Unknown: The Lost Pyramid

It is odd that Zahi Hawass decries the looting colonial archaeologists of Egypts recent past while styling himself on Indiana Jones, opossibly the worst example fo the kind. It's never easy watching his self-publicising style but there is no doubt of the passion he feels for his country's past or of the value (as portrayed in this film) of the Egyptians themseves taking the lead in excavating their past.

Two projects are followed each delivering differently for their lead archaeologists and the different reactions of Waziri and Hawass paint an interesting contrast.

Perhaps more problematic for those that believe in archaeology as a unifying discipline, is the political dimension and the way in which the film looks more like a quest for artefacts and glory than for answers in spite of this being a criticism that these current excavators level at their predecessors.

There is a film to be made about the changes in scholarship as peoples explore their own heritage, but this isn't it. There is also a film to be made about the challenges of the archaeology of early dynastic Egypt and this isn't that either.

It looks beautiful though.

Loved every second of it. I have always been fascinated by Egyptology, and especially anything involving Dr. Zahi Hawass. His fight to bring the glory of Egypt back to the Egyptian people is so honourable and you truly sense the pride everyone involved has for their country and their history.

This finds here are nothing short of astonishing, many things I have never ever seen before in any other documentary. I don't want to overhype but truly wild.

On top of all of that, the cinematography was absolutely stunning. Whether in the tombs themselves in those tight, tiny corners or overlooking the incredible Egyptian landscapes at sunset, the DOP's on this shoot did an amazing job in some very difficult circumstances.

If you're into Egyptology at all, highly recommend!

The title is a bit misleading and was not really aspecting to spend time in following the whole excavation. Worth watching if you do not have much expectation based on the title. Very Americanized. I loved watching the Saqqara documentary. Intriguing the part in which some items are really discovered at the end of the documentary.

I hope that will be a sequel and some more items and history will be discovered/revealed. I admire the tenacity of all the archeologist that took part on the excavations and the perseverance of the people that helped.

I would have rather seen more of the actual discoveries.

I have more questions then answers about this whole story after watching How and why did the pyramid get lost?

Who was Huni and why was he important?

Why are these finds important other then to stroke the ego of the main guy?

There was a lot of info squished into the documentary that should have been explained better.

Also it turned me off right at start when he complained about "foreigners" if it wasn't for these foreigners there would be no Egyptologist or frankly many digs as they finance most of them There are more then a few scenes where its all about him and his legacy then about what they found.

Would never watch a documentary featuring this guy again.

You can tell who paid for the documentary. A little Cheesy with the head archaeologists but good overall. They keep talking about how amazing they are and how they had a feeling that they're about to find some thing, little silly but it's fine. We got to see some cool tombs, opened and discovered, but you could tell those guys had huge egos like it was just all about them, and how awesome and special they are to find these tombs. And how it's all because of them that they were found. Yes I'm over exaggerating and repeating just like they did in the documentary. The video specifically not sure who edited it,. But it looks like they let the archaeologists be part of the editing process and that made it a little cheesy, but still enjoyable.

Overall, it's great getting to see pieces of history.