Announcer: COMING UP ON "SECRETS OF THE DEAD,"
AN INCREDIBLE FIND IN THE DESERT OF EGYPT...
A PHARAOH'S TOMB, WHICH SEEMED TO BE INTACT,
FILLED WITH MARVELS WORTHY OF
"THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS."
BUT OVERSHADOWED BY WORLD WAR II.
Woman: WAR WAS GOING ON IN EUROPE, SO WHO'S GOING TO PAY
ANY ATTENTION TO AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIND IN EGYPT?
Announcer: 70 YEARS LATER,
ARCHAEOLOGISTS ARE TAKING A CLOSER LOOK
AT THE LEGACY OF THIS MYSTERIOUS PHARAOH.
Woman: HE HAD THE CHUTZPAH TO MAKE THIS NEW CITY COME ALIVE.
CAPTIONING MADE POSSIBLE BY FRIENDS OF NCI Announcer: "THE SILVER PHARAOH," ON "SECRETS OF THE DEAD."
"SECRETS OF THE DEAD" WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY CONTRIBUTIONS
TO YOUR PBS STATION FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU.
THANK YOU.
Narrator: FOR MORE THAN 5, 000 YEARS,
TOMB RAIDERS PLUNDERED THE GRAVES OF EGYPT'S ANCIENT PHARAOHS.
BY THE 20th CENTURY,
EVERY ROYAL TOMB ARCHAEOLOGISTS ENTERED HAD ALREADY BEEN ROBBED,
EXCEPT ONE.
INSIDE WAS A PRIZE BEYOND IMAGINING.
IT WAS A PHARAOH'S CASKET,
MADE ENTIRELY OF SILVER--
A TREASURE TO RIVAL THAT OF TUTANKHAMUN.
BUT THE DESTRUCTION OF WORLD WAR II
OVERSHADOWED THE DISCOVERY.
Woman: IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE A WORSE TIME TO MAKE SUCH A SPECTACULAR DISCOVERY.
Narrator: TODAY, THIS INCREDIBLE FIND STILL REMAINS VIRTUALLY UNKNOWN.
NOW, INVESTIGATORS HAVE PIECED TOGETHER
THE SILVER PHARAOH'S LIFE AND TIMES--
ONE OF THE LEAST UNDERSTOOD AND MOST TURBULENT PERIODS OF EGYPT'S HISTORY.
Man: WE HAVE CIVIL WAR.
THE COUNTRY'S SPLIT BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH.
Narrator: EGYPTOLOGISTS HAVE REEXAMINED THE TOMB
AND THE FABULOUS CITY WHICH SURROUNDED IT.
AND THE FIRST FULL EXAMINATION OF THE PHARAOH'S REMAINS
HAS REVEALED SURPRISING RESULTS.
Man: THIS IS A NEW FINDING WHICH I DISCOVERED
DURING MY EXAMINATION.
I AM ACTUALLY REALLY EXCITED TO AN EXTENT THAT I CAN'T SPEAK.
Narrator: USING SOURCE MATERIAL
FROM THE TEAM WHO FIRST DISCOVERED THE TOMB,
INVESTIGATORS ARE DECODING THE MESSAGE OF THESE FABULOUS TREASURES
TO LIFT THE VEIL ON ONE OF THE MOST MYSTERIOUS PERIODS OF EGYPT'S HISTORY...
THE ERA OF THE SILVER PHARAOH.
FEBRUARY 1940.
ADOLF HITLER HAS LAUNCHED HIS BLITZKRIEG IN EUROPE...
THE FIRST SAVAGE BLOW IN A WAR
WHICH WILL SOON ENGULF THE WORLD.
FOR THE MOMENT, EGYPT IS REMOTE FROM THE BATTLEFIELD.
AT AN EXCAVATION SITE NEAR THE NILE,
A FRENCH ARCHAEOLOGY TEAM HAS BEEN TOILING FOR MORE THAN A DECADE.
NOW, THEY'RE RACING TO COMPLETE THEIR WORK BEFORE WAR HEADS THEIR WAY.
PROFESSOR PIERRE MONTET,
THE ARCHAEOLOGIST LEADING THE TEAM,
HAS ANNOUNCED AN EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERY.
HE'S UNCOVERED A PHARAOH FROM AN ERA FEW PEOPLE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT.
WHAT MONTET FINDS HERE WILL REWRITE THE STORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
HE HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR CLUES TO EXPLAIN ONE OF THE MOST MYSTERIOUS PERIODS
IN EGYPTIAN HISTORY--
AROUND 1,000 B.C.
IT WAS A BRIEF BUT DARK ERA IN ANCIENT EGYPT'S 3,000-YEAR HISTORY.
EGYPT'S GREAT PYRAMID WAS BUILT BY PHARAOH KHUFU
IN WHAT'S CALLED THE FOURTH DYNASTY.
THE MOST FAMOUS PHARAOHS, PEOPLE LIKE TUTANKHAMUN AND RAMESES THE GREAT,
RULED MORE THAN 1,000 YEARS LATER
IN THE 18th AND 19th DYNASTIES.
THE LAST OF THE PHARAOHS, CLEOPATRA,
RULED ANOTHER 1,000 YEARS AFTER THAT.
DR. PETER LACOVARA IS AN EGYPTOLOGIST
WHO USES THE EVIDENCE OF INSCRIPTIONS AND HIEROGLYPHS
TO CHART THIS IMMENSE PERIOD OF TIME.
Lacovara: IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT,
IN HISTORY'S TIMELINE, CLEOPATRA IS ACTUALLY CLOSER TO US
THAN SHE WAS TO THE PEOPLE WHO BUILT THE PYRAMIDS.
Narrator: HISTORIANS BELIEVE EGYPT WAS RULED BY AT LEAST 170 PHARAOHS,
THOUGH THIS IS A DIFFICULT NUMBER TO CONFIRM.
THE TOMBS OF 70 PHARAOHS REMAIN UNDISCOVERED.
THEY MIGHT LIE ANYWHERE IN EGYPT'S ANCIENT BURIAL GROUNDS
BESIDE THE RIVER NILE:
IN THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AT ANCIENT THEBES;
BESIDE MODERN-DAY LUXOR, AT THE OLD CAPITAL OF MEMPHIS,
CLOSE TO WHERE CAIRO IS TODAY...
OR MAYBE IN THE FAR NORTH-- THE DELTA,
WHERE THE NILE SPLITS INTO BRANCHES ON ITS WAY TO THE SEA.
FOR EGYPTOLOGISTS, FILLING THE GAPS IN EGYPTIAN HISTORY
IS ALWAYS MORE DIFFICULT WHEN EXAMINING PERIODS OF POLITICAL CHAOS OR CONFLICT.
FOR 500 YEARS, COMPETING RULERS FOUGHT FOR DOMINANCE
IN AN ERA KNOWN TODAY AS THE INTERMEDIATE PERIOD--
EGYPT'S DARK AGE.
Lacovara: IN THE INTERMEDIATE PERIOD, WE HAVE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN.
WE HAVE CIVIL WAR.
THE COUNTRY'S SPLIT BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH,
EVEN THREAT OF FOREIGN INVASION.
CIVIL DISCORD IS BAD FOR ARCHAEOLOGISTS;
WE DON'T HAVE THE GREAT MONUMENTS,
THE HISTORICAL INSCRIPTIONS, THE PRIVATE STATUES.
PEOPLE ARE JUST TOO BUSY TRYING TO STAY ALIVE.
Narrator: THE LACK OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
MEANS THERE IS STILL MUCH TO BE LEARNED ABOUT THIS ERA.
CLUES CAN BE FOUND IN SOME OF THE BEST-KNOWN STORIES IN THE WORLD.
SCHOLARS PLACE THE OLD-TESTAMENT BATTLE BETWEEN DAVID AND GOLIATH
RIGHT AROUND THIS TIME, AT 1020 B.C.
THE BIBLE DESCRIBES HOW A PHARAOH OF THIS ERA
INVADED THE HOLY LAND AROUND 950 B.C.
Lacovara: ON THIS WALL, WE HAVE SHOSHENQ I,
WHO'S RECORDED IN THE BIBLE AS SHISAK,
WHO SACKED THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON
AND BROUGHT THE ARK OF THE COVENANT BACK TO EGYPT.
Narrator: THESE TANTALIZING STORIES LINKING EGYPT AND THE HOLY LAND
ARE WHAT INSPIRED PIERRE MONTET.
HE BEGAN DIGGING IN 1928 AT TANIS
IN THE NILE DELTA.
OTHER ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAD ALREADY SEARCHED HERE,
BUT MONTET BELIEVED THERE COULD STILL BE IMPORTANT FINDS BURIED IN THE SAND...
AND SOON, MONTET'S HUNCH BEGAN TO PAY OFF.
THROUGH THE 1930s,
HE UNCOVERED THE REMAINS OF A VAST TEMPLE
WITH INSCRIPTIONS SHOWING IT WAS DEDICATED TO EGYPT'S SUPREME GOD AMUN.
THE TEMPLE COMPOUND WAS PROTECTED BY A MASSIVE MUD-BRICK WALL,
INSIDE WHICH MONTET BELIEVED THERE COULD BE TOMBS WAITING TO BE DISCOVERED.
HOLLYWOOD EVEN IMAGINED THE LOST ARK MIGHT BE BURIED IN TANIS,
AND LIKE INDIANA JONES,
MONTET HAD TO DEAL WITH THE THREAT OF THE NAZIS.
Man: SIEG HEIL! SIEG...
Crowd: HEIL!
Man: SIEG... Crowd: HEIL!
Narrator: WHILE MONTET WORKED IN THE DESERT OF EGYPT,
EUROPE WAS ON THE BRINK OF WAR, WITH ADOLF HITLER
THREATENING TO UNLEASH HIS STORMTROOPERS AT ANY MOMENT.
Woman: ALTHOUGH MONTET HAD FOUND A GREAT MANY CARVED ROCKS,
PIECES OF TEMPLES AND THINGS, HE HADN'T FOUND ANYTHING TRULY SPECTACULAR
THAT WOULD SET THE WORLD ALIGHT.
AT THE SAME TIME, THERE WERE ALL THESE RUMBLINGS OF WAR IN EUROPE,
SO HE WAS ALWAYS CASTING HALF AN EYE BACKWARDS TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON,
SO IT MUST HAVE BEEN AN INCREDIBLY TENSE TIME FOR HIM.
Narrator: IN TANIS,
MONTET'S DIGGERS HAD ALMOST COMPLETED THEIR SWEEP OF THE TEMPLE COMPOUND
WHEN THEY CAME TO A SPOT CLOSE TO THE MUD-BRICK WALL.
THEY WERE DIGGING RIGHT HERE, AT THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF THE TEMPLE,
WHEN THEY CAME UPON THE ROOF OF AN ENORMOUS TOMB COMPLEX.
AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST, MONTET'S HEART MUST HAVE BEEN POUNDING.
Narrator: MONTET QUICKLY SCRAMBLED DOWN INTO THE TOMB.
IN THE SHADOWS,
HE COULD MAKE OUT A WHOLE SERIES OF BURIAL CHAMBERS...
BUT HIS WORST FEARS WERE QUICKLY CONFIRMED.
MONTET'S HEART MUST HAVE BEEN SINKING WHEN HE CAME IN HERE
BECAUSE THERE WAS A HOLE IN THE ROOF, AND THERE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN ONE,
SO OBVIOUSLY IT MUST MEAN THAT TOMB ROBBERS HAD MADE THEIR WAY HERE BEFORE HE HAD.
Narrator: IT WAS A ROYAL TOMB DATING FROM AROUND 850 B.C.
THE INSCRIPTIONS SAID THAT THIS TOMB BELONGED TO OSORKON II,
WHO WAS A PHARAOH OF THE 22nd DYNASTY,
AND ALSO SOME OF HIS RELATIVES WERE BURIED HERE.
SO IT WAS A FIND, AND IN FACT A SIGNIFICANT FIND,
BUT IT CERTAINLY WASN'T AN UNROBBED, INTACT ROYAL BURIAL.
Narrator: MONTET KNEW THE CHANCES
OF FINDING AN UNDISTURBED TOMB WERE UNLIKELY.
NO ARCHAEOLOGIST HAD EVER FOUND AN INTACT PHARAOH'S TOMB BEFORE.
BUT HE REFUSED TO STOP SEARCHING.
MONTET ORDERED HIS WORKMEN TO EXTEND THE EXCAVATION AREA
TO ABOUT RIGHT HERE, ONLY TEN YARDS AWAY.
Narrator: INCREDIBLY, THEY FOUND A SECOND TOMB COMPLEX
NEXT TO THE ONE WHICH HAD BEEN RANSACKED.
MONTET COULD HARDLY BELIEVE IT, AND THIS TIME,
THE TOMB APPEARED TO BE INTACT.
WAS IT POSSIBLE TOMB RAIDERS OVERLOOKED THIS GRAVE?
Ikram: IT'S SURPRISING THAT THE TOMB ROBBERS WHO SO SUCCESSFULLY ROBBED THIS TOMB
MISSED THE ONE OVER THERE THAT'S ONLY A FEW YARDS AWAY.
MAYBE THEY DIDN'T REALIZE THAT THERE WAS A WHOLE MASS OF GRAVES AROUND HERE,
BUT THAT WOULD BE SURPRISING BECAUSE TOMB ROBBERS WERE ASTONISHINGLY GOOD
AT READING THE LANDSCAPE
AND COULD FERRET OUT TOMBS WHEN EVEN ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE A HARD TIME DOING THAT.
Narrator: MONTET COULDN'T BE SURE WHO WAS BURIED HERE...
BUT AS HE ENTERED THE ANTECHAMBER,
THE ANSWER APPEARED.
IMAGINE MONTET'S EXCITEMENT WHEN HE STOOD AT THIS VERY SPOT
AND SHONE THE LIGHT UP HERE AND SAW A ROYAL NAME--
[SPEAKING EGYPTIAN]
...AND THAT MEANS "THE STAR IS RISING IN THE CITY,"
BELOVED ALTER GOD AMUN.
AND THEN HE SAW OTHER ROYAL NAMES BECAUSE PHARAOHS HAVE A PANOPLY OF ROYAL NAMES.
AND HERE IS "GREAT ARE THE MANIFESTATIONS OF RE, CHOSEN OF THE GOD AMUN."
SO HERE WE HAVE A PHARAOH'S TOMB WHICH SEEMED TO BE INTACT,
AND THIS PHARAOH IS REALLY KNOWN BY HIS GREEK NAME, PSUSENNES I.
Narrator: MONTET KNEW LITTLE ABOUT PSUSENNES,
ONE OF A SUCCESSION OF PHARAOHS
WHOSE LIVES AND TIMES WEREN'T FULLY UNDERSTOOD.
HE LIVED DURING THE INTERMEDIATE PERIOD,
THAT DARK AGE WHEN POWER WAS DIVIDED BETWEEN RULERS.
PSUSENNES REIGNED NEAR THE BEGINNING OF THIS CHAOTIC ERA.
HE RULED THE NORTH OF EGYPT FROM HERE IN TANIS...
BUT THE REAL POWER AND WEALTH LAY IN THE SOUTH
IN THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF THEBES.
MUCH IS KNOWN ABOUT THE THEBAN RULERS
FROM THE MONUMENTS AND TREASURES THEY LEFT BEHIND,
BUT WHO WERE THESE NORTHERN KINGS--
PETTY WARLORDS OR SIGNIFICANT PHARAOHS
DUE A PLACE IN HISTORY?
IF PSUSENNES' TOMB REALLY WAS INTACT,
THEN MONTET'S FIND COULD FILL ONE OF THE YAWNING GAPS IN EGYPT'S STORY.
THE DOORWAY OF THE BURIAL CHAMBER ITSELF WAS STILL TIGHTLY SEALED
WITH A MASSIVE BLOCK OF SOLID GRANITE.
IT TOOK 6 DAYS OF BACK-BREAKING WORK
TO SHATTER IT INTO PIECES.
THEN, FINALLY,
MONTET COULD ENTER THE TOMB ITSELF.
IT WAS ALL HE COULD HAVE EVER HOPED FOR.
MONTET SAID THE TOMB WAS FILLED WITH MARVELS
WORTHY OF "THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS," AND INDEED IT WAS
BECAUSE ON THE FLOOR OF THE TOMB RIGHT HERE,
THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF FIGURINES.
THERE WERE GEMSTONES, PRECIOUS METALS,
Narrator: MONTET KNEW HE WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO TOUCH THESE TREASURES
SINCE THEY WERE PLACED HERE 3,000 YEARS EARLIER.
THIS PHOTOGRAPH, TAKEN MOMENTS AFTER MONTET ENTERED,
SHOWS EXACTLY WHAT HE SAW,
BUT THERE WAS NO SIGN OF A MUMMY OR CASKET.
THEY LAY, AS IS TYPICAL IN PHARAONIC TOMBS,
INSIDE A HUGE STONE SARCOPHAGUS,
WHICH ALMOST FILLED THE CHAMBER.
IT WAS CARVED AND COVERED IN HIEROGLYPHS.
TODAY, THE MASSIVE LID IS ON DISPLAY HERE IN THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM.
INSIDE WAS ANOTHER SARCOPHAGUS,
ALSO RICHLY CARVED.
MONTET AND HIS TEAM HAD TO PRY OPEN THESE GRANITE SARCOPHAGI CAREFULLY
TO REVEAL THE PHARAOH'S ACTUAL CASKET WITHIN.
WHEN NEWS OF THE FIND EMERGED,
MONTET WAS TOLD TO EXPECT A VERY IMPORTANT GUEST...
[SPEAKS FRENCH]
THE KING OF EGYPT HIMSELF.
MONTET AGREED TO LEAVE THE MOST IMPORTANT FIND--
PSUSENNES' CASKET--SEALED
UNTIL THE KING WAS THERE TO BEHOLD THE INCREDIBLE DISCOVERY.
KING FAROUK HAD BEEN SUPPORTING MONTET'S EXPEDITION,
AND ARRIVED AT THE DIG DRESSED EVERY INCH THE EXPLORER.
MONTET POINTED OUT THE CARTOUCHE,
WHICH SHOWED THE SIGNATURE OF THE MAN WHO WAS EGYPT'S KING
3,000 YEARS BEFORE.
BUT KING FAROUK WANTED TO SEE TREASURE, NOT CARVINGS.
HE'D BEEN PROMISED SOMETHING UNIQUE,
COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT HE HAD SEEN SO OFTEN ON OTHER DIGS.
HE WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED.
THE CASKET WAS A HUMAN FORM FORGED IN SILVER
INSTEAD OF THE FAMILIAR GOLD.
NOTHING LIKE IT HAD EVER BEEN FOUND BEFORE OR SINCE.
HERE LAY A LITTLE-KNOWN RULER FROM EGYPT'S TURBULENT DARK AGE...
BUT HIS TOMB AND ITS RICHES SEEMED TO PUT HIM ALONGSIDE THE MIGHTIEST OF PHARAOHS.
AND WHAT LAY INSIDE THE SILVER CASKET
ONLY DEEPENED THE MYSTERY OF WHO THIS LITTLE-KNOWN PHARAOH WAS.
[CREAKING]
THE MUMMY'S DEATH MASK WAS SOLID GOLD.
THIS WAS NO SMALL-TIME WARLORD OR REGIONAL STRONGMAN,
BUT SOMEONE WITH ENORMOUS WEALTH AND POWER.
Lacovara: WELL, IT'S NOT JUST GOLD AND SILVER THAT'S IN PSUSENNES' TOMB,
BUT LAPIS LAZULI, AND IN HUGE QUANTITIES...
FAR MORE THAN IN TUTANKHAMUN'S TOMB.
AND THIS WAS MATERIAL THAT HAD TO BE IMPORTED FROM AFGHANISTAN
3,000 MILES AWAY,
SO INCREDIBLY PRICED AND INCREDIBLY VALUABLE.
Narrator: THE TREASURES WERE STAMPED
WITH THE PHARAOH'S DISTINCTIVE CARTOUCHE...
THE STAR REPRESENTING PSUSENNES' RISING OVER THE CITY OF TANIS.
THEIR VALUE WASN'T SIMPLY IN THE QUANTITY OF PRECIOUS METAL,
BUT THE QUALITY OF THE CRAFTSMANSHIP.
Lacovara: THEY'RE BEAUTIFULLY MADE, BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED;
CLEARLY FOR AN INDIVIDUAL WHO COULD APPRECIATE THESE GREAT AESTHETICS.
Narrator: MONTET NEEDED MONTHS TO METICULOUSLY EXAMINE
THE INCREDIBLE TREASURES HE'D FOUND,
BUT HE DIDN'T HAVE THAT LUXURY.
HE'D MADE THE FIND OF A LIFETIME,
BUT HIS TIMING COULD NOT HAVE BEEN WORSE.
BACK IN EUROPE, HITLER'S ARMIES ARRIVED AT THE FRENCH BORDER.
INVASION WAS ONLY WEEKS AWAY.
THE NAZIS WERE EXPECTED TO STRIKE AT ANY MOMENT.
MONTET HAD A HEARTRENDING DECISION TO MAKE;
HIS FAMILY-- A WIFE AND 3 LITTLE GIRLS--
HAD BEEN IN EGYPT WITH HIM, SHARING THE EXCITEMENT
AS EACH NEW DISCOVERY CAME TO LIGHT.
BUT THEY HAD SINCE RETURNED TO FRANCE.
SHOULD HE STAY TO COMPLETE HIS WORK OR QUIT TO BE WITH HIS FAMILY?
IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG TO DECIDE.
MONTET PACKED UP THE TREASURES FROM THE TOMB
AND ORDERED THE EXCAVATION SITES BE SHUT DOWN.
WORK CEASED, AND MONTET RUSHED BACK TO HIS FAMILY IN FRANCE
AS WORLD WAR II BEGAN TO RAGE.
HE WOULDN'T MAKE IT BACK TO EGYPT FOR 5 YEARS.
THE TREASURES WERE QUICKLY TRANSPORTED TO CAIRO
FOR SAFEKEEPING IN A MUSEUM VAULT.
THOUGH IT WAS ONE OF THE GREAT MOMENTS IN ARCHAEOLOGY,
MONTET'S DISCOVERY OF PSUSENNES BARELY MADE A RIPPLE.
[DISTANT EXPLOSIONS]
Ikram: THERE WAS WAR GOING ON IN EUROPE,
SO WHO'S GOING TO PAY ANY ATTENTION TO AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIND IN EGYPT?
BECAUSE OF THIS, EVEN TODAY,
WE DON'T REALLY KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT MONTET'S AMAZING DISCOVERY.
Narrator: WHEN TUTANKHAMUN WAS UNEARTHED NEARLY 20 YEARS EARLIER,
IT MADE HEADLINES AROUND THE WORLD.
AND WHEN HIS MUMMY WAS EXAMINED, THE CAMERAS WERE THERE, TOO.
IT WAS A GRAND AFFAIR,
CONDUCTED BY A PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY AT CAIRO UNIVERSITY...
PROFESSOR DOUGLASS DERRY.
IN 1940, PROFESSOR DERRY RECEIVED ANOTHER INVITATION.
HE WAS ASKED TO EXAMINE AN EXCITING FIND FROM NORTHERN EGYPT--
AN OBSCURE PHARAOH NAMED PSUSENNES,
OR AT LEAST THE PARTS OF HIM THAT REMAINED.
Ikram: HE WAS BURIED IN THE NILE DELTA, WHICH IS A VERY WET, DAMP ENVIRONMENT,
WHILE OTHER PEOPLE WERE BURIED IN THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS, WHICH IS IN THE DESERT.
SO ANYONE BURIED IN THE DELTA IS PRONE TO DECOMPOSE
BECAUSE OF THE DAMPNESS.
IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO STUDY MUMMIES THAT WERE BURIED THERE.
Narrator: DERRY CARRIED OUT WHAT NOW LOOKS LIKE A CURSORY EXAMINATION.
HE COULD TELL STRAIGHTAWAY PSUS,
BUT HE MISSED FURTHER IMPORTANT EVIDENCE.
WHEN DERRY WAS FINISHED, THE BONES WERE BURIED AGAIN,
THIS TIME NOT IN A ROYAL TOMB,
BUT DEEP IN THE UNIVERSITY'S ARCHIVES.
HAVING BEEN ENTOMBED FOR 3,000 YEARS,
PSUSENNES' BONES WOULD NOW LAY UNSTUDIED AND UNHERALDED FOR ANOTHER 70.
BUT NOW, DR. FAWZI GABALLAH,
DERRY'S SUCCESSOR AS PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY,
HAS REOPENED THE EXAMINATION.
I AM ACTUALLY REALLY EXCITED
TO AN EXTENT THAT I CAN'T SPEAK.
Gaballah: THERE IS NOTHING PUBLISHED IN DETAIL ABOUT THIS SKELETON
WHICH COULD EXPLAIN HIS STATE OF HEALTH AND WAY OF LIVING.
Narrator: EVIDENCE FROM THE FIRST EXAMINATION REMAINED.
THE SMALLER BONES WERE STILL TUCKED INSIDE PROFESSOR DERRY'S OLD CIGARETTE PACKETS.
ALTHOUGH THE SOFT TISSUE WAS GONE,
PSUSENNES' BONES REVEALED PLENTY ABOUT THE PHARAOH.
HE STOOD NEARLY 5 1/2 FEET TALL AND WAS POWERFULLY BUILT.
AS DERRY NOTED, PSUSENNES DIED A VERY OLD MAN,
PERHAPS APPROACHING 80, AT A TIME
WHEN THE AVERAGE LIFESPAN WAS CLOSER TO 35.
WEAR AND TEAR IN THE TEETH CONFIRM DERRY'S OPINION,
BUT ASTONISHING NEW INFORMATION HAS EMERGED FROM THE PROFESSOR'S EXAMINATION;
IN PARTICULAR, FROM THIS SEVENTH CERVICAL VERTEBRA--
PART OF THE KING'S BACKBONE.
Gaballah: THIS IS A NEW FINDING WHICH I DISCOVERED DURING MY EXAMINATION.
THIS SPINE IS BROKEN AND HEALED DURING THE LIFE OF THE KING,
AND NOW IT IS HEALED.
LOOK AT THE IRREGULARITY.
LOOK AT THE BEND OF THE SPINE.
IT IS NOT MENTIONED BY PROFESSOR DERRY.
I DISCOVERED IT, AND THIS IS CALLED--A TYPE OF FRACTURE THAT'S CALLED SHOVEL FRACTURES,
AND IT MAY, IT MAY
POINT TO THE FACT THAT THIS KING WAS NOT LIVING A SEDENTARY LIFE.
THIS FRACTURE USUALLY INDICATES HARD WORK WITH THE UPPER LIMBS.
Narrator: THE CAUSE OF PSUSENNES' INJURY, UNDETECTED UNTIL NOW, REMAINS UNCLEAR,
BUT OTHER PHARAOHS WERE KNOWN FOR WORKING AND PLAYING HARD.
TUTANKHAMUN WENT HUNTING
AND MAY HAVE EVEN BROKEN HIS LEG IN A HUNTING ACCIDENT.
TUTHMOSIS III WAS ONE OF EGYPT'S GREAT WARRIOR KINGS...
BUT ALSO AN AVID GARDENER.
HE BROUGHT BACK RARE PLANTS FROM HIS FOREIGN CAMPAIGNS
TO PLANT IN THE ROYAL GARDENS.
WHAT KEPT PSUSENNES BUSY HERE IN TANIS IS A MYSTERY,
WHICH WILL NOW KEEP SCHOLARS GUESSING.
PSUSENNES' BROKEN UPPER VERTEBRA HEALED OVER TIME,
BUT THERE WAS EVIDENCE OF CHRONIC DISEASE IN THE LOWER BACKBONE.
Gaballah: THIS KING WAS SUFFERING
FROM A DISEASE
OF CONNECTIVE TISSUE, A RHEUMATIC DISEASE
IN THE FORM OF OSSIFICATION OF THE LIGAMENTS OF THE VERTEBRAL COLUMN.
PROFESSOR DERRY MENTIONED THIS,
BUT DIDN'T DIAGNOSE THE CAUSE OF THIS.
Narrator: THE FIRST DETAILED EXAMINATION OF PSUSENNES' BONES
PROVIDED IMPORTANT NEW INSIGHTS INTO HIS LIFE,
AND FOR THE FIRST TIME,
A FORENSIC ARTIST COULD SPECULATE
ON WHAT PSUSENNES MAY HAVE ACTUALLY LOOKED LIKE.
Woman: WHAT IS ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING TO ANYONE LOOKING AT THIS HEAD IS
HIS RIGHT EYE APPEARS SLIGHTLY HIGHER THAN THE LEFT ONE.
THE SOCKET IS ACTUALLY SET HIGHER,
SO THIS CHEEKBONE STARTS HIGHER
AND IS SET HIGHER THERE THAN THIS ONE.
IT MUST BE REFLECTED IN THE FACE.
Narrator: MELISSA DRING HOLDS A DEGREE IN THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FACIAL IDENTIFICATION
AND STUDIED FORENSIC RECONSTRUCTION WITH THE FBI.
DEAD FOR 3,000 YEARS,
THE SKETCH BRINGS THE SILVER PHARAOH BACK TO LIFE.
Dring: PSUSENNES. HERE HE IS.
HE'S PHYSICALLY EXTREMELY WELL-BUILT.
HE'S GOT A LARGE HEAD ON A FAIRLY SHORT BODY,
BUT HE'S NOT BEING SHY OF USING HIS BODY
IN ENERGETIC EXERCISE OF SOME KIND.
HE'S ALSO LOST A LOT OF TEETH ON BOTH SIDES,
SO YOU HAVE SOMETHING OF THE--SORT OF THE NUTCRACKER LOOK
BECAUSE THE JAW IS ABLE TO CLOSE MORE FIRMLY.
IT'S A DETERMINED MOUTH.
IT'S A NO-NONSENSE LOOK, I THINK.
Narrator: PSUSENNES MUST HAVE BEEN IN EXTREME PAIN IN HIS LAST YEARS
WITH BACK PROBLEMS...
AND ALSO A TOOTH ABSCESS SO SEVERE,
IT FORCED A LARGE OPENING IN THE ROOF OF HIS MOUTH.
Gaballah: THIS IS A CAVITY OF THE ABSCESS,
AND THE INFECTION WAS SO HEAVY AND EXTENSIVE
THAT IT ALSO OPENS ON THE INSIDE, ON THE INSIDE
ON THE SURFACE OF THE PALATE.
THIS IS THE HARD PALATE, AND AS WE SEE,
THE OPENING IS GREAT AND THE ABSCESS WAS GREAT.
Narrator: PSUSENNES SUFFERED IN AGONY FOR AT LEAST PART OF HIS LIFE,
BUT DO HIS BONES REVEAL ANYTHING ABOUT HIS DEATH?
Gaballah: AS FAR AS I SEE FROM THE BONES,
THERE IS NOTHING APPARENT TO LEAD TO THIS.
HE COULD HAVE DIED BY HEART ATTACK,
MAYBE SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
THESE BONES SHOW US THE SUFFERINGS OF HIS LIFE,
BUT NOT THE CAUSE OF HIS DEATH.
Narrator: THE FACT THAT PSUSENNES LIVED SO LONG, DESPITE HIS MEDICAL HISTORY,
TELLS EGYPTOLOGISTS THAT ABOVE ALL, HE WAS A SURVIVOR.
Ikram: THE FACT THAT HE WAS PHYSICALLY STRONG AND LONG-LIVED
ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO HIS SUCCESS AS A RULER.
HE MANAGED TO REIGN FOR 46 YEARS, WHICH WAS A VERY LONG TIME.
PEOPLE LIKE TUTANKHAMUN DIED WHEN THEY WERE TEENAGERS,
SO SOMEONE LIKE PSUSENNES REALLY COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Narrator: PSUSENNES' 46-YEAR REIGN MADE HIM
ONE OF THE LONGEST-SERVING OF ALL EGYPT'S PHARAOHS.
THE TREASURES FROM HIS TOMB, AS WELL AS HIS PHYSICAL REMAINS,
HAVE YIELDED A GREAT DEAL OF NEW INFORMATION.
BUT EGYPTOLOGISTS STILL STRUGGLE TO INTERPRET THIS TURBULENT PERIOD AROUND 1000 B.C.,
WHEN PHARAOHS LIKE PSUSENNES HAD TO SHARE POWER WITH RIVALS IN THE SOUTH OF THE KINGDOM.
Lacovara: IT'S IRONIC, BUT THIS DARK AGE IN EGYPTIAN HISTORY
FOLLOWED A PERIOD WHEN THE PHARAOHS WERE AT THEIR GREATEST HEIGHT OF POWER.
Narrator: THE TURMOIL THAT PLAGUED PSUSENNES' REIGN
ACTUALLY BEGAN 200 YEARS EARLIER
AND WAS STARTED BY THE MOST POWERFUL PHARAOH OF THEM ALL.
EGYPT REACHED THE PEAK OF ITS POWER UNDER RAMESES II, RAMESES THE GREAT.
HE WAS A PROLIFIC BUILDER, THE GREATEST BUILDER EGYPT HAD EVER SEEN,
AND HAD AS MANY AS A HUNDRED CHILDREN.
Narrator: BEFORE RAMESES, EGYPT HAD JUST TWO POWER CENTERS...
THEBES...
AND MEMPHIS.
RAMESES' BOUNDLESS AMBITION
LED HIM TO BUILD AN ENTIRELY NEW CAPITAL IN THE NILE DELTA.
HE CALLED IT PI-RAMESSES-- "THE HOUSE OF RAMESES"--
BUT RAMESES COULD NOT SEE WHAT HIS NEW CITY WOULD MEAN
FOR FUTURE PHARAOHS.
Lacovara: THE DELTA REGION WAS REALLY A FRONTIER AREA FOR EGYPT
BEFORE RAMESES REALLY STARTED TO COLONIZE IT
AND BUILD HIS GREAT CAPITAL THERE.
IT SORT OF THREW THINGS OFF-BALANCE.
WHILE A STRONG CENTRAL RULER LIKE RAMESES THE GREAT COULD MAINTAIN CONTROL,
ONCE YOU HAD A WEAK RULER,
YOU COULD SEE THE DELTA KIND OF FLYING OFF ON ITS OWN.
Narrator: CREATING A THIRD POWER CENTER LEFT THE PHARAOH OPEN TO POLITICAL ATTACK.
THE TROUBLE BEGAN HERE IN THEBES.
THE ONLY FIGURE POWERFUL ENOUGH TO CHALLENGE A PHARAOH WAS EGYPT'S HIGH PRIEST,
WHO WAS IN CHARGE OF THE VAST TEMPLE OF CARNAC.
Lacovara: IN SOME WAYS, THE TERM "HIGH PRIEST" IS A BIT MISLEADING
BECAUSE HE WAS MORE THAN JUST A RELIGIOUS OFFICIAL.
HE RAN A BIG BUSINESS, WHICH IS WHAT THIS TEMPLE WAS.
HE WAS AN IMPORTANT POLITICAL LEADER, AND HE COULD EVEN COMMAND MILITARY MIGHT.
Narrator: PRIESTS WERE RICHLY REWARDED IN ADVANCE
FOR KEEPING THE MEMORY OF A DEAD PHARAOH ALIVE.
Lacovara: A KING WOULD LEAVE AN ESTATE TO THE TEMPLE,
AND THEN THE PRIESTS OF THE TEMPLE WOULD MAINTAIN HIS CULT,
WOULD MAINTAIN HIS MONUMENTS,
KEEP HIS MEMORY ALIVE, WHICH WAS ESSENTIAL TO THE EGYPTIANS.
KINGS, TO WIN THEIR FAVOR, WOULD GIVE THEM RIGHTS
TO FISHING AND FOWLING AND HUNTING
OR RIGHTS TO MINES
OR EVEN TRADE ALONG THE NILE,
AND SO THE PRIESTHOOD GAINED INCREASING AMOUNTS OF WEALTH.
Lacovara: THEY WERE JUST GETTING WEALTHIER AND WEALTHIER AS TIME WENT ON,
UNTIL THEY EVENTUALLY DECIDED, "WHY DON'T WE BECOME KING?"
Narrator: SHORTLY BEFORE PSUSENNES' REIGN BEGAN,
THE HIGH PRIESTS MADE THEIR PLAY FOR POWER.
Lacovara: HERE'S THE HIGH PRIEST SHOWN AT ALMOST THE SAME HEIGHT AS THE PHARAOH.
YOU CAN SEE THE OTHER PRIESTS ARE MUCH SHORTER,
AND PREVIOUSLY IN EGYPT, EVERYONE WAS SHORTER
THAN THE PHARAOH TO SHOW THEIR RELATIVE STATUS.
BUT HERE, THE HIGH PRIEST HAS GAINED SO MUCH POWER
THAT HE'S ALMOST EQUIVALENT TO THE PHARAOH.
Narrator: AS THE PRIESTS ASSERTED THEIR AUTHORITY,
EGYPT WAS RIVEN IN TWO, AND 5 CENTURIES OF CHAOS--
THE INTERMEDIATE PERIOD-- WOULD FOLLOW.
THE HIGH PRIESTS SEIZED THE SOUTH,
AND THE PHARAOH WAS EXILED TO THE FRONTIER REGION, THE NORTHERN DELTA.
A CHECKPOINT BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH WAS ESTABLISHED
ON THE NILE, CLOSE TO MEMPHIS.
SO HOW DID PSUSENNES TURN HIS SMALL NORTHERN PROVINCE
INTO A RICH DOMAIN FIT FOR A KING?
INVESTIGATORS RETURNED TO THE TREASURES FROM PSUSENNES' TOMB,
LOOKING FOR CLUES.
CRITICAL EVIDENCE WAS SPOTTED ON THIS SMALL, SEEMINGLY INSIGNIFICANT SILVER DISH
CALLED A PATERA.
ARCHAEOLOGISTS RECOGNIZE PSUSENNES' FAMILIAR SIGNATURE,
INCLUDING THE STAR AND BIRD...
BUT THIS TIME, THE CARTOUCHE CONTAINED A LONG SERIES OF FURTHER SYMBOLS.
Woman: THE INSCRIPTION ON THE PATERA READS "LIFE TO THE PERFECT GOD,
"LORD OF THE TWO LANDS, THE HIGH PRIEST OF AMUN,
"KING OF THE GODS,
BELOVED OF AMUN" AND THEN "PSUSENNES."
WHAT'S VERY IMPORTANT ABOUT THIS IS THE FACT
THAT WE KNOW FROM THIS BOWL
THAT HE HELD THE TITLE OF HIGH PRIEST OF AMUN IN THE NORTH.
Narrator: THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING HIS POWER LAY IN THE HIEROGLYPHS.
PSUSENNES WAS MORE THAN JUST A PHARAOH.
HE WAS A HIGH PRIEST AS WELL.
AT LAST, THE MYSTERY OF HIS FABULOUS TREASURE HORDE WAS REVEALED.
Lacovara: THE PHARAOH WOULD TRADITIONALLY DERIVE HIS WEALTH FROM TAXES.
IF YOU WERE A FARMER, AND THAT WAS MOST OF THE PEOPLE OF EGYPT,
YOU WOULD HAVE TO GIVE A CERTAIN PROPORTION OF YOUR CROP YIELD
TO A TREASURY OF THE PHARAOH.
AS WE'VE SEEN, THE HIGH PRIEST WAS GETTING WEALTHIER THAN THE PHARAOH,
BUT THIS WAY HE'S COMBINING BOTH SOURCES OF INCOME--
THE WEALTH OF THE TEMPLE, AS WELL AS THE TRADITIONAL WEALTH OF THE PHARAOH.
Narrator: BUT HOW DID PSUSENNES CARVE OUT SUCH A POWERFUL POSITION?
A LOOK AT THE FAMILY TREE OF EGYPT'S RULING CLAN MAKES IT CLEAR.
THE BRANCHES LEAD TO THE FAMILY PATRIARCH
AT THE TIME WHEN THE SOUTHERN PRIESTS REVOLTED--
HIGH PRIEST AND STRONGMAN PINEDJEM.
Lacovara: PINEDJEM WAS HIGH PRIEST HERE AT THE TEMPLE OF CARNAC
AROUND 1070 B.C.
HE HAD 4 SONS, 3 OF WHOM SUCCEEDED HIM AS HIGH PRIEST,
AND ONE--PSUSENNES-- WENT TO TANIS, WHERE HE BECAME PHARAOH,
BUT HE WAS ALSO GIVEN THE TITLE HIGH PRIEST OF AMUN IN THE NORTH.
Narrator: PSUSENNES WAS A SMART POLITICIAN,
DETERMINED TO USE THOSE POWERFUL FAMILY CONNECTIONS.
Lacovara: THE RECORDS INDICATE THAT PSUSENNES SENT HIS DAUGHTER TO THEBES
TO MARRY HIS OWN BROTHER WHEN HE SUCCEEDED TO BECOME HIGH PRIEST OF CARNAC...
AND THEREFORE CEMENTED FURTHER THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH.
Narrator: BY ENSURING RELATIVES MADE STRATEGIC ALLIANCES,
PSUSENNES' FAMILY HAD THE WHOLE OF EGYPT IN THEIR GRASP.
THIS IS THE PATRIARCH PINEDJEM,
WHOSE MUMMY WAS FOUND IN THEBES.
PSUSENNES' MOTHER, PRINCESS HENUTTAWAY, WAS BURIED THERE, TOO,
BOTH MUMMIES PRESERVED IN THE DRY DESERT CLIMATE.
AGAIN, PSUSENNES' SARCOPHAGUSGAVE INVESTIGATORS EVIDENCE
OF JUST HOW POWERFUL THE FAMILY WAS.
CARVED IN THE GRANITE ALONGSIDE PSUSENNES' NAME,
THEY FOUND A TOTALLY DIFFERENT ROYAL SIGNATURE.
WHAT'S VERY INTERESTING ABOUT THIS CARTOUCHE
IS THAT IF YOU LOOK AT IT CAREFULLY,
YOU'LL SEE HETEP-HER-MAAT,
THE 19th-DYNASTY KING MERENPTAH.
EVEN IF YOU DON'T KNOW ANCIENT EGYPTIAN, THAT IT LOOKS
COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TO PSUSENNES I.
Narrator: MERENPTAH WAS THE SON OF RAMESES THE GREAT.
HE'D BEEN BURIED NEAR THEBES ROUGHLY 150 YEARS
BEFORE PSUSENNES TOOK THE THRONE...
BUT HIS TOMB WAS OPENED UP,
AND THE SARCOPHAGUS WAS SENT TO TANIS...
AS A FAMILY GIFT FOR PSUSENNES.
Lacovara: IT WOULD HAVE HAD TO BE DRAGGED ACROSS THE DESERT
FROM THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND LOADED ONTO A FAIRLY LARGE SHIP,
IN ORDER TO BE BROUGHT TO THE NORTH AND THEN BRING IT UP TO THE DELTA.
CLEARLY THEY HAD TO BE FRIENDLY RELATIONS;
YOU WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET IT ACROSS THE BORDER
HAD THERE BEEN STRIFE BETWEEN THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH.
Narrator: PSUSENNES ORDERED STONEMASONS
TO ADD HIS CARTOUCHE TO THE SARCOPHAGUS
NEXT TO THE EARLIER ONE TO SHOW HOW HIS FAMILY
HAD RISEN TO JOIN THE RANKS OF THE HISTORICAL GREATS.
Lacovara: BY USING MERENPTHA'S SARCOPHAGUS,
HE'S ASSOCIATING HIMSELF WITH RAMESES THE GREAT.
HE'S ASSOCIATED FOR ETERNITY WITH THE GREAT FORMER RULERS OF EGYPT.
Narrator: THE STORY SURROUNDING THE TOMB OF THE SILVER PHARAOH
IS NOT MARKED BY CHAOS AND STRIFE,
BUT SOMETHING FAR DIFFERENT.
THROUGH HIS FAMILY CONNECTIONS,
AND THE MAKING OF POLITICAL MARRIAGES AND KEY ALLIANCES,
PSUSENNES WON WEALTH AND POWER.
BUT HAVING WON IT, THE QUESTION REMAINS:
HOW DID HE WIELD IT?
RECENT DISCOVERIES PROVE THAT PSUSENNES WAS THE DRIVING FORCE
BEHIND ONE OF THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY FEATS OF ANCIENT TIMES...
RELOCATING A METROPOLIS STONE BY STONE.
THE EXACT LOCATION OF RAMESES II's FABLED CAPITAL, PI-RAMESSES,
WAS ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREAT ARCHAEOLOGICAL MYSTERIES.
A CITY OF ABOUT A QUARTER OF A MILLION PEOPLE,
ONE OF THE LARGEST IN THE ANCIENT WORLD,
VANISHED IN THE SANDS.
Ikram: THIS WAS REALLY THE HOLY GRAIL OF EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY
FOR MANY DECADES-- FIND PI-RAMESSES.
Narrator: IN THE 1930s, BEFORE DISCOVERING PSUSENNES' TOMB,
PIERRE MONTET UNCOVERED A NUMBER OF ANCIENT RELICS AT TANIS,
AND HE BEGAN TO WONDER ABOUT AN AMAZING POSSIBILITY.
HAD HE FOUND THE ARCHAEOLOGIST'S HOLY GRAIL?
Ikram: MONTET WAS ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED THAT HE HAD FOUND THE MISSING CITY OF PI-RAMESSES,
AND SO HE WENT ON RECORD SAYING THAT TANIS AND PI-RAMESSES WERE ONE AND THE SAME,
AND THE REASON HE DID THIS WAS BECAUSE THERE WERE LOTS AND LOTS OF BLOCKS AND STATUES
THAT HE FOUND HERE BEARING THE NAME OF RAMESES II,
JUST LIKE THIS ONE.
HERE YOU CAN SEE THE CARTOUCHE, ROYAL NAME OF RAMESES II,
SO ALL OF THESE CARTOUCHES THAT WERE SCATTERED ABOUT THROUGH THE ENTIRE SITE
CONVINCED MONTET THAT HERE WE HAVE THE CITY OF PI-RAMESSES.
Narrator: FOR MONTET AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS WORLDWIDE,
THIS DISCOVERY WAS FAR MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN UNCOVERING A ROYAL TOMB...
BUT MONTET HAD MADE ONE CRITICAL MISTAKE.
ON THE SURFACE, HIS THEORY MADE SENSE BECAUSE TANIS WAS A RIVERSIDE CITY...
AND ANCIENT RECORDS SHOWED THAT PI-RAMESSES WAS ALSO BESIDE THE NILE.
BUT IN EGYPT'S DELTA COUNTRY, THE RIVER NILE DOESN'T JUST STAY PUT;
IT HAS MANY BRANCHES, AND THEY SWITCH LOCATION OVER TIME
AS ONE AREA SILTS UP AND ANOTHER IS FLOODED.
IN THE 1970s, ARCHAEOLOGISTS BEGAN TO QUESTION MONTET'S FINDINGS.
THEY FOCUSED ON A SMALL SETTLEMENT ABOUT 12 MILES FROM TANIS...
AND DISCOVERED EVIDENCE OF A LONG-LOST BRANCH OF THE NILE
MONTET HAS DISCOUNTED.
Ikram: THEY STARTED TO DIG
AND FOUND A HUGE CACHE OF RAMESSIDE-PERIOD POTTERY,
SO THEY BROUGHT IN GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR TO CHECK OUT THE SITE.
THE SCANS REVEALED A HUGE CITY.
THE CITY'S FOUNDATIONS,
THE SITE WHERE THE NILE ONCE FLOWED,
AND THE GHOSTLY IMAGES OF RAMESES' LOST CITY
WERE ALL VISIBLE ON THESE SCANS.
THERE HAD BEEN A TEMPLE HERE,
AS WELL AS MILITARY INSTALLATIONS.
Ikram: THEY EVEN FOUND THE STABLES OF RAMESES II.
THEY WERE HUGE, AND THEY MUST HAVE HAD HUNDREDS OF HORSES IN THEM.
IN FACT, WHERE THEY USED TO PRACTICE,
WE EVEN HAVE FOUND THE HOOF PRINTS OF THE HORSES WHEN THEY WERE RUNNING AROUND,
SO IT REALLY WAS AN INCREDIBLY LARGE, COMPLEX CITY
WHICH HAD ALL THE HALLMARKS OF RAMESES' CAPITAL.
Narrator: TODAY, NOT A TRACE OF THE CITY IS VISIBLE ABOVE GROUND,
AND THE VAST BUILDINGS HAVE TOTALLY DISAPPEARED.
BUT HOW COULD SUCH A LARGE CITY SIMPLY VANISH?
ARCHAEOLOGISTS NOW KNOW THAT THIS BRANCH OF THE NILE
BECAME SO BADLY SILTED UP THAT IT CHANGED COURSE.
PI-RAMESSES WAS LITERALLY HIGH AND DRY.
LIFE THERE BECAME UNSUSTAINABLE.
THE RECORD SHOWS IT HAPPENED
AROUND THE TIME PSUSENNES CAME TO THE THRONE--
1047 B.C.
AND SO HE HAD THE GREAT MONUMENTS DISMANTLED AND SHIFTED TO TANIS.
PSUSENNES MAY NOT DESERVE CREDIT FOR BUILDING A CAPITAL CITY...
BUT HE DID RESCUE ONE.
Ikram: IMAGINE WHAT A VAST UNDERTAKING THIS MUST HAVE BEEN.
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE MOVING THE MONUMENTS OF WASHINGTON, D.C.;
THE WHITE HOUSE, THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL
BEING DRAGGED HALFWAY TO BALTIMORE.
Narrator: WITHOUT THE RADAR SCANS,
PSUSENNES' AMAZING FEAT MAY HAVE NEVER EMERGED.
MONTET DID FIND THE GREAT RELICS OF RAMESE'' FABLED CITY AFTER ALL,
BUT PSUSENNES HAD MOVED THEM FROM THEIR ORIGINAL SITE.
COMPARING REMAINS FOUND HERE WITH THE SCANS,
ARCHAEOLOGISTS COULD SEE THE TEMPLE AT PI-RAMESSES WAS BUILT IN THE SAME SHAPE
AS THE ONE MONTET UNEARTHED AT TANIS.
PSUSENNES WAS ABLE TO MOVE AN ENTIRE CITY, PIECE BY PIECE.
AND IT WAS FROM HERE THAT HE WIELDED HIS INCREDIBLE POWER
AS BOTH A PHARAOH AND HIGH PRIEST.
Ikram: THIS IS CLEAR EVIDENCE THAT PSUSENNES HAD THE WORKFORCE
AND ORGANIZATION, A GOOD BUREAUCRACY
TO MOVE A CITY FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER.
HE ALSO HAD THE GUMPTION AND THE CHUTZPAH
TO MAKE THIS NEW CITY COME ALIVE.
Narrator: PSUSENNES' POWER AND WEALTH, AND HIS LONG REIGN,
GAVE HIM THE LUXURY OF PLANNING THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION A PHARAOH HAD TO MAKE...
HOW TO FACE THE AFTERLIFE.
THE CHOICE OF WHICH OBJECTS TO TAKE TO THE TOMB WAS AN IMPORTANT ONE.
BUT WHY, EGYPTOLOGISTS WONDERED,
DID HE CHOOSE SILVER FOR HIS CASKET--
200 POUNDS OF PURE SILVER?
FOR ANCIENT EGYPTIANS,
GOLD WAS KNOWN AS "THE FLESH OF THE GODS"
BECAUSE IT DOES NOT RUST OR TARNISH.
THE METAL HAD THE APPEARANCE OF LASTING FOREVER,
LIKE THE GODS THEMSELVES.
SILVER WAS CALLED "THE BONES OF THE GODS"
BECAUSE OF ITS PALE COLOR AND SHEEN.
ANCIENT EGYPT HAD NATURAL GOLD RESERVES, BUT SILVER WAS SCARCE.
IN THE EARLY DYNASTIES, IT WAS CONSIDERED MORE PRECIOUS.
BUT BY PSUSENNES' ERA, EGYPT HAD DEVELOPED FOREIGN TRADE ROUTES.
MERCHANTS BEGAN TO GLUT THE MARKET WITH SILVER...
AND BY 1000 B.C.,
ITS VALUE HAD DECLINED TO ROUGHLY HALF THAT OF GOLD.
PSUSENNES COULD CLEARLY AFFORD THE BEST.
SOME OF HIS TREASURES RIVALED THOSE OF TUTANKHAMUN.
JON PRIVETT, AN ARCHAEOLOGIST AND A SILVERSMITH,
HAS STUDIED THE QUESTION OF WHY PSUSENNES CHOSE SILVER.
Privett: IT WOULD HAVE BEEN CHEAPER, NOT AS EXPENSIVE AS GOLD,
BUT THE AMOUNT OF WORK AND THE CRAFT INVOLVED WAS CONSIDERABLE.
SILVER IS A HARDER MATERIAL,
LESS MALLEABLE THAN GOLD TO WORK.
SILVER REQUIRES TO BE HEATED EVERY NOW AND AGAIN
TO SOFTEN THE CRYSTALLIZED STRUCTURE OF IT
TO THEN CARRY ON WORKING IT--
A REPEATED PROCESS, WHICH INVOLVES TIME, LABOR, FUEL.
THE CRAFTSMANSHIP INVOLVED IS CERTAINLY MORE INTENSE THAN GOLD.
Narrator: PSUSENNES CLEARLY WANTED ITEMS OF QUALITY AND ARTISTRY,
AND NOT JUST EXPENSE, TO ACCOMPANY HIM INTO THE AFTERLIFE.
THE BODY SECTION OF THE CASKET WAS BEATEN FROM SHEETS OF SILVER
SO THIN AND DELICATE, THAT IN PLACES IT WAS DAMAGED
DURING REMOVAL FROM THE TOMB.
THE HEAD SECTION IS MUCH THICKER.
TELLTALE MARKS AROUND THE NOSE AND MOUTH SUGGEST
THAT IT WAS CAST IN A MOLD, THEN HAMMERED INTO SHAPE.
THE EGYPTIANS ARE KNOWN TO HAVE MASTERED THE ART OF CASTING PRECIOUS METALS.
FROM THE FIRST ROUGH CAST, WHICH WOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE THIS,
PSUSENNES' CRAFTSMEN THEN HAD TO POLISH AND SCULPT THEIR PHARAOH'S FEATURES--
A PROCESS WHICH TOOK HUNDREDS OF HOURS OF PAINSTAKING WORK.
[HAMMER CLANGS]
TODAY, THE SILVER CASKET IS ONE OF THE GREAT TREASURES OF THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM,
A PERMANENT REMINDER OF PIERRE MONTET'S AMAZING FIND.
AFTER THE WAR, HE MADE NEW DISCOVERIES,
BUT NONE AS DAZZLING AS THE SILVER PHARAOH.
HE DIED IN 1966, STILL BELIEVING
THAT THE CITY HE'D UNEARTHED WAS PI-RAMESSES.
BUT HIS REMARKABLE DISCOVERY OF PSUSENNES' TOMB
REMAINS ONE OF THE KEY MOMENTS IN ARCHAEOLOGY.
PSUSENNES HAS NEVER ENJOYED THE FAME OF RAMESES OR TUTANKHAMUN,
BUT HIS STAR IS RISING.
INVESTIGATORS ARE NOW TAKING ON THE WORK THAT MONTET BEGAN
AND REVEALING THE SECRETS OF WHAT WAS CONSIDERED EGYPT'S DARK AGE.
Ikram: PSUSENNES WAS REALLY AN INCREDIBLE MAN.
HE MOVED THE CAPITAL CITY FROM ONE PLACE TO THE NEXT.
HE ALSO MANAGED TO BUILD A SPECTACULAR TOMB FOR HIMSELF
WHICH WITHSTOOD THE RAVAGES OF TIME, AS WELL AS THE ATTENTIONS OF TOMB ROBBERS.
HE NEEDS TO BE RE-EVALUATED, AND WE NEED TO PAY MORE ATTENTION
TO THIS REMARKABLE PHARAOH OF THE 21st DYNASTY.
Narrator: PSUSENNES WOULD HAVE BELIEVED THAT BY COMMANDING SUCH AN ELABORATE BURIAL,
HE WAS BUYING A TICKET TO IMMORTALITY.
3,000 YEARS LATER, WE CAN LOOK BACK AND SAY
THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HE'S DONE.
"FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE."
VEHICLE IS NOW GOING SUPERSONIC
When you want to go above.
IT WAS SOMETHING NEW.
Or reach beyond.
OH MY GOSH!
When you want to peer inside.
IT WOULD SEEM ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE
Or push the limit.
THESE DIVERS ARE LIKE ASTRONAUTS
When you want to find new frontiers.
I WAS TRULY ASTONISHED
NOVA .
Only on PBS.
Next time, a groundbreaking investigation is changing
everything we thought we knew about Tutankhamun.
Nine years old, and he is sitting on
one of the greatest thrones in the ancient world.
Tut was a warrior; these are battles that he was involved in.
A new analysis of his burial reveals what happened to Tut
after he died.
There's so many things wrong in terms of royal mummification.
We have an explanation for the charring on the mummy.
This is the enduring mystery of Tut.
Ultimate Tut, on "Secrets of the Dead."
"SECRETS OF THE DEAD" WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY CONTRIBUTIONS
TO YOUR PBS STATION FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU.
THANK YOU.
CAPTIONING MADE POSSIBLE BY FRIENDS OF NCI
CAPTIONED BY THE NATIONAL CAPTIONING INSTITUTE --www.ncicap.org--
Announcer: THE "SECRETS OF THE DEAD" INVESTIGATION CONTINUES ONLINE.
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