Why the Biggest Tomb on Earth Is Still Sealed

Bright Side

Some tombs were never meant to be opened. Let's explore the most dangerous, mysterious, and tightly sealed burial sites ever discovered - from ancient tombs filled with deadly traps to legendary graves that archaeologists still refuse to enter. Hidden mechanisms, toxic materials, unstable architecture, and unknown conditions make even modern exploration incredibly risky. In some cases, disturbing these tombs could destroy priceless artifacts or endanger human lives.  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00One more step in the wrong direction, and the crossbows will release their arrows.

00:05If you open the wrong door, you'll end up in a river of mercury.

00:08It's almost impossible to get out of this place, but it is even more difficult to get here.

00:14No, this is not a location from an adventure movie, but a treasure hunter.

00:19This is a real giant tomb filled with traps and streams of toxic mercury.

00:24And it's not somewhere deep in the Amazon jungle or an unknown island.

00:27But this tomb is located in central China, near the city of Xi'an.

00:34And you know what the coolest thing is?

00:36This tomb was built more than 2,000 years ago.

00:39And even now, in the 21st century, we still don't know how to get there.

00:43But let's start from the beginning.

00:46Many of you have probably heard of terracotta statues.

00:50Thousands of clay sculptures of people.

00:52Those statues were first found in 1974, when a group of peasants were digging decks near Xi'an.

01:00They found a detailed human-sized figure, and that was one out of a thousand.

01:05Each figure was made as realistic as possible.

01:08Each of them was unique and had its distinctive details.

01:12More than 50 years have passed, and scientists are still digging up these sculptures.

01:17The number has already exceeded 8,000.

01:20But what are they doing there?

01:23What is their purpose?

01:25Terracotta sculptures are kinda guarding the tomb of Emperor Qin Xiahua.

01:31He was such an influential man in China that he wasn't just buried in a tomb.

01:36His servants created a giant coffin complex the size of a small town.

01:41So, if thousands of clay guards symbolically protect this place,

01:46it's difficult to imagine what's in the center of this ancient, gigantic tomb.

01:51But first, let's find out who Qin Xiaohuang was, and then move on to the dangerous traps.

01:58He was the first son of the ruler of the Kingdom of Qin.

02:02It was one of the six kingdoms that existed on the territory of modern China.

02:06In 2059 BCE, when Qin Xiaohuang was born,

02:11those six kingdoms were independent and separated from one another.

02:16Moreover, there was a strong conflict between them that lasted for more than 200 years.

02:21But Qin Xiaohuang turned out to be the man who managed to conquer and unite all these kingdoms.

02:28He became more than just a king.

02:30He became the first emperor of China.

02:32But how did he complete a seemingly impossible task?

02:38Natural disasters, clever strategy, tactics, and skills helped him to conquer the six kingdoms.

02:45Scientists are still arguing about some of the details of how this happened.

02:49All that can be said is that Qin Xiaohuang was a very wise and intelligent emperor.

02:55So it's not surprising that his burial turned out to be so huge.

02:59He was buried in the largest and most luxurious funeral complex in the history of China.

03:06The area the size of a small city contains many underground caves filled with things an emperor could need in the afterlife.

03:14In ancient China, as well as in ancient Egypt,

03:17people believed that when an emperor went to the other world,

03:21he could take with him those things that were buried with him.

03:23Unfortunately, sometimes it could be people.

03:27But Qin Xiaohuang acted wisely and correctly.

03:31He decided to bury clay statues.

03:34But the coolest thing is that the architects and builders of this complex made it impregnable.

03:40The whole area holds many secrets, historical artifacts, and priceless objects.

03:45There's a beautiful place with the emperor's body in the center of this tomb.

03:50Imagine how many treasures you can find there.

03:53And all of them were meant to remain untouched and unseen by other people.

03:58And we probably won't be able to get to them, at least in the near future.

04:03Ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian wrote something about the tomb about 100 years after the emperor's burial.

04:11He said that this place had dangerous traps inside the tomb that would destroy anyone who dared to enter the tomb.

04:18The engineers installed crossbows with loaded arrows and also poured a huge amount of mercury, simulating the movement of rivers.

04:27Of course, that was 2,000 years ago, and crossbows probably don't work anymore.

04:33But what about mercury?

04:35This toxic metal has no expiration date.

04:38It's shiny and moves quickly in liquid form.

04:40It looks beautiful, but don't touch it.

04:43Even a small drop of mercury can cause damage to your body.

04:47Inhalation of its vapors or ingestion causes damage to nerves, the liver, kidneys, and many other symptoms.

04:55And that's just one drop.

04:56Imagine how dangerous rivers of this substance can be.

05:00Who knows how much mercury was loaded there by the tomb builders.

05:03But even if you dodge all the traps and don't end up in the poisonous river, mercury would still be able to harm you.

05:11Its vapors can pass through the cracks in the walls.

05:14This means that the entire tomb is probably soaked in this substance.

05:18And by the way, this is not just a guess.

05:21Scientists have measured the mercury level at the excavation site and found that it's much higher than normal.

05:26In ancient China, mercury was considered the elixir of youth, the source of immortality.

05:36According to the records, Qin Xiaohuang often took pills with this element.

05:41Perhaps this was the reason that his life ended at the age of 49.

05:44In any case, people can damage ancient structures and artifacts during excavations.

05:51For example, archaeologists cause great damage to Tutankhamen's tomb during its exploration.

05:57You dig around, but then suddenly the entrance collapses and you destroy vases, scrolls, interior decorations, and other stuff.

06:05But even if you do everything carefully, the writing and drawings on the walls can be destroyed by sunlight or oxygen.

06:12Places where there has been no fresh air and ultraviolet radiation for thousands of years

06:17have their own chemical composition that can be damaged by contact with the outside world.

06:23In the 1970s, when archaeologists were excavating terracotta sculptures,

06:28the paint pigment fell off the statues because of contact with the sun and air.

06:33Fortunately, the archaeologists quickly adapted and created a technology

06:37that allowed them to get the statues out without damaging the paint.

06:42It was a long and careful process, but it was worth it.

06:45And here's why.

06:47According to ancient writings, the emperor created an underground kingdom with a beautiful palace in the center.

06:54He decorated the ceiling of this palace with expensive pearls.

06:58You know why?

06:59To simulate the stars in the night sky.

07:03And that's just the ceiling.

07:04It's difficult to imagine how the walls, floor, and tomb of the emperor are decorated.

07:09Besides, scientists expect to find many other statues that copy the emperor's servants.

07:15So, in simple terms, the tomb of Qin Shi Huang is a paradise for archaeologists and historians.

07:22But, of course, it will take more than one generation before they extract all the treasures.

07:28Some experts predict that the excavation of the entire tomb could take centuries.

07:33But, of course, new archaeological technologies can change everything.

07:37For example, non-invasive research methods mean you don't have to enter the tomb.

07:42You can see it through a special device.

07:44Another idea is the use of muons.

07:48Those are subatomic products that appear as a result of the collision of cosmic rays and atoms in the Earth's atmosphere.

07:55The point is that these muons can penetrate through solid objects, just like x-rays.

08:01Or how about nanotechnologies?

08:03Imagine millions of tiny digger robots climbing into a tomb and starting to scan the area.

08:09They transmit the data to a computer, and then scientists create a holographic model.

08:16It all sounds cool, but, to be honest, the charm of archaeology is lost here.

08:21It's one thing when you carefully dig up some ancient artifact with your hands, see it with your own eyes, and scrupulously clean it from the ground.

08:29And it's completely different when you watch it on a computer screen.

08:32But in any case, technologies using muons or some kind of robots ensure people's safety.

08:38It's better if a computer falls into a trap than if it happens to an archaeologist.

08:46Not many civilizations are as mysterious as ancient Egypt.

08:50A powerful empire that lasted over 3,000 years.

08:53It gave us pyramids that still stand and myths that still inspire.

08:58It's one of the most explored places on Earth.

09:00Yet, somehow, we still find exciting stuff.

09:03In Abydos, archaeologists just uncovered a 3,600-year-old royal tomb.

09:10It's huge!

09:11It has golden hieroglyphs of deities covering the entrance.

09:15But the pharaoh's name?

09:16It's not there.

09:17It's missing.

09:18Who was this ruler?

09:20And what new chapter could this open in Egypt's story?

09:22If there's one place in Egypt where the line between life and demise feels thinner, it's Abydos.

09:30To the ancient Egyptians, this was sacred ground.

09:33They believed it was the burial place of Osiris, the god who literally passed away, had his remains separated, and came back to life to rule the underworld.

09:43Because of that, Abydos became Egypt's spiritual gathering place.

09:46Pharaohs built amazing temples here, like the Temple of Seti, famous for its king's list, a wall that has the names of 76 pharaohs carved in it.

09:57Pilgrims came from across Egypt, leaving offerings and participating in Osiris festivals, where his demise and rebirth were ritually reenacted.

10:05It wasn't just symbolic worship.

10:07It was Egypt's version of Comic-Con.

10:09But instead of cosplaying superheroes, people reenacted gods coming back to life.

10:16Obviously, pharaohs competed to be buried as close to Osiris as possible.

10:20Abydos became part cemetery, part holy city, part afterlife insurance policy.

10:27Fast forward thousands of years, and we still uncover remarkable stuff around Abydos.

10:33That's the case with the recently discovered tomb.

10:36In early 2025, a joint team of researchers from the U.S. and Egypt decided to dig beneath a rocky rise ominously called Anubis Mountain.

10:46You remember Anubis, the jackal-headed deity who guarded cemeteries.

10:52The uncovered royal burial was hidden 23 feet below the surface.

10:57Sadly, even though it eluded archaeologists for so long, robbers had already taken away with treasures ages ago.

11:04They could definitely tell this was a tomb of someone super important.

11:10Similar to how you can walk around a mansion with no furniture but still deduce that someone rich must have lived there.

11:17The chamber had mud-brick vaults rising over 16 feet.

11:21That's taller than a female giraffe standing upright.

11:24For something built 36 centuries ago, it still felt enormous.

11:28However, when you remember that Egyptians were masters of architecture, nothing seems surprising.

11:36So, no treasures, no golden mask, and sadly, no name.

11:40The cartouche that should have spelled the king's identity was unreadable.

11:44Egyptian tombs usually bragged about who was inside.

11:47In ancient Egypt, a cartouche was basically a big oval name tag for kings wrapped in hieroglyphs.

11:55Think of them as VIP passes that worked in both this life and the next.

12:00Without it, your soul couldn't check into the afterlife hotel.

12:05That's because to the Egyptians, your name, your ren, wasn't just so your teacher could distinguish you from kids with the same haircut.

12:12It was a core part of who you were.

12:14As long as your ren survived, so did you.

12:18To have your name forgotten was considered a fate worse than passing away.

12:22A soul cannot journey without a name.

12:25That's why you'd see cartouches all over the place.

12:28On temples, obelisks, jewelry, statues, and tomb walls.

12:32It wasn't there just for the marketing.

12:34It kept the pharaoh's presence front and center everywhere you looked.

12:38Imagine building a massive tomb only for 3,600 years later to walk in and go,

12:44Uh, who is this guy again?

12:46Not cool at all.

12:48That's why it's fair to imagine our nameless pharaoh haunting the robbers for all eternity.

12:53So yeah, cartouche was considered very significant.

12:59One of the most famous and mind-blowing examples comes from the tomb of Thutmose III.

13:06His burial chamber and sarcophagus were literally shaped like a cartouche.

13:10In other words, the entire room was a living architectural symbol of his name.

13:15Thankfully, in the recently discovered tomb, not everything was erased.

13:20Painted in golden hues at the entrance were two familiar guardians, deities Isis and Nepethys.

13:27Isis was the magician who stitched Osiris back together and breathed life into him.

13:32Nepethys, her sister, was the eternal mourner and protector of the mummy.

13:37Together, they promised that whoever rested here would not face the afterlife alone,

13:42and it's one additional proof of the importance of the mysterious pharaoh.

13:47So, who could this be?

13:50To answer that, we need to go down history lane.

13:54This tomb dates back to Egypt's messy chapter called the Second Intermediate Period.

13:59Instead of one ruler in charge, the country had many rival kingdoms,

14:04each with its own little power base, like a real-life Egyptian version of Game of Thrones.

14:09And right in the middle of that chaos was Abydos.

14:13For a while, it was home to its own line of kings, the so-called Abydos Dynasty.

14:19Those weren't the pyramid builders everyone knows, and that's why they're so mysterious.

14:24They left behind almost nothing.

14:27No great monuments, no sprawling cities, just fragments of names on broken blocks.

14:32For centuries, many scholars even doubted they existed at all.

14:36That sort of changed in 2014, when archaeologists uncovered the tomb of Senebkay, one of those shadowy kings.

14:46Now, everything we know about Senebkay points to him having quite a story to tell.

14:51His bones revealed 18 deep wounds, the kind you get in battle.

14:56He had blows to his skull, back, and hands, and likely lost his life fighting,

15:01making him one of the few pharaohs we know who sadly fell in combat.

15:06His tomb was modest, with reused artifacts from earlier kings, but it delivered one priceless thing.

15:13Proof.

15:14Until Senebkay, the Abydos Dynasty was just a theory.

15:18With him, it became real.

15:21And that's why the new discovery could be a big deal.

15:23The newly uncovered royal tomb at Abydos shares the same layout and style as Senebkay's.

15:30It has limestone chambers, mudbrick vaults, and protective deities, although it's much bigger.

15:37Which again raises the possibility that we're looking at an even earlier, more powerful ruler of Abydos.

15:44Whoever he was, he wanted to be remembered alongside the greats.

15:49Which is ironic, because it seems that history tried erasing him.

15:54Perhaps additional findings alongside his tomb could tell us more.

15:58Yes, there's more, and it's actually pretty cool.

16:02Not far from Abydos, in the village of Banawit,

16:05archaeologists uncovered a Roman-era pottery workshop.

16:09Yeah, you heard that right.

16:11A pottery factory close to a pharaoh's burial ground.

16:14The site had huge clay kilns, storage rooms, and even broken shards called ostraca.

16:21They were basically ancient sticky notes.

16:24Except instead of shopping lists, those had receipts scratched onto them, in Greek and Demotic Egyptian.

16:31Little records of everyday transactions.

16:33The kind of thing you'd never expect to find near a lost dynasty king.

16:38Honestly, the potters missed a chance.

16:40Forget boring receipts, they should have been selling Osiris' mugs and Anubis figurines to pilgrims and tourists.

16:47But that's not all.

16:48It seems that centuries later, during the medieval period, the same ground became a cemetery.

16:55Archaeologists found mud-brick graves with skeletal remains.

16:58This could mean that Abydos kept its aura of significance for hundreds of years after the age of pharaohs.

17:04So, why this hill again and again?

17:08Is this place really a getaway to the afterlife?

17:11It is, after all, the very place where Osiris is said to rest.

17:16That belief lingered like a shadow for thousands of years.

17:20Strong enough to pull in pharaohs and later, medieval families.

17:24Different rituals, same sacred ground.

17:26Although, to be fair, the Romans weren't here for Osiris.

17:30They came to make pots.

17:32The story of Abydos is not over.

17:34The excavations will continue and who knows what else could be discovered in the future.

17:40Today, archaeologists are armed with tools that are basically x-ray glasses for the desert.

17:46Every scan could reveal a hidden chamber or, if we're lucky,

17:49finally give our nameless pharaoh his wren back to him.

17:53In fact, I became strangely invested in finding out who he was.

17:58So, let's hope for some news soon.

18:00It's only a matter of time.

18:02Do you have your own theories?

18:04Let me know.

18:06That's it for today.

18:07So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity,

18:10then give the video a like and share it with your friends.

18:12Or, if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.

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