Welcome to today's lesson.

This is a history lesson, and I'm your teacher, Ms. Roberts.

I'm very glad that you've joined me today for this lesson, which is all about Howard Carter and the Valley of the Kings.

Today, we are building on the knowledge that you already have about the ancient Egyptian civilization and what happened in the course of its history.

By the end of this lesson, you are going to be able to describe Howard Carter's great discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Let's begin by looking at the key words that you're going to need in this lesson.

We'll go through what the keywords are first to introduce them, and then we will have a look at the meanings.

It's important for you to listen to the keywords and understand how to say them so that you can use them yourself when you talk about ancient Egypt.

The key words for today are: excavation.

Can you say that word? Lovely.

The Valley of the Kings.

Can you try that one? Great.

This is a tough word this, you may not have heard of this before.

This word is hieroglyphics.

Can you try? Well done.

And our last word is tomb.

Can you say that one? Tomb.

Well done.

Okay, I'll take you through what each of those words mean now.

I think a couple of them will be brand new learning, won't they? So, excavation is the first word, and an excavation is a project.

It's a project where someone will dig something from the past out of the ground where it was buried.

The people that usually do this are called archaeologists, and the things that they dig up are the items that we can use as evidence to tell us about the people of the past.

The next key word for today is the Valley of the Kings.

The Valley of the Kings was built during the Middle Kingdom in ancient Egyptian history.

The Valley of the Kings is a place where many pharaohs were buried inside tombs, deep underground and inside a cliff face.

The next word was that tricky word, hieroglyphics.

Hieroglyphics was actually the writing system used by the ancient Egyptians.

It was made of symbols and pictures, and each of those individual symbols and pictures is called a hieroglyph.

The last word is tomb.

You've seen it once already here, haven't you? A tomb, like the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, is a structure that is built to hold the body of a dead person.

So here we are talking about the tombs that belong to pharaohs.

But in general, a tomb can be found anywhere, and it is any place that is specifically built to hold the body of a dead person.

Great.

I look forward to helping you use those words in this lesson.

Now, today's lesson has got two parts.

First of all, we are going to meet Howard Carter.

We're going to find out more about him.

And then later, we will be investigating what his great discovery was.

To begin with, let's meet Howard Carter.

Have a look at this picture.

This is a photograph of Howard Carter.

I would like you to spend some time now, just a minute or so, talking to a partner about the photograph.

Think about the way Howard Carter is dressed.

Look at what he is holding.

How would you describe him from looking at the photograph? Take a minute now to talk to a partner.

I think you have some excellent observations.

Well done.

Did you notice how smartly dressed Howard Carter was? Doesn't he look smart in that suit and that hat? Did you notice that he was carrying a book? And it doesn't look like a very little book, it looks like quite a long book to me.

All of these are clues or signs to tell us more about him.

Howard Carter was, in fact, an archaeologist.

He was from London in the UK.

Howard Carter had a very special and almost unique interest because he was very interested in ancient Egypt.

So he lived and worked in Egypt for many, many years so that he could learn more about the ancient Egyptian civilization and then share what he discovered with us.

He is best known for leading many excavations in places that were important in ancient Egypt.

Remember, an excavation is a project, a project to dig something out of the ground.

So Howard Carter was involved with these projects, with these digs.

And quite often, he wasn't just involved with them, he was the man in charge.

On the 6th of November 1922, Howard Carter was leading an excavation in one of these important places in Egypt, and that place was called the Valley of the Kings.

Now remember, we already know that the Valley of the Kings was built in the Middle Kingdom, and it was built to be a place where many pharaohs would be buried.

That's the place where Howard Carter is in charge of an excavation where they are digging to try and find things from the past.

The excavation that he was leading had actually begun many years earlier, in 1914, but World War One happened, and that put a stop to his work.

The excavation started again in 1917 but after five long years, they had not found very much at all.

And yes, I agree, five years is a very long time to be digging without finding anything.

Time now to have a quick stop and check on our learning so far.

To do that, I've got a little profile here for you.

A bit like a CV.

A CV is where you write about your job.

I would like you to complete this profile about Howard Carter.

You need to fill in his name, where he was born, where he lives, what is his job, and describe a little about what that job is.

You can pause the video now whilst you jot down that information in the table.

All done? Great.

Let's have a quick look at the answers together.

His name was Howard Carter.

He was born in London, England, and he lived in Egypt.

He was an archaeologist.

And to describe his job, he could say that he was leading excavations to find out more about ancient Egypt.

Well done.

Now I thought I could put another quick question in here.

Take a look at these three pictures.

I want to know which of these pictures shows the place where Howard Carter's excavation was taking place in 1922.

Was he excavating at: A, the Great Pyramid, B, the Great Sphinx, or C, the Valley of the Kings? Hmm, which one? Have a think and make your choice.

Ready? Did you choose option C? That's the right answer, well done.

Howard Carter was excavating in the Valley of the Kings in 1922.

Howard's team were actually about to give up on the excavations because they'd been digging for a long time and got nowhere.

Then, they came across something very unexpected.

They found what looked to be the top of a set of steps that had been hidden, and they had just uncovered them.

I think Alex is right.

The discovery of those steps during the excavation must have been just so exciting for the archaeologists, especially after such a long time of not finding anything.

So for many, many weeks that followed, they carefully and gently excavated the area around the steps, until they found one of the most important discoveries ever, ever made by a team of archaeologists.

Lucas and Sofia are talking about what it means to carry out excavations like Howard Carter's.

Lucas says if he had found that set of steps, he would've wanted to dig them out so fast because he wanted to find out where they would lead to.

And I'm sure I'd be very excited too.

But Sofia reminds him that excavations can't be done quickly.

That's in case they miss anything along the way, or even more important, they could break something along the way when they are digging.

So that's why they needed to carry out those excavations of the steps very, very carefully.

Now, were you paying attention then? Let's check with a quick multiple choice question.

Here's the question, and then I will give you three options to choose from for the answer.

Why is it important for excavations to be carried out slowly and carefully? Is it A, to make sure the archaeologists don't get too tired? Is it B, to make sure that no expensive tools get broken.

Or is it C, to make sure no damage is done to the historical site? Have a think and make your choice now.

Are you ready? Did you go for option A, to make sure the archaeologists do not get too tired? That's not the right answer.

How about B, to make sure that no expensive tools get broken? Well, nobody wants their tools to get broken, but that's not the reason why excavations were done slowly and carefully.

In fact, they don't really use tools for excavations, they use very, very simple equipment like brushes to very gently brush away soil and dust.

The correct answer here is option C, to make sure that no damage is done to the historical site, because the most important thing in an excavation is to preserve that evidence from the past that they are finding.

Are you eager now to find out what they found at the bottom of those steps? Let's see.

At the bottom of the steps, they found a door.

It was a very, very special door.

They'd never seen anything quite like it.

The door was covered in pictures and symbols.

We now know that those pictures are called hieroglyphs, and that is how the ancient Egyptians wrote words and sentences.

You can see some examples of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs in this picture.

Time for another quick check.

What did the ancient Egyptians use hieroglyphs for? Did they use them to send each other secret messages, to write words and sentences, or to show off their drawing ability? Have a think and make your choice.

Have you decided? Did you choose A? No.

How about B? That's the right answer.

Hieroglyphs were used to write words and sentences in ancient Egypt.

Their writing system can be described as hieroglyphic.

And they were pretty pictures and they were very intricate, but that wasn't the reason why they drew them, just to show off.

We're going to do an activity now at this point before we go any further.

So at this point, Howard Carter has been excavating in the Valley of the Kings and he and his team have found this set of steps.

They have slowly excavated those steps, and at the bottom of the steps, they have found a door.

I want you to work together with a partner or in a small group.

I want you to think about those archaeologists who were working with Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings.

The excavation isn't finished yet, but they knew that there was something very special behind that door.

How do you think that those archaeologists may have been feeling? What do you think they may find next? Share your ideas with your group.

Pause the video now whilst you complete the activity.

Are you ready? Well done.

Some of the Oak Academy children have imagined that they were the archaeologists and these are the ideas that they came up with.

Aisha says, "I was feeling disappointed because we had been excavating for a long time and not found anything, but now I am very excited about what we might discover next!" "Because there are hieroglyphs on the door, I think there is something very important behind it," says Jacob.

And Andeep says that the excavation site is in the Valley of the Kings.

"This is where the ancient Egyptians buried their pharaohs so maybe we will find a tomb!" We are going to find out what that great discovery was now.

Are you ready? Are you as excited as the archaeologists were? Let's begin.

Howard Carter was the very first person to slowly open the door and reveal what lay behind it.

Onlookers waited anxiously in silence until one person called out to Carter and asked if he could see anything behind the door.

Carter's famous response has gone down in history and he replied by saying, "yes, wonderful things." I very much agree with Andeep, it was definitely an amazing moment in history.

Howard Carter knew they had made a great discovery because he knew that behind that door was a pharaoh's tomb.

Inside the first room behind the door, they found lots of important ancient Egyptian objects.

The objects included parts of big chariots, some vases, some statues, all of these great treasures that had been buried with the pharaoh.

You can see some of those treasures in the photo.

The ancient Egyptians buried all of these things with the pharaoh as a way to show how important the pharaohs were.

Let's have a quick check on our learning so far about what lay behind that door.

I want you to talk to a partner.

Consider this question: how did Howard Carter know that he had made a great discovery? How did he know? What wonderful things did he see behind the door? Pause the video now while you talk to your partner.

Izzy and Sofia would like to share their thoughts on these questions.

Izzy says that Howard Carter knew that the room was part of a pharaoh's tomb with many treasures to be found.

Sofia says that he saw lots of special ancient Egyptian items like statues and even parts of chariots.

I think they're both excellent reasons why Howard Carter knew he'd made a great discovery, and the incredible things that lay behind the door.

The tomb that they had discovered did indeed belong to a pharaoh, a pharaoh called Tutankhamun.

Tutankhamun was known as the boy king because he was a pharaoh from the age of nine.

He died when he was about 19, so he was a pharaoh for 10 years.

This is a carving of Tutankhamun with his queen.

This was also found buried with him in the tomb.

Tutankhamun's tomb was in near perfect condition, unlike many tombs of other pharaohs that had been excavated before.

His tomb was in such perfect condition because it was so well hidden deep in the centre of the Valley of the Kings.

Many of the other pharaoh's tombs that were not so hard to find had been raided by thieves, but luckily nothing had been stolen from Tutankhamun's tomb.

Look at this photograph.

This photograph shows something called a death mask.

This was discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun.

This was found deep inside the tomb, not in the first room, in a separate room, and this room was full of very precious items and treasures that belonged to the pharaoh, as well as some items that would have been used during his funeral.

Tutankhamun's body had a mask on called a death mask.

That's what you can see in the picture.

The mask was made to look like Tutankhamun when he was alive.

This photograph is exactly what it looked like when it was discovered.

This photograph was taken in 1922.

Look at this picture.

Can you believe that this is the same mask? This picture shows the death mask after it has been cleaned up or restored.

Some of the items found deep inside this inner room were made of precious woods and metals, like this mask, which was made from gold.

You can now see the nice shiny gold.

This tells us that Tutankhamun was a very rich and very powerful pharaoh, even if he was only young.

Look again at the picture of the treasures that Howard Carter first discovered in the tomb.

Tutankhamun's treasures and all of these items were buried in the tomb with him because of an ancient Egyptian belief, and that belief was about the afterlife.

They believed that the spirit of the pharaoh would continue to live on in the afterlife and so he would still need all his things.

All of the pharaoh's treasures were buried inside the tomb with him so that he could use them in the afterlife.

Let's have a check.

I'm going to read you a sentence and it's up to you to decide if that sentence is true or is it false? The sentence says, "In ancient Egypt, various items were buried with pharaohs." Is that true or is that false? Have you decided? Did you choose true? Well done.

Yes, we've just been looking at some photographs, haven't we, of items that were buried with pharaohs.

Now remember that we can't just make statements unless we have some factual information to explain how we know that what we are saying is correct.

So I want to know what information we could use in this context to explain how we know that it is true that various items were buried with the pharaohs.

I will read you two sentences.

One of them is better for explaining this.

Which one? Sentence A, ancient Egyptians believed that nobody was allowed to use the pharaoh's things after they died so they buried them too.

B, ancient Egyptians believed that pharaohs still needed their things in the afterlife and they wanted to show how important the pharaoh was.

Have you chosen option B? Great.

This is why, it's because of the ancient Egyptian beliefs in the afterlife and the pharaoh whose spirit was going to go on in the afterlife even when the human body was gone.

That spirit still needed all of the pharaoh's treasures and things that he had during his human life, so everything was buried in with the pharaoh.

Well done.

Now time for one last activity today, and I think you are going to enjoy this.

For this activity, you are going to be working in a group.

You need at least three of you in each group.

Together, you are going to make up a role play, and your role play is to be about the story of Howard Carter and his team and how they discovered Tutankhamun's tomb.

In your role play, you should try to include what Howard said when he discovered the tomb, who the tomb belonged to, one fact about Tutankhamun, what else was found buried in the tomb with him, and why these things were in the tomb.

If you want to and you have resources, then you can make yourself some props or costumes.

You can also write down your lines to help you.

After you have practised, perform your role play for the class.

Pause the video now while you complete the activity.

Is everyone finished? You've done some great work.

It's really good to see you using your imaginative thinking.

Some of the children from Oak Academy are going to share their role-play with us next.

Here's how it went.

"Are you okay, Howard? Can you see anything down there?" "Yes, wonderful things!" "Tell us more.

Do you really think it's a pharaoh's tomb?" "Yes! The tomb belongs to Tutankhamun.

We have made a great discovery!" "Wow! Tutankhamun was known as the boy king because he ruled when he was young." "Is there anything else buried in the tomb with him, Howard?" "Yes! There are some of his treasures buried here too." "Why have those things been buried with him in the tomb?" "Because the ancient Egyptians believed that the pharaohs needed their things in the afterlife and they wanted to show how important and rich the pharaoh was." That was a lovely role play from the Oak Academy children.

Well done.

You have done very well and listened to a lot of information today.

Let's have a little review of what we know.

We know that Howard Carter was an English archaeologist and he led excavations in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

In November 1922, whilst he was excavating his team found a set of steps that led to a mysterious door that was covered in hieroglyphs.

Carter and his team had discovered the tomb of a pharaoh called Tutankhamun.

The ancient Egyptians believed that the pharaohs needed their things in the afterlife and they wanted to show how important and rich the pharaoh was, so the tomb was also filled with beautiful objects, and some were made from precious woods and metals.

That was such a fun lesson.

I had a great time today and I hope you've had fun and you've learned a lot about how we know so much about Tutankhamun thanks to the amazing work of Howard Carter and his excavation team.

I'm really looking forward to seeing you again for our next lesson in this unit about ancient Egypt.

Until then, bye for now.

Bye.