Mark Lehner

Egypt's Great Pyramid may be humanity's greatest achievement: a skyscraper of stone built without computers or complex machinery. This super-sized tomb has fascinated historians and archaeologists for centuries, but exactly how the ancient Egyptians finished the monument and fitted its two and a half million blocks in a quarter of a century has long remained an enigma. Today the secrets of the pyramid are finally being revealed thanks to a series of new findings. At the foot of the monument, archaeologists are uncovering the last surviving relic of the pharaoh Khufu, whose tomb it is: a huge ceremonial boat buried in flat-pack form for more than 4500 years. It's a clue that points to the important role that ships and water could have played in the pyramids' construction. This documentary follows investigations that reveal how strong the link between pyramids and boats is. It's a story of more than how Egypt built a pyramid: it's about how the pyramid helped build the modern world.

For 45 centuries, the Great Sphinx has cast its enigmatic gaze over Egypt's Giza Plateau. The biggest and oldest statue in a land of colossal ancient monuments, its scale is staggering: The mighty head towers as tall as the White House, while its body is nearly the length of a football field. This strange half-human, half-lion image has inspired countless fantastic theories about its origins. How was it built, and who or what does it represent? Surprisingly, the scribes of the period when it was built—during Egypt's Old Kingdom—passed over it in silence. Adding to the mystery, archeologists found that its creators abruptly discarded their tools and abandoned the Sphinx when it was nearly complete. Searching for clues, NOVA's expert team of archeologists, including Mark Lehner, director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates, carries out eye-opening experiments.

Hace 4.500 años las arenas del desierto egipcio fueron testigo de una de las proezas más asombrosas de las historia de la humanidad: la construcción de las pirámides Keops, Kefren y Micerino, gigantescos templos funerarios en la meseta de Gizeh, levantados en honor de aquellos faraones. National Geografhic y un equipo de arqueólogos han explorado algunos de los secretos mejor guardados de aquel periodo, como el procedimiento que se seguía para erigir semejantes monumentos en aquella época o el método empleado por los embalsamadores para momificar los cuerpos. Las cámaras le conducirán también al recinto en que se descubrió la misteriosa embarcación del faraón Keops, el suntuoso navío que debía conducirlo a la eternidad.