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00:01The Great Pyramids of Egypt.
00:04The sheer size of these monuments is fascinating.
00:08The two highest and biggest were built for Pharaoh Khufu
00:12and his son Khafre. The Khufu pyramid
00:16146 meters tall, and each pyramid contains
00:19about 2.5 million blocks. How were they built?
00:25Over the past few decades,
00:27significant discoveries have been made on the very site where they were erected.
00:32But now, far from the Giza Plateau
00:35and hundreds of kilometers from the pyramids themselves, we are gaining more
00:39insight into just how they were built. How these huge work
00:43sites were created, cementing the strength and power of Egypt.
00:50Two teams of
00:51Egyptologists, one based in the middle of the desert, the other located
00:55on the Red Sea coast, are currently discovering more about the Egypt of Khufu's time
01:00than at the foot of the pyramids.
01:03What have they found?
01:04How can these new discoveries help them figure out how ancient Egyptians worked?
01:11By reconstructing their techniques and methods,
01:14will these teams manage to unlock certain secrets
01:17of these great builders?
01:29The Khufu pyramid
01:31and those constructed after it
01:33were built on the Giza Plateau.
01:35This exceptional site
01:37was a huge necropolis for centuries
01:39before being practically
01:41forgotten under the sand.
01:44When Napoleon and his troops arrived,
01:46at the end of the 18th century,
01:48the bottoms of the pyramids were not visible
01:51and the Sphinx was half buried.
01:56For the next century and a half after this memorable expedition,
02:00monumental excavation work was carried out
02:02to remove the sand from the Giza Plateau.
02:10In the 1980s, a major new development,
02:15Egyptologists Zahi Awas and Mark Lenner
02:17discovered the village and cemetery
02:19of the workers who built the pyramid
02:21of Khafre, Khufu's son.
02:26The lives of the pyramid builders
02:29began to emerge from the shadows
02:31and contradict the clichés written in the Bible.
02:34The Pharaoh's workers were not slaves.
02:37They were treated and fed well.
02:40They were organized into 40-person teams.
02:43These men were proud to be buried
02:45next to their king.
02:48These excavations have continued for 30 years,
02:51but the occupation and looting of the site
02:53for centuries and centuries
02:55after Khufu's death
02:56have obscured a great number of clues.
02:58No papyrus, no written document dating from his reign
03:03have ever been found on the Giza Plateau.
03:07The ravages of time have also destroyed
03:09all the large-scale statues of him.
03:12The only likeness of Khufu
03:13that has miraculously survived the ages
03:16is a tiny ivory figurine
03:18currently housed at the Cairo Museum.
03:27Ironically, today, it's necessary to leave the Giza Plateau
03:31in order to move the investigation forward.
03:34More than 200 kilometers from the pyramids
03:37on the Red Sea coast,
03:39at Wadi al-Jarf,
03:41new discoveries are changing the situation
03:43and bringing new insight into Khufu's world.
03:52Egyptologist Pierre Thalé and his team
03:54come here every year to excavate
03:57for two months.
04:03During their mission,
04:05around 60 workers supervised by about
04:0810 Egyptologists and archaeologists
04:10live here self-sufficiently.
04:12Their camp, in the middle of the desert,
04:15is just a few meters from this ancient site
04:17that hasn't been occupied
04:19since it was abandoned 4500 years ago.
04:22What has Pierre Thalé found here
04:25that could not have been discovered
04:26at the foot of the pyramids?
04:30What was the purpose of these galleries
04:32carved into the rock?
04:38We're in a gallery that is typical
04:40of Wadi al-Jarf.
04:42These galleries had several functions,
04:44but their main function was to
04:46house dismantled boats
04:48that were stored inside these chambers
04:50between two Red Sea expeditions.
04:59But so far, after eight years
05:02of excavating these galleries,
05:04an entire boat has not been found,
05:06just a few fragments
05:08that sometimes bear inscriptions.
05:14Pierre Thalé has not found
05:16the boats he's looking for,
05:17but he has discovered traces of Khufu
05:20all over the site.
05:26Here you can see Khufu's cartouche very well.
05:29You have to imagine it.
05:30In fact, it is written vertically,
05:32even if the block is horizontal.
05:34Here you can read King Khufu's full name
05:36very clearly, Khunum Khufu,
05:38which literally means,
05:39may the god Khunum protect me.
05:41Here, a scribe drew Khufu's name
05:43in cursive with a brush.
05:45But in the official version
05:47in hieroglyphs, you can see that
05:49the sign of the ram, representing
05:51the god Khunum, is clearer.
05:53Pharaoh's names were often linked
05:55with a deity, because they themselves
05:57were considered to be like gods.
06:02Pierre has found traces of Khufu
06:04almost everywhere on this site,
06:06which has been untouched by men
06:08for 45 centuries.
06:10But the real game changer
06:11was a totally unexpected discovery
06:13that any archaeologist who has ever
06:15excavated at the foot of the pyramids
06:17would have loved to find.
06:20Here it is, in this very ordinary hole.
06:25In 2013, between these two blocks,
06:29Pierre Thalé's team found papyrus fragments,
06:31thousands of fragments,
06:33which proved to be the oldest
06:34ever discovered in Egypt.
06:37We absolutely did not expect
06:39to find this kind of documentation
06:41at such a faraway site.
06:43At the beginning, we were searching
06:44for a pharaonic harbor,
06:45since we had already discovered several.
06:48Very quickly, Pierre was able
06:50to translate a few pieces,
06:51and he realized that they had just found
06:54the detailed reports of a foreman
06:56who worked for Pharaoh Khufu.
07:01You can see that these were logbooks
07:03kept by a lower-level supervisor
07:05named Merer, who recounted a part
07:07of the Giza pyramid's construction.
07:14This priceless treasure is now
07:16protected in the Cairo Museum.
07:20What they found is so fragile and voluminous
07:23that six years later,
07:25there are still many papyrus fragments
07:27to restore and reassemble.
07:30For this extremely delicate task,
07:34Pierre asked one of the world's foremost
07:35specialists in ancient papyrus restoration
07:38to take care of his precious discovery.
07:45So that's really fantastic.
07:48I don't think anyone's ever seen papyrus
07:50like this before.
07:52This papyrus is an administrative report
07:56written by a scribe official called Merer.
07:58It's a bit like an excel sheet that's 45 centuries old.
08:03It scrupulously records the movements of a team of workers,
08:07what they do every day, and what they receive in exchange.
08:15Everything in black is what the team does for the king.
08:18Everything in red is what the government does for the team.
08:20Notice in red, you can see the bread deliveries,
08:23which keep the workers fed for a month.
08:27But what truly new information,
08:29what scoop have these papyri revealed?
08:32This document is very important
08:35because it allowed us to date all of the archives
08:37that were found on this Wadi Jarf site in 2013.
08:42We have here the date that corresponds to the year
08:44after the 13th census of large and small livestock
08:47in the reign of Khufu.
08:51During the ancient kingdom,
08:53the accounting of time is done biannually,
08:55according to an inventory of the wealth of the territory
08:58that takes place every two years.
09:00The papyrus proves that Khufu's reign
09:03lasted longer than previously thought.
09:05He ruled for at least 27 years, not 20.
09:12That gave him much more time to build his pyramid,
09:15almost a third more time,
09:17which changes the estimations Egyptologists have made
09:20to unlock the secrets of this immense monument.
09:26But what were Mera and his team of 40 boatmen doing?
09:30Where were they going?
09:32One clue can still be found atop the Khufre pyramid.
09:37These white and shining facing stones
09:39once covered these gigantic monuments.
09:46There are also a few left at the foot of the north side of Khufu's pyramid.
09:52These blocks of fine limestone,
09:54different from those that make up 95% of the volume of the pyramids,
09:58come from a quarry located about 12 miles from the Giza Plateau.
10:04In the Wadi El Jarf Papyri, Supervisor Mera explains how it took him two or three days
10:10to transport these blocks from Torah to the foot of the pyramids
10:14with his team of about 40 boatmen.
10:24A port had been constructed next to the construction site,
10:28allowing heavy materials to be transported
10:30when the Nile was at its highest level during the annual flooding.
10:36But that's not all.
10:39It seems that our fragments indicate an area called Ojo Khufu,
10:43literally Long Live Khufu,
10:45which is supposed to be at the foot of the pyramid of Khufu.
10:49Pierre thinks that the pharaoh built his palace in this area
10:52to have a clear view of the construction site.
10:57After discovering the length of Khufu's reign,
11:00this is the second big scoop that Mera's papyri have revealed.
11:03Khufu's palace is probably currently located under the modern city
11:08and is undoubtedly waiting to be discovered.
11:10Mera recounts that he stopped in this particular place
11:14because the royal archives,
11:15containing all the important papyri of Khufu's government,
11:19was near the palace.
11:24A real gold mine of information
11:27that could be buried under the modern city of Cairo.
11:35One person in particular
11:37is extremely happy about the discovery of Mera's papyri.
11:40It is the Egyptologist Mark Lenner
11:43who has been excavating the Giza Plateau for over 30 years.
11:47Ah, Pierre!
11:49Hello, Mark.
11:50Good to see you.
11:51Yeah, really pleased to meet you again.
11:53Good to see you.
11:55Our lab, it looks small,
11:57but it's actually much bigger inside.
11:59Come inside and have a look.
12:00Here, carefully organized and catalogued,
12:04there are millions and millions of objects
12:06from the village of the workers
12:07who built the pyramid of Khafre.
12:13They are both excited to discuss their mutual finds
12:16and check if their discoveries match.
12:19This one's unfinished.
12:21All of this, I think, is like a detective in a crime scene.
12:25It's making an inference.
12:26When you find texts,
12:28then they speak to you directly
12:29and it's like opening that window.
12:32So, yeah.
12:34We have all the signs that are naming
12:38the different files of the gang,
12:40the smaller one, the bigger one.
12:42You have the crooks for the bigger one,
12:45the three strokes,
12:46the four strokes for the smaller one,
12:47and so on.
12:49It's almost every time inscribed.
12:51Ooh, that one's broken.
12:52Yeah.
12:52But it's perfect.
12:53It's nice.
12:54So, this is what you have?
12:55Yeah, exactly.
12:56That's amazing.
12:57We have got, I think, about 50 of them.
13:00You know, there's a huge, huge irony here.
13:03Yeah.
13:04So, you are in the periphery.
13:06Yeah.
13:06You're out there in an expeditionary force
13:09at the edge of the, at the frontier of Egypt
13:12and you have all these inscriptions and texts.
13:16We are at the center of the bureaucracy
13:18in the Egyptian state
13:19and all our material culture,
13:22many of which is the same,
13:24is blank, is anonymous.
13:25Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's French.
13:27We certainly are keeping our eyes open.
13:29Yeah, of course.
13:30It would be great to find the house
13:31that Merer stayed in.
13:33Okay.
13:34That's how we would know.
13:35Really great.
13:36It's name written over the door.
13:38The name on the wall.
13:39Merer lived here.
13:43But why was Merer's diary found at Wadi al-Djarf
13:47and not on the Giza Plateau?
13:49What was Merer doing with his team of 40 boatmen
13:52on the Red Sea coast?
13:59After several years of intensive work at the Wadi al-Djarf site,
14:04Pierre Talé and his team are able to reconstruct part of the story.
14:10A few kilometers from the galleries cut into the mountains,
14:13they excavated a building and port facilities
14:16where hundreds of men could work and sleep.
14:26And at the seaside, they found a jetty
14:29from which Khufu ships set sail for Sinai.
14:35Another important clue.
14:36While searching underwater and in the port buildings,
14:39they found about a hundred boat anchors.
14:42At that time, anchors were simple limestone blocks
14:46with a hole for a rope to pass through.
14:53But what were they looking for on the other side of the Red Sea?
14:57It's certain that they were going to the Sinai Peninsula.
15:01That was certainly one of the major reasons for building this port,
15:03because Sinai had the largest copper deposit
15:06that the Egyptians could mine directly.
15:10Several copper mines dating from Khufu's era,
15:13and even before his reign, have been found in Sinai.
15:17At that time, there was no iron,
15:20so the tools that cut the Great Pyramid's 2.5 million blocks of limestone
15:25were made of copper ore.
15:35Starting at Wadi el-Jarf,
15:38donkeys must have transported tons of copper
15:40across the desert to the pyramid construction site.
15:46Using this desert road,
15:48Mera and his team may have made several round trips.
15:57Before returning to the pyramid site with their copper cargo,
16:00they would have first arrived in Wadi el-Jarf
16:03with the pieces of their dismantled boats.
16:13From there, they would also have been part of the expeditions to Sinai,
16:18an adventure that was apparently not without risk.
16:23Local populations didn't really welcome the Egyptians.
16:26We found a veritable fortress that the Egyptians had built
16:29at exactly the same time as a landing area,
16:31so they protected themselves.
16:35The ancient camp at Wadi el-Jarf,
16:38that Pierre has yet to excavate,
16:40is also higher up.
16:41This allowed them to monitor their surroundings
16:44and prevent any attacks that could threaten their expeditions.
16:51In this hostile context,
16:54ancient Egyptians tried to protect their installations at all costs.
16:58Sometimes several years passed between two expeditions to Sinai.
17:03Before leaving,
17:04to avoid having their equipment stolen,
17:07they stored the dismantled boats in these galleries
17:10and they carefully closed them with limestone blocks
17:13cut especially for that purpose.
17:22Bedouins living in the desert
17:23may have been curious about what was inside the galleries.
17:27Using these large blocks as a locking system
17:30was a way to protect what was stored inside.
17:34So these galleries were like safes.
17:37At that time,
17:38quality wood was extremely rare and precious.
17:41There was none in Egypt.
17:43They had to go and get it from Lebanon,
17:46a land then covered with huge cedar forests.
17:55But how were these huge blocks,
17:57used to seal the galleries,
17:59cut and transported here?
18:10Today, we would really like to know how long it took
18:14and what techniques were used to create this locking system.
18:20This is the major experimental archaeological project
18:24that Pierre Thalé wants to carry out on the Wadi el-Jarf site.
18:28He asked Frank Burgos, a stonemason and a specialist in ancient architecture,
18:33to help him with the project.
18:36Their experiment's goal is to better interpret all the archaeological data they can see on the site,
18:41but also to understand how the pyramid of Khufu might have been built.
18:52This experiment will take place about 300 yards from the camp,
18:57just next to the quarry where the ancient Egyptians carved the blocks used to seal Wadi el-Jarf's galleries.
19:05An unfinished block, abandoned before it was finished,
19:09has allowed Frank to understand some of the techniques they used.
19:14The block is surrounded by trenches that go all the way around it
19:18and are used to extract the block.
19:22We realized that there are workstations that are approximately one meter long.
19:28So every meter, there was a worker.
19:30But then when he entered the trench, he was in a crouched position.
19:34Then he would cut the stone,
19:36and once he had finished cutting in front of him,
19:39he would turn around and cut behind.
19:42Using this ancient block as a model,
19:44Frank and his team of four workers will extract a 1.5 cubic meter block with copper tools.
19:53Now we're going to do an experiment to time how long it takes to extract the block.
19:59Frank starts by drawing the trenches that will define their work area
20:03and the size of the block they want to extract.
20:07You have to stay at the same angle or you'll damage the chisel.
20:10Copper is a soft metal that wears down quickly when cutting stone.
20:14So the technique is different working with these tools than working with steel chisels.
20:23But with these copper chisels, the work is extremely long and tedious.
20:28How did the ancient Egyptians manage to produce more efficient results?
20:34Last year, I had the idea to wet the stone because I encountered big problems in my experiment with copper
20:40tools.
20:40I realized that there was a lot of salt in the stone.
20:43Because salt is soluble, I had the idea of wetting the stone to see if it would soften it up.
20:50We made five times more progress when we wet the stone.
20:55We realized that the stone is really crumbly.
20:58You can crumble it with your fingers.
21:00It is less solid than it was before.
21:03So far, no one has carried out this type of archaeological experiment using water.
21:08And this technique is not mentioned in any ancient documents or bas-reliefs.
21:14If his intuition is right, it's a real discovery.
21:25All five of them will work eight hours a day to carve out this block,
21:29which is about the same size as the average block in the pyramid of Khufu.
21:34And every half hour, they have to sharpen their copper tools again.
21:43This archaeological experiment, using copper tools and not steel tools,
21:48has never been done properly before.
21:51The result of this test will reveal a lot about the ancient techniques used during Khufu's time.
22:10The first test will reveal a lot about the stone.
22:10Wow, I hadn't seen this. You've made a lot of progress.
22:13With one liter of water, you can remove seven centimeters from an area that's 50 centimeters squared.
22:19If we hadn't wet the stone, we'd be still at 10 centimeters from the surface all around.
22:23That's a huge discovery.
22:42What's surprising is that it broke at the bottom.
22:45You can see the crack that goes down there. It split at the lowest point.
22:49And it broke all the way down there.
22:54Bravo!
22:56Bravo!
22:59Thanks to you guys.
23:01Thanks to all of us.
23:04It took us about eight days to finish this experiment.
23:08Now we just have to transport it.
23:10The tools didn't wear down too much, and we used about three liters of water for the experiment.
23:14Without the water, it would have taken us two or three times longer.
23:18Frank believes that by using water, ancient Egyptians, who were more experienced than the men on his team, could have
23:25cut a block in four to five days at the most.
23:28But what did they do with all the rubble?
23:30The extraction waste was used to make ramps, but also at the entrance of quarries to load the blocks to
23:37handle them easily.
23:40If it took two million or two and a half million cubic meters of stone to build the Khufu pyramid,
23:45that would mean that there were about two, 2.5 million cubic meters of gravel.
23:52So according to Frank Burgos, ancient Egyptians would most probably have also used water to cut the millions of stone
23:59blocks needed to build the pyramids more rapidly.
24:05At the foot of the pyramid of Khufu, we can still see the quarries from which most of the blocks
24:10were extracted.
24:14By building the pyramids, the ancient Egyptians transformed the landscape, changed the geography of the place.
24:21They literally tore off much of the rocky base of the Giza Plateau.
24:26The Sphinx itself is a remnant of this hard limestone plateau, an immense area of which was used to cut
24:33the stones needed for the pyramids.
24:42And all the gravel and excess stone this method produced would have been reused to build ramps.
24:51But what type of ramp did they use 4,500 years ago to transport blocks to a height of 146
24:59meters?
25:00The debate is raging between Egyptologists and specialists, and so many models have been proposed.
25:09A single ramp is either too steep or too long to maintain a realistic slope of no more than 12%.
25:18Several ramps seem to be a very costly solution in terms of time and effort.
25:24Is it an external wrap-around ramp?
25:26Or the kind of internal ramp proposed by architect Jean-Pierre Houdin in the 2000s?
25:39For now, there is no definitive evidence that would settle this debate.
25:44Again, it may be necessary to distance ourselves from the pyramids to find some answers.
26:00300 kilometers south of the Giza pyramids, a Franco-British archaeological mission, with the help of 100 Egyptian workers, is
26:09possibly about to make a major discovery.
26:23We are at Hatnub, one of the oldest calcite quarries in the world.
26:28This is where the great pharaohs went to look for a hard and crystalline stone that is also called Egyptian
26:35Alabaster.
26:41Today, there is no Alabaster left in this quarry, which was totally depleted and abandoned in ancient times.
26:55Clearing all the rubble and sand accumulated over the past 2,000 years is a gargantuan task.
27:02And here, there is no tomb or funerary treasure to find.
27:07So why put so much effort into it?
27:14What Yanis Gourdon's team has begun to find on the site could revolutionize our understanding of the major pharaonic construction
27:22sites,
27:23particularly that of the Khufu pyramid.
27:27Because here we know that they extracted and hauled a huge alabaster block to make a 58-ton statue for
27:35a pharaoh.
27:40While they were clearing the quarry in search of new inscriptions,
27:44Egyptologists found steps and holes carved into the ramp.
27:48They think that these holes were used to wedge huge wooden poles that were part of a very ingenious towing
27:55system.
27:57They have one month to clear as much gravel as possible, around 6,000 tons,
28:03to see if there are similar holes on the right side of the ramp and lower down in the quarry.
28:10But how can we date this ramp carved into the rock inside a quarry that was used for almost 3
28:16,000 years?
28:17How can we be sure that it was used in Khufu's era?
28:21What helps them are the hundreds and hundreds of inscriptions left there by expedition leaders
28:27who came all the way here to extract the sacred alabaster?
28:35So let's have a look on Khufu's inscriptions.
28:39Roland Enmark and Yanis Gourdon are experts in hieroglyphics.
28:43By listing all the inscriptions in the quarry,
28:47they have identified two cartouches from Pharaoh Khufu.
28:52Even if some of the hieroglyphs have been destroyed,
28:55they can still decipher Khufu's royal name.
28:58There's definitely a vase there.
29:00And the quail.
29:01Yes, the quail chick and the viper.
29:06It is the same signature that has been found all around the Wadi el-Jarf site
29:11and in Mare's papyri.
29:18Yanis Gourdon and Roland Enmark decided to dig a trench under a second Khufu cartouche
29:24that's also damaged to access the bottom of the topaz
29:28to see if it's possible to link the Khufu cartouche with the ramp.
29:52A month later, the team has been able to clear the top of the ramp entirely
29:57and a large part at the bottom of the quarry where the Khufu cartouche is located.
30:04Were they able to find the clues and information they were looking for?
30:08The amount of rubble and sand deposited here over the past 2,000 years
30:13is much greater than they had estimated.
30:17After digging down about 10 meters under the Khufu cartouche,
30:21they have finally reached the base of the ramp.
30:29Yanis and Olivier Lavigne are happy to find another hole carved into the rock
30:34that's similar to the one found at the top of the ramp.
30:39Yes, we've got a new structure here.
30:40Here there are some nice tool marks.
30:44So this means that everything was cut in one go, in one piece.
30:47The wall, then the steps, and then after, the holes for the poles.
30:51So now the oldest inscriptions on these walls…
30:55Yeah, that's Khufu.
30:57…which means that the whole thing was made at the latest during Khufu's era.
31:02Thanks to these discoveries, they believe that the ramp must have been created during Khufu's time, or even before.
31:17And at the top of the ramp, just as they had hoped, they uncovered more pole holes and lots of
31:23tool marks.
31:42Olivier measured all the tool marks the workers left in the quarry, especially on the ramp, and the holes and
31:48walls next to it.
31:49He found the same marks everywhere.
31:53Here, apparently the same teams that arrived on the site and cut this wall also carved the steps and the
31:59holes for the poles, in that order.
32:03In no other quarry have these types of elements been found.
32:06A ramp at a 20 or 25 percent grade or even more, depending on the location.
32:12And on the sides, there are stairs with holes cut into the rock.
32:17What were these holes used for?
32:20How did this ramp work?
32:22Can it provide new clues about the construction of the pyramids and the ramp system used at the time?
32:30Olivier Lavigne has analyzed all these clues and developed a hypothesis.
32:35So here we have a pole hole. The wall in front of me is vertical, so the pole was placed
32:40here, a large circular pole.
32:43You have to imagine it because it's rather large.
32:47And here we really have a structure that enables, when a big block gets to the towing path,
32:52to have teams above pulling the block, and others below with ropes wrapped around the poles here,
33:00and who are able, pulling like this, to make the block go up again.
33:07They take the ropes and pull towards the bottom, and that's what actually makes the block move up.
33:15Behind here, there's a big structure, a crossbar that goes here, that ties, that dovetails the pole to wedge it
33:23just behind,
33:23because behind here, the hole is a little slanted.
33:28It's not easy to make a vertical hole with this kind of tool, and there's another hole here that makes
33:33a strut,
33:33and arrives here in the upper part, which supports the upper part of the pole to prevent it from tilting.
33:42Here you need a log, a tree trunk that's very smooth and quite circular, so that the rope can easily
33:48slide around it.
33:49They would have used mud, silt from the Nile, to lubricate the ramp and slide the block, eliminating friction as
33:57much as possible.
33:59They could move very large blocks up this towpath.
34:03There's a story about a 58-ton colossus that came out of an alabaster quarry like this one, and that
34:09could have been possible here.
34:11So as the block advanced, the teams above would have positioned the ropes ahead of time on the next poles,
34:18so that the block would have moved forward as smoothly as possible.
34:35According to Olivier, this ramp system could have been adapted to the pyramid of Khufu.
34:46But a ramp on a pyramid was not rock. It was built with gravel and bricks.
34:56So they had to secure and stabilize the space between the poles using wooden crossbars inside the ramp, and also
35:03above it.
35:05But is this system feasible?
35:11This hypothesis needs to be tested under real conditions to know for sure.
35:25Of all the pyramids, Khufu's is the most difficult to decipher, because its interior architecture is unique.
35:32It raises questions that can't be found anywhere else.
35:44The immensity and ceiling height of the Grand Gallery is a mystery in and of itself.
35:54But the most surprising of all is the king's chamber, built with huge granite blocks, some of which weigh up
36:02to 70 tons.
36:04Wow.
36:06It is the only pyramid that has this kind of interior burial chamber that's located so high up, at 43
36:14meters from the ground.
36:18How did they manage to extract and cut these blocks so perfectly?
36:23Can you see the chisel marks of the stonemasons who made the sarcophagus?
36:29Yes, of course. There are several there. Look here, you can really see them.
36:34What tools and techniques did they use to shape these angles that are so geometrically perfect?
36:42Part of the answer can be found a thousand kilometers from the pyramids, in southern Egypt, in the city of
36:49Aswan.
36:54The old granite quarries used during the Pharaonic period are located here on the banks of the Nile.
37:05Some blocks were never finished and extracted from the quarry because they were so gigantic.
37:12The most famous of these monuments is the unfinished obelisk in Aswan.
37:19This giant stone is 42 meters long and weighs about 1,200 tons.
37:26It is believed that they stopped working on it because a crack appeared during the extraction process.
37:32These unfinished monuments give astonishing testimony about ancient Egyptians' stone carving techniques.
37:40They reveal some secrets, like how the masons were able to work the stone using other stones that are even
37:46harder than granite.
37:49It's amazing, the work that's been done.
37:52To extract the obelisk, you can see the trench they had to create with balls of dolerite, which is a
37:58relatively hard stone.
38:00It is magmatic rock and it is the only tool they had at their disposal to cut granite.
38:09It's really incredible. Here, they are the same vertical trenches as for the obelisk.
38:15But what we have in addition are horizontal trenches that were used to remove the block, visible here.
38:23That's crazy.
38:32It's very, very uncomfortable.
38:35I think they must have sat down instead.
38:37They were flexible, flexible and small, I think.
38:41So the dolerite balls were used to extract the granite.
38:45But how did they manage to make right angles and perfect edges?
38:49Since it is impossible to do experimental archaeology on this historic site, Frank has decided to launch a new experiment
38:56in Cairo.
39:08Sculptor Nathan Doss and his student Islam al-Sharkawi are used to sculpting granite using modern techniques.
39:16But they have always wondered how their ancestors carved this hard rock without iron tools.
39:24This test is a challenge for them.
39:27After a few minutes striking the stone with the dolerite balls, they have already loosened a large amount of granite
39:34dust.
39:41But for Frank, the real challenge is not to prove the dolerite's effectiveness.
39:46He has no doubt about that.
39:48What he would like to test is how to make perfect angles, like in the king's chamber, without steel tools.
39:56If we hit the edge of the ridge with dolerite balls like this, we'll break the ridge.
40:07According to Frank and other researchers who experimented before him,
40:11the perfect recipe is to use an abrasive paste composed of Nile silt and emery powder.
40:17Emery is one of the only rocks that is much harder than granite.
40:22When emery powder is applied with a single copper blade,
40:27it can actually sod the granite.
40:34Okay, do you hear that?
40:39That sound means it's good.
40:47You just have to be very, very, very patient.
41:07Five millimetres.
41:08Five millimetres?
41:09Five millimetres.
41:13Not bad.
41:15We got to five millimetres.
41:17I think we saw it for 25 minutes to get a five millimetre depth,
41:21but over a short length.
41:24With a longer length, I think it would take a little longer.
41:32For three days, Nathan, Islam and two workers will level two sides of the block,
41:37removing four to five centimetres of their surfaces with dolerite balls.
41:42Then, they will start sawing on two sides to prepare the cutting of a perfect edge.
41:57In Wadi el-Jarf, the mission is coming to a close, but Frank would like to try to move the
42:03limestone block he cut the year before to the camp.
42:09To best prepare the experiment, the workers remove the stones, level the surface, and smooth the towpath as much as
42:17possible.
42:24In a symbolic gesture, Pierre draws the Khufu cartouche and the name of a team similar to Merer's, whose marks
42:31he found on several blocks locking the galleries.
42:39Under the old blocks locking the galleries at Wadi el-Jarf, archaeologists found only timber, but no sleds.
42:48Frank therefore starts with this technique.
42:51His method is to go from the simplest technique to the most complicated.
43:09Come on, all together!
43:13Stop!
43:15Look at the path!
43:16It's not good. The wood is slowing us down.
43:22The sand between the stone and the wood serves to make the stone slide, to reduce the friction between the
43:28stone and the wood a little bit.
43:32All together! Yes! Yes!
43:39Stop, stop, stop! Wait, wait!
43:44It's not doing what we want, and I'm really annoyed.
43:46We don't have the right method. It's not smooth.
43:49And yet, we're going to the steepest slope.
43:52We've got to do several hundred meters to get it where we want it.
43:56Several hundred meters wetting the clay, all for a fairly mediocre block, for a mediocre structure.
44:02I don't think they did it this way.
44:06Maybe we should try moving it with a sled.
44:09Even a rudimentary one, because for the moment, the block looks like it's stuck to the planks.
44:17I don't know. I just see that it's a lot of effort for too little return.
44:26We'll see tomorrow.
44:29We'll think about it together.
44:32And we'll see.
44:33We'll see. We'll think about it together.
44:37We'll see. We'll think about it.
44:38We'll go, go!
44:39We'll go, go!
44:40We'll go, go!
44:40We'll go, go!
44:45We'll go, go!
44:46In one day, with 33 workers, the block only moved 50 meters on a 25% downward slope.
44:57Frank has only one more day. How can he save the situation?
45:14The decision is made to quickly build a makeshift sled.
45:22Wood against wood, the block suddenly moves much faster.
45:30It's moving much better now.
45:33We just started from there 10 minutes ago.
45:39New test. They try to replace the sand with wet clay.
45:43So?
45:49Look, the sled's not moving.
45:51And so?
45:52Well, it's stuck.
45:55When we put a little wet clay that is supposed to lubricate the system, the block stops moving.
46:04Damn!
46:10So, they go back to the sand solution.
46:16As the experience progresses, workers learn to work together and are more and more efficient.
46:30They reach the camp at the end of the afternoon, 300 meters from their starting point.
46:38Oh, putain!
46:39Well, thank you so much!
46:45Thank you so much!
46:47You're welcome!
46:47Thank you, Frank!
46:48And for Frank!
46:49We're all right!
46:50Yeah!
46:52Whoo-hoo!
47:02Next year, Frank wants to come back with a real sled and do more tests with pure clay.
47:08and also try to pave the path with some pebbles,
47:11whose marks they spotted near the ancient quarry.
47:18He would also like to do tests where the block has to go up a slope.
47:26But what can we understand from this first archaeological experiment
47:30concerning the construction of the Khufu Pyramid?
47:34To make a connection with the Great Pyramid,
47:37I think we can expect 35 meters per hour for a block of this size.
47:43That might be the most pessimistic estimation.
47:46I think they were more experienced.
47:49They had a much more functional technique
47:50that certainly allowed them to go faster than that.
47:58Before leaving for friends,
48:00Frank returns to Cairo to the workshop of the Egyptian sculptors
48:04just as the edge begins to emerge from the block.
48:09For this delicate operation, Nathan decided to use flint tools
48:14rather than Dolarite balls that are too big
48:16and therefore less precise for this finishing work.
48:30They managed to make a perfect angle
48:32with the tools available in Khufu's era.
48:35Dolarite balls,
48:36a copper blade,
48:38an abrasive emery paste,
48:40and flint.
48:57It's a great experiment.
48:59As if you were by the Valentin from the ancient ancient techniques,
49:02it's something that worryed me a lot since I'm a sculptor.
49:05So, to be able to do it yourself, that's something.
49:14Experimental archaeology really allows us to better understand the movements and techniques used by ancient Egyptians.
49:23Frank's experiments showed that they probably used water to cut the two million blocks of limestone that make up the
49:30Great Pyramid of Khufu.
49:32Otherwise, they would not have been able to cut so many blocks in less than 27 years with copper tools.
49:43With this method, they would have extracted as much rubble and unusable material as they did cut stones,
49:50which would have allowed them to build ramps easily and be able to transport the blocks up to a height
49:56of 146 meters.
50:01Patnug's ramp indicates that they could pull large blocks on ramps at grades over 20%, not just 12% maximum,
50:10as previously thought.
50:15They used wood, wooden sleds, perhaps moistened silt, and maybe sand to reduce friction.
50:26Many major archaeological experiments still need to be carried out to try to get a clearer picture.
50:33These tests require long preparation and training for the teams involved.
50:38Because again, the devil is always in the details.
50:50Thanks to decades of archaeological work done on the Giza Plateau, confirmed by Pierre Thalé's discoveries,
50:57it has become possible to reconstruct the Giza Plateau and the workers' daily lives during the construction of the Khufu
51:05pyramid.
51:06We know where the pools and canals, specially built to carry the materials, were located,
51:12and where the Khufu Palace and the Royal Archives probably stood.
51:18To build the pyramids, these exceptional builders also had to create a strong centralized state
51:25where everything was planned and organized down to the smallest detail.
51:29The wood that was essential to construct boats was brought from Lebanon.
51:34The copper ore to build the tools came from Sinai.
51:37The granite was carved in Aswan and transported along the Nile to the construction site on the Giza Plateau,
51:44as were the stones from Tura.
51:50Without the pyramids, perhaps ancient Egypt would not have become the great civilization it was.
51:55A reference, an inspiration that has spanned the centuries,
52:00and that still challenges our thinking today.
52:04Boundingly
52:19For more information and projects in theirs within the house.
52:19For more information, visit our website at Cape Forever.
52:22For more information on a website, visit www. bringenbythal evening.
52:22Para infinite countdowns from znai feather Edison.
52:22For more information, visit www. recurrents within the future.
52:33Amen.
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