1 00:00:04,587 --> 00:00:07,587 (suspenseful music) 2 00:00:18,102 --> 00:00:21,040 - The treasure of Tutankhamun is absolutely staggering. 3 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:23,090 There are more than 5000 different pieces, 4 00:00:23,090 --> 00:00:25,583 including 2000 items of gold and jewelry. 5 00:00:31,189 --> 00:00:34,580 Tutankhamun's mask alone is 10 kilos of gold, 6 00:00:34,580 --> 00:00:37,693 and his inner coffin is 110 kilos of solid gold. 7 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:46,990 Some of the objects are part of the typical 8 00:00:46,990 --> 00:00:49,430 funereal paraphernalia of a pharaoh, 9 00:00:49,430 --> 00:00:51,580 but there are clearly everyday objects too. 10 00:01:02,718 --> 00:01:05,560 - [Narrator] It was in 1922 that British Egyptologist 11 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,010 Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. 12 00:01:09,420 --> 00:01:12,443 Four small rooms and an extraordinary treasure. 13 00:01:14,510 --> 00:01:16,890 The antechamber, with Tutankhamun's chariots 14 00:01:16,890 --> 00:01:18,283 and three funeral beds. 15 00:01:19,530 --> 00:01:21,960 The annex, with its dozens of chairs, tables, 16 00:01:21,960 --> 00:01:24,033 ceramics, and other everyday objects. 17 00:01:26,250 --> 00:01:28,740 The treasure chamber, where the embalmed internal organs 18 00:01:28,740 --> 00:01:30,540 of the pharaoh were found preserved. 19 00:01:32,336 --> 00:01:34,730 And the burial chamber, with its four wooden shrines 20 00:01:34,730 --> 00:01:37,540 surrounding the sarcophagus, and the three coffins 21 00:01:37,540 --> 00:01:39,590 inside of which the body of the king lay. 22 00:01:45,230 --> 00:01:46,760 - We can see there's a first cartouche ring 23 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:48,720 circled with black, but beneath 24 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:51,070 it there are traces of a second cartouche ring. 25 00:01:53,940 --> 00:01:56,110 - [Narrator] 100 years after the discovery, 26 00:01:56,110 --> 00:01:58,853 the pharaoh's treasure is revealing some new secrets. 27 00:02:00,810 --> 00:02:04,193 Hidden signs from a forgotten character. 28 00:02:05,190 --> 00:02:07,330 - The feminine symbol was filled in, 29 00:02:07,330 --> 00:02:10,410 covered over in gold leaf, polished up, 30 00:02:10,410 --> 00:02:11,593 and became invisible. 31 00:02:14,992 --> 00:02:16,890 - [Narrator] In the tombs of the great figures 32 00:02:16,890 --> 00:02:18,890 of the new kingdom, scientists have been 33 00:02:18,890 --> 00:02:21,610 studying the objects up close in order to get 34 00:02:21,610 --> 00:02:23,110 to the origin of the treasure. 35 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,640 3300 after the events, they're writing a new chapter 36 00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:29,540 in the history of the pharaoh's reign. 37 00:02:32,730 --> 00:02:34,203 - The bracelet should've been removed 38 00:02:34,203 --> 00:02:38,290 from the funeral paraphernalia, or the cartouche reworked, 39 00:02:38,290 --> 00:02:40,090 but as we all know, there's no such thing 40 00:02:40,090 --> 00:02:41,140 as the perfect crime. 41 00:03:14,230 --> 00:03:15,170 - [Narrator] Why did the pharaohs, 42 00:03:15,170 --> 00:03:16,890 more than three millennia ago, 43 00:03:16,890 --> 00:03:18,440 choose this place to be buried? 44 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:20,940 No doubt because this rocky peak 45 00:03:20,940 --> 00:03:22,590 resembles the shape of a pyramid. 46 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:31,890 It's the Valley of the Kings, 47 00:03:31,890 --> 00:03:34,100 and it's situated on the west bank of the Nile, 48 00:03:34,100 --> 00:03:37,100 opposite the city of Luxor, formally known 49 00:03:37,100 --> 00:03:39,063 in the ancient world as Thebes, 50 00:03:40,130 --> 00:03:41,820 and it's here that the most spectacular 51 00:03:41,820 --> 00:03:42,920 discoveries were made. 52 00:03:50,250 --> 00:03:53,353 21 tombs belonging to pharaohs have been exhumed here. 53 00:03:58,730 --> 00:04:01,020 But there are also those of several important individuals 54 00:04:01,020 --> 00:04:03,490 whom the kings wished to reward with the privilege 55 00:04:03,490 --> 00:04:05,040 of being buried alongside them. 56 00:04:08,900 --> 00:04:11,740 It was here on the morning of November the 4th, 1922 57 00:04:11,740 --> 00:04:15,973 that the story of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb began. 58 00:04:25,350 --> 00:04:27,030 - On that day, Howard Carter arrived, 59 00:04:27,030 --> 00:04:29,080 and what struck him most was the silence. 60 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:34,790 The workers had fallen silent because 61 00:04:34,790 --> 00:04:36,795 after years of searching, they had just found something, 62 00:04:36,795 --> 00:04:40,160 a decisive clue to lead them to the tomb. 63 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,110 The first step of a staircase heading down into the ground. 64 00:04:54,274 --> 00:04:55,810 Over the course of the first day, 65 00:04:55,810 --> 00:04:57,750 as they revealed successive steps, 66 00:04:57,750 --> 00:04:59,323 they uncovered a strip of wood. 67 00:05:02,460 --> 00:05:04,320 It came from the top of one of the chests, 68 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:07,060 and Howard Carter immediately recognized it. 69 00:05:07,060 --> 00:05:09,293 On it, there were several royal cartouches. 70 00:05:13,910 --> 00:05:16,650 - [Narrator] The strip of wood was on the last step 71 00:05:16,650 --> 00:05:18,010 of the staircase, amongst debris that at first appeared 72 00:05:18,010 --> 00:05:18,960 of little interest. 73 00:05:23,462 --> 00:05:26,500 It was the remains of a chest, recently reconstructed 74 00:05:26,500 --> 00:05:28,500 in the laboratories of the Crown Museum. 75 00:05:30,970 --> 00:05:32,943 The strip of wood had found its place. 76 00:05:35,220 --> 00:05:37,080 There were two names on it. 77 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:39,883 Two key names in the hunt for Tutankhamun's tomb. 78 00:05:42,180 --> 00:05:44,513 That of his father, the pharaoh Akhenaten, 79 00:05:46,223 --> 00:05:49,363 and that of his elder sister, Meritaten. 80 00:05:52,700 --> 00:05:56,420 Two names intimately linked to the history of Amarna, 81 00:05:56,420 --> 00:05:59,510 a town located 200 kilometers to the north of Thebes 82 00:05:59,510 --> 00:06:00,910 and the Valley of the Kings. 83 00:06:17,580 --> 00:06:20,560 Amarna, the capital city built by Akhenaten, 84 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:21,763 Tutankhamun's father. 85 00:06:22,970 --> 00:06:26,090 The pharaoh dedicated it to a single god, Aten, 86 00:06:26,090 --> 00:06:28,653 and to his manifestation on Earth, the sun disk. 87 00:06:37,499 --> 00:06:39,870 - You have to try and imagine how big this project was. 88 00:06:39,870 --> 00:06:40,970 It was colossal. 89 00:06:40,970 --> 00:06:42,940 A whole town spread across 10 kilometers 90 00:06:42,940 --> 00:06:44,743 that was created in under six years. 91 00:06:48,712 --> 00:06:51,660 The king decided to call this new place Akhetaten, 92 00:06:51,660 --> 00:06:53,689 which means horizon of the Aten. 93 00:06:53,689 --> 00:06:56,240 It refers to his belief that Amarna 94 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:58,540 was the place where the sun appeared on Earth. 95 00:07:02,550 --> 00:07:03,940 - [Narrator] This new religion gave rise 96 00:07:03,940 --> 00:07:05,440 to a new kind of architecture. 97 00:07:08,530 --> 00:07:11,990 Here, temples had no roofs, enabling the sun 98 00:07:11,990 --> 00:07:13,203 to enter the sanctuary. 99 00:07:25,270 --> 00:07:27,880 - The temples of Aten have almost totally disappeared. 100 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:30,160 All that remains are a few tiny fragments 101 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:31,423 and the foundations. 102 00:07:34,459 --> 00:07:36,800 British archeologists working on the site 103 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,260 used these stones in order to mark out on the ground 104 00:07:39,260 --> 00:07:40,453 where the walls were. 105 00:07:41,540 --> 00:07:44,380 Above them you have to imagine walls several meters high, 106 00:07:44,380 --> 00:07:47,543 made from special prefabricated blocks called talatats. 107 00:07:56,850 --> 00:07:59,660 These blocks were produced in an almost industrial manner 108 00:07:59,660 --> 00:08:02,160 in Egyptian quarries, and their major advantage 109 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:05,020 was that they weighed around 50 kilograms. 110 00:08:05,020 --> 00:08:06,450 As such, they could be carried 111 00:08:06,450 --> 00:08:08,340 by regular construction workers, 112 00:08:08,340 --> 00:08:10,050 which allowed the pharaoh's architects 113 00:08:10,050 --> 00:08:12,050 to construct buildings very quickly, 114 00:08:12,050 --> 00:08:14,400 because they could be laid one after the other. 115 00:08:24,690 --> 00:08:26,300 The problem, of course, is that if you can 116 00:08:26,300 --> 00:08:28,870 build walls very quickly, you can dismantle them 117 00:08:28,870 --> 00:08:29,963 very quickly too. 118 00:08:31,190 --> 00:08:33,810 And soon after the end of Ankhenaten's reign, 119 00:08:33,810 --> 00:08:36,130 they decided to tear down all these temples, 120 00:08:36,130 --> 00:08:38,280 down to the foundations, and all these blocks 121 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:39,780 were used in new construction. 122 00:08:43,910 --> 00:08:45,830 - [Narrator] 10 years after work started, 123 00:08:45,830 --> 00:08:49,080 the king's magnificent project ended in fiasco 124 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,793 and the fate of the royal family turned to tragedy. 125 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:58,700 And what has this got to do with the fragments of the chest 126 00:08:58,700 --> 00:09:01,603 found by Howard Carter at the foot of Tutankhamun's tomb? 127 00:09:05,050 --> 00:09:08,550 Why do the names of Akhenaten and his daughter, Meritaten 128 00:09:08,550 --> 00:09:09,713 appear on the chest? 129 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,273 The answer is to be found in the royal tomb of Amarna. 130 00:09:25,150 --> 00:09:27,650 A tomb dug into the mountains which overlooked 131 00:09:27,650 --> 00:09:28,523 the former city. 132 00:09:36,980 --> 00:09:39,610 The relief carvings are now very badly damaged, 133 00:09:39,610 --> 00:09:41,710 but they enabled researchers to reconstruct 134 00:09:41,710 --> 00:09:43,943 the terrible end to Akhenaten's reign. 135 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,870 - On the left-hand side, you can see two little princesses 136 00:09:52,870 --> 00:09:54,963 lying down, dead on a funeral bed. 137 00:09:56,390 --> 00:09:58,347 They were princesses Setepenre 138 00:09:58,347 --> 00:10:00,363 and her younger sister, Neferneferure. 139 00:10:01,980 --> 00:10:03,660 In front of them, in front of the bed, 140 00:10:03,660 --> 00:10:05,873 is the royal couple, and they're crying. 141 00:10:06,866 --> 00:10:08,870 Akhenaten is in front grieving, 142 00:10:08,870 --> 00:10:11,470 and he's holding the arm of his wife, Nefertiti, 143 00:10:11,470 --> 00:10:13,393 who's sobbing and reeling with pain. 144 00:10:22,395 --> 00:10:24,730 At the exit to one of the rooms, there's a character 145 00:10:24,730 --> 00:10:28,180 who is highlighted in the arms of a nurse, 146 00:10:28,180 --> 00:10:30,769 and who could only be Prince Tutankhamun, 147 00:10:30,769 --> 00:10:33,773 born just before his two elder sisters died. 148 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,940 There are women from the royal entourage who are grieving, 149 00:10:41,940 --> 00:10:43,930 their heads in their hands, weeping, 150 00:10:43,930 --> 00:10:46,950 as they accompany the royal family in the face of the deaths 151 00:10:46,950 --> 00:10:48,573 of the two young princesses. 152 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:55,970 - [Narrator] In a neighboring room, 153 00:10:55,970 --> 00:10:57,633 the terrible story continues. 154 00:11:01,740 --> 00:11:05,453 Sickness has struck again, and another princess is dead. 155 00:11:11,070 --> 00:11:13,320 Here she's depicted as a statue, 156 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:15,420 with the royal couple lamenting before it. 157 00:11:21,870 --> 00:11:24,420 This is Princess Meketaten. 158 00:11:24,420 --> 00:11:26,520 She was around 10 years old when she died. 159 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:35,700 - A sobbing Akhenaten and Nefertiti 160 00:11:35,700 --> 00:11:38,450 are accompanied by the next three princesses. 161 00:11:38,450 --> 00:11:40,940 The oldest was Princess Meritaten, 162 00:11:40,940 --> 00:11:44,860 then Ankhesenpaaten, and the last one, the youngest, 163 00:11:44,860 --> 00:11:47,660 was Princess Neferneferuaten Tasherit, 164 00:11:47,660 --> 00:11:49,470 whose outline has disappeared. 165 00:11:49,470 --> 00:11:51,563 Indeed, she was the next to die. 166 00:11:54,150 --> 00:11:56,840 We know she died soon after, and after her 167 00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:58,810 it was the turn of the Queen Mother Tiye, 168 00:11:58,810 --> 00:12:01,660 Akhenaten's mother, and then the royal wife, 169 00:12:01,660 --> 00:12:04,820 Queen Nefertiti, who died in the year 16 170 00:12:04,820 --> 00:12:06,020 at the end of the reign. 171 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:14,170 - [Narrator] What could be behind all these deaths 172 00:12:14,170 --> 00:12:15,770 that decimated the royal family? 173 00:12:18,500 --> 00:12:20,570 Diplomatic correspondence between Akhenaten 174 00:12:20,570 --> 00:12:22,620 and the king of Babylon mentions another 175 00:12:22,620 --> 00:12:25,260 of the pharaoh's wives who died of the plague, 176 00:12:25,260 --> 00:12:27,453 which affected the royal harem in Amarna. 177 00:12:31,980 --> 00:12:34,170 Meritaten, the pharaoh's oldest daughter, 178 00:12:34,170 --> 00:12:35,483 survived the epidemic. 179 00:12:38,270 --> 00:12:40,633 After the death of her mother, Queen Nefertiti, 180 00:12:40,633 --> 00:12:42,890 she married her father Akhenaten 181 00:12:42,890 --> 00:12:45,003 and took the title of Great Royal Wife. 182 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:50,980 Her brother Tutankhamun was still a very young child, 183 00:12:50,980 --> 00:12:53,910 which left her in a strong position to take over. 184 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:08,300 The next part of the story can be found 185 00:13:08,300 --> 00:13:11,160 in the Museum of Cairo, and this time 186 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,273 in the treasure of Tutankhamun itself. 187 00:13:16,962 --> 00:13:19,650 Marc Gabolbe is one of the leading specialists 188 00:13:19,650 --> 00:13:20,483 on Tutankhamun. 189 00:13:22,230 --> 00:13:25,143 He suspects that certain objects have a hidden identity, 190 00:13:27,660 --> 00:13:29,063 and he intends to prove it. 191 00:13:31,595 --> 00:13:33,695 - [Marc] This is rock crystal, it's great. 192 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:40,710 - [Narrator] Marc Gabolbe starts his examination 193 00:13:40,710 --> 00:13:42,610 with one of the canonic chests in which 194 00:13:42,610 --> 00:13:46,380 the pharaoh's internal organs were found. 195 00:13:46,380 --> 00:13:48,283 On the outside is nothing unusual. 196 00:13:53,900 --> 00:13:55,603 Nothing unusual inside either. 197 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:00,020 - [Marc] It's really difficult to glean any information 198 00:14:00,020 --> 00:14:02,793 about who this belonged to from this cartouche. 199 00:14:06,170 --> 00:14:09,040 - [Narrator] But inside the lid, some unusual markings 200 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:10,253 soon catch his eye. 201 00:14:18,430 --> 00:14:20,430 - You can see Tutankhamun's cartouches, 202 00:14:20,430 --> 00:14:22,440 but underneath there are small marks 203 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:27,190 that were made prior to these. 204 00:14:27,190 --> 00:14:29,060 - [Narrator] There's Tutankhamun's cartouche, 205 00:14:29,060 --> 00:14:31,130 and then there are traces of previous engravings 206 00:14:31,130 --> 00:14:33,963 that the Egyptologist is immediately able to identify. 207 00:14:36,127 --> 00:14:40,067 - It's very difficult to be sure of how to read it. 208 00:14:40,067 --> 00:14:42,280 But from other examples, we can reconstruct 209 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:45,427 the original cartouche, which is that of a pharaoh queen 210 00:14:45,427 --> 00:14:48,853 who is also called she who is good for her husband. 211 00:14:51,396 --> 00:14:54,170 So that means that these little sarcophagi 212 00:14:54,170 --> 00:14:57,043 for internal organs were usurped from her. 213 00:15:01,230 --> 00:15:03,310 - [Narrator] This pharaoh queen was almost certainly 214 00:15:03,310 --> 00:15:07,360 none other than Meritaten, and if these little sarcophagi 215 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,970 originally belonged to her, and were then 216 00:15:09,970 --> 00:15:11,623 re-baptized to King Tutankhamun, 217 00:15:13,185 --> 00:15:15,740 what then of the four alabaster statues 218 00:15:15,740 --> 00:15:17,540 inside of which they were contained? 219 00:15:25,740 --> 00:15:27,840 Marc Gabolbe has been allowed to examine them 220 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:29,593 with the glass protection removed. 221 00:15:37,613 --> 00:15:40,000 - [Marc] The amazing thing is that, given the position 222 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,030 of the cover, there's a kind of dialogue between 223 00:15:43,030 --> 00:15:46,240 these two effigies, who stare into each other's eyes 224 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:48,801 across the space of a few millimeters, 225 00:15:48,801 --> 00:15:50,970 and I find it extremely moving to witness 226 00:15:50,970 --> 00:15:53,880 this staging orchestrated by the ancient Egyptians 227 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:55,003 for the king's organs. 228 00:16:01,780 --> 00:16:02,860 - [Narrator] On the box containing 229 00:16:02,860 --> 00:16:05,350 the four alabaster sarcophagi are the two 230 00:16:05,350 --> 00:16:07,804 cartouches of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. 231 00:16:07,804 --> 00:16:10,100 On the left, the name of his reign, 232 00:16:10,100 --> 00:16:12,517 on the right, his birth name. 233 00:16:15,910 --> 00:16:18,550 - Just below the last character, the little basket, 234 00:16:18,550 --> 00:16:21,650 there's a horizontal line which no doubt corresponds 235 00:16:21,650 --> 00:16:22,703 to a first name. 236 00:16:25,507 --> 00:16:27,270 And similarly, on the right, we can see 237 00:16:27,270 --> 00:16:30,388 there is a first cartouche encircled with black, 238 00:16:30,388 --> 00:16:33,743 but beneath it there are traces of a second cartouche ring. 239 00:16:34,610 --> 00:16:36,210 It's clear that the name was changed 240 00:16:36,210 --> 00:16:38,540 some time in the distant past. 241 00:16:38,540 --> 00:16:40,760 It was changed so that this monument 242 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:42,563 would be attributed to Tutankhamun. 243 00:16:46,590 --> 00:16:47,570 - [Narrator] It would seem, therefore, 244 00:16:47,570 --> 00:16:49,090 that one of the most sacred objects 245 00:16:49,090 --> 00:16:53,028 in the treasure of Tutankhamun was made for somebody else. 246 00:16:53,028 --> 00:16:56,703 Here again, Meritaten is the most likely candidate. 247 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,090 - And then there are the objects which there is no doubt. 248 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:13,920 Such as this bracelet, which was discovered 249 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:15,503 among Tutankhamun's jewelry. 250 00:17:21,290 --> 00:17:23,880 The priest responsible for the pharaoh's burial 251 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:24,880 must have missed it. 252 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:30,710 - You can see the two names of the king, 253 00:17:30,710 --> 00:17:34,563 who bear the epithet she who is god for her husband. 254 00:17:36,949 --> 00:17:39,130 That's a reference to a pharaoh queen 255 00:17:39,130 --> 00:17:40,780 who reigned prior to Tutankhamun. 256 00:17:43,545 --> 00:17:46,400 And this bracelet is one of the rare instances 257 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:48,583 where the name of the queen is intact. 258 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:52,692 It's a mistake. 259 00:17:52,692 --> 00:17:54,320 The bracelet should've been removed 260 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,460 from the funeral paraphernalia or the cartouche reworked, 261 00:17:57,460 --> 00:17:59,560 but as we all know, there's no such thing 262 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:00,903 as the perfect crime. 263 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:07,010 - [Narrator] Other than this bracelet, 264 00:18:07,010 --> 00:18:09,070 all the objects belonging to Meritaten, 265 00:18:09,070 --> 00:18:11,470 without exception, were renamed for Tutankhamun. 266 00:18:19,970 --> 00:18:22,537 There are some unmistakable signs, 267 00:18:22,537 --> 00:18:25,390 and the physique of this character is one of them. 268 00:18:31,260 --> 00:18:33,550 The magnificent statuette in gilded wood 269 00:18:33,550 --> 00:18:35,900 shows a pharaoh on the back of a black panther. 270 00:18:38,700 --> 00:18:41,390 It's also part of Tutankhamun's treasure. 271 00:18:41,390 --> 00:18:43,340 It was found in the pharaoh's tomb 272 00:18:43,340 --> 00:18:45,473 and is supposed to represent him. 273 00:18:48,460 --> 00:18:50,910 Except there's one detail that's not quite right. 274 00:19:08,410 --> 00:19:12,110 - The definitive proof that this pharaoh queen truly existed 275 00:19:12,110 --> 00:19:14,480 is in this figurine, which was usurped 276 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:17,366 and found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. 277 00:19:17,366 --> 00:19:18,600 If you look carefully at the chest, 278 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:20,540 the curve of her breasts clearly show 279 00:19:20,540 --> 00:19:23,730 that she's a woman, a young woman, aged 16, 280 00:19:23,730 --> 00:19:26,653 who ruled and who was no doubt Meritaten, 281 00:19:27,620 --> 00:19:29,220 the older sister of Tutankhamun. 282 00:19:35,413 --> 00:19:38,930 What is extraordinary is that it's the only complete statue 283 00:19:38,930 --> 00:19:41,970 of this queen that we have, so it's an absolutely unique 284 00:19:41,970 --> 00:19:44,380 and extremely precious item, and there's 285 00:19:44,380 --> 00:19:45,563 nothing else like it. 286 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,090 - [Narrator] Meritaten, as this statue shows, 287 00:19:52,090 --> 00:19:54,740 was part of a very small club of pharaoh queens 288 00:19:54,740 --> 00:19:56,083 who reigned over Egypt. 289 00:19:59,090 --> 00:20:02,300 Aged just 15 or 16, she was able to assert herself 290 00:20:02,300 --> 00:20:05,430 while her country, the great power during that period, 291 00:20:05,430 --> 00:20:07,683 was in the process of losing its supremacy. 292 00:20:20,530 --> 00:20:22,718 Not only was Egypt hit by an epidemic, 293 00:20:22,718 --> 00:20:25,160 it also found itself lacking in something 294 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:27,333 absolutely essential for its armies. 295 00:20:30,075 --> 00:20:33,630 Bronze, an indispensable metal 296 00:20:33,630 --> 00:20:35,743 for the manufacture of effective weapons. 297 00:20:40,290 --> 00:20:42,570 Egypt lost its supply when it lost control 298 00:20:42,570 --> 00:20:44,487 of the strategic city of Kadesh. 299 00:20:51,980 --> 00:20:54,530 - The role of Kadesh is extremely important 300 00:20:54,530 --> 00:20:56,970 in Egyptian history, because it controlled 301 00:20:56,970 --> 00:20:59,690 a natural corridor from modern-day Turkey, 302 00:20:59,690 --> 00:21:02,320 which back then was the kingdom of the Hittites, 303 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,063 to the near east, the Syro-Palestinian corridor. 304 00:21:15,087 --> 00:21:16,250 - And that was where a great deal 305 00:21:16,250 --> 00:21:18,750 of critical international trade passed. 306 00:21:18,750 --> 00:21:22,140 In particular, the transport of tin and copper, 307 00:21:22,140 --> 00:21:24,253 which are what you need to make bronze. 308 00:21:29,580 --> 00:21:31,610 Without copper and tin, it's impossible 309 00:21:31,610 --> 00:21:33,933 to produce bronze, and therefore weapons. 310 00:21:37,730 --> 00:21:40,060 And whoever couldn't control these trade routes 311 00:21:40,060 --> 00:21:41,720 would be condemned to sudden death 312 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:43,263 at the hands of their enemies. 313 00:21:50,130 --> 00:21:51,490 - [Narrator] Akhenaten ordered the city of Kadesh 314 00:21:51,490 --> 00:21:54,573 to be retaken so that trade could be reestablished. 315 00:21:58,580 --> 00:22:01,330 But against all expectations, his armies were defeated. 316 00:22:02,970 --> 00:22:05,540 - The Egyptians hadn't been beaten in the near east 317 00:22:05,540 --> 00:22:09,000 for decades, because they controlled that area, 318 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:11,970 and this defeat at Kadesh was very serious. 319 00:22:11,970 --> 00:22:14,670 It was a bit like their Vietnam at the time, 320 00:22:14,670 --> 00:22:17,870 because it opened up a breach that allowed the Hittites 321 00:22:17,870 --> 00:22:19,920 to steal everything they controlled 322 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:21,993 in the Syro-Palestinian corridor. 323 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:26,233 And then the king died. 324 00:22:28,250 --> 00:22:30,100 He was buried here in the cave he'd had 325 00:22:30,100 --> 00:22:32,900 dug out of the mountains, near Amarna, 326 00:22:32,900 --> 00:22:34,670 a few kilometers from the palace 327 00:22:34,670 --> 00:22:36,720 where he spent the last part of his life. 328 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,180 The Egyptians were in serious trouble, 329 00:22:44,180 --> 00:22:46,475 and they started to doubt the king. 330 00:22:46,475 --> 00:22:50,440 They began thinking Akhenaten had led them astray, 331 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,810 because they felt they were being punished by the gods, 332 00:22:53,810 --> 00:22:56,010 that they'd stopped being protected by them. 333 00:22:57,820 --> 00:23:00,250 And so fairly quickly, Akhenaten was relegated 334 00:23:00,250 --> 00:23:02,900 into the annals as a bad king. 335 00:23:02,900 --> 00:23:06,427 They wanted to rid themselves of any trace of his existence. 336 00:23:12,850 --> 00:23:16,030 We can see here on this wall, Akhenaten's presence 337 00:23:16,030 --> 00:23:18,130 has been completely removed and covered up. 338 00:23:18,130 --> 00:23:20,160 Where the king was here, all that remains 339 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,500 is a ghost beneath the rays of the sun disk of Aten, 340 00:23:23,500 --> 00:23:25,950 but the radiating disc of the god remains, 341 00:23:25,950 --> 00:23:27,800 because the god wasn't prescribed, 342 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:29,210 it wasn't the fault of the god, 343 00:23:29,210 --> 00:23:31,220 it was the fault of his sovereign servant, 344 00:23:31,220 --> 00:23:33,450 who hadn't fulfilled his role as an interface 345 00:23:33,450 --> 00:23:35,333 between human beings and the divine. 346 00:23:37,770 --> 00:23:40,763 - [Narrator] When her father died, Meritaten was just 14. 347 00:23:43,219 --> 00:23:47,020 Both elder daughter and great royal wife of Akhenaten, 348 00:23:47,020 --> 00:23:48,870 she was first in line for the throne. 349 00:23:54,070 --> 00:23:56,390 And her brother Tutankhamun would only 350 00:23:56,390 --> 00:23:57,990 have been around four years old. 351 00:24:08,010 --> 00:24:09,990 Meritaten then started putting together 352 00:24:09,990 --> 00:24:13,043 her burial trousseau, as every new pharaoh would do. 353 00:24:17,540 --> 00:24:20,320 At the Museum of Cairo, Marc Gabolbe is continuing 354 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:22,870 his investigation into the treasure of Tutankhamun. 355 00:24:24,490 --> 00:24:27,020 He's now studying everyday objects, 356 00:24:27,020 --> 00:24:29,100 and here again he believes he's once again 357 00:24:29,100 --> 00:24:31,133 seeing the shadow of the pharaoh queen. 358 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:34,640 - Here you can clearly see Tutankhamun's name 359 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,650 in hieroglyphics, but beneath it are the traces 360 00:24:37,650 --> 00:24:41,380 of a previous name, you can clearly see ankh, 361 00:24:41,380 --> 00:24:45,080 which is the symbol for life, repao, the scarab beetle, 362 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:48,080 and below, traces of the name of Akhenaten. 363 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:51,600 It says (speaking foreign language), beloved of Akhenaten, 364 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:53,650 and that's the name of the pharaoh queen. 365 00:24:57,546 --> 00:24:59,750 - [Narrator] The usurpation is even clearer 366 00:24:59,750 --> 00:25:01,400 on the other button on the chest. 367 00:25:05,930 --> 00:25:08,280 The golden hieroglyphs clearly correspond 368 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:09,880 to the name of King Tutankhamun, 369 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:14,170 but the first of the hollowed-out characters 370 00:25:14,170 --> 00:25:16,433 clearly form the name of the pharaoh queen. 371 00:25:25,578 --> 00:25:28,816 - [Marc] This box belonged to the pharaoh queen, 372 00:25:28,816 --> 00:25:30,130 and was recuperated and modified 373 00:25:30,130 --> 00:25:31,933 for the burial of Tutankhamun. 374 00:25:40,270 --> 00:25:43,270 - [Narrator] A small object now captures Marc Gabolbe's eye. 375 00:25:44,430 --> 00:25:47,230 An item of jewelry, also taken from the king's treasure. 376 00:25:48,281 --> 00:25:51,528 An item of jewelry that contains a represenation 377 00:25:51,528 --> 00:25:52,478 of the goddess Nut. 378 00:25:53,623 --> 00:25:55,210 But during the reign of Akhenaten, 379 00:25:55,210 --> 00:25:58,110 worshiping this goddess had been forbidden. 380 00:25:58,110 --> 00:26:00,180 The only god that was worshiped was Aten. 381 00:26:02,130 --> 00:26:03,690 The owner of this object had therefore 382 00:26:03,690 --> 00:26:05,493 returned to traditional religion. 383 00:26:07,750 --> 00:26:08,853 So who was the owner? 384 00:26:11,290 --> 00:26:12,803 - Words spoken by Nut. 385 00:26:14,660 --> 00:26:17,680 I reach out my arms to the son, the king, 386 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:19,963 Neferneferure, triumphant. 387 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:27,777 I make my feathers quiver over your perfection, Tutankhamun. 388 00:26:37,893 --> 00:26:41,280 In this cartouche, Tutankhamun's name can be clearly seen, 389 00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:44,630 but you can also see underneath traces of a first name, 390 00:26:44,630 --> 00:26:46,853 which is also easy to read. 391 00:26:46,853 --> 00:26:51,020 Neferneferuaten, which means she who attends to her husband. 392 00:26:51,020 --> 00:26:53,283 In other words, the queen pharaoh. 393 00:26:57,210 --> 00:26:58,760 - [Narrator] This means that it was Meritaten 394 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:01,860 and not Tutankhamun, as was thought up to now, 395 00:27:01,860 --> 00:27:04,253 who ended the chapter started by her father. 396 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,340 A major decision which changed the history of the kingdom. 397 00:27:14,110 --> 00:27:16,520 And then there's the question of the most sacred objects 398 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,180 in the tomb, those objects that were in contact 399 00:27:20,604 --> 00:27:22,305 either directly or indirectly with the remains 400 00:27:22,305 --> 00:27:23,350 of the pharaoh. 401 00:27:23,350 --> 00:27:26,140 The solid gold anthropoid coffin, itself contained 402 00:27:26,140 --> 00:27:28,093 within two gilded wooden coffins. 403 00:27:33,048 --> 00:27:35,750 And all of that on a bed, together placed inside 404 00:27:35,750 --> 00:27:38,740 a pink granite shrine, which itself is placed inside 405 00:27:38,740 --> 00:27:41,473 four more sarcophagi covered in gold leaf. 406 00:27:50,860 --> 00:27:53,760 Marc Gabolbe is now going to examine one of these shrines. 407 00:28:04,890 --> 00:28:07,690 This time, the writing of the pharaoh's name is perfect. 408 00:28:09,540 --> 00:28:11,430 But there is an anomaly in the arrangement 409 00:28:11,430 --> 00:28:13,020 of the characters. 410 00:28:13,020 --> 00:28:15,660 A too-large space between two hieroglyphs 411 00:28:15,660 --> 00:28:16,803 which catches his eye. 412 00:28:19,530 --> 00:28:22,209 - Tutankhamun is living from truth, 413 00:28:22,209 --> 00:28:25,650 and yet here you can see that there are three signs, 414 00:28:25,650 --> 00:28:28,143 one above the other, but they're not aligned. 415 00:28:29,270 --> 00:28:31,550 So there's space for a missing sign. 416 00:28:31,550 --> 00:28:33,730 That means that originally, it was written 417 00:28:33,730 --> 00:28:36,030 with the feminine form of living, 418 00:28:36,030 --> 00:28:39,290 and subsequently it was covered over in gold leaf, 419 00:28:39,290 --> 00:28:42,034 polished up, and became invisible, 420 00:28:42,034 --> 00:28:44,543 except that there's a sign missing. 421 00:28:56,630 --> 00:28:57,793 It's extraordinary. 422 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:01,763 The gold is phenomenally beautiful with hints of red. 423 00:29:03,260 --> 00:29:05,120 You can see very clearly that this monument 424 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:07,593 has a history, and it's a complicated one. 425 00:29:14,701 --> 00:29:17,590 In all the places where there's the king's name, 426 00:29:17,590 --> 00:29:19,770 you can see that the gold leaf is lighter 427 00:29:19,770 --> 00:29:22,053 than in other areas, where it's darker. 428 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:29,020 So originally, it was done for one sovereign, 429 00:29:29,020 --> 00:29:31,300 then they took off the names of that sovereign, 430 00:29:31,300 --> 00:29:36,300 reapplied the gold decoration, and then added a new name. 431 00:29:36,390 --> 00:29:39,480 But this new gold was much yellower and stands out clearly 432 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:41,650 against the red background of the original color 433 00:29:41,650 --> 00:29:42,593 of the monument. 434 00:29:44,350 --> 00:29:45,603 It's very obvious. 435 00:29:56,310 --> 00:29:57,630 - [Narrator] Lastly, there's the question 436 00:29:57,630 --> 00:29:58,973 of Tutankhamun's mask. 437 00:30:05,350 --> 00:30:07,510 10 kilograms of pure gold. 438 00:30:07,510 --> 00:30:10,060 The most famous object from the pharaoh's treasure. 439 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:13,990 Was it made especially for him? 440 00:30:15,570 --> 00:30:17,583 Or was it usurped from his older sister? 441 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:22,930 Marc Gabolbe has found some more clues 442 00:30:22,930 --> 00:30:25,133 to suggest it was indeed made for Meritaten. 443 00:30:31,750 --> 00:30:33,580 A cartouche that once again contains 444 00:30:33,580 --> 00:30:35,863 tiny traces of a previous engraving. 445 00:30:39,410 --> 00:30:41,640 Once reconstituted, they again suggest 446 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:44,540 that the object was originally cast for the pharaoh queen. 447 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:48,110 Her cartouche was no doubt then replaced 448 00:30:48,110 --> 00:30:49,740 by that of Tutankhamun's. 449 00:30:55,500 --> 00:30:57,790 Such extraordinary objects were no doubt created 450 00:30:57,790 --> 00:30:58,853 for every pharaoh. 451 00:31:00,980 --> 00:31:03,463 But Meritaten was both a woman and very young, 452 00:31:04,511 --> 00:31:07,470 so for her, such privileges would have been 453 00:31:07,470 --> 00:31:10,090 harder to obtain than for a male pharaoh. 454 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,323 Perhaps she had to demonstrate exceptional merit. 455 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:29,743 A tomb in Amarna suggests that might just be the case. 456 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,500 The tomb of Meria II, superintendent 457 00:31:38,500 --> 00:31:40,883 of the royal harem under Pharaoh Akhenaten. 458 00:31:47,830 --> 00:31:50,200 The first image shows the 12th year of the reign, 459 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:52,193 before misery struck the royal family. 460 00:31:56,910 --> 00:31:58,710 - This represents an idyllic moment. 461 00:31:59,740 --> 00:32:01,829 The couple looks happy and united, 462 00:32:01,829 --> 00:32:04,450 and there's this detail of Akhenaten 463 00:32:04,450 --> 00:32:07,630 taking Nefertiti's hand in his. 464 00:32:07,630 --> 00:32:09,570 The queen is probably already pregnant 465 00:32:09,570 --> 00:32:11,757 with the future Prince Tutankhamun, 466 00:32:11,757 --> 00:32:13,700 and the six princesses are shown 467 00:32:13,700 --> 00:32:15,193 behind the king and his wife. 468 00:32:21,870 --> 00:32:24,010 - [Narrator] The second image is of three years later, 469 00:32:24,010 --> 00:32:26,163 when Akhenaten and Nefertiti are dead. 470 00:32:28,830 --> 00:32:30,483 Another royal couple is shown. 471 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:35,313 To the right is Meritaten. 472 00:32:37,220 --> 00:32:39,890 To the left, a certain Smenkhkare, 473 00:32:39,890 --> 00:32:41,740 a pharaoh who never actually reigned. 474 00:32:44,970 --> 00:32:48,860 The scene depicts a plot, a tale of cunning and power 475 00:32:48,860 --> 00:32:52,170 led by the pharaoh queen against her chief enemy, 476 00:32:52,170 --> 00:32:53,393 the Hittite Empire. 477 00:32:58,490 --> 00:33:01,380 First Meritaten ensures that her little brother Tutankhamun 478 00:33:01,380 --> 00:33:03,723 is protected, and kept away from the court. 479 00:33:05,710 --> 00:33:07,790 Here he is with his nurse. 480 00:33:07,790 --> 00:33:09,140 He's barely five years old. 481 00:33:11,750 --> 00:33:13,540 Then she turns to the king of the Hittites, 482 00:33:13,540 --> 00:33:16,240 the kingdom that is causing all kinds of trouble for Egypt 483 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:18,133 by blocking its trade with the east. 484 00:33:19,610 --> 00:33:21,993 She asks him for one of his sons in marriage. 485 00:33:25,650 --> 00:33:28,550 Several months later, she receives a letter from the king. 486 00:33:31,137 --> 00:33:33,087 "I sent my son," he wrote. 487 00:33:33,087 --> 00:33:34,887 "But he was murdered along the way." 488 00:33:41,503 --> 00:33:43,970 Clearly Meritaten had never intended 489 00:33:43,970 --> 00:33:45,523 to marry the Hittite prince. 490 00:33:46,780 --> 00:33:48,513 She'd simply bought some time. 491 00:33:50,290 --> 00:33:52,080 The time that her armies needed 492 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:54,653 to reestablish their supplies of copper and tin. 493 00:33:57,280 --> 00:33:59,640 - So we don't actually know if he was murdered, 494 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:02,470 or if his death was a lucky accident for Egypt. 495 00:34:02,470 --> 00:34:04,780 But in any case, this diplomatic marriage 496 00:34:04,780 --> 00:34:06,830 is one of the greatest coups carried out 497 00:34:06,830 --> 00:34:09,543 in the entire diplomatic history of the ancient world. 498 00:34:10,530 --> 00:34:12,580 By pulling off this diplomatic coup, 499 00:34:12,580 --> 00:34:14,450 when she was still only in her teens, 500 00:34:14,450 --> 00:34:17,190 Meritaten probably earned herself a significant amount 501 00:34:17,190 --> 00:34:19,640 of credibility in the eyes of the Egyptian people 502 00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:22,180 and in Egyptian ideology, that required the pharaoh 503 00:34:22,180 --> 00:34:25,030 to maintain the cosmic order for the good of the country. 504 00:34:29,370 --> 00:34:30,840 - [Narrator] It was at this point that Meritaten 505 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:33,200 dispensed with the idea of a single god, 506 00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:35,913 thus breaking with her father's views and life's work. 507 00:34:38,710 --> 00:34:42,170 She decided to leave Amarna and return to Thebes, 508 00:34:42,170 --> 00:34:44,470 where all the traditional gods were worshiped. 509 00:34:56,750 --> 00:34:59,480 Meritaten took every member of her family with her, 510 00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:00,803 including the dead ones. 511 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:05,930 And she had them placed in a new tomb 512 00:35:05,930 --> 00:35:07,280 in the Valley of the Kings. 513 00:35:17,180 --> 00:35:20,970 For her mother, Nefertiti, and her grandmother, Queen Tiye, 514 00:35:20,970 --> 00:35:23,830 she chose the last residence of her grandfather, 515 00:35:23,830 --> 00:35:25,347 King Amenhotep III. 516 00:35:30,166 --> 00:35:31,840 A note in the hierartic writing system 517 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:34,170 used for daily life in ancient Egypt 518 00:35:34,170 --> 00:35:35,883 marks the date of the ceremony. 519 00:35:43,450 --> 00:35:45,460 The two women were placed in new coffins 520 00:35:45,460 --> 00:35:48,060 alongside the sarcophagus of the pharaoh, 521 00:35:48,060 --> 00:35:50,260 the major figure of this era, who had reigned 522 00:35:50,260 --> 00:35:51,563 for over 40 years. 523 00:35:59,350 --> 00:36:02,943 The year three, third month of the flood, day seven. 524 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:06,893 This is the last trace of the pharaoh queen. 525 00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:15,370 One month later, according to the so-called 526 00:36:15,370 --> 00:36:18,383 Restoration Tablet, her brother exceeded to the throne. 527 00:36:21,670 --> 00:36:25,900 Tutankhamun became king, Meritaten disappeared. 528 00:36:25,900 --> 00:36:28,350 It was almost certainly no coincidence 529 00:36:28,350 --> 00:36:30,100 that that's all that we know today. 530 00:36:36,062 --> 00:36:38,440 - The most likely hypothesis is that she died 531 00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:40,923 making way for her brother to claim the throne. 532 00:36:42,690 --> 00:36:44,200 The only thing we know for certain 533 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,700 is that she wasn't buried in the tomb she'd had prepared, 534 00:36:47,700 --> 00:36:50,473 since it was totally reused for Tutankhamun. 535 00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:57,430 She was almost certainly buried, but we don't know where. 536 00:36:57,430 --> 00:36:59,430 Perhaps in a tomb that we already know of, 537 00:36:59,430 --> 00:37:01,560 but which was entirely pillaged, 538 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:05,060 or maybe in another tomb that is yet to be discovered. 539 00:37:05,060 --> 00:37:07,853 We have no clues as to where she ended up. 540 00:37:24,423 --> 00:37:26,080 Tutankhamun was probably still a child 541 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:27,230 when he became pharaoh. 542 00:37:30,140 --> 00:37:32,810 Among his treasure, one object throws some light 543 00:37:32,810 --> 00:37:35,110 on what he was like at the start of his reign. 544 00:37:38,510 --> 00:37:41,503 His famous throne, also found in his tomb. 545 00:37:44,720 --> 00:37:47,680 On the back, here he is with Ankhesenamun, 546 00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:50,600 his other older sister, whom almost certainly 547 00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:51,653 he'd just married. 548 00:37:55,900 --> 00:37:58,233 The throne is undoubtedly adult size. 549 00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:01,300 But can we be sure that it had been built 550 00:38:01,300 --> 00:38:03,450 for the king at the time of his coronation? 551 00:38:07,820 --> 00:38:09,810 It's the lower part of the royal chair 552 00:38:09,810 --> 00:38:11,860 that has caught Marc Gabolbe's attention. 553 00:38:14,310 --> 00:38:16,163 It's clearly suffered some damage. 554 00:38:21,014 --> 00:38:24,220 - You can see that there were some decorative elements here 555 00:38:24,220 --> 00:38:25,903 that have come off the sides. 556 00:38:29,993 --> 00:38:32,963 This may well have been due to normal wear and tear. 557 00:38:34,214 --> 00:38:36,400 But it's also conceivable that something 558 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:38,350 a little different might have happened. 559 00:38:41,610 --> 00:38:43,581 - [Narrator] What could there have been 560 00:38:43,581 --> 00:38:45,183 between the legs of Tutankhamun's throne? 561 00:38:46,980 --> 00:38:49,030 Something no doubt similar to the decoration 562 00:38:49,030 --> 00:38:51,460 on the other chair that belonged to the pharaoh, 563 00:38:51,460 --> 00:38:54,043 a children's chair that was also found in the tomb. 564 00:38:57,230 --> 00:38:59,570 Woven reeds symbolizing the union 565 00:38:59,570 --> 00:39:01,913 of the two lands of upper and lower Egypt. 566 00:39:08,770 --> 00:39:11,900 - Imagine a seven year old child sitting on this throne, 567 00:39:11,900 --> 00:39:13,463 which was made for an adult. 568 00:39:18,790 --> 00:39:21,100 And what would any normal seven year old child 569 00:39:21,100 --> 00:39:24,163 who has to sit on an adult's chair for a long time do? 570 00:39:25,310 --> 00:39:27,020 It would no doubt be swinging its legs 571 00:39:27,020 --> 00:39:29,060 and kicking the chair, damaging it, 572 00:39:29,060 --> 00:39:31,913 eventually causing the decoration to be destroyed. 573 00:39:35,940 --> 00:39:37,730 Once the decoration was broken, 574 00:39:37,730 --> 00:39:39,730 it was no doubt removed all around 575 00:39:39,730 --> 00:39:41,300 to make the chair look better, 576 00:39:41,300 --> 00:39:42,640 but this is probably the proof 577 00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:45,030 that King Tutankhamun was very young, 578 00:39:45,030 --> 00:39:48,130 aged seven or eight when he sat on this throne, 579 00:39:48,130 --> 00:39:50,420 and that this throne was made for an adult 580 00:39:50,420 --> 00:39:52,853 and therefore not originally intended for him. 581 00:39:56,260 --> 00:39:57,460 - [Narrator] And if that's the case, 582 00:39:57,460 --> 00:39:59,710 then who did the throne originally belong to? 583 00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:06,210 The answer lies on the back of the chair. 584 00:40:13,930 --> 00:40:15,980 - Our hypothesis is that the gold leaf 585 00:40:15,980 --> 00:40:18,860 from the original decoration was taken off, 586 00:40:18,860 --> 00:40:21,130 and when it was taken off it tore, 587 00:40:21,130 --> 00:40:23,490 then the new decoration was added 588 00:40:23,490 --> 00:40:24,993 and the leaves stuck back on. 589 00:40:27,610 --> 00:40:30,350 - [Narrator] Another clue that could confirm this hypothesis 590 00:40:30,350 --> 00:40:33,870 is a mysterious phrase inscribed on the Restoration Tablet 591 00:40:33,870 --> 00:40:36,383 marking Tutankhamun's succession to the throne. 592 00:40:43,847 --> 00:40:46,447 "Then after days had passed with this, 593 00:40:46,447 --> 00:40:49,237 "his majesty appeared on his father's throne 594 00:40:49,237 --> 00:40:51,337 "and governed the banks of the Horus." 595 00:40:54,240 --> 00:40:55,960 - On the restoration tablet it says 596 00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:58,820 Tutankhamun sat on his father's throne. 597 00:40:58,820 --> 00:41:01,550 So we can probably take this text at face value 598 00:41:01,550 --> 00:41:04,420 and assume that it was indeed the throne of Akhenaten 599 00:41:04,420 --> 00:41:07,190 that was subsequently modified for Tutankhamun 600 00:41:07,190 --> 00:41:08,393 so that he could reign. 601 00:41:15,180 --> 00:41:17,010 - [Narrator] Once on the throne, the young pharaoh 602 00:41:17,010 --> 00:41:19,493 would've had to carry out one last symbolic act. 603 00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:26,480 His father, who was buried in Amarna, 604 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:28,283 was maybe thought of as a bad king. 605 00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:34,000 But Tutankhamun had to follow on from him, 606 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:36,193 and so there was something he had to do. 607 00:41:37,530 --> 00:41:40,220 - This indentation corresponds to the exact spot 608 00:41:40,220 --> 00:41:42,433 where Akhenaten's sarcophagus was placed. 609 00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:46,330 He was buried here, so it was also here 610 00:41:46,330 --> 00:41:48,540 that the representatives of Tutankhamun 611 00:41:48,540 --> 00:41:51,410 removed his mummified body to rebury it 612 00:41:51,410 --> 00:41:53,540 in the Valley of the Kings. 613 00:41:53,540 --> 00:41:55,680 They left the sarcophagus behind, 614 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:58,020 which was then broken up, probably to prevent it 615 00:41:58,020 --> 00:42:00,110 being reused, but perhaps also because 616 00:42:00,110 --> 00:42:02,010 the memory of the pharaoh was going to end up 617 00:42:02,010 --> 00:42:03,460 on the scrap heap of history. 618 00:42:08,211 --> 00:42:09,880 - [Narrator] Reburying Akhenaten wasn't just about 619 00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:12,300 bringing his body back to the Valley of the Kings, 620 00:42:12,300 --> 00:42:14,950 where all the pharaohs of the new empire were buried. 621 00:42:17,750 --> 00:42:20,630 It was also about conforming to domestic law, 622 00:42:20,630 --> 00:42:22,303 as stated on this papyrus. 623 00:42:25,077 --> 00:42:27,483 "He that buries will inherit," it says. 624 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:31,180 In other words, the person who buries the pharaoh 625 00:42:31,180 --> 00:42:32,853 is his legitimate successor. 626 00:42:36,900 --> 00:42:39,410 Tutankhamun chose the tomb of a commoner. 627 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:43,670 The deceased pharaoh was laid to rest 628 00:42:43,670 --> 00:42:46,930 in the sarcophagus of one of his foreign wives, Kiya, 629 00:42:46,930 --> 00:42:48,543 who had fallen into disgrace. 630 00:42:54,310 --> 00:42:58,460 And that's how, on a November day in the year 1327 BCE, 631 00:42:58,460 --> 00:43:01,090 Tutankhamun finally became the new pharaoh. 632 00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:20,313 Tutankhamun was around 17 years old when he died. 633 00:43:22,140 --> 00:43:24,540 He'd just celebrated the 10th year of his reign. 634 00:43:28,189 --> 00:43:30,780 We know when he died thanks to a necklace of flowers 635 00:43:30,780 --> 00:43:32,543 placed around his mummified body. 636 00:43:34,740 --> 00:43:37,040 These flowers only bloom between the end of March 637 00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:37,963 and early April. 638 00:43:42,600 --> 00:43:44,840 In ancient Egypt, 70 days had to pass 639 00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:48,350 between death and burial, so we can now be certain 640 00:43:48,350 --> 00:43:49,850 that the pharaoh died somewhere between 641 00:43:49,850 --> 00:43:51,083 December and February. 642 00:43:59,639 --> 00:44:03,433 His body was then totally shaved and scrupulously cleaned. 643 00:44:04,330 --> 00:44:06,350 Then exceptionally, his brain was removed, 644 00:44:06,350 --> 00:44:08,610 not only through his nose, but also through 645 00:44:08,610 --> 00:44:11,560 an incision in his neck at the level of the 10th vertebrae. 646 00:44:15,180 --> 00:44:17,733 A resinous liquid was then poured into his skull. 647 00:44:21,490 --> 00:44:23,903 His guts, lungs, and heart were removed, 648 00:44:25,206 --> 00:44:28,000 and sashes of natron, a kind of salt, 649 00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:31,240 were placed in and around his body for 60 days 650 00:44:31,240 --> 00:44:33,263 in order to dry out the organic matter. 651 00:44:36,540 --> 00:44:39,363 Resin-soaked fabric was then inserted into the abdomen, 652 00:44:40,810 --> 00:44:43,330 and the same liquid mixed with sweetened wine 653 00:44:43,330 --> 00:44:45,413 was poured over the body of the deceased. 654 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:53,730 This treatment was more severe than usual. 655 00:44:53,730 --> 00:44:55,790 It burned the flesh of the king, so much so 656 00:44:55,790 --> 00:44:58,090 that Tutankhamun's mummified body 657 00:44:58,090 --> 00:44:59,680 is one of the least well-preserved 658 00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:01,733 of all royal mummies ever discovered. 659 00:45:10,340 --> 00:45:12,140 Once the body had been treated, 660 00:45:12,140 --> 00:45:13,980 the king was given a beaded cap 661 00:45:13,980 --> 00:45:17,270 and an earthenware collar was placed on his chest. 662 00:45:17,270 --> 00:45:19,090 Caps were placed on his fingers, 663 00:45:19,090 --> 00:45:21,150 his feet shod with golden sandals, 664 00:45:21,150 --> 00:45:23,223 and his arms covered with bracelets. 665 00:45:27,230 --> 00:45:30,024 The body was then wrapped in 16 layers of bandages, 666 00:45:30,024 --> 00:45:32,610 in between which were placed dozens of amulets 667 00:45:32,610 --> 00:45:37,610 with magic powers, necklaces, and some amazing weapons, 668 00:45:38,170 --> 00:45:41,150 such as a golden knife and a dagger, 669 00:45:41,150 --> 00:45:43,913 whose blade was formed from some extraordinary metal. 670 00:46:04,042 --> 00:46:07,970 - When Carter found it, it was absolutely intact. 671 00:46:07,970 --> 00:46:10,010 There was no rust, just a smattering 672 00:46:10,010 --> 00:46:12,710 of finely polished dots of oxidation, 673 00:46:12,710 --> 00:46:15,030 and when he tested the blade on his thumb, 674 00:46:15,030 --> 00:46:16,483 it was perfectly sharp. 675 00:46:22,430 --> 00:46:24,480 We know that Tutankhamun's grandfather, 676 00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,030 King Amenhotep III, had been given a dagger 677 00:46:27,030 --> 00:46:29,903 by the king of Metoni, which corresponds 678 00:46:29,903 --> 00:46:31,743 to modern-day Kurdistan. 679 00:46:33,350 --> 00:46:35,450 This dagger, then was described as having 680 00:46:35,450 --> 00:46:39,324 an iron blade, a handle set with blue stones, 681 00:46:39,324 --> 00:46:43,870 a golden sheath, and a pommel made from relabi stone, 682 00:46:43,870 --> 00:46:46,263 which we can guest must have been rock crystal. 683 00:46:53,110 --> 00:46:55,830 The last extraordinary characteristic of this metal 684 00:46:55,830 --> 00:46:57,703 is that it was meteoric iron. 685 00:46:59,610 --> 00:47:01,240 It was fairly common in antiquity 686 00:47:01,240 --> 00:47:03,500 to use iron from meteorites, which was then 687 00:47:03,500 --> 00:47:06,673 hammered and forged into excellent weapons. 688 00:47:11,150 --> 00:47:12,920 In death, Egyptians needed to be able 689 00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:15,800 to protect themselves from hostile forces, 690 00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:18,060 and this iron dagger was almost certainly 691 00:47:18,060 --> 00:47:21,480 a much better weapon than one made from bronze. 692 00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:23,720 It was no doubt placed on Tutankhamun's mummy 693 00:47:23,720 --> 00:47:25,940 to help the king in the afterlife. 694 00:47:25,940 --> 00:47:28,123 It was an extremely effective weapon. 695 00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:40,090 - [Narrator] 33 centuries later, it took Howard Carter 696 00:47:40,090 --> 00:47:43,163 several weeks to undo what the Egyptian priests had done. 697 00:47:45,737 --> 00:47:48,920 He had to separate the coffins without damaging them 698 00:47:48,920 --> 00:47:52,093 in order to reveal the pharaoh's body and examine the mummy. 699 00:48:02,785 --> 00:48:05,685 Carter arranged a wooden structure around the sarcophagus, 700 00:48:07,790 --> 00:48:10,290 then lifted the lid and that for the first coffin. 701 00:48:14,860 --> 00:48:17,629 Then he set up a complex system of ropes and pulleys, 702 00:48:17,629 --> 00:48:21,193 finally managing to reach the coffin of solid gold. 703 00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:27,520 In a neighboring tomb, he had to free the mummified body, 704 00:48:27,520 --> 00:48:29,480 which had been sealed in the coffin with resin 705 00:48:29,480 --> 00:48:32,210 poured in at the moment of the burial. 706 00:48:32,210 --> 00:48:35,150 Lastly, he heated the upper section of the golden coffin 707 00:48:35,150 --> 00:48:36,863 to separate it from the first one. 708 00:48:40,380 --> 00:48:42,280 Then he turned to examining the mummy. 709 00:48:43,250 --> 00:48:45,340 It was impossible to remove the bandages, 710 00:48:45,340 --> 00:48:48,573 as they too had been solidified using resinous liquid. 711 00:48:50,190 --> 00:48:52,334 So the mummy had to be dissected, 712 00:48:52,334 --> 00:48:54,470 and that's how Howard Carter discovered 713 00:48:54,470 --> 00:48:57,413 some 200 objects tucked between the layers of fabric. 714 00:49:08,620 --> 00:49:11,698 When Carter had finished, the king's body was totally naked, 715 00:49:11,698 --> 00:49:14,640 apart from the skull, which had a beaded cap 716 00:49:14,640 --> 00:49:15,713 encrusted into it. 717 00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:20,700 This was almost certainly the cap he'd worn as a baby. 718 00:49:24,470 --> 00:49:27,110 There was also a superb collar in gold and blue earthenware 719 00:49:27,110 --> 00:49:29,933 on the king's chest, encrusted into the pharaoh's flesh. 720 00:49:39,140 --> 00:49:41,410 But when Howard Carter went to place the king's body 721 00:49:41,410 --> 00:49:44,180 in a crate and put it back in the tomb, 722 00:49:44,180 --> 00:49:45,973 most of the collar had disappeared. 723 00:49:50,330 --> 00:49:52,690 In the years that followed, tomb raiders cut the torso 724 00:49:52,690 --> 00:49:55,480 of the king to make off with the rest of the collar, 725 00:49:55,480 --> 00:49:57,293 and they also stole his birth cap. 726 00:50:02,570 --> 00:50:04,660 Which explains why today, in his tomb, 727 00:50:04,660 --> 00:50:06,330 the king has none of the accessories 728 00:50:06,330 --> 00:50:08,723 that were placed on his body when he was buried. 729 00:50:16,260 --> 00:50:18,923 Tutankhamun's tomb had lost some of its treasure. 730 00:50:21,170 --> 00:50:23,920 But at the heart of the funereal chamber, 731 00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:25,850 the superb pink granite sarcophagus 732 00:50:25,850 --> 00:50:27,343 of the pharaoh still remains. 733 00:50:30,530 --> 00:50:33,110 Tutankhamun was buried in a very small tomb, 734 00:50:33,110 --> 00:50:35,333 just over 100 square meters in size, 735 00:50:36,420 --> 00:50:39,020 probably belonging to a commoner who decorated 736 00:50:39,020 --> 00:50:41,793 according to his wishes just before the ceremony. 737 00:50:43,300 --> 00:50:45,740 - The decoration of Tutankhamun's tomb 738 00:50:45,740 --> 00:50:47,240 contains an exceptional scene 739 00:50:47,240 --> 00:50:49,940 that is unique throughout the whole of Egyptian art. 740 00:50:49,940 --> 00:50:52,513 It shows for the first and only time 741 00:50:52,513 --> 00:50:54,733 a pharaoh burying his predecessor. 742 00:50:58,610 --> 00:51:00,830 On the right you have the pharaoh Ay, 743 00:51:00,830 --> 00:51:03,930 who has just been crowned, executing the last funeral rites 744 00:51:03,930 --> 00:51:06,993 on the mummy of the young Tutankhamun, who has just died. 745 00:51:13,467 --> 00:51:16,130 What is really surprising about this representation 746 00:51:16,130 --> 00:51:19,530 of the pharaoh Ay is the youth with which he is portrayed. 747 00:51:19,530 --> 00:51:22,440 He has exactly the same juvenile traits as Tutankhamun, 748 00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:24,040 the person he is burying. 749 00:51:24,040 --> 00:51:26,140 But we know that there were two generations 750 00:51:26,140 --> 00:51:28,030 between these two characters. 751 00:51:28,030 --> 00:51:30,910 Ay was old enough to be Tutankhamun's grandfather, 752 00:51:30,910 --> 00:51:33,460 and it's possible that he was on the mother's side. 753 00:51:34,650 --> 00:51:37,240 So here we have a grandfather burying his grandson, 754 00:51:37,240 --> 00:51:38,523 who has died prematurely. 755 00:51:43,080 --> 00:51:44,750 - [Narrator] The pharaoh Ay only reigned 756 00:51:44,750 --> 00:51:46,000 for three years in Egypt. 757 00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:49,704 His death marked the end of this turbulent period, 758 00:51:49,704 --> 00:51:51,823 and the beginning of a renaissance. 759 00:51:55,440 --> 00:51:57,503 Tutankhamun would soon be long forgotten. 760 00:51:58,730 --> 00:52:02,300 That is, until Howard Carter brought him back to life, 761 00:52:02,300 --> 00:52:04,723 3300 years after his death. 762 00:52:06,913 --> 00:52:09,496 (solemn music)