Lost Cities Revealed with Albert Lin (2023) s01e02 Episode Script
The Warrior Kings
1
How far are we
from the rendezvous point?
Pretty close?
It is not far, yeah.
I've come to Sudan
on the trail of the
Kingdom of Kush.
A forgotten African
civilization that conquered
one of the most celebrated
empires in human history,
the ancient Egyptians.
Hey, Joe.
You guys doing okay?
Hey Albert.
Yeah, we're on our way
All right.
Meet me there.
Copy that.
There's
police everywhere, though.
But, getting out of the modern
capital of Khartoum,
is not straight forward.
I think we're
getting pulled over.
Yeah, I think
we're getting stopped.
Are we getting pulled over?
.
You're probably gonna
have to put the camera down.
Hello.
Ever since a military
coup in 2021,
Khartoum has been on high alert.
The police have checked our
papers and will stay with us
until we leave the city.
Hey guys.
How are you?
Nice to see you.
-Yeah.
-What took you?
Scanning experts,
Joe and Duncan are keen to
get on the road.
Also joining the expedition is
renowned Sudanese archeologist,
Ikhlas Alkrm.
Hi Albert.
It's so good
to meet you, finally.
Ikhlas.
Good to meet you too.
Yeah, Ikhlas.
Whoa! Is that explosions?
No, it is protest
-It's a protest?
-Yeah.
They are
shooting tear gas
Tear gas?
Yeah, tear gas, yeah
It's pretty close by.
Yeah, they have
some kind of protest today
It's a big one.
It looks like that
Wow.
So, we're gonna have to go
through where we're hearing
those gunshots and explosions.
Yes, probably,
but we'll try to avoid them
There's
another one right there.
Yeah.
-Let's get out of here.
-Let's go.
I feel a little bit of a
burning in my eyes right now.
Yes.
Is that from the
tear gas right over there?
It is, yeah.
Anti-government protests
can erupt at any time,
bringing the
city to a standstill.
My daughter,
once she was with me in
one of these protests
and the gas just make her like
she couldn't be able to breathe
-Oh, really?
-Yeah.
Wow.
You send
your kids to school
and you never know
what is going to happen
But we feel like
we are part of it
Mm.
You can't
just run away from it
We call
that resilience.
Do you think that
comes from the Kushites?
Definitely, yeah
So, do you
think it'll end?
I'm sure
it will end, Inshallah
Okay, guys.
I think we passed the
main conflict zone.
The police escort's gonna stop,
and we'll have to
continue on through
the desert on our own.
Ok.
Copy that.
Northeast Africa,
750 BC.
In the Kingdom of Kush,
a Warrior King leads his feared
army north into Egypt.
Laying waste to
its mighty empire
and bringing it under
Kushite control.
We are headed into
the frontier now.
Yeah.
Kushite Kings ruled
Egypt for the next 100 years.
But, when the Egyptians
regained power,
they erased almost all mention
of the Kushite conquest from
their historical record.
My mission is to find
the Kushites' lost
ancient capital, Napata.
But first, I want to understand
who these people were.
By exploring where they lived,
long before their
conquest of Egypt.
It's gotta be right
up here somewhere.
Yeah.
Oh wow, Ikhlas.
Majestic
Whooo, Kerma.
Kerma.
4,000,
maybe 4,500, years old?
Yes.
They believe
that it might be one of the
first kingdoms
in whole Africa
One of the first
kingdoms in all of Africa?
In Africa, yeah
There's different arcs,
there's different shapes.
Yes.
Those
look like pillars.
Some of them are palaces
and workshops and houses
Wow.
Look at this.
One of the earliest
mud-brick buildings in the world
Wow Ikhlas.
This is not a small
little site here.
Small settlement.
This is a city.
It is a city
Palaces,
temples, monuments.
Monuments to
their intelligence.
To their craft.
To their imagination.
This speaks of power,
of strength of complex organization.
Definitely, very
organized, very powerful
very wealthy
All the African
wealth you can imagine
This is where Kush is started
Kerma was the cradle
of the Kushite civilization,
the birthplace of a royal line
that went on to conquer
ancient Egypt.
I'm not surprised the
Egyptians wanted to erase
this defeat from their records.
What is surprising is that
even today so little is known
about the Kushites.
The problem with
the early archeologists,
who entered Sudan, they were
Egyptologists and they came
thinking that Black people
cannot produce such
sophisticated and
civilized remains
They tried to explain
it according to the
white point of view
What you're saying
is that the early lens of
archeology here
was prejudiced.
It is, and that's
why I believe at some point
we need to go back and read
everything all over again
Written out of ancient
history and side-lined by
many western archeologists.
I'm more determined than ever
to reveal the truth about this
forgotten African civilization.
Alright, guys.
We've got a long journey here.
Trying to head south-east.
Okay, copy that.
We're in
your tire tracks Albert.
While Kerma was the
first major Kushite settlement,
by the time of
their conquest of Egypt,
a new city, Napata, had
become their seat of power.
Nobody knows exactly where
this great capital was based,
but we do know where the
Kushite Kings who ruled Egypt,
were buried.
lkhlas.
-I've never seen a
pyramid in Africa before,
but here I am.
We have the
largest number of pyramids in
the whole world
Oh, wow.
Woooo!
We are in the Valley
of the Kushite Kings.
You know, as a child, I saw
images of pyramids in photos.
These kind of images inspired
me to become an explorer.
I'm so glad you saw the
first pyramid in Africa in Sudan
So, each one of
these is a burial for a king.
King or Queen,
we have Queens also
Oh, that is inspiring.
This is
Taharqa's Pyramid.
So Taharqa is
mentioned in the Bible.
He was one of the Kushite kings
who then conquered all of Egypt.
We've got some things we
can look at from the top.
Yeah, I really want to
get a sense of the whole site.
Professor Pearce Paul Creasman
is the director of the
Nuri Archeological Expedition.
Wow. Look at this.
Where did all these
stones come from?
The beautiful
casing stones we think came
from that hill across
the river over there.
-Way over there?
-Yep.
They had to carry
these stones across the river?
-Yep.
-Wow.
So, there's some symbolic
importance to this location.
Am I right?
That's the key
question that we can't really
answer right now because we've
got 20 something kings buried
here over a 400-year period.
It was important to them.
With so many
generations of Kushite royalty
buried here, it makes sense
that their capital city
would be close by.
Joe, Duncan, do you copy?
This is Albert.
Hey Albert, go ahead.
You guys ready to
fly the first LiDAR survey
in all of Sudan?
It'll be
a privilege mate.
It'll be a privilege.
Nuri is vast.
So, to cover the most ground, we
need a two-pronged approach.
Joe and Duncan will use drone
mounted LiDAR cameras,
to create a high-definition
3D model of the entire site.
The Nile actually bends
around this like a big arc.
But that's today's Nile.
The old Nile might have been
in a different position so
anything we can do to pick up
any of those subtle changes in
the landscape and just
see what it reveals.
Yeah,
that sounds good.
Pearce Paul and I will
focus our search underground,
at the tomb of Nastasen.
Just down this way?
Yep.
The last of the
Kushite kings to be buried
here at Nuri.
So,
this is the stairwell.
2,300 years old.
The original stairs.
The burial procession
would have come down here.
The king would have been carried
down here for his last trip.
So, the tomb
is beneath the pyramid?
Yes.
Most of the pyramids in Egypt,
they build the tombs up inside
the pyramid.
The people from here cut it
into the bedrock beneath.
Wow.
Pearce Paul believes this
ancient tomb could hold clues
to the location of Napata.
But rising groundwater from
the Nile has flooded it and
made it dangerously unstable.
100 years ago,
the water was
probably about knee deep.
And now, it's at least,
at least 20 feet deep.
Wow.
The first
week we were diving here.
A 300-pound chunk of the
doorway fell off and pinned me
to the sand.
So, there is a risk.
Every time we go in.
You are a different
breed of archeologist, man.
Diving this tomb is so high
risk that we're sending an
underwater camera drone in first
to see if it's even possible.
You guys ready?
-Yeah, we're ready.
-Good to go.
I'm gonna see how
far I can get it down.
Maybe I can get it
right to the entrance.
Copy.
Here we go.
I've got video feed.
Well king Nastasen we
come with good intentions to
tell your story.
Please take care of us.
All right.
I'm swimming now.
I'll try to get you
right to the entrance.
Ok.
He's dragging it down now.
Mmhm.
Ok, it's
pretty far down there.
Yeah?
Oh, this is gnarly.
I can't see anything.
Ok, I'm gonna get
you right to the entrance
and let go. Ok?
Ok yep.
Line it up straight.
You get there?
Yeah, I think I'm in.
Oh.
Let's see how it
looks on the camera.
All right.
Moving forwards.
This is such a
challenging environment
to navigate through.
We can barely see anything.
And then just glimmers.
Here we go.
Here we go.
It's opening up a little bit.
So that's a
corner of one of the chambers.
Right, real
subtle light movements now.
Look.
Right there.
Oh, what is that?
I think that's
the top of the door going into
the third chamber.
So, this is where the
king would have been buried.
We are in
the burial chamber.
All right,
look there.
That's the left
side of the slab.
Wow.
And this is
either the corner of the top
of a platform on which the
king would have been buried or
it's the top of some sort
of casing for the king.
Ah, you can barely make
it out though through the murk.
Just
a glimpse, right?
But it's good news.
Ha.
If we know we're in the third
chamber, then we know that
each of the entrance ways
to each chamber's clear.
You know it's safe.
Yeah.
So, I think we're gonna
have to get in there somehow.
This gives us
good information and lets us
know we can at least
navigate in and out.
Space inside
this fragile tomb is
extremely tight.
Prioritizing the protection
of the tomb, there's only room
for Pearce Paul and
his support diver.
If you can find any clues that
can tell us anything about
who he is or where he came from,
that's what we're looking for.
We'll go in,
we'll see what we can find and
bring out what we got.
As the scanning
team continue their
3D modeling of the site,
we get set to
search the flooded tomb.
All right, guys, good luck!
They must be entering
the third chamber now.
Hoping this is where we
find what we're looking for.
What is that his
hand right there?
Ok, he's back at the surface.
What?
Oh, that was a face.
Alright, here they come.
Wow that was incredible guys.
Let's get this back up on deck
so we can look at it properly.
Now it's time to look up close
at what came out of this tomb.
Yes, let's find out.
Come on in
take a look at what we got.
Yeah, let's see.
The dive inside the flooded tomb
has revealed a small figure,
known as a 'shabti',
carved in the image
of the deceased king.
Look at that.
Is this the name?
Yes, this is the
name of the King, Nastasen
-That says Nastasen?
-Yes.
Shabtis were believed
to come to life and guide the
king on his journey
through eternity.
Is this distinctly Kushite?
It is definitely,
you can see the
headdress clearly here
look at the shape, this shape,
they believe that it could be
representative of
their holy place,
their holy mountain,
Jebel Barkal.
Really?
Yes, if you look
from the side you will see the
shape of the mountain
It's the most important place
for the Kushite Kings
it's where you will find all the
temples of Amun all around it
Amun?
Amun the great creator god.
Yes, the Kushites
believe the home of Amun
is Jebel Barkal,
this is where he lived.
Where is this?
It is just
across the river from here
It's one of the
mountains I could see from
the top of the pyramid?
Yep, this is where they
took their power from their God
Could this
shabti lead us to the
ancient Kushite capital?
And what secrets will
our drone scans reveal?
Hey, guys.
Hey Albert.
Let's
see what you did.
Wow.
You get a real sense of an
amphitheater of the pyramids
from this view, don't you?
It's impressive.
Wow.
And all these?
So, most of
those are going to be tombs
of other royals.
So, the Kings' families.
-These are all tombs?
-Most of them.
Wow.
Having completed the very
first scan of the pyramids
here at Nuri,
now we're searching for evidence
of a large human settlement.
A city.
Let's layer on the models of
our pyramids on the different
ones you've identified.
Yeah. You ready?
-Yes.
-Wow.
Gosh, this
is great, it is amazing
It really shows
it in a different view,
much more like it would
have been 2500 years ago.
Yeah.
I just wish
they were still like this
I have been to the
site so many times,
but looking at it like this
it makes me feel
like how majestic they are
It's really amazing
I'm so glad I'm here
.
It's the first
time Ikhlas has seen this
extraordinary royal burial
site as it would have looked
during the time
of the Kushites.
But so far there's no sign that
the warrior kings and queens,
or their people,
lived around here too.
Let's see what the
aerial LiDAR says.
So initially, we
can't see too much here.
What is interesting is, you
can see, it's almost a water
channel that
surrounds the site.
-Oh, right here?
-Yeah.
Yeah, that's
pretty clear, isn't it?
Look at that.
That's a river
channel, isn't it?
Yes.
That would mean that
this entire pyramid site was
surrounded, at times,
by water.
By the Nile, yeah
Did you
guys know this?
You see sometimes
when it floods today that
water pools in a
couple of places
Mmm hmm yeah, yeah, yep.
But
nothing like this.
Oh, wow.
An island full of pyramids,
but where is the city?
Because the scale of a site
like this would have taken a
big population.
There's not
enough room for it there.
If that's the island
-Yeah.
-The island's full.
With no room for the
city here, could the river
lead us to where Napata lies?
Our moms in Sudan,
they always say, if you
want to find something
you see with your heart
you don't look with your eyes
you need to see with your heart
Wow.
It's amazing to feel
your emotions with this.
I'm really moved.
I'm really moved
It is part of our story
it's part of every
Sudanese's story
It belongs to us
Hey guys.
Wow, what just happened in
there, when tears started
welling up in her eyes,
look it's clear this
is not just about
scans or pyramids
or even lost cities,
it's about something
much deeper.
It's about identity.
Scanning Nuri has given me new
insight into the world of the
Kushites, who ruled Egypt.
Now I need to cross the mighty
river Nile to try and discover
where they and
their subjects lived.
That's got to be
Jebel Barkal right there.
Just as Ikhlas described it.
The mountain where the sun
sets from these pyramids.
That's my next stop.
The Nile River.
The Nile River.
Do you think we can get
across with one of these boats?
This guy over here, maybe?
Yes
He's got
a bunch of goats on his boat.
Yeah.
How are you?
Wow, this is wild.
Wow, I'm a goat herder now.
.
Thank you
Thank you very much.
Ikhlas has arranged this boat,
so we can take the traditional
Kushite route down the river,
from the burial site at Nuri
to the temple site
at Jebel Barkal.
Looks like the water gets
a lot faster over here.
Keep an eye out for
rocks ahead, would you?
Yeah,
we need to be careful.
You see there is a big
one on your left side.
I got it.
I got it.
It is really challenging
to drive a boat in here
The hard thing is that
the river is so braided up,
so you've got to find your
right line through all these
different little islands.
Yeah.
It makes sense
that communities would pop up
around here because this
cataract, where the rocks are,
it feels like it
naturally slows down movement.
Mmhm, yes.
Is that
it right there?
That's it,
that's it, Jebel Barkal.
Jebel Barkal.
What a way to arrive at the
Holy Mountain of the god Amun.
Yeah.
On the
River Nile itself.
Ok you want to jump up ahead
and see if you can
grab that line?
Yes.
Wow.
So, this is what I was staring
at through my binoculars.
Yep.
It's so impressive,
this mound of rock rising
out of the sand.
I got the data processed of
that photogrammetry scan
-Mmhm.
-Of the shabti.
I can see the arc of the
mountain really does kind of
feel like the arc
of a headdress.
Yes.
Is that supposed to
be that pinnacle right there?
That part
of the mountain
it was actually a
big statue of the cobra.
That was a
statue of a cobra?
Yes, there is some
theory that it was covered
also with gold
That's incredible.
That's why this
is their holy place
the land of their God.
The Kushites believed
that the god, Amun,
lived inside the mountain
and two of their warrior
kings who ruled Egypt,
Piankhy and his son Taharqa
who's pyramid I climbed at Nuri,
built huge temples
here to worship him.
So, this is for the God
of the gods, isn't it?
Yeah.
This is the temple of Amun.
He's the main God of
the Kushite empire.
And we're walking toward the
inner sanctum where the
statue of the God was placed.
Off in the distance
Doctors Geoff Emberling
and El Hassan Mohammed
are co-directors of the site.
Together, they've worked at
Jebel Barkal for more than
three decades.
You can imagine Piankhy coming
to this very place and asking
for permission from the
God Amun for guidance before
heading north to
conquer all of Egypt.
That's right.
These temples are
evidence that this was a major
Kushite religious center.
The question is,
where did the people who
worshipped here, live?
To search for clues,
we're heading inside
the mountain itself.
In here?
You're
gonna love this.
Oh wow.
Where are we now?
What is this space?
This is a temple built
by Taharqa, the great King
-Taharqa.
-Yeah.
I'm looking at
Taharqa's face carved in stone.
Hello Taharqa.
I see you now.
And is he offering these goods
to the gods or these gods?
To the
Gods led by Amun
-That's Amun.
-Yes.
Do you see Napata
anywhere written in the glyphs?
Napata has a number
of different names and one of
them is the 'Pure Mountain'.
And so, this is Amun in the Pure
Mountain in this inscription.
That says Amun
of the 'Pure Mountain'?
Yep.
Which probably
refers to a city.
A capital city?
A capital
city of ancient Kush.
Then the Kushite
kingdom and their capital
must have been centered
around this mountain.
It has to be, yeah
We've known about the
temples here for a long time.
And we're just starting to get
some hints that there could be
more settlement around it.
All right, well let's,
let's call in the whole team.
Let's find the
capital of Kush.
I feel like we've
been led by the clues
and all the dots are connecting.
The picture is
starting to show itself.
Hey, guys.
-Hey.
-How are you going?
Can I help
you launch this?
Yeah, let's go.
Alright, taking off.
You see that spire?
Let's try to scan a little bit
of that too because there's
supposed to be some
remains of glyphs.
Yeah.
This is amazing.
We're using Geoff
and El Hassan's dig site
as our anchor point
Enta, Jambu.
Jambu, Jambu.
And flying drone
mounted LiDAR technology to
gather the data
that might reveal
how big this settlement is.
But scanning for clues in such
a flat landscape is not easy.
So usually
when you're looking for an
ancient settlement, what
you find is a big mound
but there's nothing
like that here.
That's why, I think,
nobody has really
identified this as a city.
So maybe what we
have to do is call in the
ground penetrating radar team.
Yeah, I think we need to
look under as well, don't we?
Let's see
beneath the surface.
Hey, Burkhart.
This is Albert, do you copy?
Hey, Albert. Hello.
Meet us over
at the temple of Amun.
Ok I think
we will find you.
Burkhart Ullrich and
his team of geo-physicists
from Germany are experts at
using Ground Penetrating Radar
in desert conditions.
So, we're looking for roads,
mud brick walls.
Maybe we just start making our
way in successive grid patterns.
Okay.
And then anything that
comes up we'll go in tight
with a single antenna
Okay, okay.
Good idea.
Perfect.
GPR sends electro-magnetic
waves down into the ground
to detect subtle changes
in its composition.
The team are focusing
on the area
immediately around the temples.
For a wider perspective,
I want to figure out
how this mountain
is connected to
the landscape around it.
Look at all the boulders here.
I'm gonna have to
find another way around.
This way might be
a better way up.
It's getting steeper now.
Oh, wow.
The top of the holy mountain.
The roof of the
home of the gods.
Ahh.
From this vantage point, I can
see the pyramids of Nuri
just on the other
side of the Nile.
And on this side
the temple to Amun,
the place of homage to the gods.
And then the river Nile
splitting the land in two.
The ancient city Napata,
it must be between
these three worlds.
The dead, the living and the
river that runs through it.
If my theory's right,
Napata could be far bigger
than anyone imagined.
It's gonna be a
cold one tonight.
Starting to get chilly.
I mean, as soon as that sun hits
the horizon and dips below,
the temperature
just suddenly plummets.
We're talking a 40,
50, degree shift.
It was 95 degrees
Fahrenheit today.
I don't know, it might get
down to the low 40s at night.
I mean that's a huge
temperature shift, right?
We can use that
to our advantage.
Hey, Joe, Duncan,
do you guys copy?
Are you guys down there?
Yeah
Albert, we're down here,
Duncan here.
Hey, guys,
I got an idea.
Let's put the thermal
camera on the drone.
Let's try to image
this whole site
for the temperature shifts.
Yeah, I like
your thinking, Albert.
Even down here,
it's cooler already.
I think it should
work quite well.
I'll swap
the payload over.
Yeah,
let's give it a try.
Can you direct us?
Where do you think
we should start?
So, let's
start at the temple and move our
way towards the river and
towards the modern city.
Yeah,
that sounds good.
We'll get cracking.
Using thermal
imaging is another first for
archeology in Sudan.
While it's dark to us, the
camera on that drone can see
the heat coming out of the
ground and different materials
like a mud-brick wall or a
compacted ancient road,
that might hold the heat
differently than the
surrounding sand.
And as the temperature cools
all around us, the subtle
differences will get
picked up by this scan.
That's what we're looking for.
It might give us a map of what's
just beneath the surface.
Look how
well the temple shows.
That's incredible.
Good job, guys.
Check in in the morning.
I wonder
what kind of dreams
I'm going to have tonight.
On top of a mountain.
Under a starry sky.
Wow.
What a place to sleep.
I wonder what we found.
Hey team.
Good to see you.
Oh, feels like this
is the big moment.
Yes.
You guys get a lot
of the processing done
on the GPR.
We have the data.
Yes, exactly.
Well, let's combine it
all and throw it on the
projector and see what we find.
Here we go.
Loading it now.
This is
the base layer?
Wow.
Yeah, so this is the
LiDAR and the photogrammetry
together so that you've got
a complete textured surface
model of the whole area.
What can we do to
heighten any elevation change?
We can load in
the GPR data Albert.
All right,
let's do that.
Whoa.
-Wow.
-It's so clear.
What is
this right here?
Yeah, that's a
building right there.
So, there's definitely
residential structures?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
It's all buildings.
You can even kind of see
maybe streets between them.
But that's,
that's a neighborhood.
And you didn't
know about these before?
Yeah.
No, this is all new.
Wow.
And if you start looking
for circles in here, you know,
sort of more traditional
Kushite architectural forms,
there's all kinds of circular
structures in here.
It is the same
designs we saw in Kerma
The traditional
African houses
It looks just
like it, doesn't it?
So, yeah.
El Hassan, when you
look at this, what do you see?
I see amazing things
that never have seen before
The building to
the right of the temple.
It is a mudbrick building for
the priests of Amun presumably.
-The priests of Amun?
-Yeah.
So, they would
have lived here maybe?
Yeah
What else can
we add in here?
So, from the GPR interpretations,
we've extracted
the 3D footprint.
Yes!
The city is coming to life!
Yes, gosh.
Wow.
Geoff is this it?
Is this, what we're
looking at right now, Napata?
I'm gonna say it's
the beginning of Napata.
-The lost city.
-Yeah.
How do you feel
when you see this?
I'm trying to
imagine people living in it
going to worship in the temples
doing their daily work.
It was like, full of life.
We just found the
heart of Napata
Geoff, I can only
imagine how does this change
your work plan now?
We are literally
starting to dig tomorrow,
literally, where we're
seeing buildings on this plan.
Ahhh haha.
So, this is this is
guiding our research you know.
Our scans, for
the first time, reveal a
remarkable concentration
of residential buildings
clustered around
the Kushite temples.
But if this is the
heart of Napata,
just how far does
the city extend?
We've got one last
layer to bring in.
We've got the
thermal data to load.
We're looking for difference
in temperature of like,
one or two degrees.
See that square feature there,
that's looking like
something to me.
Yeah. That's a
long way from anything.
Shall we
highlight the features?
Yeah.
Wow.
This is
super interesting.
That means that the
city would extend possibly
all the way into the city that
we're standing in right now.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
It gets bigger and
bigger and bigger.
Well, you've got a
lot of work cut out for you.
Yeah, haha yeah, yeah.
Actually,
that reminds me.
Did you scan the very
top of the serpent head?
Yes, we did.
This is just the
tip of that pinnacle.
El Hassan,
what does it say?
To the right
is the name of Taharqa
To the left is for Nastasen
All covered with
a sheet of gold
Wow!
The name
of our greatest Kings
And you can see
them from far away
on your way to the city
And you will feel blessed
by them, protected by them
Every Sudanese
should know about this
should know about the great city
and the great history they have
I think it can unite us
On behalf of my team,
I feel honored to be a part of
this story that was
erased in history,
but now shines in the sun
like the beacon at
the top of Jebel Barkal.
Shukran everybody.
This is a real step
forward in our understanding
of Kush as an
ancient civilization.
Because it shows such a wide
area all of a sudden opens up
this new perspective that
actually Napata was a huge city.
For the rest of
my life, I will remember this
every time I put my foot
on one of these sites
I always feel like
we didn't get our chance to
promote our civilization
so I think this can be the
first step toward that goal
I set out in
search of the lost city
of a forgotten people.
What I discovered is the capital
of a great African civilization,
built beneath
the home of the gods
and stretching across
the desert sands.
The beating heart of
a unique kingdom,
ruled by mighty warriors.
For 100 years Napata was the
seat of power for the Kushite
empire that conquered
the ancient Egyptians.
But their remarkable
story does not end there.
After losing control of Egypt,
the Kingdom of Kush
continued to flourish
here in their heartland
for another 1,000 years.
The city may be gone,
but despite the challenges
facing modern Sudan,
in the hearts of
people like Ikhlas,
I believe the spirit and
identity of the Kushites
lives on.
How far are we
from the rendezvous point?
Pretty close?
It is not far, yeah.
I've come to Sudan
on the trail of the
Kingdom of Kush.
A forgotten African
civilization that conquered
one of the most celebrated
empires in human history,
the ancient Egyptians.
Hey, Joe.
You guys doing okay?
Hey Albert.
Yeah, we're on our way
All right.
Meet me there.
Copy that.
There's
police everywhere, though.
But, getting out of the modern
capital of Khartoum,
is not straight forward.
I think we're
getting pulled over.
Yeah, I think
we're getting stopped.
Are we getting pulled over?
.
You're probably gonna
have to put the camera down.
Hello.
Ever since a military
coup in 2021,
Khartoum has been on high alert.
The police have checked our
papers and will stay with us
until we leave the city.
Hey guys.
How are you?
Nice to see you.
-Yeah.
-What took you?
Scanning experts,
Joe and Duncan are keen to
get on the road.
Also joining the expedition is
renowned Sudanese archeologist,
Ikhlas Alkrm.
Hi Albert.
It's so good
to meet you, finally.
Ikhlas.
Good to meet you too.
Yeah, Ikhlas.
Whoa! Is that explosions?
No, it is protest
-It's a protest?
-Yeah.
They are
shooting tear gas
Tear gas?
Yeah, tear gas, yeah
It's pretty close by.
Yeah, they have
some kind of protest today
It's a big one.
It looks like that
Wow.
So, we're gonna have to go
through where we're hearing
those gunshots and explosions.
Yes, probably,
but we'll try to avoid them
There's
another one right there.
Yeah.
-Let's get out of here.
-Let's go.
I feel a little bit of a
burning in my eyes right now.
Yes.
Is that from the
tear gas right over there?
It is, yeah.
Anti-government protests
can erupt at any time,
bringing the
city to a standstill.
My daughter,
once she was with me in
one of these protests
and the gas just make her like
she couldn't be able to breathe
-Oh, really?
-Yeah.
Wow.
You send
your kids to school
and you never know
what is going to happen
But we feel like
we are part of it
Mm.
You can't
just run away from it
We call
that resilience.
Do you think that
comes from the Kushites?
Definitely, yeah
So, do you
think it'll end?
I'm sure
it will end, Inshallah
Okay, guys.
I think we passed the
main conflict zone.
The police escort's gonna stop,
and we'll have to
continue on through
the desert on our own.
Ok.
Copy that.
Northeast Africa,
750 BC.
In the Kingdom of Kush,
a Warrior King leads his feared
army north into Egypt.
Laying waste to
its mighty empire
and bringing it under
Kushite control.
We are headed into
the frontier now.
Yeah.
Kushite Kings ruled
Egypt for the next 100 years.
But, when the Egyptians
regained power,
they erased almost all mention
of the Kushite conquest from
their historical record.
My mission is to find
the Kushites' lost
ancient capital, Napata.
But first, I want to understand
who these people were.
By exploring where they lived,
long before their
conquest of Egypt.
It's gotta be right
up here somewhere.
Yeah.
Oh wow, Ikhlas.
Majestic
Whooo, Kerma.
Kerma.
4,000,
maybe 4,500, years old?
Yes.
They believe
that it might be one of the
first kingdoms
in whole Africa
One of the first
kingdoms in all of Africa?
In Africa, yeah
There's different arcs,
there's different shapes.
Yes.
Those
look like pillars.
Some of them are palaces
and workshops and houses
Wow.
Look at this.
One of the earliest
mud-brick buildings in the world
Wow Ikhlas.
This is not a small
little site here.
Small settlement.
This is a city.
It is a city
Palaces,
temples, monuments.
Monuments to
their intelligence.
To their craft.
To their imagination.
This speaks of power,
of strength of complex organization.
Definitely, very
organized, very powerful
very wealthy
All the African
wealth you can imagine
This is where Kush is started
Kerma was the cradle
of the Kushite civilization,
the birthplace of a royal line
that went on to conquer
ancient Egypt.
I'm not surprised the
Egyptians wanted to erase
this defeat from their records.
What is surprising is that
even today so little is known
about the Kushites.
The problem with
the early archeologists,
who entered Sudan, they were
Egyptologists and they came
thinking that Black people
cannot produce such
sophisticated and
civilized remains
They tried to explain
it according to the
white point of view
What you're saying
is that the early lens of
archeology here
was prejudiced.
It is, and that's
why I believe at some point
we need to go back and read
everything all over again
Written out of ancient
history and side-lined by
many western archeologists.
I'm more determined than ever
to reveal the truth about this
forgotten African civilization.
Alright, guys.
We've got a long journey here.
Trying to head south-east.
Okay, copy that.
We're in
your tire tracks Albert.
While Kerma was the
first major Kushite settlement,
by the time of
their conquest of Egypt,
a new city, Napata, had
become their seat of power.
Nobody knows exactly where
this great capital was based,
but we do know where the
Kushite Kings who ruled Egypt,
were buried.
lkhlas.
-I've never seen a
pyramid in Africa before,
but here I am.
We have the
largest number of pyramids in
the whole world
Oh, wow.
Woooo!
We are in the Valley
of the Kushite Kings.
You know, as a child, I saw
images of pyramids in photos.
These kind of images inspired
me to become an explorer.
I'm so glad you saw the
first pyramid in Africa in Sudan
So, each one of
these is a burial for a king.
King or Queen,
we have Queens also
Oh, that is inspiring.
This is
Taharqa's Pyramid.
So Taharqa is
mentioned in the Bible.
He was one of the Kushite kings
who then conquered all of Egypt.
We've got some things we
can look at from the top.
Yeah, I really want to
get a sense of the whole site.
Professor Pearce Paul Creasman
is the director of the
Nuri Archeological Expedition.
Wow. Look at this.
Where did all these
stones come from?
The beautiful
casing stones we think came
from that hill across
the river over there.
-Way over there?
-Yep.
They had to carry
these stones across the river?
-Yep.
-Wow.
So, there's some symbolic
importance to this location.
Am I right?
That's the key
question that we can't really
answer right now because we've
got 20 something kings buried
here over a 400-year period.
It was important to them.
With so many
generations of Kushite royalty
buried here, it makes sense
that their capital city
would be close by.
Joe, Duncan, do you copy?
This is Albert.
Hey Albert, go ahead.
You guys ready to
fly the first LiDAR survey
in all of Sudan?
It'll be
a privilege mate.
It'll be a privilege.
Nuri is vast.
So, to cover the most ground, we
need a two-pronged approach.
Joe and Duncan will use drone
mounted LiDAR cameras,
to create a high-definition
3D model of the entire site.
The Nile actually bends
around this like a big arc.
But that's today's Nile.
The old Nile might have been
in a different position so
anything we can do to pick up
any of those subtle changes in
the landscape and just
see what it reveals.
Yeah,
that sounds good.
Pearce Paul and I will
focus our search underground,
at the tomb of Nastasen.
Just down this way?
Yep.
The last of the
Kushite kings to be buried
here at Nuri.
So,
this is the stairwell.
2,300 years old.
The original stairs.
The burial procession
would have come down here.
The king would have been carried
down here for his last trip.
So, the tomb
is beneath the pyramid?
Yes.
Most of the pyramids in Egypt,
they build the tombs up inside
the pyramid.
The people from here cut it
into the bedrock beneath.
Wow.
Pearce Paul believes this
ancient tomb could hold clues
to the location of Napata.
But rising groundwater from
the Nile has flooded it and
made it dangerously unstable.
100 years ago,
the water was
probably about knee deep.
And now, it's at least,
at least 20 feet deep.
Wow.
The first
week we were diving here.
A 300-pound chunk of the
doorway fell off and pinned me
to the sand.
So, there is a risk.
Every time we go in.
You are a different
breed of archeologist, man.
Diving this tomb is so high
risk that we're sending an
underwater camera drone in first
to see if it's even possible.
You guys ready?
-Yeah, we're ready.
-Good to go.
I'm gonna see how
far I can get it down.
Maybe I can get it
right to the entrance.
Copy.
Here we go.
I've got video feed.
Well king Nastasen we
come with good intentions to
tell your story.
Please take care of us.
All right.
I'm swimming now.
I'll try to get you
right to the entrance.
Ok.
He's dragging it down now.
Mmhm.
Ok, it's
pretty far down there.
Yeah?
Oh, this is gnarly.
I can't see anything.
Ok, I'm gonna get
you right to the entrance
and let go. Ok?
Ok yep.
Line it up straight.
You get there?
Yeah, I think I'm in.
Oh.
Let's see how it
looks on the camera.
All right.
Moving forwards.
This is such a
challenging environment
to navigate through.
We can barely see anything.
And then just glimmers.
Here we go.
Here we go.
It's opening up a little bit.
So that's a
corner of one of the chambers.
Right, real
subtle light movements now.
Look.
Right there.
Oh, what is that?
I think that's
the top of the door going into
the third chamber.
So, this is where the
king would have been buried.
We are in
the burial chamber.
All right,
look there.
That's the left
side of the slab.
Wow.
And this is
either the corner of the top
of a platform on which the
king would have been buried or
it's the top of some sort
of casing for the king.
Ah, you can barely make
it out though through the murk.
Just
a glimpse, right?
But it's good news.
Ha.
If we know we're in the third
chamber, then we know that
each of the entrance ways
to each chamber's clear.
You know it's safe.
Yeah.
So, I think we're gonna
have to get in there somehow.
This gives us
good information and lets us
know we can at least
navigate in and out.
Space inside
this fragile tomb is
extremely tight.
Prioritizing the protection
of the tomb, there's only room
for Pearce Paul and
his support diver.
If you can find any clues that
can tell us anything about
who he is or where he came from,
that's what we're looking for.
We'll go in,
we'll see what we can find and
bring out what we got.
As the scanning
team continue their
3D modeling of the site,
we get set to
search the flooded tomb.
All right, guys, good luck!
They must be entering
the third chamber now.
Hoping this is where we
find what we're looking for.
What is that his
hand right there?
Ok, he's back at the surface.
What?
Oh, that was a face.
Alright, here they come.
Wow that was incredible guys.
Let's get this back up on deck
so we can look at it properly.
Now it's time to look up close
at what came out of this tomb.
Yes, let's find out.
Come on in
take a look at what we got.
Yeah, let's see.
The dive inside the flooded tomb
has revealed a small figure,
known as a 'shabti',
carved in the image
of the deceased king.
Look at that.
Is this the name?
Yes, this is the
name of the King, Nastasen
-That says Nastasen?
-Yes.
Shabtis were believed
to come to life and guide the
king on his journey
through eternity.
Is this distinctly Kushite?
It is definitely,
you can see the
headdress clearly here
look at the shape, this shape,
they believe that it could be
representative of
their holy place,
their holy mountain,
Jebel Barkal.
Really?
Yes, if you look
from the side you will see the
shape of the mountain
It's the most important place
for the Kushite Kings
it's where you will find all the
temples of Amun all around it
Amun?
Amun the great creator god.
Yes, the Kushites
believe the home of Amun
is Jebel Barkal,
this is where he lived.
Where is this?
It is just
across the river from here
It's one of the
mountains I could see from
the top of the pyramid?
Yep, this is where they
took their power from their God
Could this
shabti lead us to the
ancient Kushite capital?
And what secrets will
our drone scans reveal?
Hey, guys.
Hey Albert.
Let's
see what you did.
Wow.
You get a real sense of an
amphitheater of the pyramids
from this view, don't you?
It's impressive.
Wow.
And all these?
So, most of
those are going to be tombs
of other royals.
So, the Kings' families.
-These are all tombs?
-Most of them.
Wow.
Having completed the very
first scan of the pyramids
here at Nuri,
now we're searching for evidence
of a large human settlement.
A city.
Let's layer on the models of
our pyramids on the different
ones you've identified.
Yeah. You ready?
-Yes.
-Wow.
Gosh, this
is great, it is amazing
It really shows
it in a different view,
much more like it would
have been 2500 years ago.
Yeah.
I just wish
they were still like this
I have been to the
site so many times,
but looking at it like this
it makes me feel
like how majestic they are
It's really amazing
I'm so glad I'm here
.
It's the first
time Ikhlas has seen this
extraordinary royal burial
site as it would have looked
during the time
of the Kushites.
But so far there's no sign that
the warrior kings and queens,
or their people,
lived around here too.
Let's see what the
aerial LiDAR says.
So initially, we
can't see too much here.
What is interesting is, you
can see, it's almost a water
channel that
surrounds the site.
-Oh, right here?
-Yeah.
Yeah, that's
pretty clear, isn't it?
Look at that.
That's a river
channel, isn't it?
Yes.
That would mean that
this entire pyramid site was
surrounded, at times,
by water.
By the Nile, yeah
Did you
guys know this?
You see sometimes
when it floods today that
water pools in a
couple of places
Mmm hmm yeah, yeah, yep.
But
nothing like this.
Oh, wow.
An island full of pyramids,
but where is the city?
Because the scale of a site
like this would have taken a
big population.
There's not
enough room for it there.
If that's the island
-Yeah.
-The island's full.
With no room for the
city here, could the river
lead us to where Napata lies?
Our moms in Sudan,
they always say, if you
want to find something
you see with your heart
you don't look with your eyes
you need to see with your heart
Wow.
It's amazing to feel
your emotions with this.
I'm really moved.
I'm really moved
It is part of our story
it's part of every
Sudanese's story
It belongs to us
Hey guys.
Wow, what just happened in
there, when tears started
welling up in her eyes,
look it's clear this
is not just about
scans or pyramids
or even lost cities,
it's about something
much deeper.
It's about identity.
Scanning Nuri has given me new
insight into the world of the
Kushites, who ruled Egypt.
Now I need to cross the mighty
river Nile to try and discover
where they and
their subjects lived.
That's got to be
Jebel Barkal right there.
Just as Ikhlas described it.
The mountain where the sun
sets from these pyramids.
That's my next stop.
The Nile River.
The Nile River.
Do you think we can get
across with one of these boats?
This guy over here, maybe?
Yes
He's got
a bunch of goats on his boat.
Yeah.
How are you?
Wow, this is wild.
Wow, I'm a goat herder now.
.
Thank you
Thank you very much.
Ikhlas has arranged this boat,
so we can take the traditional
Kushite route down the river,
from the burial site at Nuri
to the temple site
at Jebel Barkal.
Looks like the water gets
a lot faster over here.
Keep an eye out for
rocks ahead, would you?
Yeah,
we need to be careful.
You see there is a big
one on your left side.
I got it.
I got it.
It is really challenging
to drive a boat in here
The hard thing is that
the river is so braided up,
so you've got to find your
right line through all these
different little islands.
Yeah.
It makes sense
that communities would pop up
around here because this
cataract, where the rocks are,
it feels like it
naturally slows down movement.
Mmhm, yes.
Is that
it right there?
That's it,
that's it, Jebel Barkal.
Jebel Barkal.
What a way to arrive at the
Holy Mountain of the god Amun.
Yeah.
On the
River Nile itself.
Ok you want to jump up ahead
and see if you can
grab that line?
Yes.
Wow.
So, this is what I was staring
at through my binoculars.
Yep.
It's so impressive,
this mound of rock rising
out of the sand.
I got the data processed of
that photogrammetry scan
-Mmhm.
-Of the shabti.
I can see the arc of the
mountain really does kind of
feel like the arc
of a headdress.
Yes.
Is that supposed to
be that pinnacle right there?
That part
of the mountain
it was actually a
big statue of the cobra.
That was a
statue of a cobra?
Yes, there is some
theory that it was covered
also with gold
That's incredible.
That's why this
is their holy place
the land of their God.
The Kushites believed
that the god, Amun,
lived inside the mountain
and two of their warrior
kings who ruled Egypt,
Piankhy and his son Taharqa
who's pyramid I climbed at Nuri,
built huge temples
here to worship him.
So, this is for the God
of the gods, isn't it?
Yeah.
This is the temple of Amun.
He's the main God of
the Kushite empire.
And we're walking toward the
inner sanctum where the
statue of the God was placed.
Off in the distance
Doctors Geoff Emberling
and El Hassan Mohammed
are co-directors of the site.
Together, they've worked at
Jebel Barkal for more than
three decades.
You can imagine Piankhy coming
to this very place and asking
for permission from the
God Amun for guidance before
heading north to
conquer all of Egypt.
That's right.
These temples are
evidence that this was a major
Kushite religious center.
The question is,
where did the people who
worshipped here, live?
To search for clues,
we're heading inside
the mountain itself.
In here?
You're
gonna love this.
Oh wow.
Where are we now?
What is this space?
This is a temple built
by Taharqa, the great King
-Taharqa.
-Yeah.
I'm looking at
Taharqa's face carved in stone.
Hello Taharqa.
I see you now.
And is he offering these goods
to the gods or these gods?
To the
Gods led by Amun
-That's Amun.
-Yes.
Do you see Napata
anywhere written in the glyphs?
Napata has a number
of different names and one of
them is the 'Pure Mountain'.
And so, this is Amun in the Pure
Mountain in this inscription.
That says Amun
of the 'Pure Mountain'?
Yep.
Which probably
refers to a city.
A capital city?
A capital
city of ancient Kush.
Then the Kushite
kingdom and their capital
must have been centered
around this mountain.
It has to be, yeah
We've known about the
temples here for a long time.
And we're just starting to get
some hints that there could be
more settlement around it.
All right, well let's,
let's call in the whole team.
Let's find the
capital of Kush.
I feel like we've
been led by the clues
and all the dots are connecting.
The picture is
starting to show itself.
Hey, guys.
-Hey.
-How are you going?
Can I help
you launch this?
Yeah, let's go.
Alright, taking off.
You see that spire?
Let's try to scan a little bit
of that too because there's
supposed to be some
remains of glyphs.
Yeah.
This is amazing.
We're using Geoff
and El Hassan's dig site
as our anchor point
Enta, Jambu.
Jambu, Jambu.
And flying drone
mounted LiDAR technology to
gather the data
that might reveal
how big this settlement is.
But scanning for clues in such
a flat landscape is not easy.
So usually
when you're looking for an
ancient settlement, what
you find is a big mound
but there's nothing
like that here.
That's why, I think,
nobody has really
identified this as a city.
So maybe what we
have to do is call in the
ground penetrating radar team.
Yeah, I think we need to
look under as well, don't we?
Let's see
beneath the surface.
Hey, Burkhart.
This is Albert, do you copy?
Hey, Albert. Hello.
Meet us over
at the temple of Amun.
Ok I think
we will find you.
Burkhart Ullrich and
his team of geo-physicists
from Germany are experts at
using Ground Penetrating Radar
in desert conditions.
So, we're looking for roads,
mud brick walls.
Maybe we just start making our
way in successive grid patterns.
Okay.
And then anything that
comes up we'll go in tight
with a single antenna
Okay, okay.
Good idea.
Perfect.
GPR sends electro-magnetic
waves down into the ground
to detect subtle changes
in its composition.
The team are focusing
on the area
immediately around the temples.
For a wider perspective,
I want to figure out
how this mountain
is connected to
the landscape around it.
Look at all the boulders here.
I'm gonna have to
find another way around.
This way might be
a better way up.
It's getting steeper now.
Oh, wow.
The top of the holy mountain.
The roof of the
home of the gods.
Ahh.
From this vantage point, I can
see the pyramids of Nuri
just on the other
side of the Nile.
And on this side
the temple to Amun,
the place of homage to the gods.
And then the river Nile
splitting the land in two.
The ancient city Napata,
it must be between
these three worlds.
The dead, the living and the
river that runs through it.
If my theory's right,
Napata could be far bigger
than anyone imagined.
It's gonna be a
cold one tonight.
Starting to get chilly.
I mean, as soon as that sun hits
the horizon and dips below,
the temperature
just suddenly plummets.
We're talking a 40,
50, degree shift.
It was 95 degrees
Fahrenheit today.
I don't know, it might get
down to the low 40s at night.
I mean that's a huge
temperature shift, right?
We can use that
to our advantage.
Hey, Joe, Duncan,
do you guys copy?
Are you guys down there?
Yeah
Albert, we're down here,
Duncan here.
Hey, guys,
I got an idea.
Let's put the thermal
camera on the drone.
Let's try to image
this whole site
for the temperature shifts.
Yeah, I like
your thinking, Albert.
Even down here,
it's cooler already.
I think it should
work quite well.
I'll swap
the payload over.
Yeah,
let's give it a try.
Can you direct us?
Where do you think
we should start?
So, let's
start at the temple and move our
way towards the river and
towards the modern city.
Yeah,
that sounds good.
We'll get cracking.
Using thermal
imaging is another first for
archeology in Sudan.
While it's dark to us, the
camera on that drone can see
the heat coming out of the
ground and different materials
like a mud-brick wall or a
compacted ancient road,
that might hold the heat
differently than the
surrounding sand.
And as the temperature cools
all around us, the subtle
differences will get
picked up by this scan.
That's what we're looking for.
It might give us a map of what's
just beneath the surface.
Look how
well the temple shows.
That's incredible.
Good job, guys.
Check in in the morning.
I wonder
what kind of dreams
I'm going to have tonight.
On top of a mountain.
Under a starry sky.
Wow.
What a place to sleep.
I wonder what we found.
Hey team.
Good to see you.
Oh, feels like this
is the big moment.
Yes.
You guys get a lot
of the processing done
on the GPR.
We have the data.
Yes, exactly.
Well, let's combine it
all and throw it on the
projector and see what we find.
Here we go.
Loading it now.
This is
the base layer?
Wow.
Yeah, so this is the
LiDAR and the photogrammetry
together so that you've got
a complete textured surface
model of the whole area.
What can we do to
heighten any elevation change?
We can load in
the GPR data Albert.
All right,
let's do that.
Whoa.
-Wow.
-It's so clear.
What is
this right here?
Yeah, that's a
building right there.
So, there's definitely
residential structures?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
It's all buildings.
You can even kind of see
maybe streets between them.
But that's,
that's a neighborhood.
And you didn't
know about these before?
Yeah.
No, this is all new.
Wow.
And if you start looking
for circles in here, you know,
sort of more traditional
Kushite architectural forms,
there's all kinds of circular
structures in here.
It is the same
designs we saw in Kerma
The traditional
African houses
It looks just
like it, doesn't it?
So, yeah.
El Hassan, when you
look at this, what do you see?
I see amazing things
that never have seen before
The building to
the right of the temple.
It is a mudbrick building for
the priests of Amun presumably.
-The priests of Amun?
-Yeah.
So, they would
have lived here maybe?
Yeah
What else can
we add in here?
So, from the GPR interpretations,
we've extracted
the 3D footprint.
Yes!
The city is coming to life!
Yes, gosh.
Wow.
Geoff is this it?
Is this, what we're
looking at right now, Napata?
I'm gonna say it's
the beginning of Napata.
-The lost city.
-Yeah.
How do you feel
when you see this?
I'm trying to
imagine people living in it
going to worship in the temples
doing their daily work.
It was like, full of life.
We just found the
heart of Napata
Geoff, I can only
imagine how does this change
your work plan now?
We are literally
starting to dig tomorrow,
literally, where we're
seeing buildings on this plan.
Ahhh haha.
So, this is this is
guiding our research you know.
Our scans, for
the first time, reveal a
remarkable concentration
of residential buildings
clustered around
the Kushite temples.
But if this is the
heart of Napata,
just how far does
the city extend?
We've got one last
layer to bring in.
We've got the
thermal data to load.
We're looking for difference
in temperature of like,
one or two degrees.
See that square feature there,
that's looking like
something to me.
Yeah. That's a
long way from anything.
Shall we
highlight the features?
Yeah.
Wow.
This is
super interesting.
That means that the
city would extend possibly
all the way into the city that
we're standing in right now.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
It gets bigger and
bigger and bigger.
Well, you've got a
lot of work cut out for you.
Yeah, haha yeah, yeah.
Actually,
that reminds me.
Did you scan the very
top of the serpent head?
Yes, we did.
This is just the
tip of that pinnacle.
El Hassan,
what does it say?
To the right
is the name of Taharqa
To the left is for Nastasen
All covered with
a sheet of gold
Wow!
The name
of our greatest Kings
And you can see
them from far away
on your way to the city
And you will feel blessed
by them, protected by them
Every Sudanese
should know about this
should know about the great city
and the great history they have
I think it can unite us
On behalf of my team,
I feel honored to be a part of
this story that was
erased in history,
but now shines in the sun
like the beacon at
the top of Jebel Barkal.
Shukran everybody.
This is a real step
forward in our understanding
of Kush as an
ancient civilization.
Because it shows such a wide
area all of a sudden opens up
this new perspective that
actually Napata was a huge city.
For the rest of
my life, I will remember this
every time I put my foot
on one of these sites
I always feel like
we didn't get our chance to
promote our civilization
so I think this can be the
first step toward that goal
I set out in
search of the lost city
of a forgotten people.
What I discovered is the capital
of a great African civilization,
built beneath
the home of the gods
and stretching across
the desert sands.
The beating heart of
a unique kingdom,
ruled by mighty warriors.
For 100 years Napata was the
seat of power for the Kushite
empire that conquered
the ancient Egyptians.
But their remarkable
story does not end there.
After losing control of Egypt,
the Kingdom of Kush
continued to flourish
here in their heartland
for another 1,000 years.
The city may be gone,
but despite the challenges
facing modern Sudan,
in the hearts of
people like Ikhlas,
I believe the spirit and
identity of the Kushites
lives on.