Lost Treasures of Egypt

Egypt.

The richest source of archaeological treasures on the planet.

Oh, whoa! Look at that!

Hidden beneath this desert landscape,

lie the secrets of this ancient civilization.

PROF. ALEJANDRO JIMENEZ-SERRANO: Ooh!

I've never seen something like this.

Now, for a full season of excavations,

our cameras have been given unprecedented access

to follow teams on the front line of archaeology.

This is the most critical moment.

Revealing buried secrets.

Oh! We are lucky today.

NOZUMO (off screen): Wow! Lots of mummies.

The smell is horrible.

And making discoveries that could rewrite ancient history.

We've never had the proof until now!

This is where it all started.

My goodness, I never expected this.

This time, archaeologists unlock the secrets

of one of Egypt's most legendary pharaohs:

Ramses the Great.

This must have been used by probably Ramses himself.

John and Colleen search the desert for clues to Ramses' success.

This is like the greatest hits of Ramses victories.

Aliaa races to save one of Egypt's greatest treasures.

If it tips over it would definitely damage the surface

of the tomb.

And Fathi excavates deep into the earth

to uncover the mysteries of an ancient necropolis.

Look there's something here, but we don't know yet.

In over 3,000 years of ancient Egyptian history,

no pharaoh comes close to rivaling Ramses the Great.

During his 66 years on the throne,

Ramses raised the Egyptian empire

to the zenith of its wealth, culture, and power.

He created a vast legacy, and was so revered

that nine further pharaohs would take his name.

He would build more statues, monuments, and temples

than any other pharaoh,

forever changing the face of Egypt.

Now, archaeologists across the country

are searching for the secrets of his success.

In the ancient city of Abydos,

Dr. Sameh Iskander leads a team on a mission

to excavate what some archaeologists believe is the first temple

built during Ramses' reign.

DR. ISKANDER (in foreign language): Hurry up, man.

Hurry up! Hurry up!

: Egypt after Ramses is a completely different country.

This is his beginning.

There's something personal about this.

And that's what really got me interested in this temple.

He hopes clues found in Ramses' early reign

can unlock the mystery of what fueled his future success.

But first, Sameh must settle an age old debate

over whether this is truly the first monument built by Ramses.

Well, what we're looking here is any clues

as to when this temple was built.

The team digs for foundation deposits

deep beneath the temple walls,

offerings buried at the start of construction,

which they hope will provide vital information

about the temple's origins.

Instead of foundation deposits,

workers unearth something incredible.

DR. ISKANDER (off screen): Cartouches! Extremely unusual cartouches.

Unprecedented in any Egyptian temple.

These oval markings were used to stamp the names of pharaohs

onto their monuments.

The hidden cartouches spell out two names.

The one on the left is Ramses Meryamun.

That's the name given to him when he was born.

And the other one is the throne name

that the one given to him when he became the pharaoh, Ramses II.

Ramses' throne name would not have been inscribed

on the foundations unless he began its construction.

This temple was built during the reign of Ramses II, period.

No more argument about that.

Ramses would go on to build more monuments than any other pharaoh,

but the cartouche proves this temple is where it all began.

This is his beginning,

and was starting to build a legacy.

Ramses began his prolific campaign

of monument building with this temple.

At its entrance, an imposing granite doorway

led to a courtyard

surrounded by figures of Osiris, the god of this temple.

In each corner of the temple, buried in the foundations,

golden cartouches spelling his name, Ramses II, the chosen of Ra.

On the south-western wall of the temple,

Sameh investigates a recently sealed doorway,

which appears to lead away from the building.

This door was left open for almost 3,000 years.

What is the reason?

Something must have gone on through this door.

Sameh's team begin excavating around the doorway

for clues about where it might lead.

Fifty miles south in the Valley of the Kings,

is the magnificently decorated tomb of Ramses' father,

Seti the First,

who ruled for 11 years before Ramses came to the throne.

Aliaa Ismail has come here to study the decorations

for clues about what legacy Ramses inherited from his father.

You can see that the pigments have survived all this time.

A detail in the stunning mural catches her eye.

Here you can see the blueness here in the hair.

This blue pigmentation reveals incredible evidence

about Seti's reign.

We have here, lapis, and lapis was brought from Afghanistan.

The pigment was brought over 2,000 miles to be used in this tomb.

It's a clue that Egypt could have entered a golden era

before Ramses ever came to the throne.

We can see strong trade relations,

in terms of wealth, power and politics.

It's like China and America put together.

Ramses' success maybe have been built

on the back of the achievements of his father.

But discoveries like this are at risk of disappearing.

Tombs were made to be closed forever,

and once we have opened them,

the presence of air and moisture keeps degrading the tomb.

Aliaa is training a team of young conservationists

to help preserve the tomb through cutting edge 3D scanning.

For thousands of years,

the locals have been the guardians of this place,

and now they're doing it just with modern technology.

For team member Mina Fahim Rezk,

it's a welcome chance to protect his Egyptian heritage.

It's something in our blood.

You feel at home when you are

in a place such as Seti's tomb.

Like I'm going to pray for

my grandfather down there.

Tomorrow, they will use their training to create a 3D record

of Seti the First's tomb before it vanishes forever.

South of the Valley of the Kings in Luxor

is the Asasif necropolis.

This sprawling graveyard covers over 1,000 years of ancient Egyptian history,

with burials from 800 years before Ramses' time

to many centuries after his death.

Project director Fathi Yaseen and his team

are excavating a newly discovered shaft.

The mouth of the shaft is huge

and it's going deep

so it's a very important shaft.

The size of the shaft means it could lead to an undiscovered tomb.

But, after two weeks' excavation, their dig hasn't produced any finds.

YASEEN (in foreign language): Cut it off here, like this.

Just feet from the mouth of the shaft,

Fathi spots something in the ground.

It's rare pottery.

Fathi examines it closely to determine its age.

This jar

could be 19th dynasty

Ramesside period.

The find is from the time of Ramses' rule.

It's a promising sign the shaft also leads to a tomb from this period.

It means for us it's a good day.

Just north of the shaft,

one of the team unearths a hole leading deep into the ground.

It's maybe shaft.

Maybe unfinished tomb.

: No, be careful.

It looks promising, but the entrance is unstable.

It goes down

and there's a fall of fragment of rock here.

It's a tantalizing, but risky new lead.

In Abydos, at the first temple constructed by Ramses,

Sameh discovers a walkway of limestone blocks

leading away from the sealed up temple doorway.

At the end of the path is something incredible.

Low and behold, we come across a palace.

This is the find of a lifetime.

Ramses the Great's private palace.

We were shocked. We really did not expect this here.

Sameh and his team immediately begin excavating

this magnificent discovery.

The entire site was covered for up to 4 meters.

Ramses' path to greatness began here in Abydos,

but he wasn't the first pharaoh to build here.

Just 950 feet south of Ramses' palace is the temple of his father,

Seti the First.

Sameh has come here looking for clues

about why both Ramses and his father chose to build in Abydos,

a site which had fallen out of favor

and been abandoned by previous rulers.

Here is Seti the First,

his son, Prince Ramses,

who later will become Ramses the Great.

A relief, known as the King's List,

records the pharaohs from the first dynasty

up to the time of Ramses.

Within it, hidden clues may reveal why Seti and Ramses returned to Abydos,

and if it played a part in Ramses success.

Obviously, there is something missing here.

Multiple kings have been erased from history.

Why they were missing?

Because they are horrific kings.

These pharaohs ruled before Ramses and Seti came to power.