(2021)

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8/10
Fairly well done documentary.
kerrydunn31 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
It is a 4 part (?) series on the discovery of some "mega-tombs" discovered in Saqqara.

While they apparently found mummies dating back to the "Old Kingdom", most were from the later stages of ancient Egypt, the centuries around when the Greeks ruled until the end of "Ancient Egypt" when the Romans conquered the country.

Excellent camera work, doesn't try to "sensationalize" everything though many of the Egyptologist are (understandably) excited by the finds.

And yes, the Egyptian experts are actually experts despite what one reviewer thinks.

And yes, that is how the Egyptians conduct digs, unlike what one sees in movies where archeologists have everything divided into grids and clear areas using just a small brush.

As for the show, it is a bit annoying when they start each episode like it's a crime thriller though and they never seem to actually explain some of the things they say they are going to.

It's like the episodes should have (or were) longer and someone who hasn't actually watched the show (and knows little about Egyptology) edited it more to keep the time in check rather than to keep the story consistent.

Still, way better than that "Opening the Lost Tomb" show that aired on Fox back in 1999.

I actually walked around some of the areas shown in this series when I visited the Step Pyramid back in 2005.

I was able to look through my photos and recognized some of the sites, though I never went to the area where all the tombs in this series were found.

(Probably wasn't being excavated when I was there.)
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8/10
It could have been much better
farshidkarimi10 July 2021
I have watched 2 episodes of this series. I wish It had been produced using renowned Egyptologists, the western ones not this bunch of clowns messing around with precious artifacts. The digs should have been done by professional not some menial workers who were goofing around in front of the camera. I give it an 8 because of the artifacts they display to the viewers.
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9/10
Well done and ongoing.
pfstevenson-7100217 May 2024
To counter the other oddly critical review, the many of the people featured in the Tomb Hunters do have their Ph. D.'s. I have been fascinated by this show as the work itself is fascinating but, as I understand this work, they were somewhat surprised at the numbers of sarcophaguses (sarcophagi?) they were finding. I think they suspected there would be a lot but not the numbers that they have found, so far. The Director fellow said a couple of times that he thought the plain of Saqqara held hundreds more tombs like those they have found so far. I wonder if he is now modifying that number upwards. The only real problem I had (have) with this show is that the Director is so wanting to get his face on the camera and his name in the news. The other guys working in the tombs were much more interesting.
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10/10
Wonderful Series with Reknowned Egytian Egyptologists
ldesteiguer20 August 2023
I've been following Egyptology for more than 30 years. While I love most series I've come across in recent years, the new types that have been filmed over the past 5 years or so have been highlighting modern Egyptian Egyptologists' careers in the field. There has been a generational and demographic shift in the study of this ancient history.

Since the time of Napoleon, Egyptology has been conducted by Westerners, primarily of European decent. They've made some great advances in this field but I always found it a little cringy in their interactions with the workers, who were primarily native Egyptians digging their own ancestry from the earth for the Europeans who took credit for the find.

Ancient Egyptian history is so old that it feels like human history. It is, but it's also the history of these people living in the region now.

It's wonderful to see Egyptians taking a leading role in the discovery of their own history. Dr. Waziri currently holds the role of Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. His team is becoming my new Egyptology friends as they've been featured in a number of documentaries in recent years. They are a dedicated, hard working, and passionate bunch of experts that include everything from conservation specialists to excavation specialists who's attention to safety and the preservation of this dynamic culture will feed researchers for decades to come.

I must say, it's absolutely mind-blowing what they found in the shafts. Unbelievable wealth of artifacts and information it's hard to believe it escaped tomb raiders' notice for so long.
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