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or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at IntoHistory.com. It's late October 1922 in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

On the surface, this ancient burial site is a desert wasteland, a harsh, lifeless landscape.

But looks can be deceiving. Underneath the earth,

this valley contains untold treasures. Sweaty and thirsty diggers hack their way through limestone

and marl. Wheelbarrows of dirt are dumped to one side. Most employed here are local Egyptians,

but there are some foreigners too, and all are searching for signs

of the long-lost tombs of the ancient pharaohs. This site, nestled amidst the Thebes

hills, is filled with the buried royals of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties of ancient Egypt,

which reign from 1550 BCE to 1077 BCE. Regular excavations have been undertaken in the valley since

the 1820s, but with valuable discoveries becoming increasingly rare, today in the 1920s,

many believe the site has no more treasures to reveal. So the English financier of this dig,

George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, has declared

that this will be his final venture.

He will not be funding any further projects, and given this, Howard Carter, the British archaeologist

in charge of the excavation, is under significant pressure.

He's desperate for a discovery, but each day, as the season approaches its ends, his hopes

are dwindling.

Archaeologist Howard Carter's dig will continue on for days and weeks without any significant discovery.

He will be driven to the brink of despair, fearing for his career and reputation,

...