Name: Mystery of the Broken Seal (Full Episode) | Kingdom of the Mummies | National Geographic
Uploaded: 2026-03-06T17:06:59.000Z
Duration: 44 min 25 s
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Deep beneath the Egyptian desert, a team of archaeologists is preparing to open a two and a half thousand year old sarcophagus.

Adverbs of manner

This is surely one of the most intriguing burial chambers and it contains the largest stone sarcophagus in this complex.

Modal verbs - B1

When we find an object like this, the only thing we need to know is the person inside.

But there are signs that the stone casket has been tampered with.

I keep looking at this sarcophagus, it is not even, it is a little bit tilted.

Then comes this part right here where there is a mortar attached to the lid but not to the box, the sarcophagus.

This lid has been opened at least once and resealed right here.

Inside the necropolis of Saqqara, archaeologist Dr.

Ramadan Hussain updates his team on the latest findings from one of the most important sites in Egypt today.

A newly discovered two and a half thousand year old funeral home where ancient Egyptians, rich and poor, were mummified and laid to rest deep underground.

The significance of this mummification and burial complex lies in one fact, that we have never found an actual building that we can say securely this is where the preparation of the mummies took place.

The team is partway through investigating this unique site.

Their findings are transforming our understanding of mummification, both as a religious rite and a business.

There were so many people being mummified in ancient Egypt that really it was one of the biggest industries that you have going.

The people who are working inside the complex here were not just embalmers, they were also business people.

To reach the complex, the team must descend a vertical shaft known as K24.

At the bottom of this void, carved into the bedrock, lies a mysterious engraving.

We are now 30 meters deep and we have this entrance that's about 2 meters wide.

But what is so important about it is this engraving on the top.

If you follow the outline from the feet to the chest, and

this rounded depression would be the head.

Once I saw this, I realized that we're pretty much coming into something that is related to mummies.

Further investigation has confirmed Ramadan's hunch.

Laser scans of the site reveal an intricate network of shafts and passageways stretching 100ft down and ending in a set of burial chambers from around 600 BC.

In one of these chambers is a large stone sarcophagus weighing a colossal 12 tons.

And today, the team begins the challenging task of investigating it.

This is Surely one of the most intriguing viral chambers in this complex.

The height of the ceiling is almost 3 meters high, and

And it contains the largest stone sarcophagus in this complex that is almost as high as I am right now.

And when we find an object like this, the only thing we need to know is the person.

Fortunately, that person left behind an important clue.

When the chamber was first opened, the floor around the sarcophagus was covered in a thick layer of sand containing a large number of grave goods connected to the rituals of mummification and burial.

Among these sacred objects is a set of beautifully carved stone jars.

What we found here are these canobic jars, and

they are containers of the organs that have been extracted during the mummification process, mummified and then stored inside these jars.

They're important for an archaeologist because they're usually inscribed with the name of the owner of these cannabic jars.

Written here, that reedleaf, a falcon and the quail chick, and the T sign all together reads Iawit.

Eyawit literally means the Old One or the Wise One.

This is how Egyptians used to imagine old age.

Armed with a name, Ramadan now has another mystery to solve, and it surrounds Iyouwet's sarcophagus.

It's not in the correct position because it's not lined up with the box right here.

Then comes this part right here where there's a mortar attached to the lid, but

So putting together that position of the lid that is not lining up with the box, along with this mortar that is not meeting the edges of the box and the lid, it tells me one thing, that the old ceiling has been broken right here and this lid lifted up at some point and repositioned.

And I'm sure that it happened 2,600 years ago in antiquity.

If Ramadan is right and the Yowet sarcophagus has been opened, then the worry is that it might have suffered the same fate as some other burials from the complex.

Near the shaft leading to Iyohat's burial chamber is a small tomb known as L25.

In it are two stone sarcophagi that archaeologist Mohammad Rehan has come to inspect.

It's just in the east side of the embankment workshop.

And it's really tiny, it's very small as we see when we first came down here, we saw the legend was beside the coffin and the mummy here.

Just small fragments as we see here, from wood, bones and textiles.

And as you see here, we are missing the main part of the mummy we have already had.

And we was asking ourselves what was going on in this tomb?

Based on the level of damage, there is only one explanation.

When archaeologists excavate tombs, 99%, 99.9% of the time they've been robbed.

And they were robbed sort of serially from the time of burial onwards.

First because people wanted the gold and the grave good and sometimes they just even wanted the beer and the wine that was in the tomb.

So tombs have been robbed through the ages.

So could the broken seal on Iowate's sarcophagus be a clue that like most coffins, it's been robbed?

The first wave of tomb robbers tended to be the people who knew where the tombs were.

So they could have been the workers who helped the build the tombs or the priests who helped bury the dead.

To get to the bottom of this mystery, the team will need to open up the casket and look inside.

It is an important moment for all of us to discover what is inside it.

Outside Yowet's burial chamber, Egyptologist Dr.

Ramadan Hussein and his team are about to begin the epic task of opening his giant 12 ton sarcophagus.

Getting ready to lift up this 26 year old lid is very exciting and intense moment.

It gets even more intense when you see what's inside.

With signs that the sarcophagus has been tampered with, Ramadan is anxious to discover whether it's been plundered by grave robbers.

Since the lid alone weighs close to a full sized elephant, lifting it will be no simple task.

In charge of the operation is project engineer Dr. Ayman Hamed.

Moving this sarcophagus lid is a big challenge.

I think Ayman is concerned by how Amar, the site's experienced foreman, is intending to jack up the lid.

He wants to fit the tip of the jack like that and take it up.

What I think is safer is slide the lead to the side so we will create enough space to jack the led safely and freely.

I hope that he will understand this point of view.

When Ayman heads down the shaft, though, he discovers that Ammar is using his own method.

I'm furious because I don't like this way.

They are working in the limits and the limits never work.

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Mystery of the Broken Seal (Full Episode) | Kingdom of the Mummies | National Geographic

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