The glory days of ancient Egypt lasted for over 3,000 years. During that time a love of gold consumed its Pharaohs. While its military might dominated neighbouring kingdoms, a proud people from the south rose up to conquer their overlords and became the black pharaohs of Egypt. Little is known of their 75-year reign. But now fresh clues are being explored about the Nubians who used gold, gods and grit to conquer all of Egypt. Black Pharaohs: Empire of Gold, National Geographic 2019
Egyptian mummies: relics of an ancient civilisation. Wrapped tight for 5,000 years. Tutankhamun died at 19 without leaving an heir. Now some of his most personal items suggest a pharaoh plagued by illness. And mysterious remains buried alongside him expose the dark secrets of his downfall. The Last Pharaoh, National Geographic 2019
It took Carter and his team ten years to remove the treasures and transport them across the desert to Cairo. ibid.
Inside these coffins were two tiny mummified skeletons. ibid.
This 19-year-old boy king was laid to rest in his tomb in 1323 B.C. His mummified body hidden away behind that famous golden mask. Dan Snow, The Tutankhamun Mystery, Channel 5 2020
Tutankhamun was one of the most powerful men on Earth. Like all pharaohs he died wanting his name to live for ever. It was his path to immortality. But from the day Tutankhamun was sealed into his tomb in 1323 B.C. until the time he was uncovered by Howard Carter, the rest of the world pretty much forgot about him. ibid.
Luxor [Thebes] is about four miles that way on the other side of the Nile … Over here on the west bank of the Nile, this was a place of the dead. ibid.
By 1922, 61 royal tombs had already been discovered here … These royal tombs are absolutely astonishing, massive underground palaces that took years to build and were entirely dug out by hand. ibid.
Tutankhamun’s enormous empire stretched from the north of Africa to into the Middle East. This teenager ruled over 3,000,000 people. ibid.
25th November 1922: Howard Carter broke the sealed entrance to his tomb. As he gets inside what he finds is this: a gently sloping passage leading down into the bowels into the Earth: it was filled right to the top with rubble to try and deter tomb-raiders. The techniques they used to clear this passage are still in use. ibid.
And Carter replied, ‘Yes. Wonderful things.’ ibid.
It was and it still is the most incredible archaeological discovery ever made. ibid.
Evidence suggests he may well have had malaria when he died. Was this the cause of his death? … The femur, the largest bone in the human body, is completely snapped … This catastrophic injury would have almost certainly been fatal. ibid.
One way a young king could suffer such a terrible injury was in battle … The CT scan of his body suggested bone degeneration and a clubbed foot … Over 130 walking sticks were found in the tomb. ibid.
This mould isn’t seen in any other royal tomb: it only grows in damp conditions indicating the paint was still wet when Tut was sealed in his tomb. So the decoration must have taken place in the last few days before his burial. ibid.
So many things just don’t add up: a botched mummification, a small tomb, burial treasures not for him. And now last-minute art work. ibid.
Behind us is the Valley of the Kings, burial place of the most famous pharaoh of them all: Tutankhamun. He lay undisturbed right here under these sands for more than 3,000 years. Until they discovered his treasure-filled tomb in 1922. Dan Snow, The Tutankhamun Mystery II
Tut’s tomb was so small that first Carter thought he had only found a storage chamber. ibid.
The Valley of the Kings: for 500 years the sacred burial place of ancient Egypt’s pharaohs. In 1323 B.C. another would be laid to rest here: for 19-year-old Tutankhamun was close to death, suffering from malaria and bone necrosis. Then in this weakened state he broke his leg. Dan Snow, The Tutankhamun Mystery III
Deep in the heart of Egypt beyond colossal magnificent temples lies a secret mountainous valley hiding some of the most spectacular archaeological finds the world has ever seen … the royal cemetery of the pharaohs … It’s know as the Valley of the Kings. Dan Snow: Into the Valley of the Kings, Channel 5 2022
For the three thousand years after the pharaohs were buried the rubble piled up high. ibid.
Loret had unearthed one of the Valley of the Kings most significant finds so far. A secret hiding place, known as a royal cache, where the mummified remains of the pharoahs and their families had been hidden far from their own tombs to keep them safe. ibid.
There has never been a discovery like it, not before, not since. On 26th November 1922 after five long years scouring Egypt’s legendary Valley of the Kings, British Egyptologist Howard Carter and his aristocratic backer Lord Carnarvon broke into the tomb of Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun in Colour, BBC 2020
The discovery was captured using amateur films and early newsreel for the cinema, along with thousands of high-quality black and white photographs. ibid.
‘Presently, details of the room emerged slowly from the mist: strange animals, statues and gold. Everywhere the glint of gold. I was struck dumb with amazement.’ ibid. Howard Carter
In all there were four shrines each within the next. ibid.
On the edge of the Nile delta a major archaeological dig has begun. This is the search for the real historic Cleopatra: the leader, the politician, the scholar, and it’s attempting to shed more light on Queen Cleopatra and her dynasty: the Ptolemies. The Hunt for Cleopatra’s Tomb, Glenn Godenho reporting, Channel 5 2020
They were the last in the line of pharaonic dynasties that governed here for over three thousand years. They came to power in 305 B.C. and ruled for almost three centuries. ibid.
Not a single pharaoh’s tomb has been found in Egypt from the time of the Ptolemies, and there is little archaeological evidence from that period. ibid.
November 1922: After years searching, a tomb is unearthed. A long lost pharaoh disturbed and desecrated. A deadly curse thousands of years old is awakened. Those who entered are in grave peril from the Curse of Tutankhamun. The Curse of King Tut, Channel 5 2020
Louisa May Alcott: Lost in a Pyramid or, The Mummy’s Curse. ibid.
Archaeologists had unearthed few artefacts from the pharaohs’ tombs in the Valley; ancient Egyptian grave robbers had beaten western treasure hunters to it by millennia. ibid.
The silent enigma of the pyramids can be like a blank canvas ready to accept the latest outlandish theory about its builders … The Pharaoh Khufu ordered the construction of this engineering marvel as a monument and tomb for all eternity, and yet we know very little about the man himself. Egypt’s Great Pyramid Uncovered, Channel 4 2020
So really it was in the interests of Khufu to have a happy well-fed well-organised and healthy workforce. ibid. Salima Ikram
Even by modern standards it’s an engineering phenomenon … It weighs some six million tons. ibid.
Why put so much effort into aligning the pyramids so accurately? … It mirrored the pharaoh’s only supernatural alignment with the sun-god Ra. ibid.
At the heart of the pyramid is a granite tomb where the dead king’s mummified body would lie for an eternity. ibid.