Abu Rawash: The Mystery Of Egypt's Missing Pyramid [48:11]

Transcript
· Intro
0:03 · a couple of kilometers west of Cairo lies one of the greatest mysteries of ancient
0:08 · Egypt here in Abu rash no pyramid seems to be visible but when looking from
0:15 · higher up archaeologists discovered fascinating
0:20 · Clues this is a pyramid torn open we can see all the construction details you
0:25 · can't see that anywhere else above this giant pit there used to
0:31 · be one of the greatest buildings of ancient Egypt the Pyramid of a pharaoh ready to do anything to get the most
0:37 · beautiful tomb of all Jed fry this substructure speaks very big
0:47 · ambition experts see this torn open building as a treasure that can be studied from every possible angle if you
0:54 · want to know how the pyramid was built Jif FR pyramid is the best location for
1:00 · you to know that but what exactly did this pyramid look like and why was it completely
1:10 · dismantled in order to find out the answer scientists Reed the special authorization to scan this peculiar
1:16 · pyramid from the air thanks to innovating Technologies such as
1:22 · [Music] photogrammetry this powerful tool is used to obtain an extremely accurate
1:28 · digital 3D copy of of The Monuments through thousands of pictures there's an algorithm in the
1:35 · background that puts the geometry we saw in the field back together this photo is very well showing the whole situation
1:41 · concerned with the geomorphology of the site photogrammetry drones 3D images
1:49 · technology will help us uncover the Mysteries behind pyramid building thanks to the expertese of the greatest
1:54 · archaeologist and egyptologist from the United States Egypt and Europe
2:00 · together they'll try to solve the final Mysteries of the Pyramid of Abu rawash welcome to archaeology 2.0
2:20 · [Music]
· Abu Rawash
2:57 · [Music] abber rash is located 8 km from Cairo
3:04 · this is a colossal complex from ancient Egypt this exceptional site has long
3:10 · been buried under the sand and one must prove worthy of
3:15 · it indeed one needs to climb uphill and sometimes take Uncharted paths to
3:21 · discover one of the best kept secrets of the pho dynasties [Music]
3:30 · here egyptologists believe there once stood a perfect pyramid that was the Tomb of the Pharaoh
3:38 · Jed when it comes to pyramids Abu rawash is a key element related to how they
3:44 · were built we have an aerial view of the burial chamber and we can imagine above
3:50 · it and around the whole pyramid a pyramid for which
3:56 · egyptologists have no written record
4:05 · to try to picture the size and volume of the monument we have to go 8 km East to
4:11 · Giza there stands a small pyramid that of King
4:21 · Manor the Pyramid of mcor shows how J's pyramid probably looked like when it was
4:27 · completed or at least something similar
4:34 · such a pyramid was vital for the king in order to enforce his power and Mark his
4:39 · Reign according to Egyptian beliefs it was intended to help pharaohs achieve eternal
4:45 · life a critical building for
4:51 · jedrey because he wanted to surpass his forefathers and especially his father
4:56 · the famous kufu whose pyramid is one of the seven wonders of the world the only one still
5:02 · standing and so to distinguish himself from the great kufu jedrey used a trick
5:08 · he didn't build his tomb like his father in Giza but 8 km away in Abu
5:14 · rawash and the Pharaoh didn't pick the specific site
5:19 · randomly we don't know what his psychology or what his thinking was because we don't have Jedi's thoughts
5:25 · down in writing but we could assume that one of the reasons he chose abash is
5:31 · because the mountain Rises much higher than the plateau of Giza so he could look down on the plat of Giza he could
5:39 · look down on the Pyramid of his predecessor kufu J wanted his pyramid to be as high
5:46 · as his father's so following the local topography he picked a higher location Abu
5:53 · raash meanwhile in Abu raash there was already an ancient necropolis very rich
5:59 · so this was probably already a sacred area and that extra height will prove
6:05 · useful by building the pyramid up there Jed Fray will naturally be higher than kufu although the ladder reached 146
6:13 · [Music] M thanks to the mountain Jed Frey's pyramid reaches 226 m above sea level
6:22 · whereas kufu is only 206 M that's an impressive pyramid but it's
6:29 · less than half the size of kufu this pyramid is much smaller 106.2 M on each side and 67 M
6:39 · high but the pyramidan is about 25 met above
6:44 · kufus and so he had managed to beat his
6:50 · [Music] predecessor the pyramidan is the very tip of a pyramid resting on top of the
6:58 · building and so jedf fry surpassed kufu thanks to a clever trick yet today this is what's left of
7:06 · this Grand idea ruins the pyramid is almost completely
7:13 · gone Jed fry wanted his memory to outshine that of the other pharaohs but he didn't stand the test of
7:20 · time only 12 M are left of his tomb but why what happened to such a majestic
7:28 · building was what did it look [Music]
· Drone Scanning
7:36 · like in order to solve the mystery archaeologists have received for the first time a special authorization to
7:43 · film this secret place and to study it from every possible
7:50 · angle for the first time a drone will fly over the mortuary complex of Abu
7:55 · raash more than 500 m above the ground this is the only way to fully uncover
8:01 · this huge site to try and Solve the Riddle of this pyramid and understand why it has almost
8:07 · completely disappeared egyptologists agreed to embark on a scientific campaign unlike any
8:14 · other we're going to create a three-dimensions modeling with a resolution down to the
8:20 · millimeter the site is relatively unknown so our work will make it accessible not only to experts but to
8:27 · the general public as well to listen to the secrets of the stones they use Digital Data gathered thanks to a modern
8:34 · technique that is part of archaeology 2.0 photogrametry
8:40 · the idea is to take hundreds even thousands of pictures of a building and then an algorithm will automatically
8:47 · analyze the shots and recreate the geometry that we witnessed in the
8:56 · field thanks to the drones the whole area has been scanned just like a radioscopy put the Drone uh pretty low
9:04 · slowly take uh image yes yeah okay turn it on this
9:10 · side these unique pictures will then be analyzed for several weeks in a laboratory in
9:16 · Paris okay perfect let's go for egyptologists and experts this
9:22 · new technology is incredible at any given time a
9:27 · researcher will be able from his office to check a measurement an angle to confirm his
9:33 · theories it will introduce a new way of working basically in the case of Abu raash a
9:41 · military site often off limit for researchers this new technology will be a vital source of
9:47 · information after weeks of work experts will be able to supply the first
9:55 · discoveries such research could potentially help understand what happened to the pyramid torn
· The Excavations
10:03 · open this site has been of special interest to the Swiss Michelle
10:11 · vogia for 12 years during the early 2000s and without the current technology
10:17 · this archaeologist has brought the site buried under the sand back to life a colossal
10:24 · Endeavor I rented the largest crane in Egypt an 80 ton crane it was amazing its
10:31 · arm could reach more than 20 M long and from there lift blocks that weighed 11
10:37 · tons this is the equivalent of four trucks such a massive Endeavor enabled
10:43 · them to excavate this incredible pit that was at the time almost completely full of
10:49 · Boulders year after year Michelle vogia and his team uncovered the
10:54 · foundations and the egyptologist is positive about one thing this was a
11:02 · pyramid when we arrived on the site it's like the pyramid is under construction
11:07 · we almost expect workers to show up with their stones and start piling them up all of this cannot be observed
11:14 · anywhere else since the pyramid has been dismantled we didn't really know so much
11:21 · about what the original pyramid would have looked like if it was even completed but now thanks to the work of
11:27 · Michelle vogia we have some
11:33 · idea this archaeologist went back in time he studied the existing base to
11:38 · find out information about Jed Fry's pyramid thanks to these excavations Abu
11:45 · raash now offers the unique opportunity to study the inside of a pyramid
11:50 · closely which is impossible anywhere else an amazing opportunity to try to
11:56 · understand the Mysteries behind the construction of legendary pyramids such as those in dashur Sakara or the Giza
12:05 · Plateau experience the past like never before with history hits award-winning
12:11 · original documentaries and adree podcasts with our expert historians like
12:16 · Dan snow Susanna lipom Lucy Worley Mary beard Tristan Hughes and myself Matt
12:22 · Lewis sign up for an exclusive discount using the link in the description and embark on your historical Journey from
12:29 · the wonders of ancient Egypt and the life of anbin to the rise of Napoleon bonapart and the discovery of Shackleton
12:37 · endurance get history Wherever Whenever exclusively on History
12:43 · hit if you want to know how the pyramid was built Jif pyramid is the best
12:50 · location for you to know that you can actually see inside of a pyramid which
12:55 · you are not able to do at the Pyramids of Giza where you now have the finished pyramid
13:02 · and can't see how they actually look inside today we can observe the bared
13:08 · heart of the pyramid yet to analyze this huge gap as best as possible new technologies are
13:18 · vital photogrametry is essential if we are to study the pit in detail and from
13:23 · various angles
· Photogrametry
13:29 · after several months of work Experts of Technology 2.0 have completed their
13:34 · mission computers have analyzed thousands of images to put together the whole site of Abu rash in three
13:49 · dimensions when you arrive in Abu raash you're facing a massive structure but you can't observe the
13:56 · construction details here however we have a global view of the pyramid and
14:01 · the Topography of the [Music]
14:08 · area thanks to the model made of thousands of images we're only one click away from an aerial view or zoom on some
14:15 · specific details photogrametry analyzes the
14:23 · reliefs the perfect tool to understand just how massive this pit really is
14:33 · here we have an aerial view the photometry shows the shaft and
14:38 · inside there's a burial chamber divided into two rooms it's really obvious
14:47 · [Music] here to be able to witness the details of the construction of a burial chamber
14:52 · is exceptional better yet the model generated through photogrametry shows us
14:58 · two two very different rooms this makes Abu rash
15:05 · unique we discovered two different rooms as if they were under
15:10 · construction two Chambers supposed to shelter King Jed's
15:16 · sarcophagus we never found the sarcophagus itself since it completely disappeared but we can imagine that it
15:23 · was embedded in the floor and that the head pointed towards the North
15:29 · the sarcophagus might have laid here at the bottom of this
15:35 · pit a mysterious pit with impressive Dimensions 23 M
15:44 · High we can actually see how they were constructing the burial by then cutting
15:50 · a huge uh pit into the ground that is then something we cannot see um in all
15:56 · of the other pyramids
· Burial Chamber
16:01 · this giant Gap continues to surprise archaeologists
16:07 · today Mark laner is an American egyptologist who spent his life studying
16:13 · pyramids he believes that this incredible hole illustrates the power of King
16:20 · jedrey a nice light on this now isn't it amazing it's like an artificial Canyon
16:26 · jedra might have started smaller less than a quarter the area of his father's
16:31 · pyramid but all of this substructure speaks very big
16:38 · ambition Mark laner considers this burial chamber to be completely different from the one inside the
16:43 · Pyramid of jra's Father faraoh kufu what's critical here is they're not
16:51 · putting these Chambers up in the body of the pyramid like kufu
16:57 · did Jed fry totally changes the building habits of burial Chambers he doesn't
17:02 · copy what his father kufu did meaning burial Chambers built higher up inside
17:07 · the body of the
17:12 · pyramid thanks to a 3D view we can see that the chambers inside kufu are built
17:18 · quite High away from the ground Jed Fry on the other hand wants
17:24 · to innovate by looking at a transparent image of Abu wash it's quite obvious
17:30 · that the chambers are built deep inside the ground this is a brand new architectural
17:38 · process but why choose such a
17:43 · solution this is very very different than what kufu did jeda Builders maybe
17:49 · learning from that said let's just go down put such a chamber down below the
17:55 · foundation level below the Baseline of the pyramid this is not only more practical perhaps
18:02 · but also faster meaning he it takes him less to get to the point this pit was indeed a key step in
18:10 · the pyramid building process before being used as a burial
18:16 · chamber this Digital Image allows us to look below the plateau first conclusion
18:22 · the shaft is also used as a foundation for the pyramid
18:29 · once the chamber is set deeply it's time to build the pyramid on top the entire pit was filled with
18:37 · masonry and the immensity of the pyramid Rose above and yet this pyramid marks a
18:45 · kind of new beginning and can serve as a model for some pyramids both finished
18:50 · and unfinished that came afterwards Jed fry marks the beginning
18:57 · of a new era in architecture thanks to photogrametry and the complete view over the site down to
19:04 · the millimeter experts are able to explore the Mysteries behind the construction of Abu
19:11 · raash two researchers from the French Institute for Oriental archaeology in Cairo are discovering the models and are
19:18 · immediately struck by the location of the pyramid on the
19:25 · plateau we realize how high the structure is why did they build this so close to yes
19:33 · the edge of the pl the advantage of this is that we can
19:39 · go beyond the structure itself and focus on the external
19:44 · topography we can look and study elements that we wouldn't normally see at first because the accuracy of the
19:51 · Topography is very
19:57 · high by going beyond the structure of the pyramid itself and the external kartography photogrametry leads to other
20:06 · discoveries we can see a mountain here this Monument was built on a
20:13 · mountain you mean this is the only bit of mountain left in the area that's for
20:22 · sure what photog gometry clearly shows is that Jed phas Architects very cleverly use the existing rock as the
20:33 · base the Egyptians weren't dumb they didn't pick sites randomly an existing natural hill means
20:41 · that 44% of the total volume of the pyramid is already
20:47 · there 44% almost half of the pyramid this means months perhaps years of work can
20:55 · be saved during the building process
21:00 · during his excavations Michelle vagia was able to calculate this high percentage Jed fry copied the process of
21:07 · his father kufu who had already used a rock base for his
21:13 · pyramid but Jed fry goes one step further by choosing a mountain this then saved them time
21:20 · especially in this lowest part of the pyramid there is quite a lot of and stone that you would need to build this
21:27 · uh base so it it um faster in the first phase of the
21:34 · construction the Egyptian Architects used the hill as a base in the building process to save
21:43 · time Jed fre wanted to be quick and limit the cost by using the mountain and saving
21:48 · [Music]
· Granite
21:55 · Stones Some egyptologists believe such a construction method one that relies so
22:00 · much on the mountain also tells us more about who this King was there's a first clue in his name
22:08 · jedf FR which means as stable as raw the sun
22:16 · god in order to look like raw and be closer to him Jed fry picks this
22:22 · hill another clue the stone used to build the Pyramid an expensive and Shiny
22:27 · Stone that that represented his power thousands of bits of that stone
22:34 · can be found on the ground granite a key element to
22:39 · understand what the building looked like everywhere everywhere you see saw
22:48 · these piles of granite chips I mean it's one of the evidences that jeda used a
22:54 · lot of granite in his casing there are Limestone blocks it's
23:00 · quite cheap we can get them nearby by at the end we add other blocks Granite very
23:06 · tough much harder than Limestone there's a clear goal of building this monument in Granite since
23:13 · they brought it so high and from so far away perhaps not the whole building perhaps just the
23:19 · base I saw that on the eighth layer so about 8 to 9 M high they were still
23:24 · Granite blocks so we can imagine that a casing at the bottom was
23:30 · granite and then it was built with
23:36 · Limestone such massive blocks of granite are extremely solid but difficult to carve and yet the hypothesis is
23:43 · confirmed in the field you can see that they cut they made imp placements for each individual
23:50 · Granite block why does one rise up then it sinks down the reason is because when
23:59 · they move the granite Block in here it was easier to cut away the soft Bedrock
24:05 · to bring the tops of the Granite blocks flush than it was to cut the top of the
24:11 · Granite block Granite is much harder to go even further and analyze
24:17 · the area from angles that are impossible in the field photogrammetry proves once again a useful tool for egyptologists
24:28 · archaeology 2.0 lets us decipher this careful process of ground
24:37 · preparation you can see quite nicely where the casing was placed they were
24:42 · placing first the stones from the corner and then afterwards placing here these going um all along the front side of the
24:50 · pyramid so you can really then reconstruct the sequence of the stone that were're first placing
24:58 · such extensive use of granite is an important Discovery this is a clue that links various pharaohs
25:06 · together it seems that Jed phas pyramid in Abu raash is a Missing Link in
25:12 · analyzing the evolution of the pyramids his father kufu only used fine
25:20 · Limestone for the casing however J's successors cfre and M used granite as
25:25 · well and so the pyramid in Abu raash is is the very first one that makes use of granite for the
25:32 · [Music] casing the granite blocks used for the outer casing have mostly
25:40 · disappeared but the idea was copied indeed Granite casing can be found in
25:45 · mcor's pyramid Jed Fry's
25:51 · nephew by using such Noble material for the casing Jed fry turned out to be a
25:56 · precursor and distinguish himself from his father kufu the stones weigh several
26:02 · hundred tons like giant monoliths so how in the world could
26:08 · Egyptians 2,500 BC manage to move them around and bring them so
· Ramps
26:17 · high an expert in ancient Egypt was particularly interested in the
26:24 · question yanis godon closely studied a famous Theory the theory of the
26:30 · ramps roads like slopes whose ruins can sometimes be found on certain sites
26:36 · there's none left in Abu raash though but experts believe they made it possible to bring the stones from the
26:42 · bottom to the top of the pyramid by letting them slide construction ramps are a key
26:49 · element in Egyptian architecture the ramps had to have a slope of 5 to
26:55 · 10% for instance for a single straight ramp we'd need one or two kilm of ramp
27:01 · to reach the top and bring there extremely heavy
27:07 · blocks however during recent excavations yanis godon discovered a quite unique
27:13 · ramp in the hnub in the south of Egypt that Discovery questions what
27:19 · egyptologists thought they knew about ramps we discovered in hatn a ramp with
27:26 · a slope of about 20 % it means a much shorter distance
27:32 · around 700 M to reach the top of the
27:37 · pyramid and these ramps according to the latest theories could be installed
27:43 · outside the pyramid but also
27:48 · inside in Abu rash the fact that the pyramid is built against The Rock On The
27:54 · Mountain gives us Clues as to what ramp was used [Music]
27:59 · for the base of the pyramid we can be quite sure that in this case they were not using these ramps inside the pyramid
28:06 · because there you have this rock core but the Rams had to be
28:12 · outside but another mystery remains how could such blocks carved to fit each
28:18 · other be lifted and placed precisely where they should according to the architect's
28:23 · blueprints when we take a very close look at the monolith we discover that they're perfectly fitted sometimes
28:30 · without pointing to join two stones archaeological excavations help us better understand what tricks the
28:36 · Pharaohs used we were at a time when people lifted blocks of almost 200 tons they
28:43 · put the Big Blocks on a tough wooden sled and then they'd slide on ramps and they went
28:49 · up so bringing this massive monolith and sliding it right there demanded some
28:55 · work indeed there was probably a ramp that would help bring it here and slide it in that specific
29:02 · slot the final adjustment of the stone probably would have been done with
29:08 · levers and even maybe rollers you always want to keep the stone a little bit up
29:14 · off the surface so you can move it maneuver it and then you boom set it
29:21 · down numerous archaeological Studies have contributed to understanding how the blocks could be placed so perfectly
29:28 · and those same studies also prove that each block was carefully [Music]
29:34 · carved this was in a sense customade so we could have a block measuring 1.5 M
29:42 · and the next one would only be 60 or 50 cm so Egyptians could create Tade pieces
29:49 · and they knew how to be accurate down to a millimeter they also mastered giant
29:55 · constructions such extraordinary abilities are made obvious thanks to photogrametry
30:01 · indeed this modern technology enables new ways of
· Causeway
30:08 · working images from the air show us ruins that the naked eye cannot
30:14 · see for instance this road that is barely visible buried under the
30:20 · sand a road experts call
30:25 · Causeway Abu rawash is CA way is a ramp connecting the temple in the Valley located near what used to be a canal to
30:33 · the mortuary Temple of the pyramid so the causeway was huge it was
30:42 · remarkable theway went all along this track up to the up to the mountain to
30:48 · the northern wing of the retaining wall jedra has his extraordinary massive Causeway 1.7 km
30:57 · long I mean it's huge in the case of this Causeway lost
31:04 · amidst the landscape and barely visible when standing in front of it the 3D model is used as radioscopy to analyze
31:11 · the whole
31:17 · area on this perfect view we can see the cway which was leing from the N Val uh
31:23 · up to the mountains on on on the top of the mountains where the pyramid and the Temple was constructed and this photo is
31:31 · very well showing the whole situation because it's showing the reations of The
31:37 · Monuments in concern with the geomorphology of the site during the
31:43 · construction it was used for the transportation of the blocks which was very complicated logistic
31:52 · thing photogrametry proves that this Causeway was a vital element 4,500 years
31:57 · years after being built it was the main road leading to
32:03 · the mortuary
32:10 · Temple but there's another thing experts find intriguing Abu rash has two giant outer
32:16 · walls whereas most temples only have one first
32:23 · Anomaly by going to one of the Temple's doors another construction detail surprised is the
· Construction Details
32:34 · egyptologists we're at the entrance gate on the east side and we can clearly see how it was built we have Limestone and
32:41 · granite around but the face is made of black bricks this is the Niles silt they
32:48 · gathered mud and mixed it with straw but this is a problem for me we're at a time of great Builders of stone pyramids why
32:56 · would Jenifer use brick especially for his Mortuary Temple the fact that jedra has these mud
33:03 · brick structures even the Chaple and the inner Chapel for worshiping jedra is mud
33:10 · brick it looks very different than what came before with kufu it looks very different this jedra
33:18 · complex this doesn't look like a mortuary Temple for a king of the fourth Dynasty but that's just my opinion
33:26 · [Music] if the sight of Abu raash remains so mysterious it's also because of the
33:33 · outer walls that are clearly seen thanks to photogrametry
· Outer Walls
33:38 · the full view over the site allows researchers to analyze the architectural space in its
33:46 · entirety when studying the 3D images the experts are surprised by the wall whose
33:51 · position in regards to the pyramid is uncommon
33:58 · we clearly see the wall it stands out the outer
34:04 · wall it seems that if we extend the wall it would come all the way to the edge of the
34:10 · plateau we can see part of the wall here so it could be that it turns next to the edge of the
34:20 · slope photogrametry confirms the presence of an outer wall all around the
34:25 · building the wall disappeared near the the edge of the slope but is still obvious on the image and there's another
34:32 · surprise the second wall surrounding the
34:37 · building we have a second outer wall surrounding the building in which Mortuary Temple or complex have you seen
34:43 · gates with the temple none that's why I don't think this is a mortuary Monument
34:49 · the map of this place hasn't been planned like other Mortuary
34:56 · monuments finding hypo es giving meaning to the various
35:01 · buildings such is the difficult work of
35:06 · egyptologists vassel duv believes this brick wall and curious Gates prove that
· Sun Temple
35:11 · Abu rash was not a pyramid used as a tomb why because a mortuary Temple is
35:18 · closed to the public only High priests can go inside but vasel D sees in these
35:24 · Gates the sign that the place was open to the public [Music]
35:30 · he believes Jed fry ordered the construction of a sun Temple for The God Who created the universe
35:39 · raw if I want to start a sun worship if I want to be closer to the Sun that's
35:44 · where I'd go why Abu rash Abu means the place in Egyptian Rah is RW wash means
35:51 · to honor God why looking for a mortuary pyramid
35:59 · although Sun worship was growing at the time in Egypt other experts have a different opinion and on this specific point there
36:07 · are many theories we know that at this time there was a big emphasis on the sun worship
36:15 · and the Sun and its combination with kingship and that therefore that shows
36:20 · this was a symbolic a temple a kind of shrine of sorts to the sun rather than
36:25 · the king's tomb I I think that's correct it is not a sun Temple at all
36:33 · the pyramid looks like a hole and this why it made some people to think it's a
36:38 · sun Temple but it's a pyramid was built for
36:43 · Jif yet this Mortuary complex built with bricks rather than noble Stones remains
36:49 · a mystery why would jety accept this after
36:55 · all he wanted to build a pyramid that would be higher and more Majestic than that of other kings before
· Descending Passage
37:04 · him it's quite possible that the king died after the pyramid was completed but
37:09 · before the rest of the structures they were supposed to ensure the permanence of his Mortuary cult were
37:16 · finished and that would be a reason that would explain why Architects chose raw bricks for such
37:25 · structures so jedy was perhaps an important King who imagined a magnificent tomb that was completed in a
37:32 · rush the rest of the pyramid proves that Egyptian Architects built an amazing
37:37 · Monument a monument that shows their Mastery of geometry and mountainous
37:43 · areas it's especially visible in the huge slope that crosses the pyramid a
37:49 · very steep Corridor that egyptologists call the descending
37:56 · passage let the descending passage was supposed to lead to the burial Chambers
38:01 · however at the time once the work was done the pit and the Gap were totally invisible hidden by the body of the
38:09 · pyramid you can still see some of the evidence some of the masonry from this original passage which would have been
38:16 · narrow maybe as narrow as 2 cubits 1.05 M so what looks massive today was
38:24 · actually reduced to a tiny Corridor where you had to Bend forward to be able to reach the burial
38:31 · chamber thanks to photogrametry we can go below the pyramid inside the hill
38:39 · itself here we discover a 3D version of the descending passage and the burial
38:45 · chamber so the descending passage in Abu rash is a model to help understand how the corridors leading to the burial
38:51 · Chambers were built in pyramids such as kufo before
· Why The Descending Passage
38:58 · they were completed they also had such big gaps leading to the burial
39:04 · Chambers and so the very narrow corridors were first big slopes such as the one in Jet's
39:14 · pyramid alaj is just one phase of the building
39:20 · so now it looks so different but if it ever was finished it would have looked quite similar to the pyramids of dasua
39:27 · for s another Discovery also helps to
39:33 · understand another element found in many [Music] pyramids when searching Abu rash around
39:41 · the year 2000 archaeologist Michelle volia and his team calculated the angle of the access Corridor and reached a
39:48 · result of 27° a very symbolic number for
39:55 · Egyptians the 27° Le points towards the North Star which is a circumpolar star
40:01 · meaning a star that never disappears and that the dead King wants to be associated with it's another way of
40:09 · being reborn the passage was thus created to
40:16 · be a path to Eternity for the
40:21 · Pharaoh just like in every building they make Egyptians use cosmogony to come up with perfect results
40:27 · [Music] what's striking is their ability to
40:32 · combine the religious Dimension with technical aspects the descending passage is 5.5 m
40:39 · wide which is huge for a path that's supposed to receive a coffin that is maybe 50 cm wide you need it in order to
· The Burial Chamber
40:47 · introduce all the materials including huge Granite blocks probably for the
40:53 · burial chamber so basically it's a construction ramp first and then they build the passage
41:00 · within it in this fine Limestone and then fill in around
41:05 · it excavations led us see how the descending passage in Abu raash was also
41:11 · probably a construction ramp and so its role wouldn't be purely
41:16 · religious but practical too it is thanks to this ramp that
41:21 · workers were able to build a Sumptuous burial chamber in Granite here to the West western part of
41:27 · the pit I see here a granite block sitting on the Limestone subfloor it
41:34 · definitely is in place because here's the mortar bonding it to the mother rock all of these blocks of granite
41:41 · couldn't possibly come from the outside so it's a proof that one or more inner
41:46 · Chambers were covered in Granite the fact that the chamber was
41:53 · covered in Granite is another clue for archaeologists it confirms that the burial chamber was
42:00 · indeed here because such costly stones have been used in other Pharaoh's
42:08 · tombs just the fact that they do remain in place probably is an indication is an
42:15 · evidence that there was a granite Vault here and we have to reconstruct what was
42:20 · here on the basis of such evidence but also on the basis of parallels with
42:26 · other Royal tombs just about this time period everything seems to indicate that
42:33 · this is indeed the Royal tomb of jedrey a tomb that has been completely devastated and
42:39 · plundered but how when the tomb was built with a granite a stone that is
42:44 · incredibly difficult to carve on the western side he found a
42:51 · tunnel cut right here through the pavement of the passage
42:57 · and even through the Bedrock right across the corner to the West End of the
43:03 · pit we have the blueprints of the whole process from the entrance of the pyramid they dug inside the
43:10 · Limestone followed the descending passage and went down inside the floor
43:15 · of the Vault it probably happened soon after
43:21 · the burial of the king because these people knew what they were doing
43:28 · to confirm this hypothesis and visualize the path the thieves took photogrametry is the perfect
43:41 · tool we still see the beginning of a hole going below the burial chamber this hole only makes sense if there was a
43:47 · mountain a chamber and if the masonry was made of granite which is extremely hard to pierce
44:00 · Jed fr's tomb was therefore completely vandalized by his contemporaries but what about the rest
44:05 · of the
· The Roman Quarry
44:11 · structure pyramids have stood the test of time because their Architects were able to build extremely solid
44:18 · monuments and the foundation of Jed's pyramid is perfect experts believe the answer is
44:24 · simple there was a time when these piles of granite chips fed into the idea that
44:31 · there was some violent family dispute and that's why jedra came to abash to
44:37 · leave the household of hufu at Giza but what is very clear now from Thea vogia
44:45 · and his team excavated this represents Roman quaring of Jed's Granite
44:53 · casing this discovery was made by Michelle vagia during EX excavations in ALU raash around the year
45:00 · 2000 right from when the Romans invaded Egypt in 200 BC Jed Fry's pyramid was
45:06 · completely dismantled we uncovered things layer
45:13 · after layer we saw layers of sand that were brought by the wind and Below there
45:18 · were Pottery fragments from the Roman period we even found traces of cranes at
45:23 · the bottom of the descending passage used to remove blocks gather them and use them somewhere else the site has
45:30 · been used as a quarry since the Roman time and almost up until the 19th century part of the reason that Jed's
45:37 · pyramid was so robbed of the granite in Roman times it may be that
45:43 · this Causeway was a very convenient way to take the granite and haul it down from the high
45:50 · Plateau unlike Giza which is hard to reach and lost in the middle of the desert Abu rash had this Causeway
45:58 · connected to the Nile the Romans had everything they needed a monument to be
46:03 · used as a stone quarry and a road to carry the stones the pyramid is quite close to the
46:10 · City of Cairo at any time during the Roman
46:16 · period the medieval period um the stones could have been used for the city walls of Cairo for example or for the Palaces
46:24 · and so on so
46:30 · and so abber raash was used to build Cairo but jedras pyramid despite being
46:36 · dismantled today offers a fascinating image it's as if it's in the middle of
46:42 · its building process as if time had stopped a pyramid that offers insight to
46:48 · understand how pyramids were built this pyramid actually in my
46:55 · opinion it's a perfect the place to find out how the pyramid was constructed and
47:01 · yet here it marks a kind of new beginning where Kings built pyramids
47:06 · with Chambers and passageways just at or just below ground level this is a site
47:13 · that gives us a lot of information on the ancient empire I wish it would be preserved so
47:21 · the general public could grasp the tremendous efforts intelligence and cleverness of the Egyptians who created
47:28 · such extraordinary monuments Jed phas pyramid in abber rash
47:36 · remains a key element to understand the secrets of Egyptian Architects Advanced analysis thank to
47:43 · Technologies used in archaeology 2.0 have confirmed theories archaeologists had regarding the processes to build
47:51 · pyramids but the site has yet to be fully searched and could very well still be hiding important elements
47:57 · [Music] Jed phas Pyramid has yet to reveal all
48:03 · its secrets

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.