Ancient Egypt's Celebration of the Dead | Lost Treasures of Egypt

[cow mooing]

NARRATOR: Each year after the harvest, the people of Thebes held a celebration of the dead called the "Beautiful Festival of the Valley." They carried statues of Thebes' three main gods in a grand procession out of Karnak temple east of the river. [music playing]

They crossed the Nile in ceremonial boats following the sun's journey from the East Bank, the land of the living, to the West, the land of the dead. The procession ended at the tombs and temples on the West Bank, where people had laid offerings, including pots of food at the graves of the deceased. [music playing]

[interposing voices] The ritual ensured the dead had provisions for eternity. These pots mean a tomb should be very close. [interposing voices] The roughly carved casket appears to be buried in a miniature tomb. This is clearly no king, but it's a vital clue that he might be near.

If the burial does predate Amunhotep I, it proves Dra' Abu el-Naga' was a cemetery by the time he died. So he could be buried here. But there's no way to tell until this coffin is out of the ground.