Ancient Engineers of Egypt Left Behind Something Unbelievable

Bright Side

The ancient engineers of Egypt were way ahead of their time, and they left behind something truly mind-blowing! From the Great Pyramids to hidden underground tunnels, their building skills still amaze experts today. Some of their techniques were so advanced that modern engineers are still trying to figure out how they did it. Did they have secret knowledge, lost technology, or just pure genius? Whatever the answer, their incredible creations have stood the test of time. Watch this video to uncover the unbelievable secrets left behind by Egypt’s ancient builders!  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00So, looky here, scientists discovered ancient artifacts near King Tut's tomb.

00:06Turns out, his VIP final resting place looks more like a public graveyard with about a

00:11dozen wooden coffins that's been there for around 3,600 years.

00:16Okay, I might have exaggerated a tad.

00:19The 11 tombs weren't exactly right next to King Tut, but they were close, near the

00:24same city of Luxor.

00:27New findings in Egyptian tombs can help us piece together what life was like in ancient

00:31Egypt.

00:32And guess what?

00:33Ancient Egyptians seemed to have been remarkably like us, modern humans.

00:38Say, the women have always loved jewelry, and archaeologists retrieved a beautifully

00:42made necklace with 30 amethyst beads and two agate beads, plus a hippo-head amulet.

00:49Bet it was all the rage back then!

00:52Researchers also discovered two copper mirrors.

00:55One had a handle shaped like a lotus, and the other was decorated with Hathor, the ancient

01:00Egyptian deity of the sky, women, fertility, and love.

01:05These recent excavations near Tutankhamen's burial site led to another jaw-dropping revelation.

01:11For the first time in thousands of years, fragments of Queen Hatshepsut's valley temple

01:16were uncovered.

01:18This fearless woman was thought to be the second female pharaoh, who ruled with both

01:22courage and wisdom, leaving a legacy as solid as the stones themselves.

01:27Her temple, hidden for ages, opens a window into a time filled with power, intrigue, and

01:33spiritual devotion.

01:36Archaeologists found over 1,000 beautifully decorated stone blocks on the outskirts of

01:40Hatshepsut's funerary temple.

01:43There were very few women who managed to take the throne in ancient Egypt.

01:47Another tomb was found nearby, and it belonged to the overseer of Queen Tedi Sheri's palace,

01:53whose name was Djahuti Mez.

01:56Queen Hatshepsut seems to have even more tombs, I mean, aces up her sleeve.

02:01These tombs were carved into the rock instead of being built as pyramids, showing a unique

02:06ancient perspective on how to protect the soul in the afterlife.

02:11Experts managed to retrieve some cool ancient pieces from the site.

02:14Toys made of clay, mummy masks, winged scarabs, and some amulets.

02:21Sadly, there surely used to be way more artifacts, but over the last centuries, there have been

02:27people other than archaeologists to stumble upon this site.

02:31It's likely that looters got to these tombs before them and may have taken some valuable

02:35items.

02:36But they did leave behind some cool stuff for the researchers, like pottery used for

02:40offerings of bread and meat, along with archer's bows that connect the tomb's owners to the

02:46Egyptian military.

02:47Meanwhile, soul protection is way more important than you might think.

02:52Especially if you're roaming around Luxor looking for ancient secrets.

02:56You aren't scared of King Tut's curse, are you?

02:59Let me tell you what happened to those who weren't scared, but promise me to take it

03:02with a dash of salt, okay?

03:06For years, Egyptologists, especially those who believed in paranormal activity, were

03:10convinced that there was an unsettling curse surrounding Tutankhamen's archaeological

03:16discoveries.

03:17This belief stemmed from the mysterious and untimely demise of several excavators who

03:22discovered the tomb in 1922 with no logical explanation for why they passed away.

03:29It was just easier to chalk it up to something supernatural and avoid the whole mess.

03:34But it turns out it wasn't a curse at all.

03:37It was likely the radiation that caused those excavators to perish.

03:41You might wonder where the radiation came from.

03:44After all, while radioactivity was discovered in the 19th century, ancient Egyptians, despite

03:50their impressive pyramids, didn't have any radium lying around to make Tut's tomb glow

03:55like crazy.

03:56So what could be the real story?

03:59It might've been toxic waste behind it all.

04:02Toxic levels of radiation from uranium and hazardous waste have been lurking inside the

04:07tomb since it was sealed over 3,000 years ago.

04:11The burial chamber of Tutankhamen's tomb reportedly has such high radiation levels

04:16that anyone who steps inside could easily end up with a fatal dose of radiation sickness

04:21or an incurable condition.

04:24By the way, you can have a somewhat similar level of radioactivity if you don't get

04:28rid of those moldy dinner leftovers you left to perish in your fridge a month ago.

04:33But this radioactivity isn't exclusive to Tutankhamen's tomb.

04:38Ancient Egyptian artifacts' discovery is rewarding yet dangerous due to unusually high

04:43radiation levels in Old Kingdom tombs all over Egypt.

04:48Geiger counters have detected radiation at two sites near the Giza pyramids, and radon,

04:53a radioactive gas, has been found in several underground tombs in Saqqara.

04:59Interestingly, experts believe that the builders of these ancient tombs were aware of the toxins,

05:05as some eerie warnings were carved into the walls of many tombs.

05:09One inscription ominously declared,

05:11"...they that break this tomb shall meet their end by a malady that no doctor can diagnose."

05:18Other ominous phrases like forbidden, due to evil spirits, only added to the fear that

05:23supernatural curses haunted these ancient sites.

05:28Ominous signs have stunned archaeologists since forever, but the fear grew even stronger

05:33a century ago with the mysterious passing of Lord Carnarvon, who funded King Tut's

05:39excavation in 1922 and reportedly explored the treasure-filled rooms, along with several

05:45others who entered the tomb.

05:47Arthur Weigall, another British Egyptologist who was present at the tomb's opening and

05:52is credited with starting the curse myth, passed away young when he was just in his

05:57fifties in 1934.

05:59Chances are, the condition that made him pass was connected to radiation.

06:05In total, 6 out of the 26 people who were there when the tomb was opened met their end

06:10within a decade from various causes.

06:13Not only x-ray exposure, those reasons include asphyxia, stroke, heart failure, pneumonia,

06:19and even poisoning.

06:20Well, isn't this getting a little grim?

06:24There was one guy who opened the tomb and somehow managed to avoid the infamous curse

06:28– Howard Carter, or so it seemed.

06:32Some folks pointed to his survival as proof that the curse wasn't real.

06:36After digging up the tomb, Carter published several books on the topic and shifted gears

06:40from archaeology to dealing in antiquities for various museums.

06:46Despite dodging demise or injury, rumors swirled about how the curse may have impacted him

06:52in other ways.

06:53One of the big stories linked him to Lord Carnarvon's daughter, Evelyn.

06:58Some said he was madly in love with her, but she married someone else, so he chose to stay

07:03single.

07:04Others claimed they had an affair while she was in Egypt, which ended when her father

07:09passed away and she left the country for good.

07:11However, there wasn't much evidence to support these stories.

07:15Evelyn was just 6 when they met, and they remained friends until his last breath.

07:20She was even one of the few attendees at his funeral, but denied any romantic involvement,

07:26saying they weren't that close.

07:28A year after the revolutionary discovery near King Tut's tomb, Evelyn married politician

07:33Sir Brograve Beauchamp and had a daughter.

07:37That same year, Beauchamp toured the tomb with his parents, guided by Carter himself.

07:43Carter never married and, aside from those posthumous rumors about Evelyn, had no other

07:47romantic connections.

07:51While the curse adds an intriguing twist to his life story, his tendency to keep relationships

07:56at arm's length was evident long before the tomb was opened.

08:00It seemed Carter just wasn't a people person.

08:03In 1939, after battling a serious illness, he ultimately succumbed to fate.

08:09He was 64, which was a pretty common life expectancy in the UK back then, so no one

08:14really thought it was off and linked it to an ancient curse.

08:19When he passed, it turned out he had several artifacts from Tutankhamen's tomb in his

08:23London apartment, which were eventually sent back to Egypt, marking what some viewed as

08:28the curse's end.

08:30Who knows, maybe if he hadn't had all those ancient souvenirs at his place, he would've

08:34lived way longer.

08:37But all the other demises might seem off.

08:40The curse theory was likely fueled by some strange events during the excavation.

08:44Carnarvon got a mosquito bite that became severely infected, and around the time they

08:49opened the tomb, Cairo experienced a bizarre power outage in a freak sandstorm.

08:56Back in England, the earl's dog, Susie, managed to escape from Carnarvon's house

09:00and began barking frantically at seemingly nothing.

09:04At least, that's what the staff and family saw.

09:07Strangely enough, at the very moment her owner's heart stopped, Susie started howling and fell

09:12down without showing any signs of life.

09:16Maybe radiation didn't play a crucial role after all, and those were indeed ancient artifacts

09:21from King Tut's tomb that made them all perish.

09:25Spooky, huh?

09:28In 1850, French scientist Auguste Mariette went to Egypt looking for manuscripts, but

09:34accidentally found a head of a sphinx sticking out of the dunes.

09:38He cleared the sand and figured out the sphinx was guiding the entrance to some underground

09:42construction.

09:44Several months later, he finally entered the Serapium of Saqqara.

09:47Inside, he found an enormous granite sarcophagi with remnants of 64 bulls.

09:54Scientists are still amazed by the tech that the ancient Egyptians used to transport those

09:58enormous boxes.

10:01The Serapium was built around the year 3000, before the Common Era.

10:06It was an underground tomb built to honor the sacred Apis bulls of ancient Egypt.

10:11It had a long hallway, almost 500 feet long, with giant stone runes on both sides.

10:17Some of the sarcophagi weighed as much as 50 average cars, and all of them were made

10:22with super precision with exact 90 degree angles.

10:27These sarcophagi were beautifully decorated with hieroglyphs and carvings that told stories

10:31about the lives and importance of the Apis bulls.

10:35Now there are 24 sarcophagi left.

10:39In ancient Egypt, Apis bulls were very special animals connected to the deity Ptah.

10:45They thought the bulls carried Ptah's spirit and wisdom, helped the pharaoh, and protected

10:49the Egyptians.

10:51Scientists looked for special markings on young bulls to find Apis bulls.

10:56It could be a white triangle on its forehead, which symbolized divine light, a shape on

11:01its back like a vulture's wing, and a scarab shape under its tongue, which stood for rebirth.

11:07If a bull had these signs, they believed it was chosen by Ptah and treated it like royalty.

11:13The chosen bulls lived in a special temple in Memphis, the city where they worshipped

11:17Ptah.

11:18They received the best care and offerings from visitors who wanted their blessings.

11:23When an Apis bull passed away, it was treated with great honor and mummified.

11:29When Mariette entered the Serapium, he noticed traces of rollers on the gallery's floor

11:34and found two wooden horizontal winches.

11:37Each had eight levers.

11:39Later, other explorers saw double rails.

11:42The burial chambers were lower than the hallway floor.

11:45To get the boxes into place, workers filled the chambers with sand so the sarcophagi could

11:50be rolled in straight.

11:52Then they slowly removed the sand to gently lower the boxes into perfectly cut spaces

11:56in the bedrock.

11:57A carved stone sign found in the Serapium said it took 28 days to move just one sarcophagus

12:04and its lid into its spot during the time of Ptolemy II.

12:10The extreme precision of the sarcophagi with 90-degree angles also has an explanation.

12:16Ancient Egyptians wrote texts, or rather papyrus, on geometry a long time ago.

12:23It shows that they knew the approximate number, Pi, and could calculate the volume of a pyramid

12:28with its top cut off.

12:30If they could figure out complicated math like that back then, it makes sense that they

12:35could also carve perfectly flat surfaces 500 years later.

12:41All this sounds pretty legit, but some people think certain things don't add up here.

12:46The size of boxes is way larger than the size of bolts, yet they buried pharaohs in tiny

12:51coffins that barely fit their bodies.

12:54The sarcophagi are made out of granite with crazy precision, and they could have just

12:58used limestone, which would have made things way easier.

13:03The transportation of the boxes seems pretty simple, but only in theory.

13:08If one person could pull about 440 pounds, then at least 250 people would be needed to

13:14pull just one box.

13:16The tunnels in the Serapium are really narrow, only about 2 feet wider than the boxes themselves.

13:22There's no way hundreds of people could have squeezed into those tight spaces to pull

13:26the boxes.

13:28And even if they did, how would they turn the box in the cramped corridor, lower it

13:33into its niche, and place it perfectly in the middle?

13:37Somehow they did this 24 times, and every box is centered perfectly.

13:42Plus, the chambers were dusty, and there were no signs of soot from lamps.

13:47This means they must have worked in almost complete darkness.

13:53The real use of the boxes could also be different.

13:56A long time ago, even before the Egyptian pharaohs ruled, the local people already

14:00knew how to use fermentation.

14:03It happens when tiny organisms called yeast eat certain ingredients like starch and turn

14:07them into gas and ethanol.

14:10So someone in ancient Egypt probably put food like barley, bread, and even meat inside a

14:15giant stone box, then closed it tight with a heavy lid.

14:20These stone boxes, carved from granite, were so precisely made that they were almost completely

14:25sealed, so nothing could escape from it.

14:28As the yeast inside the box started working, it created more and more CO2 gas.

14:34It built up pressure inside the box.

14:36The granite boxes were incredibly strong, they could handle more pressure than a car

14:40tire can hold.

14:42When granite was squeezed under such pressure, its crystals produced a tiny electric charge.

14:48This effect was possible because granite contains quartz, a material that reacts to pressure

14:54this way.

14:55The process also needed meat or animal parts, possibly to help the yeast grow better.

15:00Meat contains something called oleaic acid, which yeast needs to keep growing and to survive

15:05the bad effects of the ethanol it produces.

15:09As the pressure inside the box kept growing, the combination of gases and electricity made

15:14these boxes not just ancient fridges, but powerful energy systems.

15:20Over time, the pressure inside got so strong that it could push the lid open and the gas

15:24would escape with a pop.

15:26But when people rediscovered the Serapium in 1850, they found old drawings that showed

15:31piles of stones stacked on top of some of the box lids.

15:36So someone long ago probably tried to make the lids even heavier by adding extra weight

15:41to make it harder for the gas pressure to push them open.

15:45This extra weight also meant the quartz crystals in the granite could keep creating more electricity

15:50under all that pressure.

15:52If someone opened one of these stone boxes thousands of years later, they would only

15:57find bones from bowls that were placed in the box.

16:00And that's exactly what Mariette discovered in the 1850s.

16:06They opened the Serapium for visitors soon after the first excavations in the second

16:09half of the 19th century.

16:12Prince of Wales even had a luncheon with his guests in one of the sarcophagi.

16:17Sands and earthquakes made the site inaccessible for a while, but now you can visit it again

16:22and try to solve the mystery yourself.

16:25With new tech, we could have answers to many other historical mysteries soon.

16:29A team of scientists at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History recently used a special

16:35CT scanner to learn more about ancient Egyptian mummies without unwrapping them.

16:40They gently rolled 26 mummies on custom carts out to the parking lot, where the scanner

16:46was waiting.

16:47It took thousands of detailed X-ray pictures of each mummy and their coffins.

16:52When all the pictures were put together, they created 3D images that showed what was inside

16:57– the skeletons and some artifacts.

17:01The scientists hoped these images will help them understand ancient Egyptian burial practices

17:05from over 3,000 years ago.

17:08Even though the scanning process only took four days, it might take three years to study

17:13all the data.

17:15But scientists were able to learn some personal details about the mummies.

17:20One of the most popular mummified individuals at the museum, Lady Chinetta, was a woman

17:25who lived in ancient Egypt about 3,000 years ago.

17:29It looks like she passed away in her late 30s or early 40s.

17:33To make sure her body looked complete for the afterlife, embalmers put stuffing in her

17:37neck to keep it from collapsing.

17:39They also placed artificial eyes in her sockets so she would have eyes in the next world.

17:45She was wrapped in fancy linen and placed in a beautifully decorated coffin.

17:50The scans revealed that it had been carefully crafted with a slit at the back, which embalmers

17:54used to fit the body.

17:56There were also some artistic details on the surface, like markings for her knees.

18:01It looks like her burial was on the scale of a high-end luxury car.

18:08Most people know that pyramids were built as grand tombs for the pharaohs, designed

18:13to ensure they had a smooth journey to the afterlife.

18:16The Great Pyramid of Giza, for instance, was constructed for the pharaoh Khufu.

18:21But what most people don't know is that this whole pyramid-building trend started

18:26right here, with the Step Pyramid of Djoser, about 4,700 years ago.

18:32This massive structure was built for Pharaoh Djoser, a ruler from Egypt's 3rd dynasty.

18:38It rises 7 layers high above the ground and stands about 200 feet tall.

18:44We think of it today as a phenomenal architectural project.

18:48But for ancient Egyptians, the Step Pyramid of Djoser turned out to be more like a massive

18:53experiment, a trial run, if you will, to perfect their building skills before they moved on

18:58to even more ambitious pyramids.

19:01Reaching new heights is super exciting, but the real mystery is what is going on below

19:06the ground.

19:08In this pyramid's underground labyrinth, there is a network of tunnels stretching about

19:123.5 miles long.

19:15And some researchers believe these tunnels might've been part of a sophisticated water

19:19system that could completely change what we think about pyramid construction.

19:25Let's talk about this massive complex located in Saqqara.

19:29Surrounding the pyramid, there's what's known as a dry moat, a continuous trench that

19:34is up to 164 feet wide and almost 2 miles long.

19:39It forms a sort of rectangular shape around the pyramid.

19:43This trench has an average depth of about 65 feet.

19:47Now if you were to add up all the earth and rock they dug out to create this moat, it

19:51would be about 10 times the volume of the Step Pyramid itself.

19:57For the longest time, people just assumed this trench was nothing more than a huge quarry

20:02– a place where they dug up stone and clay to build the Step Pyramid.

20:06Makes sense, right?

20:08But when you take a closer look, it doesn't add up.

20:11The trench is too narrow and deep to be practical for mining, and its layout doesn't match

20:16anything we know about ancient Egyptian quarrying methods.

20:20Plus, some sections of the trench are actually covered with a rocky ceiling, which would've

20:25made it nearly impossible to use as a quarry.

20:29Another theory suggests that the dry moat had some kind of spiritual significance.

20:34Maybe it was a sacred place, where souls of nobles gathered to serve the late king in

20:39the afterlife.

20:41There are even niches in the walls that work as a hint at this spiritual function.

20:46But most researchers believe that this purpose likely developed much later, long after the

20:51complex was built for Djoser.

20:54So what was the moat really designed for?

20:57In 2020, a researcher came up with a pretty intriguing idea.

21:02It is possible that this trench was actually designed to collect and manage water, especially

21:08after heavy rainfalls.

21:09Now that makes sense when you consider the location.

21:13The moat sits in an area that could easily have been flooded by runoff water from nearby

21:18plains.

21:19This could also explain why the trench wasn't used for new graves until much later when

21:24the climate became drier and less prone to flooding.

21:28The story becomes even more intriguing, as this trench appears to be part of a larger,

21:33more complex hydraulic system within the Djoser complex.

21:37It is like the trench has several compartments, carefully carved out of the rock and connected

21:43by tunnels.

21:44These compartments likely served as a part of a water treatment system, where water would

21:49flow from one compartment to the next, getting cleaner as it moved along.

21:54Now here is where things start to tie into the pyramid itself.

21:59The Djoser complex has a series of underground shafts, and some researchers think that water

22:04from the moat's deep trench might have been used to power a hydraulic lift system.

22:09And this giant water-powered elevator could have been used to raise the heavy stones needed

22:14to build the pyramid.

22:16It worked like a volcano, but instead of lava, water did the heavy lifting.

22:22Imagine a big deep hole in the ground at the center of the pyramid's site.

22:27Inside this hole, there was a huge wooden platform, kind of like a giant raft that could

22:32move up and down.

22:34When the workers wanted to lift a heavy stone, they would fill the hole with water.

22:39As the water rose, the wooden platform started to float up, carrying the stone with it, almost

22:44like a giant water-powered elevator.

22:47When the stone reached the right height, the workers slid it off the platform and onto

22:52the pyramid.

22:54The idea is that water from the deep trench, after being cleaned and filtered, would flow

22:59into these shafts.

23:01A massive float, possibly made of wood, would then rise as the water filled the shaft, lifting

23:07the stones up to where they were needed for construction.

23:10Once the stone was in place, they'd let the water out, lowering the platform back down

23:15to the bottom, ready to lift the next stone.

23:19This fancy hydraulic lift system could've been a game-changer, making the whole building

23:24process a lot faster and more efficient without using a lot of workforce.

23:29It is like the ancient Egyptians were already embracing the whole idea of work smarter,

23:35not harder.

23:36But, of course, not everyone is on board with this theory.

23:41Some experts argue that the area where the step pyramid of Djoser was built couldn't

23:45have held enough water from occasional rains to maintain such a fancy hydraulic system.

23:51The main theory suggests that, in the past, there might've been some kind of lake nearby

23:57that would've filled up after a period of rain, and this lake could've supplied water

24:01to the complex's hydraulic system.

24:04But there is no mention of such a lake in any ancient Egyptian writings, so it might

24:09be more of a what-if situation than a reality.

24:13And then there's the issue of the hard work itself.

24:17Remember when I said this method could've allowed the ancient builders to raise stones

24:21with far less effort?

24:22Well, that might not be entirely true.

24:26According to some experts, just building this hydraulic device would've required a lot

24:30more heavy work than simply moving the stone blocks using good old-fashioned manpower.

24:36But let's not forget, the step pyramid of Djoser is like a baby pyramid compared to

24:42those that came later.

24:43The stones used for Djoser's pyramid weighed, on average, about 660 pounds each, which is

24:49nothing compared to the more than 2.5 ton blocks used later for the pyramid of Cephran.

24:57If this cool water lift theory gets completely ruled out, we still need to explain how this

25:02pyramid was built in the first place.

25:05To answer that, we need to rewind a bit and talk about the original plans.

25:10See, before Djoser's tomb became a pyramid, the idea was to construct a simple mastaba.

25:17This type of tomb was pretty common in earlier periods – a flat-roofed rectangular structure

25:22with sloping sides.

25:24But after the original mastaba was finished, they decided to expand it a bit by adding

25:29more layers on top.

25:31And then they added even more layers, until the construction reached 6 distinctive steps,

25:37each one smaller than the previous.

25:39And they probably did all this by raising those heavy stones using ramps, not a water-powered

25:44elevator.

25:45There is still so much we don't know about the step pyramid of Djoser.

25:50More research is definitely needed to fully understand how this system worked, or if it

25:56even existed at all.

25:58But the idea of using water to help build the pyramid adds a whole new layer to our

26:02understanding of ancient Egyptian engineering.

26:05It's a powerful reminder of just how clever and resourceful those builders were, using

26:11the natural landscape and the power of water to create one of the most iconic monuments

26:16in history.

26:20A gruesome discovery took place in Egypt some years ago.

26:23You wanna hear about it?

26:2416 human hands, carefully buried in four eerie pits.

26:29They didn't look too much like human hands at first, since they were abnormally large.

26:34But they were!

26:35Weirdly, there were only right hands, no left hands were in sight.

26:39It turned out that it points to the practice of an ancient dark ritual.

26:44Old Egyptian art and tales talked of a ceremony where warriors would present the right hand

26:49of their adversaries as proof of victory and ask for gold in return.

26:55Egyptians believed in the afterlife, so cutting off someone's hand meant you cut off their

26:59power eternally.

27:01Guaranteeing this type of defeat was interesting to the winning party.

27:05Here the fight was between Egyptians vs Hyksos, who lived in what was once known as Canaan.

27:13Egypt has always been the center of some history-changing findings, and some time ago, this papyrus

27:18was found.

27:19If we stretched it open, it would be just a tad bigger than the height of a skyscraper.

27:24The world's tiniest skyscraper, I mean, which is located in Wichita Falls, Texas.

27:32When humans didn't write on their notes app, they wrote on this thing, made from the

27:36medulla of a papyrus plant.

27:39Around 2,000 years ago, ancient Egyptians wrote something reminiscent of a book, where

27:43they describe most of their funerary traditions and their visions of the afterlife.

27:48It's considered one of the most important texts from ancient Egypt, and is still sold

27:53in bookstores to this day.

27:55This ancient manuscript was unearthed from a chamber located just south of the Pyramid

27:59of Dozier, located in Saqqara.

28:01Oh yes, Dozier is the oldest pyramid in Egypt and not the Giza pyramids like most people

28:07think.

28:08Also recently, the site of Saqqara buzzed with excited archaeologists, who probably

28:13found one of Egypt's oldest complete mummies.

28:16They believe that this beautiful and well-preserved mummy was that of a wealthy man.

28:21He was discovered in a deep shaft, covered in layers of gold leaves.

28:26There are many symbols that show he was an important and wealthy man, like the band he

28:30wore on his head, the bracelet on his chest, and the fact that he was embalmed with a tunic,

28:36which was reserved for Egypt's finest.

28:39The most exciting part of the entire discovery was finding the resting place sealed with

28:44mortar, just as the ancient Egyptians had left it 4,300 years ago.

28:50This may sound weird, but back in 2008, archaeologists discovered a missing pyramid.

28:56It went missing because it deteriorated over the span of 4,000 years.

29:01Today, you can only see its base.

29:03It was a pretty important site back in ancient times.

29:07It is said that around the area of the pyramid, the ancients hosted a special type of ceremony

29:12where high priests would carry mummified remains of sacred bulls.

29:16Here's a fun fact.

29:18Ancient Egyptians believed that Apis bulls were earthly incarnations of the city deity

29:23of Memphis and was connected to rites of fertility.

29:26It wasn't just any Apis bull, though.

29:29They needed to be all black, with a single white mark between its horns and a bunch of

29:34very specific characteristics.

29:35They were selected by the local priests and honored until they passed away.

29:40After that, they were mummified and buried in underground galleries.

29:45Meanwhile, this missing pyramid sort of disappeared around the 1800s.

29:51It was a German archaeologist who first found it in the village of Saqqara.

29:55He called it the Headless Pyramid when he first found it.

29:58But then, years after the official discovery, the desert sand came along and covered the

30:03whole thing.

30:04There were some excavations between the 19th and 20th centuries, but they weren't too

30:09systematic.

30:10That's why scientists were so thrilled when they dug an entire pyramid's base after

30:14removing the 25-foot mound of sand that was covering it.

30:18Oh, and it turns out American archaeologists are excavating a cemetery in Egypt that could

30:23contain over a million mummified bodies.

30:27So far, archaeologists have dug around 1,700 mummies.

30:32One of the main differences from other classic Egyptian mummies is that these people weren't

30:36kings and pharaohs.

30:37They were commoners that most likely lived about 1,500 years ago, when Egypt was controlled

30:43by the Roman and Byzantine empires.

30:45The name of the cemetery is cool, though – the Way of the Water Buffalo – just in case you

30:50want to check it out on your next trip.

30:53Other than bulls and buffaloes, ancient Egyptians also liked baboons.

30:57Are you seeing a pattern here?

30:59In the beginning of the 20th century, archaeologists discovered a site filled with mummified baboons

31:05in a place called, guess what, the Valley of Monkeys.

31:08An animal wouldn't have been mummified if it wasn't considered important.

31:13Certain animals were more important than others since they were linked to specific deities.

31:18Jackals were connected to Anubis, the ancient god of the afterlife, and cats were likened

31:23to the female deity Bastet.

31:25Baboons were a pretty big deal, since they were believed to be connected to Thoth, the

31:29deity of wisdom and advisor to Ra, one of Egypt's supreme deities.

31:35The archaeologists who studied these animals weren't too happy.

31:39They think these baboons were kept inside and were deprived of sunlight for most of

31:43their lives.

31:44They had extreme vitamin D deficiencies, and they were poorly fed.

31:48Maybe Thoth got angry with these baboon keepers.

31:51Just a guess.

31:53Since there's never a boring day for archaeologists in Egypt, they also found human mummies with

31:58golden tongues.

32:00Since Egyptians were all about the afterlife, they believed that golden tongues might help

32:05a person speak once they pass to the other side.

32:07I mean, it's a long shot, but hey, why not?

32:11Some of these mummies were placed in wooden coffins with goods, such as necklaces, pottery,

32:17and artifacts in the shape of lotus flowers and scarab beetles.

32:20And iPhones.

32:21Just kidding.

32:22A new temple was also unearthed recently in Egypt.

32:26Scientists believe it was dedicated to honor Zeus Cassios.

32:30That deity would be a cross between Zeus, the almighty Greek deity of the sky, and Mount

32:35Cassios.

32:36While digging around the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, archaeologists spotted two pink granite

32:41columns poking out of the ground.

32:43And bingo.

32:45They believe these columns represented the temple's front gate and collapsed during an

32:49earthquake many years ago.

32:52And speaking of deities, there weren't only super-serious deities.

32:56Recently, scientists unearthed a golden ring in a city south of Cairo.

33:00No, Frodo, it's not magical.

33:02It was a normal gold ring.

33:04But it had the depiction of the deity of fun, officially named Bess.

33:09This deity is often described in sacred texts as a happy chubby dwarf.

33:14Today, many tattoos we get are sorta deprived of any sense and are made of aesthetic purposes

33:19only.

33:20In ancient Egypt, though, women would get tattoos as a token of protection for childbirth.

33:26That's what scientists think, at least.

33:29Around the Nile region, scientists found some mummies that had well-preserved tattoos, which

33:33is a rarity since the skin deteriorates so easily.

33:37Two of these women tattooed their lower backs, and the drawings were simple.

33:40They were mostly pictures, including that same chubby dwarf we just talked about, Bess.

33:45He also had a side hustle as the protector of women during childbirth.

33:49Now, would you believe me if I told you ancient Egyptians invented robots?

33:54No?

33:55Well, that's because that's not entirely true.

33:57Sure, they were astronomers, mathematicians, and engineers, and somehow they also squeezed

34:02an eccentric invention into that package – an automated deity some scientists called Hathor.

34:09This wooden statue had been in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for years before someone noticed

34:14its secret.

34:15With the help of an X-ray machine, specialists discovered a mechanical operating system inside

34:20it.

34:21The pulley-like axis goes from the statue's shoulder to her left leg.

34:25When the system rotates, the statue raises and lowers her hand.

34:29Hey, pick me, pick me, I got my hand up here!

34:32It's 1898, and you're taking part in excavations in Saqqara.

34:37This place, not far away from Cairo, is full of ancient tombs and pyramids.

34:43You're in your Indiana Jones mood and hope to find something really phenomenal to become

34:48famous.

34:49Gold, manuscripts, treasure maps, mummies of famous pharaohs, wait, a wooden bird?

34:56You're really disappointed as it looks like a regular toy.

35:00An old one, but still.

35:02Little do you know that years later, someone would propose that your bird was actually

35:07an ancient monoplane.

35:11So the artifact, nicknamed the Saqqara Bird, is made of a sycamore tree.

35:17The birdie has a wingspan of just 7 inches and weighs around 40 grams, a perfect original

35:22souvenir from Egypt, I would say.

35:25It's over 2,000 years old and looks pretty plain, without any carvings of feathers or

35:31other intricate ornaments.

35:33It has a beak and eyes though, which makes our find look like a hawk, the emblem of the

35:38deity Horus.

35:40Its tail is rather unusual as it's squared, looks weirdly upright, and it seems like the

35:46sunken part of it was the place for a now-missing piece.

35:52Humans love solving a good mystery, so there have been several attempts to explain the

35:56use of the birdie.

35:58First, quite simply, is that it was a ceremonial object.

36:02The second idea is that it was a toy for a child from some well-off family.

36:07It could have been some sort of boomerang, which was a popular concept in ancient Egypt.

36:13Then there was a theory that the bird had been used as a weather vane, but this one

36:18has been debunked as the figure doesn't have any holes or markings, except for the

36:22one made at the museum in Cairo to fix the exhibit on a stick.

36:27So there was no way to hang it in the past.

36:31Almost a century after the bird was found, Egyptologist Dr. Khalil Maseeha proposed a

36:36new theory that it could have been a model of a monoplane.

36:41He believed the bird was missing a horizontal tailplane, otherwise it had its wings set

36:46at a right angle, similar to that of modern planes.

36:50It could have worked to generate the aerodynamic lift necessary for flights.

36:55Dr. Maseeha also claimed that it was common at that time.

36:59to place miniature models of technological inventions in tombs.

37:04So did the ancient Egyptians really invent the plane in 200 BCE?

37:10That would make their Wright brothers, who are considered the inventors of aviation,

37:15really really upset.

37:18They made one of their first flights only in 1903.

37:24There's just one way to know for sure, and that is to test the model.

37:29But you know the ancient museum in Cairo would unlikely let one of their cherished exhibits

37:33fly around like a toy.

37:36That's why glider designer Martin Gregory built a similar model, this time of balsa

37:42wood, and concluded that even with the missing tailplane, the plane wasn't much of a flyer.

37:48Case solved?

37:49Not really.

37:50This didn't sound convincing enough to the History Channel, so they invited an aerodynamics

37:55expert to build another replica of the bird.

37:59He tested it in weather conditions similar to those in Egypt and was impressed with the

38:05little plane's abilities.

38:08So if they did invent the prototype of a plane back in the times of pharaohs, it would be

38:13a good example of an upart.

38:15That's an out-of-place artifact, an object that's way ahead of its time in terms of technology

38:21or history.

38:23And the Saqqara bird isn't the only example of such a revolutionary concept.

38:29In 1901, a group of divers retrieved the Antikythera mechanism from an underwater shipwreck near

38:35the Greek island of Antikythera.

38:37It's been dubbed the world's first analog computer, and it's currently dated around 100 BCE.

38:44The bronze mechanism could tell the position of the sun, moon, planets, and stars, as well

38:50as the lunar phase, the dates of upcoming solar eclipses, and even the speed at which

38:56the moon moves through the sky.

38:59No one's sure who used it and how or where it was made, but it's obvious that it's extremely

39:05precise and way too advanced for its time.

39:10The first flushing toilets in the world were invented in the middle of the 20th century.

39:15Just kidding!

39:17The ancient Minoans on the Mediterranean island of Crete and the Indus Valley civilization

39:22both came up with this brilliant invention at the same time, around 4,000 years ago.

39:28The plumbing and sanitation were so well done that no one managed to design anything better

39:33until 2,000 years later.

39:36One ancient Minoan lavatory was discovered at the palace of Knossos.

39:42It looks like it had a wooden seat set over a tunnel that directed water from a rooftop

39:47reservoir to an underground sewer.

39:50Other varieties got water from jugs.

39:53Only the super-rich people could afford all this glory.

39:57So if you wanted to shop for real estate back then, the flushing toilet would be a telltale

40:02sign you were in the rich neighborhood.

40:07Temple doors became a cool, seemingly new invention back in 1931.

40:13But the technology behind them is actually much older.

40:17Think the 1st century CE old.

40:21Mathematician and engineer Heron of Alexandria came up with a hydraulic system to open and

40:27close temple doors.

40:30To bring it into action, you need to light a fire to produce heat.

40:35There was a brass pot under the fire, half filled with water.

40:39The inventor connected the brass pot to containers that acted as weights.

40:44When the fire was burning, the water moved into the containers.

40:48They went down and pulled the ropes.

40:51It was nothing like a supermarket door that opens in front of you before you even have

40:55time to think.

40:57Heron's door took hours to open.

41:00And there was no way to stop the process.

41:03That's why they only opened the doors once a day before people entered the temple, to

41:07add some mysticism at the temple during ceremonies.

41:11Spooky!

41:13Looks like the first ever battery was invented in Baghdad around 2,000 years ago.

41:20A German archaeologist found this oval-shaped clay jar in 1938.

41:26Scientists are still not sure what purpose it served and who exactly invented it.

41:32There is a theory that it was used for electroplating objects with precious metals.

41:37When they filled it with a weak acid like vinegar, the battery produced around one volt

41:41of electricity.

41:44Another theory says it was a vessel for sacred scrolls.

41:48Would you like to buy contact lenses designed by Leonardo da Vinci himself?

41:53In 1508, he invented a glass lens with a funnel on one side.

41:58You were supposed to wear it with water inside to improve your vision.

42:03Sounds a bit uncomfortable, doesn't it?

42:06So around a century later, French scientist René Descartes decided to improve the idea

42:12and make the cornea contact the future lenses.

42:16Contacts because they contact your eyes, get it?

42:19The glass tube with liquid did help improve vision, but blinking was sadly impossible.

42:25Two and a half centuries later, new technologies in the glass industry let scientists design

42:31contacts that would fit in the eye and even let the wearer blink.

42:35Thanks guys!

42:36Still, those lenses were made of heavy-blown glass and didn't let the eye breathe.

42:42About 50 years later, contacts became plastic, lightweight, unbreakable, and scratch-resistant,

42:48but still covering the entire eye.

42:51And then, in 1948, an English optical technician accidentally sanded down a plastic lens and

42:57figured out they'd still be in place even if they covered only the cornea.

43:02Imagine you're living in 19th century London and need to send a message to New York.

43:07It would have taken about 10 days to get there by ship.

43:11So when delivery time went from days to hours in 1858, it was a true sensation.

43:18The first message was sent by Queen Victoria herself.

43:21It was all made possible thanks to the transatlantic telegraph cable, running under the ocean.

43:27Sadly, the new cool invention only lasted a few weeks.

43:32It took years to bring it back to life.

Category

Transcript

Recommended