Were Egypt’s pyramids really built by slaves to be the tombs of the pharaohs? Most scholars believed so—until the excavation of a workers’ village and the tomb of High Priest Kai led to some startling conclusions. In this program, Zahi Hawass, of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, and renowned anthropologist Azza Saary el-Din provide support for the "public works" theory of the late Egyptologist Kurt Mendelssohn, while analysis of the River Nile’s flood cycle, inquiries into the practices of medicine and mummification, and outstanding 3-D computer animation offer a broad perspective on ancient Egyptian society. (59 minutes)