Egypt Unwrapped - Secrets of the Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings is the most famous royal burial ground in the world. Now modern specialists are finding new evidence to solve enigmas locked beneath the sands for three and a half thousand years. The elaborately decorated tunnels and chambers, boring deep into the bedrock, mark a new tradition of royal burial, and experts search for the reasons behind this break with the past. They find answers in the rough tomb and magnificent temple of Queen Hatshepsut, one of Egypt’s few female rulers and perhaps the first to order a tomb cut in the valley. An examination of the engineering techniques of the ancients reveals their ingenious methods to overcome problems of geology, and the sophisticated organisation behind the mining operation. Finally archaeologists investigate why the Pharaohs stopped building in the valley after 500 years. The recent discovery of a massive, multi-chambered tomb suggests overcrowding may have been the cause, but exploration of the last tomb ever dug here reveals a sudden abandonment, brought on by the threat of rebellion and tomb-robbers.