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00:01March 2023, the world's largest Egyptology museum is set to open at the foot of the Giza
00:06Pyramids. For the occasion, the finest treasures of ancient Egypt are being transferred to this
00:12colossal new building, which cost over a billion euros. For the first time, this museum will bring
00:17together the 5,000 sumptuous pieces from the legendary tomb of Tutankhamen. 15 kilometers
00:23from here, in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, in the former exhibition halls for the jewels of the
00:28most famous of pharaohs, another treasure discovered during one of the most fabulous
00:32adventures in archaeology takes its place. Everyone knows about Tutankhamen's tomb,
00:38but few people know that in fact, we have several other royal tombs that were found intact,
00:44and these are the treasures of Tannis. This is something that is really marvelous because it's
00:51so unknown, but probably more spectacular than Tutankhamen in a certain way.
00:56The treasures of Tannis are exceptional. Over 60 kilos of gold, two one-of-a-kind silver coffins,
01:05funeral masks without equal. They were found in a forgotten necropolis in the Nile Delta,
01:10a true valley of kings in northern Egypt. It reveals a little-known side of ancient Egypt
01:17and the saga of long-forgotten pharaohs who, like Tutankhamen before them, left their mark on
01:23Egyptian civilization. People don't know the names of Susenis or Asorkon or Taklot or people like that,
01:32yet these kings ruled Egypt and, most excitingly, their tombs were found intact, filled with coffins,
01:41sarcophagi and jewels. There is gold, there's silver, there's treasures, and there's a great story behind that.
01:49Nothing like them had ever been found, but it never really captured the public imagination in the way that Tannikhamen
01:55did.
01:56The reason? Bad timing. The discovery of the royal necropolis at Tannis coincided with the outbreak of the Second World
02:04War.
02:04So people are paying attention to what happens in Europe, to the tensions between the countries,
02:11and this is so important that ancient Egypt kind of suddenly becomes more and more unimportant for the public.
02:19So it doesn't make the news media the way Tannikhamen did or the way you would think it would.
02:27Yet it is one of the most fascinating and extraordinary episodes in the history of Egyptology.
02:33And it's the work of a Frenchman, Pierre Montaille. Though his name may not be well known, Tannis is, thanks
02:40to a legendary film.
02:43Tannis is a site that is not just known for its treasures, but it's also known from something else.
02:50It's known from a famous Hollywood movie.
02:55Tannis is where the climactic scenes of the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie are to be found.
03:03As is evident in this scene, the archaeological site of Tannis is at the heart of the plot of Steven
03:08Spielberg's film.
03:10It's the place where Indiana Jones takes place.
03:20This masterpiece of adventure cinema is loosely based on the real history of the site,
03:25a city revived by an Egyptologist and his team against the backdrop of a world in chaos.
03:30To understand the significance of this discovery, you must travel a thousand kilometers from Tannis.
03:48In 1921, Pierre Montaille began excavations at Biblos in Lebanon.
03:53At the time, he was a 36-year-old archaeologist and professor at the University of Strasbourg.
03:59In three years, he unearthed the oldest Phoenician inscription ever identified
04:03and exhumed the tombs of the city's princes, some of which are still intact.
04:07When he opened the sarcophagi, he made an astonishing discovery.
04:11The rulers there regarded themselves very much as the friends of the Egyptians,
04:15and they were buried with treasures which included Egyptian items.
04:21The remains are covered in Egyptian treasures that are as wondrous as they are beautiful.
04:27This find confirms the close links between Egypt and Phoenicia in antiquity.
04:33Pierre Montaille found what he was looking for in the years to come.
04:37And he wanted to trace when it started, its extent, and what it meant,
04:43not just for the history of Lebanon or the history of Egypt,
04:46but for the entire Mediterranean world.
04:48He's very much interested in this connection between the cultures.
04:54He's finding lots of evidence of Egypt in Lebanon,
04:56and he's perhaps beginning to think what evidence might there be of foreign cultures back in Egypt.
05:03It was with this goal in mind that he found himself on the delta of the Nile in Egypt.
05:08One site in particular drew his attention, Tannis.
05:12It is a site known for a very long time, that has a very long history,
05:18a very important site just judging from the monuments that are lying around everywhere on the surface.
05:23The city had been excavated to some extent by archaeologists previously,
05:28but they had by no means finished the job.
05:32There was a lot more still there to discover.
05:35Could Tannis bear any traces of the Phoenicians or other Near Eastern people?
05:39Pierre Monté is convinced that it does.
05:43From 1929 to 1939, Pierre Monté multiplies his discoveries.
05:48In 10 years of excavations, he identifies most of the major monuments in this multi-layered archaeological site.
05:56Monté makes the city start to rise from the ashes.
06:00It's now beginning to look like a real ruined city, rather than just simply a disaster zone.
06:08The layout of all of this were a huge boost to our understanding of an urban and religious center in
06:17the delta,
06:17as well as bringing Tannis from obscurity into the forefront of the Egyptological world.
06:24The most important is the Temple of Ammon.
06:27This colossal structure, measuring 400 by 300 meters, is the size of the Louvre Museum.
06:32It is a massive temple enclosure, befitting the kind of religious sites devoted to the Egyptians' principal deity, Ammon.
06:43But no one was expecting the arrival of new enemies.
06:46The Nazis have been increasing pressure in Europe since seizing power in Berlin in 1933.
06:52The whole world is marching to war.
06:54The Nazis are in power in Germany, and they are beginning to build a very strong nation, strong economically, strong
07:04militarily.
07:05The Egyptologist is increasingly worried.
07:08He fears he will not be able to complete his work.
07:12If hostilities actually break out, how can work be carried on?
07:18What could happen if work is suspended?
07:21While the political situation in 1939 is so problematical,
07:26Pierre Monté sets out to go to Tannis, and he will make the discovery of his life.
07:30It will be the probably most important season of excavation of Monté,
07:36and it's one of the most important seasons of an excavation in all the history of Egyptian archaeology.
07:43January 1939.
07:46Despite fears of a second world war, Pierre Monté begins his 11th season of excavations.
07:51When he goes to Egypt for that season, Monté is unaware that that season will bring to light something unimaginable,
08:02something that makes whatever he'd found over the previous 10 years completely fade into the background.
08:09The Egyptologist and his team move tons of earth in search of new clues.
08:14And then comes the startling realization that if powerful pharaohs have succeeded one another here,
08:20is it possible they are also buried here?
08:23Where were the people buried?
08:25Where are the cemeteries?
08:26In the surrounding area, no tombs are discovered, no necropolis, and even less a royal necropolis.
08:33If this is northern Thebes, then logically, there must be the equivalent of the Valley of the Kings.
08:41The Valley of the Kings near Thebes in present-day Luxor
08:45was home to the tombs of the pharaohs of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties,
08:50those of Tutankhamen, Ramses, and Thutmose.
08:53The final resting place of these illustrious monarchs was outside the city.
09:00We have the Valley of the Kings.
09:02We have all these famous tombs of the great pharaohs of that period.
09:06But after this period, the tombs of the kings are missing.
09:10The reason is simple.
09:11All these tombs, with the exception of Tutankhamen, were plundered in ancient times,
09:16leading subsequent pharaohs to change their strategy, particularly in Tannis.
09:21What they decide is that instead of burying the pharaohs out in the secret desert,
09:27they'll put them where everybody can see them, in the middle of the temple.
09:31We are inside a sacred area.
09:33Never before have kings considered building tombs inside a sacred area.
09:37This is a domain reserved for the gods.
09:41Pierre Monté continues his excavations around the Temple of Amman.
09:44He explores a number of mud-brick buildings,
09:47and at one point, something fairly intriguing comes to light.
09:51At the foot of a building, a circular pit appears that has been filled in.
09:56The workers clear it, and at the bottom of the pit, they discover a stone slab.
10:00A very, very large piece of stone, which he thought,
10:03great, this is the ground.
10:05Except it wasn't.
10:07But what could it be?
10:10Pierre Monté quickly had the eight meters of earth above the slab excavated.
10:15He falls upon a flat surface several meters long.
10:19The slab seems to continue until a protruding surface appears.
10:24While clearing it, he discovers several fragments of what are known as
10:28ushabti, funerary statuettes.
10:32Funerary material, material that would accompany a burial law.
10:35Generally speaking, when you find Uchhabti, you're potentially in a necropolis area.
10:42There's no room for doubt.
10:44Pierre Monté has just made an unprecedented discovery.
10:48If these statuettes are there, it's because the sarcophagus of the deceased,
10:53his treasures, and his mummy are in a nearby tomb.
10:59He carefully inspects the relics and discovers the name of the dead man.
11:04And it's not just anyone.
11:06This is Shishank III, a pharaoh of the 22nd dynasty who reigned 400 years after Ramses II.
11:14Pierre Monté learns from ancient texts that it was the capital of the 21st and 22nd dynasties.
11:20These two dynasties represent one of the darkest periods in Egyptian history.
11:31Around 1,000 BC, the unity of the empire was shaken after the death of pharaoh Ramses XI.
11:38Ramses XI, who was the last king of the new kingdom, the last of the Ramesside kings,
11:44had no sons to succeed him.
11:46He only had two daughters.
11:48And so there were two rivals for power at the time, the priests of Amun and Thebes,
11:53who were getting very powerful, and then the kings in the delta.
11:56So the country was almost split because we had the high priests of Amun then declaring themselves
12:03king in Thebes, but also the rulers then in the delta also declaring themselves as king.
12:09These kings of the delta were the pharaohs of the 21st and 22nd dynasties.
12:14They ruled northern Egypt between the mid-11th and late-8th centuries BC.
12:20Those of the 22nd dynasty, including Chichonk III, came from one of the tribes of distant Libyan origin,
12:27who had settled long ago in the Egyptian delta.
12:30Very little was known where they had lived, where their city had been located,
12:35their capital city, was not even clearly established.
12:38We just have every now and then the mention of them in some texts,
12:41a very few small monuments.
12:44We cannot really write a history of this period at that point.
12:49So this was a bit of a mystery.
12:51He continues his inspection, and in one place spots a slight anomaly.
12:56He finds a gap between what appears to be the stones of this floor,
13:00and puts a stick down and finds there is a cavity below.
13:05It's not a floor, it's a ceiling.
13:07Beneath it, there is a void, and that void is filled with, perhaps one would say, wonderful things.
13:15He must have been fantastically excited.
13:19He must have known there was the possibility, even if it was just a tiny chance,
13:23that he was going to find something amazing, something to rival Tutankhamun.
13:28It's quite exceptional.
13:29We are on the trail of a large building, perhaps the necropolis.
13:34Pierre Montet immediately had the slab cleared, but disappointment is the order of the day.
13:39He realizes that it masks an old thieves' hole, filled in with two small limestone blocks.
13:44This hole is every archaeologist's nightmare.
13:47It means that somebody has got there before.
13:51So the joy of discovering and entering a tomb is immense, but at the same time, there's great apprehension,
13:57and a near certainty that the tomb has been looted.
14:01In ancient times, tombs were ravaged by thieves in search of gold.
14:05The Valley of the Kings was completely looted, with the exception of Tutankhamun's tomb.
14:10Could this burial site have escaped the brigands?
14:15So he starts opening this hole.
14:18Pierre Montet has the two limestone blocks removed, and contemplates the interior of a two-meter-high room.
14:27February 27, 1939.
14:30The Egyptologist and his team enter this small room.
14:33It's otherwise very dark inside.
14:35They were able to see, more or less...
14:39Equipped with a flashlight, Pierre Montet illuminates the walls of the room,
14:44and notices that they are decorated.
14:46Hieroglyphics and engravings gradually reveal themselves before his eyes.
14:51But above all, he faces a royal cartouche, the signature of the pharaohs.
14:57So he knows that he's dealing not with the tomb of someone, but with the tomb of a king.
15:03Pierre Montet manages to read the name of the owner of the tomb he has just entered.
15:07It is King Orzakon II, a well-known king of the 22nd dynasty.
15:14After Sheshank III, here is a second pharaoh of the 22nd dynasty.
15:19Pierre Montet doesn't know it yet, but he's just gotten his hands on a royal Egyptian necropolis,
15:24a kind of Valley of the Kings of the North.
15:26But who is this Ozarkon II?
15:29For Montet, Ozarkon II is a name he knows.
15:34He is one of the more important kings of his period,
15:39and various objects naming him have been found over the years.
15:44So his place in history is reasonably secure.
15:47We know he's quite important, but we don't know much else about him.
15:50Could this be his tomb?
15:54If so, what might it reveal about this pharaoh?
15:59The discovery of his sarcophagus and treasure would reveal a great deal more about him
16:05and one of ancient Egypt's least known dynasties.
16:14Then not only is it, you know, a sensational discovery in terms of finding the place where a king is
16:20buried
16:21and perhaps finding some burial equipment,
16:23we know that the tomb of Tutankhamun is full of treasure.
16:28But on top of all of that, there's the possibility here
16:31to enormously extend what we know about this period of history.
16:37Excitement is at its peak.
16:39At the far end of the first room entered by Montet and his team,
16:43an opening leads to a second chamber.
16:46Probably the entrance to something, a passage into this kind of building.
16:51At the far end is a square opening, also about a meter by a meter,
16:56which leads visibly into a second room he enters.
17:00So Montet goes through with this flickering light looking in,
17:03and there he finds a burial chamber with what looks like a burial.
17:08A burial chamber.
17:10Every Egyptologist's dream.
17:13Pierre Montet is the first to contemplate what no one has seen for millennia,
17:18the interior of this pharaoh's tomb.
17:21Unfortunately, it has been emptied of its treasure.
17:25Looking around on the walls,
17:28they realize these are inscriptions of King Azorkon II.
17:33These are scenes of him in the underworld,
17:37scenes from the Book of the Dead,
17:39a scene of his heart being weighed in front of Osiris.
17:43In the center of the room is a pink granite sarcophagus.
17:49What they have found is absolutely spellbinding,
17:54because nobody has ever found a tomb of a king of this period.
18:02Pierre Montet immediately sends a telegram to his wife.
18:06He inspects the sarcophagus,
18:08but there is no inscription mentioning Azorkon II.
18:11Is it really his?
18:13What's more, a hole appears in the sarcophagus chamber,
18:16which doesn't bode well.
18:20Six days later, on March 3rd,
18:23the Egyptologist and his team are able to open the sarcophagus.
18:27Of course, having seen the hole,
18:30Montet is slightly prepared for the worst,
18:33and when he opens the sarcophagus and clears it over,
18:36he sees that it is empty.
18:39Disappointingly, the coffin has also been looted.
18:45Inside is nothing more than a few bones
18:48and some fragments of gilded wood.
18:53So no sign of the treasures
18:56that one would expect from the tomb of a pharaoh.
19:00Montet is clearly disappointed,
19:03but there may be more to be found in the tomb.
19:06Despite the disappointment,
19:08the discovery of this tomb
19:09is a great step forward for Egyptology,
19:11but the archaeologist doesn't stop there.
19:14He goes on searching for more
19:16because he starts realizing
19:18probably there's more than just this one tomb.
19:22Pierre Montet has no idea
19:25that he's about to uncover a real necropolis
19:28that will help us to understand
19:29a whole part of Egyptian history
19:32that was unknown to us until then.
19:40The Egyptologist examines the walls of the sarcophagus chamber
19:43and notices that a block is missing from the top of one of them.
19:47It appears to be a fairly thin partition
19:50with nothing behind it.
19:52He points out that in fact,
19:55the proportions are such and the walls are such
19:58that there must be another room.
20:01He crosses to the other side
20:03and finds himself in a tiny room,
20:06still beautifully decorated.
20:07It features two passages blocked by huge boulders
20:11that are impossible to remove.
20:13Could one of them be the real entrance to the tomb?
20:15Or would they lead to other rooms or vaults?
20:18The boulders that conceal the grave entrances
20:21are so heavy, so monumental,
20:23that they have to be maneuvered with hoists,
20:26pulleys, things like that,
20:27and there wasn't enough room.
20:29Pierre Monté then decides
20:31to approach it from the exterior.
20:34They realize that it's not just a vault they've entered,
20:37but a whole series of rooms
20:39and probably several burials and graves.
20:42Maybe this is another tomb
20:45and maybe it has escaped the robbers.
20:47And so with great trepidation,
20:49they enter it.
20:51It is now March 6, 1939.
20:54The archaeologist enters
20:56the first small rectangular chamber
20:58covered with mud.
21:02Pierre Monté has the layers of earth removed.
21:05A new, deeply recessed sarcophagus
21:08is revealed, buried in the ground.
21:12Excitement and joy are, of course, at their peak.
21:16A new royal tomb has just been discovered.
21:21Hundreds of funerary statuettes
21:24representing the pharaoh's servants
21:25in the afterlife are stored here.
21:27They reveal the identity of its occupant.
21:31We're dealing with a new king,
21:33King Takalot.
21:34A King Takalot,
21:35one small pharaoh
21:37of whom we almost know nothing.
21:41Takalot I was the third pharaoh
21:43of the 22nd dynasty
21:45and the father of Ozorkan II.
21:47His reign lasted 14 years
21:50between 887 and 873 BC.
21:55This was a widespread custom
21:57in ancient Egypt
21:58when a pharaoh ascended to the throne.
22:00He had to bury his own father,
22:03his own predecessor,
22:04so it's not totally illogical
22:06to find a vault dedicated to his father
22:08inside a king's tomb.
22:12Unfortunately,
22:13the sarcophagus is also empty,
22:15apart from a few gold fragments
22:17left behind by the thieves.
22:20The second tomb
22:21is a big disappointment for Montaigne,
22:23and he makes no secret of it.
22:24It's not going to be like this
22:26for the whole campaign.
22:27Despite this new disappointment,
22:29the archaeologist continues
22:31to explore the tomb.
22:34He returns to the first tomb,
22:36which he attributes
22:37to the pharaoh Ozorkan II.
22:39He detects the presence
22:41of a large granite block
22:42in the masonry of the walls.
22:45Could this be a new passageway?
22:48This granite is set
22:52into the limestone masonry
22:54with mortar joints.
22:56A small section of this mortar
22:58has fallen away,
22:59revealing a very small opening
23:01behind it,
23:02but there is a void behind it.
23:04And so they hope
23:06that maybe this third chamber
23:08is still intact.
23:09And hasn't been visited
23:10by thieves.
23:12Unfortunately,
23:13the sarcophagus next to it
23:15makes it impossible
23:16to extract the heavy obstruction.
23:18The Egyptologist scratches around
23:21to enlarge the opening
23:22and makes a wonderful observation.
23:24It is indeed a vault,
23:26occupied by a gigantic
23:28granite sarcophagus.
23:30The obvious finally seems clear.
23:32It was here in this mysterious chamber,
23:35as Monte called it at the time,
23:37that the tomb's main occupant,
23:39Ozorkan II,
23:40was probably laid to rest.
23:42But it would take a little more patience
23:44before they could be certain.
23:47He would quickly realize
23:49that he hasn't reached
23:51the end of this discovery.
23:53First of all,
23:54he has found a royal tomb,
23:57something nobody has done
23:58for many, many years.
24:00But also looming over everything
24:02is the prospect of war,
24:05something which will,
24:07if it comes,
24:08will destroy his plans
24:10for the future.
24:10Despite the frightening danger ahead,
24:13Pierre Monte is determined
24:15to see his excavation campaign
24:17at Tannis through to the end.
24:19Before returning to France,
24:21the Egyptologist decides
24:22to continue clearing the roof
24:24of the necropolis
24:25for a while longer,
24:26even though he knows
24:27he won't be finished
24:28before the end of the season.
24:30It's here that he makes
24:31an exciting and promising discovery
24:33that will finally fulfill
24:35all of his expectations.
24:40He follows the ceiling,
24:42the roof of this tomb,
24:45and begins to realize
24:47that there is in fact
24:48another building
24:50immediately next to it.
24:52He sees that all the roof beams
24:55and panels are perfectly joined
24:58and show no signs of tampering.
25:01And that's a very good sign.
25:04Pierre Monte chooses
25:05to have the panels removed.
25:08Underneath, he finds a square pit,
25:101.7 meters on each side,
25:12filled with soil,
25:13which he has removed.
25:15The next day, March 16th,
25:17it is completely emptied.
25:19He goes down the shaft,
25:20and for once,
25:21he is not disappointed.
25:232 meters 40 below,
25:25an opening appears blocked by a wall.
25:28There are no signs of forced entry.
25:31He's going to be thinking,
25:33I have another chance, perhaps,
25:35at an intact tomb,
25:37a burial stuffed full of treasure.
25:39He thought there might be tombs there,
25:41but he hadn't expected
25:43to find royal tombs
25:44and intact ones as well.
25:47Monte rejoices.
25:49What could be behind that wall?
25:57The day comes to an end.
25:58He postpones the opening
26:00until the next day.
26:06Friday, March 17th,
26:08at dawn,
26:09Pierre Monte and his team
26:10descend to the bottom of the shaft
26:12and set about unsealing the wall.
26:14And this time,
26:16it's easier to remove.
26:19It's lime or plaster mortar,
26:21so it's relatively easy to loosen them
26:23and then remove the blocks.
26:25The archaeologists first enter
26:28a small corridor
26:29where they must crawl on all fours.
26:32And there's no doubt about it.
26:34It's a vault.
26:35And it's an intact vault.
26:38The walls are adorned
26:40with inscriptions
26:41and a royal cartouche,
26:42that of Susannes I,
26:44an important pharaoh
26:45of the city of Tannis
26:46in the 11th century BC.
26:49The name on the wall,
26:51he's thinking,
26:53is the clue
26:54to the owner of this tomb.
26:56But it isn't the most striking thing
26:59that he sees in this chamber.
27:01A site which
27:03few other archaeologists
27:05had ever seen
27:07or even imagined
27:08was before Monté's eyes.
27:12In the middle of this cellar,
27:14unusual and intriguing reflections
27:16stand out.
27:18He couldn't see very well,
27:20and yet the light
27:21catches something glinting.
27:24It's something metallic.
27:34Here, Pierre Monté sees silver.
27:36One of the great characteristics
27:39of the Tannis treasure
27:40is that there are many silver objects.
27:43This is silver,
27:45solid silver.
27:47Nothing like this
27:49is known in Egypt
27:50at this point.
27:53Pierre Monté approaches
27:55the silvery reflections
27:56that illuminate
27:57this two-by-four-meter room,
27:59and what he sees
28:00leaves him speechless.
28:04On the right-hand side,
28:06on the base of limestone blocks,
28:08rests a sumptuous silver coffin.
28:11It's quite rare
28:13in that it's shaped
28:14like an anthropoid coffin,
28:16meaning in the shape of a man,
28:18but with the head of a hawk.
28:20It's very rare
28:22for a king to be depicted
28:23like this on his sarcophagus.
28:25It is unique in the world.
28:27It's a little cracked,
28:30but the gold elements inside
28:32are still visible.
28:34Pierre Monté is surrounded
28:36with wonders
28:37that light up the room.
28:39The archaeologist also discovers
28:41that this silver coffin
28:42was accompanied by two mummies
28:44in very poor condition.
28:46The rest of the room
28:47is cluttered
28:48with countless funerary furnishings.
28:51We also have shabtis
28:53and other grave goods,
28:55so he is so excited.
28:56And the inscriptions everywhere
28:58keep mentioning Soussainis.
29:00So Monté crawls out,
29:03thinking maybe this is Soussainis.
29:05Every indication
29:06is that nobody has entered this room
29:09since the last burial
29:10was placed there.
29:12This time,
29:13Pierre Monté is right.
29:15A month after his discovery
29:17at the Tannis necropolis,
29:18he has finally unearthed
29:20an intact tomb.
29:21And not just any tomb,
29:25nothing like this
29:26has ever been found before.
29:27It's completely unique.
29:29So he was rewarded
29:31beyond his wildest dreams,
29:33but there was even more
29:34still to come
29:35that he didn't know.
29:36End of the day
29:37on March 17th.
29:39Incredible.
29:44A contingent of armed guards
29:46is immediately sent to Tannis
29:48to secure the area.
29:50This discovery
29:51is, of course,
29:52a sensation.
29:54And news spreads
29:55like wildfire.
29:56An intact pharaoh's tomb
29:58and its fabulous treasure
30:00have been discovered.
30:01This is potentially
30:03a new Tutankhamun
30:05for the 1930s.
30:07Everybody is very excited
30:08and Monté suddenly finds
30:11that he has
30:11all the support
30:13that he needs
30:14and the interest
30:14of some very important people,
30:17including
30:17the king of Egypt,
30:19King Farouk.
30:20The 19-year-old
30:22Egyptian king
30:23arrives in Tannis
30:24to witness
30:25the opening of the coffin,
30:26a moment in history
30:28that will bring
30:29Pierre Monté
30:29face to face
30:30with a new enigma.
30:36It's March 20th, 1939.
30:38It is with great emotion
30:40that Pierre Monté
30:41and King Farouk
30:42approach the sovereign's coffin,
30:44not suspecting
30:45for a moment
30:46that a major surprise
30:47awaits them.
30:49He is going
30:50to be thinking
30:51that this is
30:51Susenis I.
30:53The name is on the wall.
30:54This must surely be
30:55Susenis.
30:57And yet,
30:57it's not.
30:59The archaeologists
31:00clean the tops
31:02of the coffin
31:02and realize
31:03that the inscriptions
31:04show that it is not
31:05Susenis I.
31:07buried there.
31:10But a ruler
31:11who is once again
31:12called Shishank
31:13or Shishank
31:15or Shishak.
31:18A Shishank
31:19who's never been
31:20heard of before.
31:21Another kind of mystery
31:23and something
31:23totally unexpected.
31:26Who is this Shishank?
31:28Could this be
31:29the Shishank
31:29whose Uscheptus
31:30was found
31:31when the necropolis
31:32was discovered?
31:33When it turns out
31:34not to be Susenis,
31:36the press might like it
31:37that it's Shishank.
31:39Journalists believe
31:40that the Shishank
31:41found in the silver
31:42sarcophagus
31:43is well known.
31:44In fact,
31:45he was one of the
31:46most important
31:47and famous pharaohs
31:48in history.
31:49They are already
31:50making this association
31:52between Shishank,
31:54whose body they hope
31:55is inside the coffin,
31:56and Shishak of the Bible.
31:58Shishank in the Old Testament
31:59is said to have
32:00conquered the city
32:01of Jerusalem
32:02on the death
32:02of the famous
32:03King Solomon,
32:04looting his city
32:05and taking everything
32:06with him,
32:07including the legendary
32:08Ark of the Covenant.
32:09The press goes wild
32:11over this discovery
32:12and begins to believe
32:13that the treasures
32:14of King Solomon
32:14of Jerusalem
32:15had finally been found.
32:17This is the thought
32:18that is conveyed
32:19to the public
32:19that this is
32:21the sarcophagus
32:22and perhaps inside
32:23the body
32:24of this important figure
32:26from the Bible.
32:27And so this is how
32:28it appears
32:29in the newspapers,
32:30though obviously
32:31this is not the case
32:32at all.
32:33For Montay,
32:34there has never
32:35been any doubt.
32:36The Shishank
32:37he has just discovered
32:38is absolutely not
32:39the one in the Bible.
32:40Time and thorough
32:42archaeological research
32:43will identify
32:44this silver pharaoh
32:46as Shishank II,
32:47nothing to do
32:48with the plunderer
32:49of Jerusalem.
32:50On the other hand,
32:52the scholar
32:52clearly understands
32:53that this Shishank
32:54is a completely
32:55unknown ruler.
32:58In the tomb,
32:59in the presence
33:00of King Farouk,
33:01Pierre Montay
33:02lifts the lid
33:03of the silver coffin.
33:05One of the most
33:06beautiful jewels
33:07in ancient Egypt
33:08appears.
33:10There is a mask,
33:11a golden mask
33:12that is almost
33:13as beautiful
33:14as the mask
33:15of Tutankhamen,
33:16something of
33:17extraordinary beauty.
33:19It's really
33:20quite spectacular.
33:21And then a whole
33:22set of jewels,
33:23bracelets,
33:24and chest decorations,
33:25each one finer
33:26and more magnificent
33:27than the last.
33:28The two men
33:29contemplate the contents
33:31of the silver vessel.
33:32Adornments
33:33and jewels
33:33are clearly visible
33:34and appear
33:35to be in place,
33:36but are tangled together,
33:37revealing that
33:38the burial site
33:39has sustained
33:39considerable damage.
33:41The mummy
33:42is gone.
33:43Only the bones
33:44remain.
33:45Unlike the dry
33:46climate of the
33:47Valley of the Kings,
33:48the humidity
33:49of the Nile Delta
33:50is not conducive
33:51to preservation.
33:52The remains
33:53of Shoshank
33:53and indeed
33:54of the other kings
33:56who were found
33:57in the cemetery
33:58were all reduced
33:59to badly decayed
34:01skeletons.
34:02In spite of everything,
34:04the discovery
34:05is extraordinary
34:06and the joy
34:07is tremendous.
34:08As for the other
34:09two mummies,
34:10they cannot be
34:10immediately identified.
34:12It is only much later
34:13that the study
34:14of a few
34:15Usheptis
34:16found nearby
34:16allows us
34:17to restore
34:18their identity.
34:19The first
34:20is Pharaoh Siamon,
34:21one of the successors
34:22to Susenes I
34:24during the 21st dynasty.
34:26The second
34:27is his successor
34:28and the last
34:28ruler of the dynasty,
34:30Susenes II.
34:31Mummies,
34:33without a coffin,
34:34without a sarcophagus,
34:35what does this mean?
34:37These corpses
34:38were probably removed
34:39from their original
34:40burial sites
34:41following ancient looting.
34:42This vault
34:43must surely
34:44be a hiding place.
34:45Pierre Montaigne
34:46continues his exploration
34:48of the tomb.
34:49It became clear
34:50to Montaigne
34:50this was not a tomb
34:52built for any
34:53of those three pharaohs
34:54because on the walls
34:56of the chamber
34:57were inscriptions
34:58of Susenes I,
35:01perhaps the greatest
35:02of the 21st dynasty,
35:03pharaohs.
35:04Where is his
35:05burial chamber?
35:07As he clears away
35:08these precious treasures,
35:10Pierre Montaigne
35:11takes a closer look
35:12at the walls
35:12of the burial chamber.
35:14He's now had experience
35:16of how these tombs work
35:17and he realizes
35:19that there are places
35:20which are plugs
35:21and places
35:22where you can
35:23maybe enter
35:24other chambers.
35:27Concealed behind
35:28this decor
35:29are two square openings.
35:31Could these
35:32well-sealed passages
35:33lead to new vaults?
35:38But there's not
35:39enough time
35:40to go any further.
35:41The end of the campaign
35:43is fast approaching
35:44and there's already
35:45a lot to do
35:46to take care
35:47of what's been discovered.
35:48Further exploration,
35:50full of promise,
35:51was wisely postponed
35:52until the following year.
35:54Before returning
35:55to France,
35:57Pierre Montaigne longs
35:58to discover the secrets
35:59of the mysterious chamber
36:01for the giant sarcophagus
36:03seen in the other tomb.
36:05Around the granite plug,
36:06which cannot be removed,
36:08he enlarges the opening,
36:10which, three weeks earlier,
36:11had provided a brief glimpse
36:13of the vault's interior.
36:15Pierre Montaigne manages
36:17to get a slightly
36:18larger opening,
36:19about 30 centimeters wide,
36:22but it's still
36:23a very narrow opening.
36:25He tries to enter
36:26the tomb
36:27to no avail.
36:29On March 24th,
36:30a very slim worker
36:32tries once again,
36:33but is unsuccessful.
36:36In the end,
36:37it's a relatively
36:38slender teenager
36:39who makes his way
36:41through the narrow opening
36:42and into the room.
36:44And it is that member
36:45of the team
36:46that is able
36:47to say to Montaigne,
36:48yes,
36:48there is something
36:49inside here.
36:50The young teenager
36:51circles the giant sarcophagus
36:53and carefully inspects
36:54the vault.
36:55There's obviously
36:56an opening
36:56that's been sealed,
36:57so most certainly
36:58another thief's hole,
36:59which provides hope
37:00that they will ultimately
37:01be able to penetrate
37:02the vault.
37:03Pierre Montaigne
37:04then places
37:05all his available workers
37:06in this area
37:07and asks them
37:08to speed up
37:09the opening of the roof
37:10since time is running out.
37:11The end of the campaign,
37:14scheduled for the first week
37:15of April,
37:16is fast approaching.
37:19On March 26th,
37:21the Egyptologist
37:22finally enters
37:23the Great Vault
37:24and discovers
37:25a granite sarcophagus
37:26of colossal dimensions,
37:28over three and a half meters long.
37:30Is this indeed
37:31the sarcophagus
37:32of Ozorkhan II,
37:33as all the inscriptions
37:35in the previously
37:36discovered rooms suggest?
37:37There's nothing yet
37:38to confirm this,
37:40but there's little doubt.
37:41The chamber appears
37:43to have been pierced
37:44by ancient looters,
37:45which does not bode well
37:46for the condition
37:47of its contents.
37:48Only three mummies
37:49in very poor condition
37:51are found inside
37:52the following year.
37:53There are debris
37:54in the sarcophagus
37:56from a royal coffin,
37:58but whether these mummies,
38:00either of them are his,
38:01or they are of later
38:03intrusive burials,
38:04is unknown.
38:07But while clearing away
38:08the rubble
38:09that had fallen
38:10from the thief's hole,
38:11the archaeologists
38:12make an unexpected discovery.
38:14At the head
38:15of the large sarcophagus
38:17is the beautifully sculpted
38:18quartzite lid
38:19of a much smaller sarcophagus.
38:24Second sarcophagus,
38:25which is inscribed
38:28and proves to belong
38:29to a son of Ozorkhan II,
38:31who apparently died
38:33in childhood.
38:34This is a prince
38:35by the name of Hornacht.
38:37We knew almost nothing,
38:39if anything at all,
38:40about this individual.
38:41The results
38:42of the 1939 campaign
38:44are already considerable.
38:45Three new royal tombs,
38:47one of which is intact,
38:48five stone sarcophagi,
38:50one silver coffin,
38:51a gold mask,
38:52and extraordinary
38:53funerary furnishings,
38:54and promises
38:55of more discoveries to come.
38:57The Egyptology community
38:58and the press
38:59are enthusiastic
39:00about this
39:01extraordinary achievement.
39:02Pierre Montet
39:04is uncovering
39:05a whole swath
39:06of Egyptian history
39:07from this 21st
39:09and 22nd dynasty,
39:10of which very little
39:12was known at the time.
39:13But poor man,
39:15he had something
39:15quite serious to deal with
39:17because there were
39:18huge rumblings in Europe
39:19because this was the start
39:21of the Second World War
39:23and this was going
39:24to overshadow
39:25his life
39:26and his discovery.
39:33The end of 1939.
39:35France and Germany
39:36have been officially
39:37at war for four months
39:38without direct combat.
39:40Hitler is busy
39:41destroying Poland.
39:43Pierre Montet
39:44teaches in Clermont-Ferrand,
39:46where the University
39:46of Strasbourg
39:47withdrew
39:48at the start
39:48of the conflict.
39:49This is a very
39:50dramatic time.
39:51What does the future hold?
39:53It's a complicated time
39:54for Pierre Montet
39:55because he's not sure
39:57he'll be able
39:57to return to Tannis.
39:59Despite international tension,
40:01the archaeologist
40:02wants to return to Egypt
40:03where the treasure
40:04of Sousenis I awaits him.
40:06Though France
40:07is in a state of war,
40:09he somehow manages
40:10to find funding
40:11for a new excavation campaign.
40:13Although he imagines
40:14finding new jewels
40:15in the royal necropolis
40:17of Tannis,
40:17he doesn't expect
40:18to make a discovery
40:19as important as that
40:20of Tutankhamen's tomb.
40:23It's January 15th, 1940.
40:26Pierre Montet
40:28is back in Tannis.
40:29He can't wait
40:30to find out
40:31what hides behind
40:32the wall of the chamber
40:33where Sousenis II lay.
40:36Pierre Montet
40:38immediately sets to work
40:39on the potential openings
40:40in the walls
40:40of Sousenis II's
40:42burial chamber.
40:43They are covered
40:43in decorations
40:44bearing the image
40:45and cartouches
40:46of two pharaohs,
40:47Sousenis I
40:48and his successor,
40:49Amenemope.
40:49Without hesitation,
40:51the Egyptologist
40:52chooses to begin
40:53by exploring
40:54the vault of the first.
40:55The problem
40:56at the outset
40:57is that the doorway
41:00is blocked
41:00by an enormous
41:02granite-blocking stone,
41:05enormously heavy.
41:07And the big question
41:08is how does one
41:09actually move
41:10this huge lump
41:11of granite
41:12out of the way?
41:13It must be possible
41:14because they put it in
41:16to start with.
41:18They gently
41:19trim away the contours
41:21of this two-meter-long
41:22block on a slight slope.
41:24It's a real challenge
41:26for the archaeologists
41:27to free this enormous stone,
41:29which is in fact
41:30part of an obelisk
41:31put in place
41:31by the ancient Egyptians.
41:34Pierre Montet
41:35and his team
41:36try a clever technique.
41:40He manages
41:42to pass a steel cable,
41:44which enables him
41:45to pass
41:46large marine ropes
41:47several times
41:48around the block.
41:50The set of ropes
41:52is attached
41:52to a hoist,
41:53installed in the antechamber.
41:55The block is pulled
41:56very gradually
41:57in an attempt
41:58to extract.
42:00It's laborious
42:01and very slow.
42:03It takes hours
42:04and hours
42:04to finally move
42:06the block
42:06a few centimeters.
42:08But after a few days,
42:09suddenly,
42:10everything changes,
42:11and the obelisk
42:12is moving
42:13much easier.
42:14It seems
42:15it's rolling
42:16on something.
42:17What they don't yet know
42:18is that they're being helped
42:20by bronze rollers
42:21placed there
42:22when this piece of obelisk
42:23was laid
42:24three millennia ago.
42:26This ingenious technique,
42:27well-known
42:28in ancient Egypt,
42:29was to prove
42:30an invaluable tool
42:31for the tomb's explorers.
42:33And once they realize this,
42:34they simply have
42:35to reverse the process.
42:37And now,
42:38exactly those same rollers
42:39are used by Montet
42:40and his team
42:40to open it again.
42:42And finally,
42:43it moves out
42:45of its position,
42:46allowing proper access
42:48to the chamber
42:48for the first time.
42:50And then,
42:51at last,
42:52the great discovery.
42:54It is February 16, 1940.
42:57Two days after starting
42:59to remove the stone,
43:00Pierre Montet
43:01enters a narrow room
43:02measuring five meters long
43:04by 1.7 meters wide.
43:06A magnificent vision
43:08appears before him.
43:09A pink granite sarcophagus
43:11surrounded by the most
43:12wondrous treasures.
43:14And they are confronted
43:15by an incredible sight,
43:16a monumental stone sarcophagus
43:18surrounded by burial equipment.
43:21This is a very,
43:22very exciting moment.
43:23It's the start
43:25of something totally new.
43:27It's probably like
43:28Neil Armstrong
43:29setting foot on the moon.
43:32It opens a whole new chapter
43:34for Egyptology
43:37and for ancient Egyptian history,
43:39writing ancient Egyptian history.
43:41The French Egyptologist
43:43sees hundreds of Ushabti
43:45and an incredible collection
43:47of precious tableware,
43:48masterpieces in gold and silver.
43:51Most of these objects
43:52bear inscriptions
43:53revealing the insignia
43:54of Susannes I.
43:55there is no doubt about it.
43:58This is his vault
43:59and its contents are intact.
44:02The tomb has been undisturbed.
44:05No one has been in there before.
44:07They start finding
44:08all these wonderful objects
44:10that you would expect
44:11in a royal tomb.
44:13So,
44:14really the most spectacular discovery
44:16in Egypt
44:17since Tarangamen.
44:19On February 20th,
44:21Pierre Montet opens
44:22the sarcophagus.
44:24The lid weighing 800 kilos
44:26is gently lifted
44:27using levers.
44:29Inside,
44:30two other coffins
44:31are assembled
44:32like Russian dolls.
44:34As with Tutankhamen,
44:35we also have this system
44:37of nesting dolls,
44:39meaning
44:39a coffin inside
44:41which is a coffin inside
44:43which is a coffin.
44:45The last of these
44:46is one of the most
44:47beautiful jewels
44:48in the history of archaeology.
44:50A new silver coffin
44:52unlike anything in the world.
44:54This time,
44:55it doesn't depict
44:56a falcon's head
44:57like the one
44:58on Shishank II.
45:00This is the face
45:01of the pharaoh.
45:09This coffin
45:11is extremely fine,
45:13refined,
45:14sculpted.
45:15It's a pure marble,
45:16a pure jewel.
45:17So,
45:18this was something
45:19except in silver
45:21to rival what we had
45:23in Tutankhamen's
45:24most inner coffin.
45:27When the silver lid
45:28is lifted,
45:29a new surprise awaits.
45:31And then inside that,
45:32of course,
45:33is a spectacular gold mask
45:34and the mummy
45:35of the king
45:36covered with jewels
45:38and spectacular gold.
45:43Unfortunately,
45:45the mummy
45:45is in very poor condition,
45:46but it is surrounded
45:48by marvelous jewels
45:49such as these chest plates
45:50set with fine stones,
45:52cases for the pharaoh's fingers,
45:54these rings,
45:55and these bands.
45:57There are no fewer
45:58than 26 bracelets
46:00and numerous necklaces
46:02very heavy.
46:03One necklace alone
46:05weighs 8 kilos,
46:07a second almost as much,
46:097 kilos.
46:10A bracelet weighs
46:12almost 2 kilos
46:13of solid gold.
46:16It's a colossal discovery
46:18for Egyptian archaeology,
46:20a treasure worthy
46:22of Tutankhamen
46:23and the discovery
46:24of a powerful pharaoh
46:25from the 21st dynasty.
46:29Susannes I
46:30is not just
46:31any pharaoh
46:32in Tannis,
46:33but the king
46:34who built Tannis.
46:35He built
46:36the great surrounding wall
46:37that encloses
46:38the city's major temple,
46:40the Temple of Amman,
46:42as well as
46:42the number of other buildings
46:44that bear his name.
46:46His tomb
46:47expands the field
46:48of knowledge
46:49of the 21st
46:50pharaonic dynasty.
46:51Despite the exhumation
46:53of this precious treasure,
46:54the Egyptologist
46:55is not at the end
46:56of his surprises.
46:59On April 16th, 1940,
47:01two months to the day
47:03after the great discovery
47:04of the silver sarcophagus
47:05and treasures
47:06of Susannes I,
47:08Pierre Monté
47:09inspects
47:09the second burial chamber
47:11behind the other
47:12blocking stone.
47:13And so he opens that up
47:15and then again
47:16finds another
47:17largely intact tomb,
47:20that of Amman Amopit,
47:21the son of Susannes I.
47:24once more
47:25a chamber
47:26full of wonderful things,
47:29full of treasures,
47:30once more
47:32with a mummy
47:32that is almost,
47:35that has fallen
47:35into dust.
47:37But once more,
47:38he finds another king
47:40in Tannis.
47:41Such an event
47:42should have shaken
47:43the whole world.
47:44But it is the spring
47:46of 1940,
47:47and France
47:48has just suffered
47:49a heavy defeat
47:50at the hands
47:51of the Nazis.
47:52Paris is occupied,
47:53as is the northern
47:54half of the country.
47:56It doesn't make
47:57the news media
47:58the way
47:58the Tannigamon did
48:00or the way
48:00you would think it would.
48:01The discovery
48:02was found
48:03just at the wrong time.
48:06As a result,
48:07it never got
48:08the publicity
48:09it deserved
48:09at the time,
48:10and really subsequently
48:12seems to have been
48:13lost in obscurity.
48:15Back in France,
48:17Pierre Monté
48:18tries to survive
48:19in this chaotic territory.
48:21Egypt and the pharaohs
48:22would not really
48:23be mentioned
48:24for years to come.
48:25And when he is able
48:26to return in 1945,
48:28as the war draws
48:29to a close,
48:30he learns
48:31some terrible news.
48:35The site was looted
48:36in 1943,
48:38and some of Tannis' treasures,
48:40which had been safely
48:41stored in the Cairo Museum,
48:43have also disappeared.
48:44It is a horrible thing
48:46for any excavator.
48:48Some were found later,
48:50but others have never
48:51been found,
48:52and that's a loss
48:53for science.
48:55Dejected,
48:56Monté nevertheless
48:57resumes his excavations,
48:59and the following year,
49:01a stunning new discovery
49:02awaits him.
49:03It is now spring 1946.
49:06After all his unique
49:08and dazzling discoveries,
49:09Pierre Monté unearths
49:11a new intact burial site,
49:13somewhat different
49:14from the others.
49:15It's not a king,
49:17but a high-ranking
49:19military general
49:20called Wen Jabao Injed,
49:22and he was
49:24a favored soldier
49:26at the court
49:27of Susanes I
49:28and had clearly
49:29been given
49:29a very lavish burial
49:31by the king.
49:33His vault contains
49:34sumptuous gold objects,
49:36including this
49:36stunningly realistic mask
49:38and jewels
49:39as magnificent
49:40as they are refined.
49:41In the end,
49:43Pierre Monté unearthed
49:44an exceptional
49:45funerary complex
49:46designed for at least
49:4813 royal and princely burials,
49:50six of which were intact
49:52or nearly so.
49:53More than half a century
49:54after Pierre Monté's death,
49:56the capital of Susanes I
49:58still fascinates archaeologists.
50:00The French Tannus
50:01excavation mission
50:02continues to carry out
50:04research there
50:05and now uses
50:06modern technology.
50:07Let's not forget
50:08that the site
50:09covers an area
50:10of 220 hectares
50:11and that the temples
50:13that have been excavated
50:14represent only about
50:1515% of the entire site.
50:17The city itself,
50:18which surrounds the temples,
50:20has never been explored.
50:21The whole city
50:22is there lying
50:24under the ground,
50:24so there's hundreds
50:26of years of work
50:27left to do at Tannus.
50:28So it will yield,
50:30I'm sure,
50:30more spectacular discoveries
50:31as the days
50:33and years go by.
50:35A site that may have
50:37slipped under the radar
50:38due to history,
50:39but which could well
50:40be the focus of attention
50:42in the years to come.
50:43Who knows
50:44if fabulous new treasures
50:46will be discovered
50:47by a new generation
50:48of adventurers
50:49in search of lost pharaohs.
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