National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's antiquities, and French archaeologist Alain Zivie, have spent years exploring the mysteries, secrets, and treasures of Egypt's past. In a new National Geographic Television Special, Egypt Eternal: The Quest for Lost Tombs, the archaeologists take viewers along as they uncover tombs meant to last for eternity.
For 3,000 years, across 31 Egyptian dynasties, Saqqara served as a burial place for royalty, government officials, courtiers, aristocrats, and even commoners. Sitting across the river from Memphis, Egypt's first capital city, the vast necropolis is the site of the world's very first pyramid—the Step Pyramid of King Djoser—a monument designed to ease the ancient pharaoh's passage to the afterlife