For Adolf Hitler victory meant more than the opportunity of implementing his perverse racial view. European conquest and global domination would also enable him to redesign Germany and the occupied territories along the lines of his equally twisted archaeological ambitions. Nazi Victory: The Post-War Plan II: Nazi Megacities, Yesterday 2018
Germania: the city was intended to be nothing less than the capital of the entire world. ibid.
Speer joined the Nazi party in 1931; a young gifted architect, Speer soon rose through the political ranks to become a prominent member of Hitler’s inner circle. ibid.
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, but 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
It’s a story more incredible than fiction. Buried treasure forgotten for more than a thousand years discovered by an amateur metal detecting enthusiast. The find is worth millions … ‘When I first saw the Staffordshire hoard, I think there was a real sense of wonder and fear.’ Lost Gold of the Dark Ages, historian, National Geographic 2019
The largest collection of Anglo Saxon gold ever found. ibid.
The Anglo-Saxons liked to be buried with their bling. ibid.
How were they made? By hand or with a device that’s been lost to history? ibid.
That number rose to more than 4,000 pieces estimated to have come from about 700 complete objects. ibid.
This 19-year-old boy king was laid to rest in his tomb in 1323 BC. 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 BC 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.
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 BC 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.
Euston Station in Central London: one of the capital’s biggest train terminals. Tucked alongside it is St James Gardens. On the face of it, an ordinary park. But look closer and you’ll find clues that there’s a hidden history here. An incredible window into London’s past. Because beneath these seemingly unremarkable gardens lies a vast cemetery, and now part of Britain’s biggest ever archaeological dig. Britain’s Biggest Dig, BBC 2020
The huge excavations here at St James’s: it’s part of major investigations along the 150-mile route of HS2, the new high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham and beyond. But before a track is laid, archaeologists will investigate every hill and valley along the route. The law requires them to excavate and rebury any human remains. ibid.
The cheapest plots were in the east, and the highest status burials were in the west: closer to the chapel, closer to God. ibid.
We move up the line to another gigantic excavation to uncover how Victorian Birmingham grew into a boom town of the industrial revolution. Britain’s Biggest Dig II
London, Spring 2019: next to Euston Station the excavation of the 230-year-old St James’s burial ground is reaching its peak. Hundreds of archaeologists are unearthing the largest cemetery ever dug up in Britain. ibid.
During the Second World War this part of London was targeted by the Luftwaffe, and many bombs detonated in and around the cemetery. ibid.
Digs have already started along the route of HS2. Surveys indicate an important site awaits to be unearthed on average every mile along the route. ibid.
Summer of 2018: Next to the City’s famous Bullring, the Fox & Grapes pub, once part of a vibrant working-class community, is being demolished after it is being surveyed by archaeologists. Across the road lies the giant Park Street burial ground, where archaeologists face another huge task … excavations will range over five hectares … making way for the next 7-platform terminus of HS2. ibid.
At the start of the eighteenth century Birmingham was a market town of just 15,000 people. ibid.
Birmingham: Rare grave goods and coins left on the bones are revealing much about these people’s origins, beliefs and living conditions. And several skeletons show evidence of having been dissected. Britain’s Biggest Dig III
This whole area is destined to become the new 7-platform HS2 railway station. But before construction can begin and to the east of the cemetery site, archaeologists are hoping to find further evidence of the oldest surviving railway terminus in the world. Next to Park Street stands the last remnant of Curzon Street Station. Opened in 1838, less than 10 years after the pioneering locomotive, Stephenson’s Rocket, made railways a viable form of transport. Its neo-classical architecture mirrored the original Euston Station long since demolished at the other end of the line. ibid.
Over the road Boulton built the world’s first factory to pioneer mass production. But by 1848 that factory had closed and few factories like it were built in the city … Birmingham became an industrial boom town but without the factory revolution that was the hallmark of so many other industrial cities. ibid.
Bubastelion Necropolis, Saqqara, Egypt: In November 2018 a small team of Egyptian archaeologists hunting for tombs in an ancient graveyard unearthed the discovery of a lifetime: a complete tomb. Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb, Netflix 2020
For me Saqqara is the most important archaeologists site in Egypt. ibid. Egyptologist
We began our excavation here in the Spring of 2018. ibid.
Since the discovery, experts have been decoding the tomb, searching for clues about Wahtye and his family. ibid.
Wahtye, Purified Priests to the King, Overseer of the Divine Estate, Overseer of the Sacred Boat, Revered with the Great God … ibid. tomb inscription
A remarkable dig site … in the American mid-west … rich in prehistoric remains … This place may hold evidence of one of the most dramatic events … Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough, BBC 2022