1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,839 So we're just at the Maidoum pyramid here in Egypt for the first 2 00:00:29,839 --> 00:00:37,039 time, first time I've been here with Jim and Youssef and JJ and the crew and it's a hug... 3 00:00:37,039 --> 00:00:42,079 it's much bigger than I thought, much bigger. There's also a chamber we're going to look at 4 00:00:42,079 --> 00:00:46,399 and also there's a master bar which has got some remarkable interior we're going to ch... 5 00:00:46,399 --> 00:00:52,560 well and it's been linked with various pharaohs, Neferu, supposed to be the East... 6 00:00:53,359 --> 00:00:58,000 in some reports but there seems to be a much earlier phase, a megalithic phase, like we... 7 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:06,079 at many other sites like Hawara here at Maidoum. Maidoum pyramid is one of the old... 8 00:01:06,079 --> 00:01:14,879 Egypt, it's said to be the second pyramid built after Saqqara around 2700-2600 BC... 9 00:01:14,879 --> 00:01:20,879 could be slightly younger than that. Interestingly originally it would have had... 10 00:01:20,879 --> 00:01:25,439 as the Great pyramid but what we can see today is quite different, you can see in t... 11 00:01:25,439 --> 00:01:30,239 that it's like a step pyramid between seven and eight layers, only about three you can... 12 00:01:30,239 --> 00:01:36,400 still see today but it would have had a casing over it so it would have looked lik... 13 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:43,519 classic style pyramid. Now we have this huge base on it as well and it appears that the... 14 00:01:43,519 --> 00:01:52,319 a sort of huge kind of platform there which spread much wider than the original pyrami... 15 00:01:52,319 --> 00:01:59,599 step structure on top which again later according to archaeologists then it was li... 16 00:01:59,599 --> 00:02:05,519 create smooth sides but before we look at the pyramid itself we're going to go and have ... 17 00:02:05,519 --> 00:02:12,560 at Mastaba 17. Now this is a really interesting part of the site, it's a kind ... 18 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:19,759 burial site, a burial area of the actual temple complex and the interior is really... 19 00:02:19,759 --> 00:02:25,519 interesting because on the outside it's kind of mud bricks but on the inside we can see... 20 00:02:25,519 --> 00:02:30,560 it's quite different and it's actually quite unique and the technology here, the stone... 21 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:37,919 quality is a whole different level to what we find in the main Meydum pyramid and on the... 22 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:43,439 surface. If you look at the image here you can actually see the smoothness of the sto... 23 00:02:43,439 --> 00:02:48,639 this leads into this large t-shaped kind of chamber, there's many of these chambers al... 24 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:54,639 the Meydum complex and at the end of it there's a really really sophisticated ston... 25 00:02:54,639 --> 00:03:01,679 sarcophagus with a great big lid much like we find in the Serapium or similar kind of tombs 26 00:03:01,679 --> 00:03:07,599 around the Giza plateau and this is a whole different quality to what we find anywhere... 27 00:03:07,599 --> 00:03:13,599 but it's worth noting here as an anomaly and you can see the carving there the kind of... 28 00:03:13,599 --> 00:03:20,879 type lid we find here but overall Meydum is a very interesting site, it's a very unusual... 29 00:03:20,879 --> 00:03:28,799 the main pyramid is really made mainly of kind of limestone with very little other k... 30 00:03:28,799 --> 00:03:34,879 within the structure itself apart from what we find in these chambers in mastaba 17 an... 31 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:52,319 So all over the Meydum complex there are many many structures there are many kind of almost 32 00:03:52,319 --> 00:03:58,479 hypergium caves here we can see in the distance many of the stones and even that... 33 00:03:58,479 --> 00:04:04,159 distance is actually made from these stones that came from the pyramid. Here we see th... 34 00:04:04,159 --> 00:04:10,479 the lower levels which you climb up to this is actually just inside the corridor as yo... 35 00:04:11,119 --> 00:04:16,800 to the base or an actual chamber which is pretty much a ground level but look at the... 36 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:24,000 the stonework it's a whole different level to what you see when you continue walking dow... 37 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:31,120 down to this chamber. Now it's really interesting so you have this really high... 38 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:36,639 levels of the entrance and then it gets worse and the rest of the pyramid it's kind of... 39 00:04:36,639 --> 00:04:42,879 it's very neatly carved but lots of it's been damaged it's been shattered and when you... 40 00:04:42,879 --> 00:04:49,199 get into the chamber itself you realize there must be more here there's even suggestions 41 00:04:49,199 --> 00:04:54,079 and I was talking to Yousef Awian about this who's in this video and he suggests there may 42 00:04:54,079 --> 00:05:00,240 be many more chambers so we've reached one level here and we're about to climb up to ... 43 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:08,480 chamber the only one really that exists within the actual pyramid. You can see her... 44 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:19,360 natural bedrock right here and you can see some logs of wood that is brought from... 45 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:29,040 original was the structure or ancient renovation we find also the same one insid... 46 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:36,480 in the higher chamber which is mysterious to archaeologists. So as you climb up into th... 47 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:42,160 chamber you can see it's quite small compared to what you find say in the red pyramid or... 48 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:49,439 on the Giza plateau and it's like cobbled kind of roof coming inwards it's quite nea... 49 00:05:49,439 --> 00:05:54,560 you can even see the wooden beams there as well which are still present actually insi... 50 00:05:54,560 --> 00:06:00,560 of the structure it has very interesting resonance it has acoustic properties but i... 51 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:06,800 like there's much more to be found literally within this pyramid there's like could be... 52 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:13,360 more chambers for a long time they related this one as well to Sanifru but then they... 53 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:18,800 might be for his father Houni and then Sanifru completed there are no conclusive... 54 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:25,280 the whole thing yeah are some hieroglyphs in the mortuary temple which we can see befor... 55 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:32,480 namastab but there is more graffiti than hieroglyphs same like here until today people 56 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:38,400 can come here and scratch their names and sites so some of these were probably made... 57 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:47,040 so we're just inside the chamber inside the maydun pyramid it's got the cobbled roof... 58 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:53,200 see just above me there and this is where we find most pyramids actually it's really... 59 00:06:53,200 --> 00:07:00,160 and this is like half in the bedrock half in the pyramid so it's on ground level and it... 60 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:05,200 where are the rest of the where are the rest of them this is the only chamber apparentl... 61 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:12,080 the whole pyramid and again it's the old kingdom possibly the father of Sanifru or... 62 00:07:12,079 --> 00:07:19,839 really knows who it was for what it was for but on the outside you can see these seven... 63 00:07:19,839 --> 00:07:25,439 but actually it was a flat faced very high pyramid in this chamber what's also... 64 00:07:25,439 --> 00:07:31,039 is that not only can we see the beautiful cobbled roof and the way these chambers ar... 65 00:07:31,039 --> 00:07:36,479 in many of the pyramids but there was actually a sarcophagus in here however whe... 66 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:42,960 came in here in the late 1800s the sarcophagus was actually a wooden one and ... 67 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:50,400 it wasn't impressive but what we do find all over the whole plateau at maydun is a numb... 68 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:56,640 chambers and even sarcophagi that are still present actually out on the sand which you 69 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:02,400 still see today so we're just heading back out now heading back out to uh we're going... 70 00:08:02,399 --> 00:08:07,759 going back out to the main pyramid and here we're going to walk around to the eastern... 71 00:08:07,759 --> 00:08:14,479 and we're going to take a look at this quite unusual almost seems unfinished mortuary... 72 00:08:14,479 --> 00:08:19,679 which unusually is on a side of the pyramid we don't usually find it on this kind of... 73 00:08:19,679 --> 00:08:25,439 side although there are elements of that on the giza plateau and again this appears to... 74 00:08:25,439 --> 00:08:30,399 all the stones have been taken away it doesn't look much from the outside but it ... 75 00:08:30,399 --> 00:08:38,000 megalithic slabs making up the lintels the roof and also some actually outside the ba... 76 00:08:38,639 --> 00:08:43,759 where we have like two huge uprights there are even carvings on this particular wall... 77 00:08:43,759 --> 00:08:49,439 yousef's going to show us in a moment some of it dates back to the dynastic egyptian time 78 00:08:53,039 --> 00:08:59,679 you can see some of it here where is it where ah you see here is a falcon here you see it 79 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:08,079 oh yeah it's in a black color and the part of the symbol nacht underneath it the arm 80 00:09:11,519 --> 00:09:12,559 the symbol bech 81 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:21,199 the symbol nil so it's ancient egyptian graffiti yet this is what academics depend... 82 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:29,039 so they can get any information about the site which obviously is something that can... 83 00:09:30,399 --> 00:09:37,919 but this is what dated the site to the third dynasty anyway 84 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:08,079 so here there could be part of what we understand also as the false door but had ... 85 00:10:08,079 --> 00:10:13,519 here because we have the hotem here and usually the hotem is right in front of the... 86 00:10:13,519 --> 00:10:19,679 so again this esoteric gateway that opens a channel between this world and the other... 87 00:10:20,319 --> 00:10:28,240 if i think of those i would think also resonance as well what's a hotem hotem is... 88 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:36,560 kind of like yeah what does it refer to what's the name means hotem means peace fo... 89 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:44,080 these on the eastern side the bente pyramid and they are bigger than that and they bot... 90 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:51,840 but they cracked while they are standing and when i talked with susan moore the geologi... 91 00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:57,279 candle limestone just to crack on its own like that she said of course not unless on... 92 00:10:57,279 --> 00:11:04,079 casing stone pieces fell and they break it but these pieces were never like they were... 93 00:11:04,079 --> 00:11:09,439 down and then re-erected by the minister of antiquities no so they just cracked on their 94 00:11:09,439 --> 00:11:14,480 own like that so it seems like there was some kind of vibration that they couldn't handle 95 00:11:15,439 --> 00:11:19,279 so that's why they break like this they break on their location but they never collapsed 96 00:11:19,839 --> 00:11:24,720 both of them not one all this shattered the pieces of course is what's left from... 97 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:30,879 and usually the minister of antiquities rebuilds with it so they can stop all this... 98 00:11:30,879 --> 00:11:38,000 and burying also all this was supposedly under the rubble just like that the entire... 99 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:44,879 they cleaned it so they can of course do the excavation so you might just think that this 100 00:11:44,879 --> 00:11:51,680 entire casing stone that survived was under the rubble just like this and those who ar... 101 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:55,039 they didn't bother of course removing the rubble because it's a harder job 102 00:11:55,039 --> 00:12:00,399 so they can extract the stone so imagine the rubble that covered all this part of the... 103 00:12:01,039 --> 00:12:06,479 is coming from what they extracted from above that so imagine how much material was take... 104 00:12:06,479 --> 00:12:11,679 pyramid and this stone is different than the other one inside as you can see the differ... 105 00:12:12,319 --> 00:12:19,759 this is more iron has more turned it more red this is more calcium carbonate still white 106 00:12:20,159 --> 00:12:26,799 so these stones above the mortuary temple are very impressive these are large slabs like 107 00:12:26,799 --> 00:12:32,799 lintels going across the top they look like they're at least 15 feet across in some cases 108 00:12:33,519 --> 00:12:39,439 and and also the lintel there with the carvings on it if we go inside you can't... 109 00:12:39,439 --> 00:12:44,080 lintels there must be other layers above it but again we're seeing this precision... 110 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:50,879 to me this reminds me of the quality of the stonework we find in the king's chamber but 111 00:12:50,879 --> 00:12:57,200 if we walk back out to the main area of may doom kind of in front of the pyramid we fi... 112 00:12:57,200 --> 00:13:04,240 these sarcophagi now these are absolutely remarkable now these you can see anubis... 113 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:08,640 and these are just left out here there's many of these have been found beautifully carve... 114 00:13:08,639 --> 00:13:14,159 engineered and no one knows really who did these and these were often found in the... 115 00:13:14,159 --> 00:13:23,840 mastaba 17 kind of underneath the actual land so again we just see many of these kind of... 116 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:30,639 at may doom which suggests there was a kind of earlier megalithic sarcophagus carving 117 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:36,480 culture here going back to the old kingdom or possibly before even before the time of th... 118 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:44,399 pharaoh we know that we're finding you know elements of very sophisticated technology 119 00:13:44,399 --> 00:13:48,240 and this is interesting because they're often under the ground and it's also we must loo... 120 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:53,200 the shape and size of this pyramid is really interesting because originally it would have 121 00:13:53,200 --> 00:14:00,080 had the same kind of ratios and dimensions and it almost would have looked exactly li... 122 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:07,520 great pyramid like so so what is going on there was this a precursor was this like o... 123 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:12,240 ones they were building to kind of get used to how to design the great pyramid is almo... 124 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:18,639 a practice run where they were building this huge platform with these kind of you know... 125 00:14:18,639 --> 00:14:24,320 on top and then building the actual flat-sided pyramid around the edge but... 126 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:28,000 lot to see here at may doom and it really is a mystery because it doesn't seem like it was 127 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:36,240 Sneferu it doesn't seem like it was his predecessor it could be much older and to ... 128 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:42,480 trademarks of the same builders as the Giza plateau although it looks like it was almost 129 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:47,120 like abandoned it was almost partly destroyed whether that was to do with acoustics whether 130 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:52,000 that was just because of the construction they got a bit wrong these kind of things... 131 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:57,360 possibility but when we're dealing with ancient egypt we don't find that many... 132 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:04,240 precision engineered we find a real element of understanding architectural design and 133 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:09,840 megalithic construction even deep under the ground as well as the pyramids up on the... 134 00:15:10,399 --> 00:15:16,960 so we do hope you enjoyed this quick visit to may doom pyramid the master bar and mortua... 135 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:22,879 i do recommend two excellent videos by ben from uncharted x and these are worth check... 136 00:15:22,879 --> 00:15:29,759 does a really thorough exploration of the whole landscape there the master bar insid... 137 00:15:29,759 --> 00:15:35,679 and everything else looking at the reports the archaeological reports of flinders pet... 138 00:15:35,679 --> 00:15:44,399 genius in my opinion and also he looks into the numbers and the specific geometry whic... 139 00:15:44,399 --> 00:15:50,720 present here there's a real strong evidence that they had a high understanding of sacr... 140 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:57,040 science which was incorporated into the design design not only of may doom but als... 141 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:02,720 pyramid so thanks for watching megalithomaniacs please subscribe please... 142 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:08,560 please join us in ancient egypt we go back there every november and you can explore... 143 00:16:08,559 --> 00:16:20,399 sites with us so once again thanks for watching and we'll see you next time 144 00:16:38,559 --> 00:16:42,399 so