Tombs dated to the 26th Dynasty had been found in Bawiti as far back as 1950 by Egyptian archaeologist Ahmed Fakhry. The tombs contained nobles who served Djed Khonso, but Fakhry never found the grave of the governor himself. Later, villagers built houses over the site and it was lost.

Only after the Cemetery of Anubis was found did the villagers reveal to antiquities inspectors what was under their homes. In March, Hawass received permission to raze the houses and begin excavations at the site, named Sheikh Soubi after the nearby cenotaph (or monument) of an Islamic leader.

Royal Hideaway
Soon they found what Fakhry had missed. "We discovered through a hole an opening of a tomb," Hawass said. "And when I looked inside this hole, I saw a large sarcophagus." And upon the wall was written a name: Djed Khonso Euf Ankh. Initial forays into the tomb were halted by the presence of a strange yellow powder that Hawass said burned his lungs. He ordered everyone out and aired the tomb for several weeks. The substance turned out to be hematite, or iron ore. It may have been placed in the tomb as a symbol of the governor's wealth, or perhaps to dissuade future grave robbers.

Worse dangers awaited Hawass and his team. As excavations continued, the roof of the underground passage leading to Djed Khonso's tomb threatened to collapse. It deteriorated even further during production of Opening the Tombs. Hurried efforts to prop up the ceiling created an underground forest of iron beams and wooden supports. Right up until the final hour before broadcast, it wasn't known for sure whether the site would be safe enough for anyone to go down.

With much of the world watching the live broadcast, Hawass, accompanied by American actor Bill Pullman, opened two unadorned sarcophagi, revealing the well-preserved but plain-looking mummies within. No gold, no face masks — just mummies.

The much-anticipated opening of the sarcophagus of Djed Khonso came at the climax of the show. And inside the 12-ton coffin, even the satisfaction of a linen-wrapped corpse evaded the camera. All that remained was dust, bone fragments, blue faience statuettes, and tiny gold amulets.

Such is the uncertainty of live TV. But even famed mummy unraveler Thomas Pettigrew had similar problems back in 1833: The resin was so impenetrable on some specimens that he was forced to hurriedly cancel shows in mid-unrolling and dash out of the operating theater. To paraphrase the actor W.C. Fields: "Never work with animals, children — or mummies."

Hawass was philosophical. "It's important to have knowledge about them, to understand the people," he said of the Bahariya mummies. "Because if you want to make a future, you have to know your past."