Les Secrets de la tombe de Saqqarah

Its really cool to get a real time experience of an excavation site. pretty unfiltered too, without too much overproduction. its shows some of the step by step method of working. havent seen much movies/docu that show this in the same detail, prob becauze this was such a rare occasion.

8/10: props

It's a Netflix show so we should probably expect entertainment over rigorous archaeology, however.... this show was problematic.

To start with, it's a highly interesting discovery and site. Theres a lot of interesting finds that are significant for history of Egypt especially in the tomb of Wahtye. As another reviewer said, the excavators seem very enthusiastic and keen- and as Egyptians, so they should be. I liked that Egyptians were involved in this dig, and that it was filmed largely in Arabic. This is their nations history, so that's important and refreshing.

However!

There were so many elements that were questionable in terms of history and archaeology.

* the forced 'conspiracy' theory is a stretch. Trying not to add a spoiler- the 'conspiracy' around the scene of the man and woman at the offering table- their conclusions are weird. The logical conclusion is it is his dad? But their first and second conclusion seem very unfounded. it made me question their credentials, their logical capability, and/or the highly constructed nature of the doco. Are they playing up conspiracy for viewers?

* they kept touching things without gloves. Like what? Archaeology 101 is wear gloves - our hands have oils which can be destructive to artefacts. My high school archaeology students know this....

* they opened a sarcophagus /exposed a mummy, in the middle of the desert / sunlight, compromising preservation. Oh and its 'discovery' seemed highly staged along with the nicely placed ushabtis in the background.

* there appeared to be little record keeping and site photography. I know they were filming, but archaeological records and reports require mappings, site surveys, diagrams and photos. I can concede some of this *may* have been edited for audience 'interest', but given everything else, I'm not betting a lot on it.

The narrative and conclusions of a conspiracy are dodgy, or at least, not well formed in the doco. The structure, 'script'/dialogue and editing is highly popularised for the non academic.

The final WTH, was at the end, when archaeologists were thanking Wahtye for a lifetime discovery, and saying he'd be happy you dug him up and made him famous? Um no.

Wahtye and his fellow citizens spent a long time putting effort into their tombs and burials for a reason. They needed to be well stocked, appropriately decorated, mummy contained and preserved, in order for their spirits (ka,ba,akh) to survive. Archaeology disrupts that. Wahtye would probably be furious. You disturbed his tomb. You dug up and dumped his, and his families bones in crates, before playing with them to assemble them. I find it interesting an Egyptologist would claim he'd be happy with it.

In all, it's an interesting discovery, and if you aren't an historian/archaeologist/or interested in those professions, you'll probably find this fabulous. If you have any knowledge or experience in these fields, you'll probably be face palming a lot.

But still, you should probably watch it for the fabulous footage of the tomb and some amazing finds there (no spoilers!).

Some parts about the discovery of the tomb and the artefacts inside were absolutely fascinating!

However I feel that for the run time, it doesn't ever actually explain or tell you all that much... There's nothing about the history of the area, what they are doing at the site, nothing to create context.

However some genuine archaeological firsts are made and that's very interesting, as is just physically being able to see "live" new discoveries being made / unearthed.

I enjoyed it because I love ancient history, but if you're new to it, you'll find this pretty boring!

People who are giving this bad reviews apparently have never watched very many Egyptian archeology programs on tv. First about the gloves everyone keeps griping about. It's 95° and they can't keep gloves on tut while entire time because then their hands would sweat and could bust open and cause even more issues. Plus I saw SEVERAL scenes where gloves were being used. Then there is the opening of coffins out on the open. The head of Egyptian antiquities himself even stated that sometimes those coffins were empty and they checked then to make sure that a mummy was inside. Apparently no-one watched the special with Josh Gates and Zahi Hawass when they opened a coffin while it was still in the tomb. Pretty standard for most Egyptian archeology shows that I watched. Letting the bones out in the crypt was another complaint. They were covered in dirt to begin with and in poor condition. Laying them out isn't going to hurt them any more than they already have. My only gripeis about the way they were handling the mummified animals.

However...

Some people complained about the lack of a narrator made the documentary d disjointed and confusing and didn't fill in extra information. I felt this was actually very refreshing. Never before did I ever get to hear the individual workers talk about their work, discuss their family doing this work for at least four generations, how many of them depended on this work every digging season, or show them teaching their children the work too. It was nice to get their point of views on what they were doing and hearing what it meant to them personally to be there. Seeing their everyday mundane conversations and joking with each other as they worked was wonderful to witness. I honestly don't get how they thought anything was "staged". They probably only filmed when things were found or cleaned up enough for the audience to see what was there. Seeing things as they were found was awesome. You have to remember that what we got to see was probably trimmed down from hundreds or even thousands of hours of filming. We were shown what an archeological dig in Egypt was really all about without the annoyance of a narrator who was never there nor bogged down by wasted minutes of people documenting the finds. It was up close and personal from the actual workers point of view which was beautiful and awesome.

I just finished watching, and I rushed here to givee it a 10. I found the documentary amazing, I loved the people that worked in the site, a lot of passion to the work, and emotion. I always loved Egyptian culture and history, especially ancient. But then, I read some reviews talking about the archeologycal methods applied, about how they didn't wear gloves for example, and exposing the mummy etc. I actually thought it was weird they touched the artifacts and bones with their bare hands, but I simply didn't mind, I thought "well, they know better". But it turns out they didnt. Anyway, I really liked the film.