Fran Monier receives the results of the mission
20:17and will discover, along with us, the 3D model of the monument.
20:22The program allows us to walk virtually through the pyramid.
20:27The scanner reveals the base of the pyramid,
20:30at the level of the ground, this one here.
20:33Also the access to the funerary chambers, here.
20:37And then a descending corridor that leads to a small vestibule.
20:43This 3D view reveals to us
20:45that the pyramid was built by the Egyptians
20:49This 3D view reveals to us
20:51that they excavated the funerary chambers
20:53in the heart of the Giza plateau.
20:55We also see a horizontal corridor
20:57that leads to a large first chamber
20:59and we warn that from the ground of this
21:02a kind of descending corridor comes out
21:05that leads to the funerary chamber
21:07that we know today.
21:18After having analyzed this digital copy,
21:20our expert heads to the Giza plateau
21:23to directly observe the pyramid
21:25that he has been studying for so long.
21:32This pyramid has the peculiarity
21:34of presenting a gap in the north face.
21:36When compared to the other two giant pyramids
21:38next to it, it seems to have a scar.
21:43This slit several meters high
21:45is the distinctive mark of Micerino
21:49and its appearance does not go back to the construction.
21:53This gap was made by the Egyptians in the 18th century
21:56and perhaps even before.
21:58We know that they had a kind of desire
22:00to dismantle this type of monument,
22:02but of course also to take advantage of the limestone stone.
22:06However, the canteros had nothing to do
22:09before this mastodon.
22:11The Egyptians quickly realized
22:13that demolishing it was going to require
22:15an exorbitant load of work,
22:17so they took a while to give up.
22:19It turns out that it is much easier
22:21to build a pyramid than to destroy it.
22:23Despite setbacks over the years,
22:25this pyramid, built some 45 centuries ago,
22:28has remained indestructible.
22:30They were determined to destroy it,
22:32to take advantage of the limestone stone and the granite,
22:35but the pyramid still has a magnificent appearance.
22:39Although this gap disfigures the building,
22:42it allows us to better understand
22:44the internal construction of the pyramid.
22:50After all, the structure of the monument
22:53is a bit like human morphology.
22:56The human body is made up, in short,
22:59of a skeleton, bones, muscles and, finally, skin,
23:02and the pyramid is more or less the same.
23:06The skeleton would be the stepped pyramid,
23:09the base of the monument.
23:11Then come the muscles,
23:13that is, the support blocks to cover the steps
23:16and get a smooth face.
23:18And finally, the coating would be the skin,
23:21and the Egyptians were not wrong,
23:23they called it the perfect dress.
23:26The Mycenaean pyramid was looted from ancient times,
23:29and over the centuries,
23:31the entrance was covered with sand
23:33until it completely disappeared.
23:41It was not until the 19th century
23:43when the Europeans became interested in the pyramids
23:46and launched great exploration campaigns.
23:49Howard Weiss was a British military officer
23:52and a very rich man.
23:54He fell in love with the pyramids.
23:57He found out that no one had found
23:59an entrance to the Mycenaean pyramid.
24:02So what was inside was a mystery.
24:05He was obsessed and he did not stop
24:07until he figured out what was inside this pyramid.
24:11Colonel Weiss calls British engineer John Perrin
24:14to help him in his search.
24:17The two of them decided that they would not risk anything
24:20to enter this pyramid.
24:22Some of that story is a little shocking,
24:25because, in fact, to penetrate the pyramid in 1830,
24:29they used dynamite.
24:31And I think that today we can not even imagine people
24:34putting dynamite charges
24:36to exploit and discover the passages.
24:40Our American Egyptologist Meredith Brand
24:43is going to access the Mycenaean pyramid for the first time
24:46following the steps of the two British explorers.
24:51Up here is where Howard Weiss
24:53had to exploit this gap that existed since the 12th century.
24:57With the help of dynamite,
24:59he created a straight tunnel that then descends.
25:02Despite the damage caused,
25:04the two explorers do not discover anything.
25:06After reflecting, they clear the sand
25:08that covered part of the pyramid
25:10and finally find the door through which Meredith Brand will enter.
25:14And all the time the entrance had been here.
25:24Thanks to these 3D plans that our team has developed,
25:27Egyptologist Mark Lenner
25:29will have a global view of the interior of the pyramid for the first time.
25:35It's great to be able to see it thanks to photogrammetry,
25:38because now we can turn it and observe it
25:41from different points of view.
25:44This program allows us to take measures
25:46that would be very difficult to do in person.
25:49We can measure, thanks to photogrammetry,
25:52the descending corridor.
25:54Let's see how long that is.
25:57Perfect.
25:58According to this, it is almost 33 meters.
26:0433 meters.
26:05This is the distance from the descent
26:07that separates Meredith Brand from the entrails of the pyramid.
26:12And she's going to discover a real show.
26:21Oh, this is beautiful.
26:23These are gorgeous.
26:25The façade of the niches is absolutely stunning.
26:28They sculpted it on the original limestone
26:31and it represents the palace façade.
26:34It is very special to see a decoration like this in Giza,
26:38in a pyramid of the fourth dynasty.
26:41It is truly unique.
26:44Micerino is the first king in Hinnobar.
26:47He takes after his grandfather Cheops,
26:49who has no antechamber or walls sculpted in his pyramid.
26:53This is the first place through which the king's sarcophagus will pass.
26:57It is the entrance to the pyramid structure,
27:00totally underground.
27:04After this antechamber,
27:06you have to enter a long corridor
27:08that leads to this first chamber,
27:10completely excavated in the rock.
27:14Oh, wow.
27:20This is incredible.
27:23Imagine what this must have been for any explorer,
27:26for Howard Weiss and all those who came before.
27:29This passageway that I just crossed
27:31would have been covered with rubble
27:33and they would have to crawl to get through.
27:36And then they enter this chamber
27:38and they come across this beautiful space.
27:42The room is impressive for its dimensions,
27:44but if we look at it more closely,
27:46the details leave us perplexed.
27:49This chamber is not finished.
27:51The limestone is rough.
27:54What could this chamber have been for if they didn't finish it?
27:59With her eye of an expert,
28:01Meredith Yprain can decipher the clues.
28:05Here, there is a niche.
28:07There is a flat part.
28:09I mean, this would be the ideal place to place a sarcophagus.
28:13It would have been a magnificent place to bury it.
28:17Indeed, this location would have been perfect for a sarcophagus.
28:24It would make sense that, at first,
28:27Micerino would like this to be his funeral chamber.
28:32But clearly, they didn't finish it properly.
28:35It's all very rough.
28:38And this is not where they found the sarcophagus.
28:42The Egyptologists formulate several hypotheses.
28:45Is it a mistake of construction,
28:47or rather a deliberate decision of the king?
28:49To this day, it seems that the mystery of this abandoned chamber has been solved.
28:54Micerino had a new idea, a different idea,
28:57and it was that he wanted to make another funeral chamber.
29:00The construction of a pyramid begins when the pharaoh ascends to the throne
29:04and his reign is prolonged.
29:06It's not uncommon for a king to change his mind,
29:09to develop his plans, to modify things,
29:12to move forward and have a different vision,
29:15because architecture was constantly evolving.
29:19So changing your mind and developing a new plan
29:22was quite common in the pyramids.
29:26In conclusion, this is not the chamber that Micerino chose to be buried.
29:32Several generations of men succeeded
29:34to build the work of the reign of Micerino.
29:38Frank Monier will help us understand the construction.
29:41This block is a classic coating block
29:44that the canteros removed from the pyramid.
29:49To try to imagine the work that the Egyptians did,
29:53you have to do a mathematical calculation.
29:57According to its dimensions, it measures approximately two cubic meters.
30:01Two cubic meters of granite are about five tons.
30:04We have five tons in front of us.
30:06At this time, when the Egyptians had not yet discovered the wheel,
30:10how did they manage to move such blocks?
30:13We know that the Egyptians used sledges
30:15to move the large blocks of stone.
30:17We have many representations and texts that describe them to us.
30:20What they did was place the blocks on the sledges
30:23and pull them with ropes.
30:26To pull these blocks of several tons,
30:28the operation requires a considerable labor.
30:32A man could pull an average of about 300 or 400 kilos.
30:36With five tons, it took about 15 men to pull this giant block.
30:45Moving a block on a flat surface is already an achievement.
30:48The peculiarity of this pyramid is that everything is underground.
30:52The Egyptians faced a real puzzle.
30:56Imagine the difficulties inside the pyramid.
30:59The descending corridor is very narrow
31:01and they worked with blocks that weighed seven or eight tons.
31:05For the first time, Fran Monier will enter the pyramid
31:08and will be able to check his reasoning.
31:17It is impressive to see the tiny size of this corridor.
31:23It is very narrow.
31:24I wonder what was the technique they really used
31:27to be able to control the descent of those stones
31:30with such extraordinary mass.
31:35After having analyzed the structure,
31:37Fran Monier has an explanation for the transfer of the blocks through this tunnel.
31:42They took advantage of the slope and the ground was very slippery,
31:45which they had done on purpose to be able to move the blocks.
31:49We are talking about seven or eight tons
31:51that they had to control from the outside.
31:53Dozens of workers who, with ropes,
31:55let them go down little by little
31:57until they reached the horizontal corridor.
32:01They had to control the maneuver 33 meters.
32:04It is a real challenge that they knew how to face,
32:07although a magnificent challenge.
32:11The challenge did not stop there.
32:13The workers had to be ingenious
32:15to lower the blocks even more.
32:18The Egyptians were ingenious
32:20and they did not give up to any challenge.
32:22They always found a way,
32:24it may be simple,
32:25but they always found a way to get out of the way.
32:29In this first abandoned chamber,
32:31Fran Monier can see the footprints,
32:33the tracks left by the builders of the pyramid.
32:38What is really unique about this chamber
32:40are these large notches that we see on the walls,
32:43one in front of the other.
32:45There is a notch on this wall and the other on the opposite side.
32:50This abandoned chamber was a key place of work
32:53for the construction of the king's funeral chambers.
32:57There are notches all over the chamber.
32:59They are large circular notches.
33:01As you can see, I can put my arm inside.
33:03They are quite deep.
33:04They are 30 and even 40 centimeters in diameter.
33:07These cavities,
33:08excavated directly on the rock,
33:10had a particular function.
33:12Basically, they are traces
33:13left by the builders of their construction methods.
33:16They are totally unique.
33:17We do not find them anywhere else.
33:21Thanks to the 3D model developed by our team,
33:24Fran Monier can analyze these tracks from a computer.
33:28The model clearly shows
33:31the presence of the circular notches.
33:34When you turn it,
33:35you can see the notches carved on the side walls
33:38of this abandoned chamber.
33:40And they are in front of this one and this one,
33:42and then on the other side we also see them.
33:46The program gives us a global view
33:48of the interior of the room
33:50and a better understanding of the purpose of these cavities.
33:54These notches were used to accommodate
33:56the famous maneuver beams,
33:58with which, with the help of some ropes,
34:00they could handle the cables,
34:02but also the descent of the sarcophagus.
34:05These beams were undoubtedly used
34:07as support for the ropes
34:09to lift the blocks and be able to transport them
34:11to the main chamber of the pyramid,
34:13which housed the remains of the king.
34:17Meredith Brand enters the chamber for the first time.
34:24How beautiful!
34:26This is the final funeral chamber.
34:30This is where the sarcophagus was.
34:33This room is finished beautifully in granite,
34:37and when I focus it on the light,
34:39you can see how it sparkles a little bit.
34:43This is a stone that has a special meaning
34:45for the sun.
34:48We also notice graffitis
34:50that the previous explorers left.
34:52And this vault.
34:54It's really beautiful,
34:56and at the same time strange
34:58that a pyramid has a vault sculpted in granite.
35:04The work done by the Egyptians is exceptional.
35:08And even more so if we take into account
35:10the conditions in which the workers worked.
35:12This is really a small and narrow space.
35:16I can't imagine what the workers had to go through
35:19to get down into this space.
35:21It's tight and there's no air.
35:24The only light they would have
35:26would have been candles or oil lamps.
35:30Thanks to the 3D scanner,
35:32Fran Monnier can check the prowess
35:34of the real construction equipment.
35:36We're going to measure the depth of the underground chambers.
35:39So if we take as a starting point
35:41the base of the pyramid,
35:43at ground level,
35:45and we take it to the lowest point,
35:47we're talking about 17 or 18 meters.
35:50They dug 18 meters underground.
35:53The height of a five-story building.
35:56So the Egyptians had to dig
35:58the funerary chambers
36:00at a considerable depth,
36:0217 or 18 meters underground,
36:04and they had to move heavy blocks
36:06through very narrow spaces.
36:08It was difficulty after difficulty.
36:10It's difficult to move through the funerary chambers.
36:12Imagine the workers who had to
36:14move blocks of several tons.
36:16It had to be hell.
36:22To be carving and hammering the rocks,
36:25pulling, dragging, removing.
36:28The workers had a very hard time
36:30building this space,
36:32as well as the looters
36:34who came afterwards
36:36to dig a tunnel to get in,
36:38and then the explorers.
36:40This is a place where people
36:42did an exhausting job.
36:45Contrary to what everyone believes,
36:47the workers who built the pyramids
36:49of Giza with the sweat on their foreheads
36:51were not slaves.
36:59Archaeologist Mark Lenner
37:01has been excavating the Giza plateau
37:03for several decades.
37:05He's looking for clues that help him
37:07explain why the Egyptians
37:09built such mastodons.
37:11At the foot of the Giza plateau,
37:13there was a city.
37:15Even today, the modern city
37:17has returned to Giza
37:19and appears on the shore of the Giza plateau.
37:22Cities settled here
37:24because of the pyramids.
37:26In this city, sleeping under the sand,
37:28Mark Lenner has been able to reconstruct
37:30how the workers' living conditions
37:32would have been.
37:34We know that the workers
37:36who were rotating to go to work
37:38on the pyramid
37:40had diets rich in protein
37:42and carbohydrates,
37:44because we found dozens of bakeries
37:46where they made huge loaves of bread
37:48in special pots.
37:54This excavation has shown
37:56that the workers were supplied
37:58with considerable amounts of food,
38:00meat, protein,
38:02especially veal.
38:04They ate fish, bread,
38:06they drank beer,
38:08they ate a lot of things.
38:10Their life was comfortable.
38:12It seems that they were not forced
38:14to work or do terrible things.
38:16But even with good food
38:18and good medical attention,
38:20the work had to have been exhausting
38:22and difficult.
38:24After all, the structure
38:26of ancient Egyptian society
38:28was not so different
38:30from our history in the West.
38:32Not only in ancient Egypt,
38:34work was mandatory.
38:36In the Middle Ages,
38:38whether in France,
38:40in England,
38:42you had to work for your lord.
38:44This organization of such rigorous work
38:46to build the wonders of Egypt
38:48also sheds light on the functioning
38:50of the Egyptian state.
38:52We think that, in fact,
38:54royal administration evolved
38:56quite rapidly due to the projects
38:58of the construction of giant pyramids.
39:02The pyramids are incredible monuments,
39:04but they are also monuments
39:06of the Egyptian state,
39:08of the development of an administration
39:10and of a bureaucracy
39:12in an economic and political system
39:14that could build these monuments.
39:16The bureaucracy remained
39:18to govern Egypt
39:20even after the pyramids
39:22began to shrink,
39:24as we see here behind,
39:26from Cheops to Mithrino.
39:28So the thing is not only
39:30how the pyramids helped
39:32to build Egypt,
39:34including the administration
39:36of the Egyptian government.
39:38The craftsmen of the masterpiece
39:40were not slaves,
39:42and these men never surrendered
39:44to a challenge.
39:46Fran Monier wants to show us
39:48the architectural prowess
39:50in the heart of the pyramid.
39:56How wonderful!
39:58A chamber completely carved in granite,
40:00something we had not seen
40:02since the reign of Cheops.
40:04We are in a completely underground chamber,
40:06and all the blocks we see
40:08were brought down the corridor.
40:10They were brought down
40:12and moved through really narrow spaces
40:14to be placed later with great care.
40:16The joints are magnificent.
40:18As is customary
40:20in Egyptian civilization,
40:22the resulting work
40:24is of extraordinary precision.
40:26Look how extremely fine
40:28the joints are.
40:30Here we have two different blocks,
40:32but they are barely noticeable.
40:34It is magnificent
40:36how they polished the stone.
40:38They did it so meticulously
40:40that it is difficult to distinguish
40:42the joints that separate the stones.
40:44They placed them
40:46and carved them very carefully.
40:48To discover the most
40:50extraordinary element of the pyramid,
40:52you have to look up.
40:54The vault is made entirely
40:56of granite blocks.
40:58The largest of all
41:00will weigh about 7 or 8 tons.
41:02Think that the weight of a car
41:04is about one and a half tons.
41:06And here we have 7 or 8 tons
41:08just for blocks,
41:10and there are 18 in total.
41:12It is amazing that with the few means
41:14they had, they could achieve
41:16such perfection.
41:18These blocks are basically
41:20supported against each other.
41:22If we add the total weight,
41:24this vault weighs
41:26about 80 tons.
41:28To try to understand
41:30how the Egyptians were able
41:32to place such blocks
41:34and carve them in the shape
41:36of a circular arch,
41:38perhaps we will find
41:40the explanation about this vault.
41:42Our team is going to scan
41:44the room above the king's chamber.
41:46The only problem is
41:48that it is inaccessible.
41:50The bars are separated enough
41:52to be able to strain the pergola
41:54and try to get it as deep as possible
41:56and thus give the scanner
41:58enough time to collect data.
42:00This space is called
42:02the maneuvering chamber.
42:04It's a bit like the pyramid's
42:06vault.
42:08There are many dark areas
42:10and we're going to stay
42:12at the beginning.
42:14I think we'll be able
42:16to get something in digital.
42:18The 3D model will help us
42:20understand the work
42:22the Egyptians did.
42:30I can't imagine more than
42:32five or six men working
42:34at the same time in this chamber.
42:36The intelligence outperformed
42:38the strength.
42:40The height of the ceiling
42:42of this maneuvering chamber
42:44varies between 70 centimeters
42:46and can carry blocks
42:48of several tons.
42:50They had to find ingenious
42:52methods to move them,
42:54take them to their site.
42:56Without a doubt,
42:58a system of levers or scaffolding
43:00that would allow them,
43:02as simply as possible,
43:04to lower the block and place it.
43:06However, if this vault is
43:08an extraordinary success
43:10from a technical point of view,
43:12we cannot say the same
43:14because there are no loads
43:16that fall on it.
43:18The chamber is totally underground.
43:20So why did the Egyptians
43:22take so much trouble
43:24to build such a vault?
43:26The answer is surprising.
43:28To understand it,
43:30you have to see things
43:32with perspective.
43:34The Egyptian civilization
43:36is governed by two main axes,
43:38the axis of the Nile,
43:40from south to north,
43:42from east to west.
43:44The sun rises from the east,
43:46the world of the living,
43:48and sets from the west,
43:50the world of the dead.
43:52The sun is the creator god,
43:54who created life.
43:56The Egyptians believed
43:58that there was life after death.
44:00That is undoubtedly
44:02the main idea of this civilization.
44:04All the pharaohs built
44:06their funeral chambers
44:08in relation to the solar axis,
44:10and placed their chambers
44:12on the east-west axis.
44:14Thanks to the 3D views
44:16obtained in the mission,
44:18Basil Dobrev will be able
44:20to observe in detail
44:22one of the peculiarities
44:24of the chamber of Mizerino.
44:26The funeral chamber
44:28is exactly on the north-south axis.
44:30Mizerino is the only king
44:32who chose this axis.
44:34Why this unusual choice?
44:36The reason is related to the vault.
44:38Mizerino chose this chamber
44:40to be able to represent
44:42this celestial vault.
44:44The celestial vault is like this
44:46because the sun rises from the east
44:48and sets from the west,
44:50and that is why it makes
44:52the vault from east to west.
44:54It is just what Mizerino represented.
44:56The explanation is therefore symbolic.
44:58Mizerino declined
45:00because he was buried
45:02with a representation
45:04of heaven on his head.
45:06There are stars,
45:08stars of the north,
45:10all those tireless stars
45:12that are indestructible.
45:14Mizerino will become
45:16one of them when he goes up to heaven.
45:18Mizerino's choice is unprecedented.
45:20He is the precursor
45:22of a new fashion
45:24that will inspire other kings
45:26like Pepi II.
45:28His pyramid is the only one
45:30we know of the 4th dynasty
45:32of the Old Empire
45:34It is in this funeral chamber
45:36where John Perrin
45:38and Colonel Weiss
45:40come across Mizerino's sarcophagus
45:42in the 19th century.
45:44Before this treasure,
45:46the two explorers
45:48decide to embark the sarcophagus.
45:50But the outcome
45:52is not what they expected.
45:58They put him on a ship
46:00called Beatrice.
46:02To be sent to the British Museum.
46:04From Giza,
46:06the ship crosses the Nile Delta
46:08to its mouth
46:10in the Mediterranean Sea.
46:12From there,
46:14it takes a long journey.
46:16It borders the coasts
46:18of present-day Libya,
46:20Tunisia and Algeria
46:22until it reaches Morocco.
46:24The ship has to cross the Strait of Gibraltar
46:26to reach the Atlantic Ocean.
46:28But suddenly...
46:30The ship sank in a storm
46:32and the sarcophagus ended up
46:34at the bottom of the sea
46:36along with the ship.
46:40So, currently,
46:42Mizerino's sarcophagus
46:44is at the bottom of the sea.
46:46And they haven't recovered it yet,
46:48so it's a mystery
46:50that's still hidden
46:52at the bottom of the sea.
46:54Mizerino's story is rocambolesque,
46:56worthy of a movie script.
46:58It's practically like a movie.
47:00We have this kind of heroes,
47:02villains, Bice and Perrin,
47:04who, on the one hand,
47:06have the mission of doing
47:08a scientific investigation,
47:10but on the other hand,
47:12they have partially destroyed
47:14the pyramid.
47:16And then the turn of events comes
47:18and they lose the sarcophagus.
47:20It's rather dramatic.
47:24This sarcophagus
47:26is still here,
47:28but there are traces of it
47:30in Mizerino's funeral chamber.
47:36Here is where
47:38the thieves dug
47:40looking for gold and treasures.
47:46This is the original floor level.
47:48And then, in this area,
47:50they dug
47:52everything they could.
47:54You can even see
47:56where the original limestone floor
47:58meets the granite
48:00on the wall.
48:02Another sarcophagus
48:04from the fourth dynasty,
48:06found on the Guiza plateau,
48:08reminds us of Mizerino's.
48:10The peculiarity of this sarcophagus
48:12is that it was richly decorated,
48:14much more than those we see
48:16in the other pyramids of this period.
48:18They decorated it like the wall
48:20of a wall,
48:22but this is another protection.
48:24The sarcophagus sank
48:26and its secrets with it.
48:28We come across
48:30a last clue in a secret room
48:32of the pyramid.
48:34Alain Brispampou is going to make
48:36the last scan.
48:38We can still go down more
48:40to get to what looks like a warehouse,
48:42but it is a space that cannot be entered.
48:44Luckily, perhaps the scanner
48:46allows us to obtain information
48:48through the bars,
48:50depending on its volume.
48:52This small room,
48:54next to Mizerino's funeral chamber,
48:56continues to hide many mysteries.
48:58Not even the greatest experts
49:00have the answer.
49:02Why does Mizerino have six niches?
49:04It is not a usual number.
49:06What was inside,
49:08we do not know.
49:10They probably left their funerary
49:12jewelry or treasures there.
49:14There are also niches
49:16that could contain canopy glasses.
49:18When it was time for mummification,
49:20they previously extracted the organs
49:22of the deceased
49:24and placed them in four separate containers,
49:26called canopy glasses.
49:28There was one for the stomach,
49:30another for the lungs,
49:32another for the intestines
49:34and another for the liver.
49:36Mizerino may have decided
49:38to bury him with all this funerary jewelry
49:40by his side.
49:44When the king is already in his last home,
49:46what remains is to protect
49:48the remains of the looters.
49:50The Egyptian engineers
49:52came up with a brilliant technique,
49:54which was to lift granite slabs,
49:56which we call rakes.
49:58To this day, the rakes
50:00of Mizerino's pyramid have disappeared,
50:02but we can still see the remains.
50:04It's really, really cool.
50:06It's an area,
50:08a passageway designed
50:10to cut off anyone
50:12who wanted to sneak into the king's chamber.
50:14This is the hole
50:16where the stones fit
50:18and where they slid
50:20to block the passage.
50:22And there were three of them,
50:24so any thief had to go through
50:26one, two, three stone corridors.
50:28This was very important
50:30because Mizerino wanted his mummy
50:32to be protected.
50:34He didn't want anyone to get in.
50:36This method used by Mizerino
50:38is a replica.
50:40His grandfather, before him,
50:42had invented this three-track system.
50:48As we observe the pyramids
50:50on the Giza plateau,
50:52although they look different,
50:54we notice some similarities.
50:56There's certainly no doubt
50:58that the tradition and the architectural knowledge
51:00had to be shared and transmitted
51:02from generation to generation
51:04because there are innovations
51:06from one king to the next.
51:08This raises another question.
51:10Were these innovations achieved
51:12for practical or symbolic reasons?
51:14It's hard to say
51:16how and why.
51:18But it's clear
51:20that they learned things
51:22during the construction of the pyramids.
51:24They learned from their mistakes.
51:26They learned from what didn't work
51:28but also from what seemed to work.
51:30However,
51:32despite the talent of the builders,
51:34all the pyramids of the old empire
51:36were looted,
51:38and the pharaoh Mizerino,
51:40with his sarcophagus
51:42at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea,
51:44still has secrets to reveal to us.
51:46It's a lost treasure.
51:48We hope to recover it one day.
51:50But it's like finding a needle in a haystack.
51:52Some mission may
51:54find its way out in the future
51:56and give us clues
51:58about the third pharaoh
52:00of the Giza plateau.