Rise of the Black Pharaohs

Narrator: ANCIENT EGYPT.

LAND OF GREAT PYRAMIDS...

STUNNING ARTWORK...

COMMANDING PHARAOHS...

AND POWERFUL EMPIRES.

EGYPT, ABOVE ALL ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS,

HAS CAPTURED OUR FANCY

WITH ITS SPECTACULAR ICONOGRAPHY AND CULTURAL CHARISMA.

BUT EVEN AS THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS

PROCLAIMED THEIR POWER TO THE WORLD,

THEY BURIED A SHOCKING SECRET ABOUT THEIR REIGN.

THEY ERASED FROM HISTORY

THE STORY OF A SUBORDINATE KINGDOM FROM THE SOUTH

THAT ROSE UP...

OVERTHREW THEIR MASTERS...

AND RULED AS PHARAOHS OF EGYPT THEMSELVES.

THESE CONQUERORS WERE THE KUSHITES--

A CIVILIZATION OF BUILDERS, GOLD WORKERS, AND WARRIORS

FROM WHAT IS NOW SUDAN.

Man: THE FACT THAT KUSH WAS ABLE TO CONQUER EGYPT,

IT'S REALLY A DAVID AND GOLIATH STORY.

Narrator: YET TODAY, KUSHITES HAVE BEEN ALL BUT FORGOTTEN.

WHY?

BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN.

THESE WERE DARK-SKINNED AFRICANS,

VILIFIED BY THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS

AND SLANDERED AS SAVAGES BY COLONIAL-ERA ARCHAEOLOGISTS.

Man: THEY SHOW THEM AS PEOPLE TIED AND BOUND

ON THE BOTTOM OF THE KING'S SHOES.

Man: SO IT REALLY WAS A KIND OF A RACIAL PROFILING.

Narrator: NOW, AFTER CENTURIES OF DERISION,

THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF THE KUSHITE UPRISING

IS FINALLY COMING TO LIGHT.

MORE ENLIGHTENED ARCHAEOLOGISTS

ARE DIGGING THEIR HISTORY FROM THE SAND...

AND THE SKY.

Man: HOW DOES IT LOOK? STILL INTACT?

Woman: IT'S ACTUALLY KIND OF SCARY.

Woman: DON'T DRAG THAT ROPE!

Narrator: SCIENCE IS REVEALING THE INSIDE STORY

OF THE BLACK PHARAOHS WHO BROUGHT EGYPT TO ITS KNEES.

Announcer: THIS PROGRAM WAS MADE POSSIBLE IN PART

BY CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR PBS STATION

FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU.

THANK YOU.

Narrator: THIS IS THE ROYAL KUSH CEMETERY OF EL KURRU

IN NORTHERN SUDAN.

THE KUSH ANSWER TO EGYPT'S VALLEY OF THE KINGS.

MANY RULERS OF KUSH WERE BURIED HERE,

MAKING IT ONE OF THE FEW PLACES TO LEARN ABOUT THEIR LIVES

AND HOW THEY MANAGED TO CONQUER EGYPT.

THAT'S WHAT ATTRACTED ARCHAEOLOGIST GEOFF EMBERLING.

AT A PYRAMID CALLED KU-1,

GEOFF'S TEAM IS MOVING 50 TONS OF EARTH

TO EXPOSE A ROYAL TOMB BENEATH.

INSIDE THEY HOPE TO DISCOVER THE IDENTITY

OF THE KING WHO BUILT THE PYRAMID

AND HIS PLACE IN THE KUSHITE WORLD.

Geoff Emberling: WE WANT FIRST OF ALL

TO FIND OUT THE NAME OF THE KING,

AND SECOND OF ALL

WE WOULD HOPE THAT THERE WOULD BE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

IN MATERIAL LEFT IN THE PYRAMID

ABOUT WHERE THEY FIT IN HISTORY...

OVER 2,000 YEARS AGO.

Narrator: THE KUSHITES LEFT FEW WRITTEN RECORDS,

AND MOST OF THEIR TOMBS AND TEMPLES HAVE BEEN DESTROYED.

KU-1 IS NO EXCEPTION...

BEFORE HARSH WEATHER AND STONE THIEVES GOT TO IT,

THE PYRAMID STOOD NEARLY FOUR TIMES ITS CURRENT HEIGHT.

THIS WORN-DOWN GIANT COMES WITH A CHECKERED PAST.

ABOUT A HUNDRED YEARS AGO,

AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGIST GEORGE REISNER

EXCAVATED MANY KUSH MONUMENTS

AND DISCOVERED THE TOMBS OF ITS MOST IMPORTANT KINGS.

Geoff: GEORGE REISNER WAS AN AMAZING PIONEER

OF ARCHAEOLOGY IN KUSH.

HE STARTED IN 1908.

HE WORKED INTO THE 1930s, VERY DIFFICULT CONDITIONS,

AND YET HE MANAGED TO ESTABLISH A BASIC CHRONOLOGY,

NOT ONLY OF THE BROAD ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERIODS,

BUT OF ALL THE KINGS OF KUSH, HE PUT THEM ALL INTO ORDER,

AND IT'S AN ORDER THAT WE STILL BASICALLY USE TODAY.

Narrator: AT EL KURRU,

REISNER GOT TO THE BOTTOM OF EVERY PYRAMID...

EXCEPT KU-1.

THERE, FEAR GOT THE BETTER OF HIM.

THE CEILING OF THE PYRAMID HAD COLLAPSED,

LOCKING ITS SECRETS INSIDE.

HAVING JUST LOST FIVE MEN IN A CAVE-IN NEARBY,

REISNER WENT HOME.

SOMETIMES GEOFF EMBERLING HAS THOUGHT OF DOING THE SAME.

Geoff: WHEN YOU READ REISNER'S NOTES

FROM HIS EXCAVATIONS AT EL KURRU,

AT THE END OF THE SEASON HE TOOK ABOUT TWO WEEKS OFF,

AND HE HAS A LITTLE NOTE THAT THE DOCTOR TOLD HIM

HE HAD TO STOP WORRYING SO MUCH,

AND I CAN KIND OF APPRECIATE THIS NOW

EVEN JUST EXCAVATING ONE OF THE PYRAMIDS

BECAUSE THERE'S INHERENT RISK.

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS NO RISK.

Narrator: OF COURSE, WITHOUT RISK, THERE'S NO REWARD.

AND AS REISNER DISCOVERED AT OTHER ROYAL BURIAL SITES...

THE PAYOFF CAN BE STAGGERING.

REISNER RECOVERED TROVES OF GOLD JEWELRY

AND STUNNING ARTIFACTS...

INTRICATE MASTERPIECES BURIED WITH THE KUSHITE KINGS

TO ENRICH THEM IN THE AFTERLIFE.

Geoff: AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST,

YOUR DREAMS ARE OFTEN QUITE VIVID

ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN FIND IN A PLACE.

AND SO OBVIOUSLY THESE KINGS' BURIALS

WERE ONCE EXTREMELY RICH WITH GOLD AND SILVER OBJECTS

AND FINELY CRAFTED, BEAUTIFUL EXPRESSIONS

OF THEIR RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS

AS WELL AS THEIR, THEIR STATUS AND PRESTIGE.

SO WE CAN IMAGINE FINDING ALL OF THOSE THINGS.

Narrator: GEOFF'S FIRST BIG REVELATION IS NOT GOLD TREASURE,

BUT A GIANT STAIRCASE,

ONE FIT FOR A KING-SIZE FUNERAL PROCESSION.

BUT IT'S A SMALLER FEATURE THAT GRABS HIS ATTENTION.

Geoff: YOU CAN SEE THAT THE STAIRCASE IS REALLY MONUMENTAL.

THEY'VE DUG DOWN THROUGH THE SOLID ROCK

TO A DEPTH OF OVER 25 FEET,

AND YOU CAN SEE JUST AT THE BOTTOM THERE

THE ORIGINAL DOORWAY.

AND ABOVE IT AN IRREGULAR HOLE THAT'S ALMOST THE SAME HEIGHT.

THAT IRREGULAR HOLE WAS DUG BY LOOTERS.

Narrator: GEOFF BELIEVES IT WAS AN INSIDE JOB.

Geoff: MOST PEOPLE WOULD NOT KNOW

THAT IF YOU DUG THROUGH THE ROCK

THAT THERE WOULD BE AN OPEN CHAMBER THAT HIGH UP.

IT'S OVER 15 FEET OFF THE ORIGINAL GROUND SURFACE.

BUT UNUSUALLY IN THIS PYRAMID

THE INNER CHAMBER IS HUGE AND HIGH,

AND SO IT WAS ONLY THE PEOPLE WHO BUILT THAT

THAT WOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT DIGGING OVER THE DOORWAY,

THEY WOULD BREAK INTO THE OPEN SPACE OF THE CHAMBER ITSELF.

Narrator: THE QUESTION IS: HOW FAR IN DID THE LOOTERS GET

AND WHAT DID THEY LEAVE BEHIND?

GEOFF WILL SOON FIND OUT.

ALREADY, HE'S EXCAVATED TO THE SITE OF THE CAVE-IN

THAT HAD BLOCKED REISNER'S PATH.

Geoff: WE'RE IN THE SECOND ROOM OF THE, OF THE PYRAMID,

BUT ACTUALLY WE'RE NOT IN THE ROOM

BECAUSE ITS CEILING HAS ENTIRELY COLLAPSED,

AND SO WE'RE STANDING IN THE HOLE

COVERING WHATEVER WAS BELOW.

I HAVE A SECRET THEORY THAT REALLY WHAT HAPPENED

IS THE LOOTERS BURROWED IN HERE,

AND AS THEY WERE DIGGING, THE CEILING COLLAPSED ON THEM.

Narrator: GEOFF'S TAKING PRECAUTIONS

TO ENSURE HE AND HIS TEAM DON'T BECOME THE TOMB'S NEXT VICTIMS.

AT A MAKESHIFT WORKSHOP,

HIS COLLEAGUE, ARCHITECT IGNACIO FORCADELL,

BUILDS LIFE-SAVING IRON SUPPORTS.

Ignacio Forcadell: IN THE SECOND CHAMBER,

WHICH IS THE DEEPEST ONE,

THERE IS SOME PROBLEMS IN THE CEILING.

ROCKS ARE FALLING DOWN FROM THERE.

AND THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL COLLAPSES

DURING HISTORY.

THERE WAS ONE SMALL COLLAPSE LIKE TWO WEEKS AGO.

Narrator: ONCE INSTALLED, IGNACIO'S IRON ARCHES

SHOULD PREVENT THE ROOF FROM FALLING

AS GEOFF AND THE TEAM DIG FOR THE DEAD KING.

IF IT WORKS, THEY JUST MIGHT SUCCEED WHERE REISNER DID NOT

AND HELP RIGHT THE GREAT WRONG

PERPETRATED BY THE FAMOUS COLONIAL ARCHAEOLOGIST.

THROUGHOUT HIS TIME IN SUDAN, GEORGE REISNER EXCAVATED

AMID THE RICH LOCAL CULTURE OF HIS AFRICAN HOSTS.

HE WAS PULLING AFRICAN HISTORY FROM THE GROUND...

BUT HE WAS DOING IT AT A TIME

WHEN COLONIAL DELUSIONS OF RACIAL SUPERIORITY

CRIPPLED HIS SCIENTIFIC JUDGMENT.

EVEN AS HE WAS AWED BY THE PYRAMIDS HE EXCAVATED,

HE REFUSED TO BELIEVE THEY COULD HAVE BEEN BUILT BY THE ANCESTORS

OF THE BLACK AFRICANS HE SAW ALL AROUND HIM.

HIS PREJUDICES EVEN SEEM TO HAVE CLOUDED HIS EYESIGHT.

IN 1916, WHEN HE DISCOVERED BEAUTIFUL BLACK GRANITE STATUES

OF THE GREAT KUSHITE KINGS,

HE ARGUED THEY WERE NOT REAL LIKENESSES.

INSTEAD, HE PROPOSED THAT THE KINGS--

AND THE BUILDERS OF ALL THE KUSHITE MONUMENTS--

HAD ACTUALLY BEEN LIGHT-SKINNED FOREIGNERS.

Rachael Dann: I THINK IT JUST CHALLENGES SO FUNDAMENTALLY

SOME OF HIS PERSONAL VIEWS

ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE IN THE SUDAN WERE CAPABLE OF

AND THAT HE FINDS IT REALLY DIFFICULT

TO SUDDENLY READ THE EVIDENCE.

IT'S SUCH A HUGE CHALLENGE THAT HE CAN'T GET OVER IT.

Narrator: REISNER'S WRITINGS ABOUT THE KUSHITES

ARE A WINDOW INTO HIS WARPED

George Reisner: "ITS VERY RACE APPEARS TO BE A PRODUCT

OF ITS POVERTY AND ITS ISOLATION--

A NEGROID-EGYPTIAN MIXTURE FUSED TOGETHER ON A DESERT RIVER BANK

TOO FAR AWAY AND TOO POOR

TO ATTRACT A STRONGER AND BETTER RACE."

Narrator: REISNER WASN'T THE LAST, OR THE FIRST,

TO DISPARAGE THE KUSHITES.