Inside Egypt's lost golden city

Tonight, a world built by this ancient Egyptian pharaoh is being unearthed street by street. The largest city ever found in Egypt. All this area completely new. All of this is new now? Completely. NBC News give an exclusive access to a city from three millennia ago. A phenomenal find. Four years on, they're still excavating. Discovering a community built with stunning skill and ingenuity. This is the main street. Yeah. This serpentine wall, look at it. This is unique in the city. Yes. Why the Egyptian made this serpentine wall? This curving wall, like a snake through the city. The reason that the ancient Egyptian made this, there was lots of flood happens here. Flood. Then they made this, then the water can go in between them. Ah. And not to destroy the city. And the second thing, they can use this. They can use this area for cooking. Yes. For any work. For storage. Yes. Then this is a space that the ancient Egyptian could really use. Yes. And this is amazing. Claire, look at this. You want to hold it? There's new art, pottery, painted with the portrait of a goddess. Oh my goodness, that's incredible. This is the royal jar for the king to drink. Am I allowed to take it? You are. I'm not a king. I give you permission. Okay. Royal permission. I'm the king. Secrets of a golden city buried beneath the sand since the days of Nefertiti and Tutankhamun. Nefertiti walked these streets. She would have known this place. Of course, yes. Because she lived here. Three and a half thousand years ago, these pharaohs were like gods. Look at them. And NBC News has fresh details of how these kings likely wielded their power. People's lives were turned upside down because of that. The sun, new evidence suggests, slowly became the one god called Aten. This is the most beautiful thing. I call this the house of Aten. And this could be something for the workmen to come every day and bow and worship Aten. The power of Aten behind the sun disk. Yeah, that's amazing. Then, a religious revolution. The king, called Akhenaten, commanded his people to create a new community of worship. The king gave an order to everyone. Yes, to leave. Everyone has to go to Amarna. The buildings were bricked up. This is one example only. If we go inside here, you can see this everywhere. And the entire city evacuated. An early Egyptian exodus, leaving their lives behind like an ancient Pompeii. This city gives us important information about religion, about the life of the high standard of people. The artisans and the craftsmen. It also gives us about the daily life of the people. From the mundane. So this is a wash basin. Yeah. Or a shower. Yeah, a shower. Would you stand in it? I don't think standing. It's washing faces. To the bazaar. Look at this. This is the remains of a cow. Animal skeletons arranged in rooms for religious rites. This is the big lake down here. And, back then, ships carried cargo to the city. While in recent months, they found something like a police station or administrative center. And imagine, 3,000 years ago, how this area looked like. You have the palace. Yes. On the south. You have the city. And you have the temple. How the people here need to be controlled. If anyone fight each other, who will judge? This is a place that the officials will sit. Maybe guards, policemen, people. This is the place that controlled the area 3,000 years ago. Wow. Ancient Egyptian history is shrouded in mystery. But this city is providing new facts and theories. One feels familiar today. Perhaps the king's decision to change everything followed deepening social division. The priestess of Amun, Akarnak, hated him. He built a temple of Akarnak. Then they had a fight with him. And he was a very peaceful man. He did not want to fight anyone. He was not strong like his father. His dad died. And he decided to have a new beginning. To start life again in a completely different place. And everybody had to go with him. Yes. He's the king. Across the site, in a storeroom. Oh, this is a sandal of a child. In the palace. A royal child. Children's shoes. Look at that little sandal. Yeah. It's like a child's shoe. Tiny little Egyptian feet. Yeah, exactly. And a preserved fish, brushed with gold. So this fish was covered in gold? Yes. It's a real fish? It's a real fish, yes. Look. And then they covered it in gold? Yes. Why? I don't know. And even, what looks like, a tool for cooking pizza. Still used in nearby villages to make bread. A culinary connection through millennia to ancient ancestors who lived in this glorious golden city. Glorious golden city. So Kir, this lost golden city, so much more insight now into the lives of the people there 3,000 years ago, right? Gary, we do know much, much more as a result of the discovery of the golden city. Listen, ancient Egyptian history is few facts and lots of theories. We now have a boatload more facts, but many, many mysteries still, including why did the people of the golden city leave everything, brick up those houses, leave everything intact the way that they did? Were they in such a hurry? Did they think the place was cursed? Were they following the pharaoh but reserving judgment about whether or not he was actually right, Gadi? Because we know they did come back under other rulers, including Tutankhamun. One of the magical things about Egyptology, Gadi, is not just what we know but what we don't know. Kir, so true. And, man, it would take quite the curse to make me leave this city. Kir, incredible story. Thank you. Thanks for watching. Stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media.