@@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep That Ancient Egypt is also probably the best recorded ancient civilization we had due to its longevity helps. It lasted nearly three thousand years, and that is more that Egypt unified as the civilization we recognize it as around 3000 BC, their society probably existed before then and had been growing to that tipping point for centuries beforehand. And while its empire collapse around the time of the Bronze Age Collapse, its civilization and culture remained until it was conquered and absorbed by the Romans.
I was taken to the Worlds Fair in Tennessee I'm not sure of the year cuz I was born in 1978 so it has to be early 80s anyway there was a giant(😂again I was little) Egyptian exhibition I think it had some Tut stuff, and its been fascinating since❤
This lady looks like she's constantly smiling or constantly holding back a smile. She clearly loves her job. I hope we all can find that same kind of happiness that she has found.
Professor Bestock was my Egyptology professor at Brown in 2011! Such an exciting surprise to see her in this video as I've been watching this series since it started!
wow, the ancient Egyptians' reason for why their art was the way it was -- to show the best side of everyone ..! mindblown after not knowing for so long. "god's eye view" is such a cool phrase too. loved this, and Dr Bestock.
it's one of my favorite art history facts. The reason so much of ancient art looked the way it looks isn't because humans lacked the ability or skill or even the tools to create more realism styled art. It's that it's purposefully stylized to showcase the perfect/idealized view of bodies. It's what they felt would be accepted and appreciated by the gods.
“Ancient Egypt was already ancient in ancient Egypt” has stuck in my brain ever since the first time I watched this when it was first uploaded and even after hearing it multiple times, it still blows my mind. I understand it but the concept alone makes my brain feel it’s exploding. It’s so wild to me and really puts into perspective how far back these events happened.
@aramskaef6955 well it is mindblowing to think that cleopatra lived closer to the invention of the Iphone than the construction of the Pyramids at Giza. The Pyramids were constructed 2500 years before cleopatra ruled egypt while iphone was released 2037 years after her death. It gives us a sense of how old egypt was and how long Ancient egypt persisted in history. Not alot of ancient empires did, not even rome.
@@jnhkz im a 3rd year Egyptology student - by the 5th - 6th week of your first year, you're able to read the offering formula, its a nice party trick.. then comes the more complicated grammar when reading literature, letters, court documents, etc. Dr. Bob Brier did a great video course and learning hieroglyphs, and a few books also help to teach the basics of reading hieroglyphs (namely Middle Egyptian). One such book is "How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs" by Dr. Mark Collier
When she said her favorite pharoah was Hatshepsut I squealed!!! Hatshepsut is so interesting and I love how much the expert is happy to explain such interesting ideas about egypt
I literally lost it when she straight up started reading and translating hieroglyphics on the spot. This lady could talk to me about Ancient Egypt for hours and I still wouldn’t get bored
@@stevolopez What? Learning something new is something anyone with a brain would strive for at every turn. I bet you slam the door behind you when someone tells you that you shouldn't pour milk all over the kitchen.
As a professor myself, her style is amazing. I absolutely loved watching her speak. She is professional and no question goes unanswered. Very academic, very well explained. I could watch her on a TV show about Egypt if she had one - like on the History Channel. If she doesn't already have one, please put her on there. Outstanding and very down to earth explanations.
As an Egyptian watching this and reading the comments I feel like I wanna cry God I love our country. The fact that these so many people are interested in our culture makes me more proud.Thank you so much lady professor 🌷 note: your Arabic pronunciation of the kings names is so cute 😂💕
I'd always wondered why ancient Egyptian art depicted people in such unique poses. Thinking of it as a "god's eye" view that simultaneously shows all the best aspects of a person at once is really quite poetic.
She didn't mention this (probably because of editing or time limits, I'm not trying to imply she didn't know this) but Ancient Egyptians were also very mathematical with their portraits. They would have a grid pattern on the wall and then would be very meticulous with the proportions (like chests were 3 squares high, for example) and that's how the art stays so uniform over many walls or even in different temples. This mathematical approach to art is also how the art stays relatively the same over the many years of ancient Egypt!
@@Spicy-Ravenwe still do this to a degree! I'm a life model, and while I'm working they're discussing how many heads tall I am because the human body is a predictable number of heads tall, and you can measure the head to crotch/feet length that way.
should read up on the rage of Sekhmet. a mythical tale in which to calm her rage, Ra turned the blood of her enemies into red ale. They held drunken festivities in observance of that story.
Aww, I had an elementary school Ancient Greek craze myself. I had such a teenage crush on the god Apollo and couldn't for the life of me understand why Daphne would rather change into a tree than be seduced by him.
It's not only 'aliens' I mean, questions like 'does the professor know Cleopatra was Greek' or 'It's a shame no-one has deciphered the language'. I know I rolled my eyes at these questions!
@@Derry_Aire The questions are really just jump off points for an interesting conversation. You can tell they line up the questions in certain ways, and I wouldn't be surprised if the person doing the video helped organize the questions so that they could move through the props, stories, and fun facts in a semi-coherent manner. So, really, she's likely thankful for the stupid questions, as they allow her to lay some basic groundwork for other answers.
I love professors like this woman. Knowledgeable, patient, enthusiastic about the entire field and never tires of sharing their knowledge on levels that everyone can understand. Excellent choice and amazing video!
This is the type of a professor/teacher of history you want - knowledgeable and fun. She really sells her passion for the ancient Egypt. I really hope she has a long career sharing this passion with people th way she did in this video.
This woman is a paid liar like all the other Egyptologist and academics... The language of the mummy was Arabic, not Coptic or in any way close to the ancient Egyptian language.
@@Knolch The language in the mummy is not Coptic it's a fictionalized version of the language for theatrical purposes. I don't need to give you a source look it up for yourself.
Laurel, you are clearly an expert in your field and I admire your intellect, energy and motivation. It is because of scientists like you that we have the honor of better understanding it past. Thank you for all you do and for being an inspiration to the next generation of scientists.
You can tell the real joy Professor Bestock has for ancient egypt and it made the video all the more engaging and enjoyable. Wish my history teacher in school was this enthusiastic!
Her bubbly enthusiasm is infectious, and her mannerisms and means of explaining topics make it exceptionally interesting and engaging, yet easy to understand. What an excellent professor / historian! I wish all of my teachers were like her.
One interesting thing I saw in a documentary once is that Egyptians used to drink a lot of beer for health reasons. Whenever someone was sick or injured, they were prescribed beer by doctors of the time. At first that may seem ridiculous to us that they thought beer could cure anything. But as it turns out, it's been discovered that they used a unique brewing process and accidentally discovered antibiotics in that process. So beer back then really would have had curative properties.
It was likely cleaner than the water. There's a book called "The history of the world in six glasses" or something like that. It's a good read. Beer is discussed.
Dang, the shoutout to Assassin's Creed Origins' accuracy shows how these games, while being more about entertainment than anything, have served as pretty educational products regarding history.
Origins and Odyssey have "Discovery Tour" mode where you just walk around the landscapes in the game as one of many characters you can pick, and can optionally take tours with dev commentary about most major locations, highly recommended!
O ye, I really loved roaming that place. Although it's been an overlap of many timeperiods, the creators did try to be as genuine as they could while maintaining artistic freedom. F.e. one of the names of Tutanchamun was written as grafiti on buildings, which is seen as Tut trying to go back to the old ways of religion, after Akhenaten had his reign ended. They incorporated that timeperiod really well. It was very stimulating.
I think AC would never have been as successful if it wasn't this accurate. It would've been just another adventure game. A great adventure game but nothing that really sets it apart, which still allows for sequels that don't feel forced. The devs did such a good job at making an immersive world that doesn't feel like a digital museum but is at the same time. If anything, it made many people think about history a lot more than they did before.
@@Munenushi That's a good example of ignorant drivel. Science is not based on faith, but on what is called the scientific method, which requires every theory to be supported by proofs and sound logical thinking. An example - a religious text like Bible written by people who knew next to nothing about the universe and its laws tries to tell us that the world was created in seven days. Today, we know that it is false, because we have methods to date the age of materials (carbon decay), and we have archeological findings documenting the history of the evolution of the species and the evolution of human societies. You can construct a computer or a space ship, but you can never pray out or conjure up a space ship or a computer precisely because science is based on factual knowledge of the world and the laws that govern it, while religion is based on fantasies, delusions and wishful thinking.
Gotta say that as an art history professor, I routinely reference assassins creed in my lectures to give context for what stuff looked like. Their research team is legendary in the history world!
I used to be and art teacher and told my students at no time in recent history, and this is across all cultures, has Egypt not been facinating. We used to study Egypt and do an Egyptian themed art project every year. Thanks for posting!
It never ceases to amaze me when random internet nobody plebs think they know more about a subject than an actual expert on the subject. This was so enjoyable to watch. Wish I had history teachers like this in school.
Yeees I'm a strong believer that most people that "don't like history" just had a monotoned, boring teacher. I know that was the case for me for a long time
Many Egyptologists don't know squat about the Giza Pyramids and Sphinx. They still think they were built by the pharonic Egyptians. That's why John Anthony West used to call them "quackademics." They were then and they are now. They could never see the evidence that was right in front of their faces. "Experts" are people who went to universities and can't see their way out of them. When somebody uses the word "expert" to me, I know they're naive. Sorry.
Thanks a lot professor Laurel, this is Mark an Egyptologist tour guide at the Grand Egyptian Museum...your answers are perfectly perfect and I can't wait to see you and see all the people in the comments interested in our beloved civilization over at the GEM... 😍😍✊
There should be far more TH-cam channels of museums. Perhaps many of them could do a collaboration of a series with something like Hank Green’s company perhaps scishow or another one of their channels!
Love her confidence when she speaks about recreating the pyramids with dropping rocks and copper chisels👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
To me, the most surprising thing you revealed was the fact that we are closer in time to Cleopatra, than she was to the beginning of the Egyptian dynasty.
these videos are all the same, we're also closer in time to a t-rex than a t-rex is to some other dinosaur thats well known. forgot the name. just watched the dinosaur expert video lol.
@@Flippityflapalso the fax machine was invented before samurai died out, there’s a little anecdote about how there was a 22 year window in which a samurai could have sent a fax to Abe lincoln. The earliest version of a fax machine was invented in 1849
She does AMAZING and has the personality that if I was taking a class or webinar on this and she was teaching, it would keep my attention! This was really interesting to watch and learn more. Thanks for having her on and I hope there’s a Part II
This brings a whole new meaning of, “and I brought the receipts” to defend your argument or statement. This specialist not only brought several detailed photos, they also brought a chunk of the ground’s layers… preserved. Bravo.
Well, to be fair all specialists prepare beforehand for these videos and bring examples/photos/historical pieces and documents with them... Just watch videos with professors of medieval and Rome history.
I love her so much. She is so kind and knowledgeable. I thought for a long time I was going to be an Egyptologist. Turns out I have ADHD, I found the course to be very demanding, especially learning to live on my own for the first time. Its wonderful to see people who have made a career of it. I can hear the passion she has when she speaks, and she has obviously developed a gift for teaching. Respect.
I have a very similar situation. ADHD would destroy me in trying to retain any and all of the history taught to me. Dates, names, erras, i know about them, but if you asked me to talk about the egytpian erra, my mind would just be blank, even tho its so fasicinating to me and i know, i know facts and history about it.
I took 2 classes with a professor, polish descent, who natively spoke english, knew sanscrit and presented the class to us idiot puertoericans in spanish. His level of enthusiasm was off the charts. Loved the first one so much that i took the second part. I am/was an engineering major. A good professor who loves his/her stuff will draw you in. Loves this one!
She's the kind of teacher who you'd want to listen to even if you hate the subject (I don't hate Egyptology though). It's hard to ignore someone who talks with so much enthusiasm.
Love this lady’s passion for Egypt and history. She makes it so relatable for anyone to grasp, would love to be in Egypt on site with her as a guide, incredible knowledge source.
This is my best and most enjoyed support answers on Wired. Prof Laurel Bestock was so happy and passionate in her responses, and provided responses in such a lovely educative way, breaking complex items down so simple for everyone to understand. Absolutely loved watching it and learnt a lot. Thanks for choosing the perfect person for this support Wired. Please bring her back for a part 2.
As someone who has very little interest in Ancient Egypt, I loved this! I really like how they always find an expert who's not only really passionate about the topic but also very engaging with their explanations. I'd love to see a part 2!
I wonder how many times they facepalmed/cried/laughed going through all those tweets? Lol. Social media makes me want to give up on humanity and go live in a cabin in the forest sometimes.
"Hey expert in this field, did you know that (basic high-school fact or conspiracy theory silliness)?" This woman is clearly a teacher to exhibit such patience.
I'm glad she is. you have to be patient in science due to scientific biases. That's the whole point of the scientific method that even scientists are biased, often wrong, and have to challenge their own beliefs. I don't fault her mistakes. Most of "her mistakes, and biases," were handed down by others.
@@bl8388 Could you please clarify your post by spelling out your evidence? Please use credible sources while doing so; or you will nullify your own argumentation and thus your credibility.
@@bl8388 wait wait wait... did you just say she's wrong about anything in her chosen field of expertise without providing a source or lick of evidence of your own?
Another often over looked Egyptian invention is the solar calendar we use. Ceasar based his Julian calendar (which was later slightly updated to the modern Gregorian calendar) on the Egyptian calendar. Most calendars are historically lunar calendars since tracking moon phases is pretty easy, figuring out exactly how long it takes the earth to make a full revolution around the sun when they had no idea about anything like space or orbits was extremely impressive to say the least and involved complex astronomy, math, and pristine record keeping.
I have always loved Ancient Egypt every since I learned about it in 6th grade. Hearing her explain everything so eloquently and kindly even with some of the more meaner and not so nicely worded comments feels so refreshing.
6:47 This is one thing that impresses me about past societies. It takes a certain perspective to start building a cathedral or a monument knowing you wouldn’t live long enough to see it finished.
Elegant, thorough, and passionate as always. And the way she embodies "there are no dumb questions" in this video! How lucky I was to have had her as a professor and to know her!
This is the kind of professor one wants. Enthusiast, patient and very knowledgeable. I love reading about Ancient Egypt, and this is very much illuminating.
I feel so lucky to have had a good education. In Italy we learn about most of these facts (which professor Bestock explained BEAUTIFULLY) during elementary school. The US should really start financing schools, everyone should have people like professor Bestock as history teachers. Such an inspiring woman!
Loved to hear about the scarab pushing the sun! He was named Khepri, pushing the sun across the sky and constantly toiling to make sure the people had light!
These types of videos answer questions that have been asked on the internet already, there is not a question survey or anything these were just things people posted online. They had no idea an expert would react to them
I assumed it was someone excited about ancient Egypt asking the question and that excitement showing through their question and less "I know more than you even though you are well studied."
Statements akin to "Modern humans don't have the technology to build the Great Pyramids" always make me think that the person saying that is living in an isolated village somewhere in the Midwest, because otherwise there is no way they haven't witnessed the sheer industrial might of modern humanity. You could only ever think that if you have never seen a building crane.
Haha. I live a little south of Seattle Washington and I've heard people argue that. It's not just a "dumb Midwest farmer" conspiracy theory. There are a lot of people who do not trust authority in any form.
@@AnarexicSumo Professional builders and engineers are an authority in the field of building things. Conspiracy theorists take their distrust of authority to such a point, that they don't believe in the expertise of the experts and so they refuse to listen to anything that comes out of the mouths of "the authority".
You can put together the pyramid blocks on the outside with cranes but then how will you carve deep tunnels and then maneuver "caskets" through them some of which weigh upto 100 tonnes?
This was always the sort of professor in College where I would get excited taking the course. No matter how many times they answer a question, it always came with such enthusiasm.
I love the way she expresses herself, you can see the pasion about the topic, I didn't thought I would care so much about this topic, and now I'm even doing more dive deep on my own.
Definitely. And of course internet edgelord had to give us "Cleopatra was Greek huuuurrr got em!" and her response is "Not only did I know that, but did you also know (what none of those edgelords actually looked up in trying to sound smart)"
@@jaydoggy9043 To be fair, I'm pretty sure that the conquest of Egypt by Alexander and its subsequent rule by the Ptolemies is a pretty standard part of the historical curriculum in most places with a half-decent education system. I'm not quite sure edgelords wouldn't know about it unless they dropped-out of school quite early on. It would be up there with not knowing that the French beheaded their royals. Literally one of the most important events in the history of both Europe and Africa.
She's so knowledgeable and charming! Loved her explanations! I'm so glad she debunked so many common misconceptions ("Did you know we can't recreate the Pyramids with modern technology?" or "Why do the Pyramids of Egypt match those in Mexico?"). I love this series!
One of the most entertaining episodes in this series ever. Professor Bestock was not only deeply informative it she was super funny and entertaining. Someone please give her a podcast or show of her own. It would be so good. She is a natural Host. We loved this episode.
Absolutely phenomenal presentation! The professor's depth of knowledge and passion for ancient Egyptology shines brightly throughout this video. It's evident that a tremendous amount of research and expertise has been poured into this, making complex concepts accessible and engaging for everyone. Such educators are rare gems who not only inform but also inspire their audience to explore and appreciate the rich tapestry of ancient Egyptian culture and history. Kudos to the professor for an outstanding job!
11:48 she is so on point with the art perspective. Ancient Egyptian art was sacred and the tradition of “perspective” was kept for thousands of years unchanged for the reason she mentioned.
You can really tell she loves what she's talking about, I love it when someone asks something she clearly is very excited to explain, it's so wholesome 🥺
This video is a great example of why when listening to people who are passionate about anything it just draws you in
Most of these are that for me, but not this one because I LOVED Egyptology as a kid
@@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep That Ancient Egypt is also probably the best recorded ancient civilization we had due to its longevity helps. It lasted nearly three thousand years, and that is more that Egypt unified as the civilization we recognize it as around 3000 BC, their society probably existed before then and had been growing to that tipping point for centuries beforehand. And while its empire collapse around the time of the Bronze Age Collapse, its civilization and culture remained until it was conquered and absorbed by the Romans.
The whole series of videos was a great idea and every one was great. Thank you Wired.
This is absolutely the best explanation of why make mummies that I have ever heard
I was taken to the Worlds Fair in Tennessee I'm not sure of the year cuz I was born in 1978 so it has to be early 80s anyway there was a giant(😂again I was little) Egyptian exhibition I think it had some Tut stuff, and its been fascinating since❤
This lady looks like she's constantly smiling or constantly holding back a smile. She clearly loves her job. I hope we all can find that same kind of happiness that she has found.
Yes! Pretty sure I’ve never been this happy in my life talking about anything 😂
She's kinda hot. I would bed her.
I had a Roman History teacher at University just as enthusiastic.I'm impressed by all the presenters in this series.
I really like how she smiles more at unique questions, like did they have cookies.
The moment she strarted manga reading the mural I completely fell in love with her brain and amazing inteligence.
Professor Bestock was my Egyptology professor at Brown in 2011! Such an exciting surprise to see her in this video as I've been watching this series since it started!
I'd love for her to be my professor. She's so fun and humble.
@@monicatoro2286 Well, now you know where she teaches. 😺
Go bears!
Is she as charming in person as she is in this video?
@@adamfeoras the conversation is deeper and more complex at Brown, but yes
wow, the ancient Egyptians' reason for why their art was the way it was -- to show the best side of everyone ..! mindblown after not knowing for so long. "god's eye view" is such a cool phrase too.
loved this, and Dr Bestock.
QT
it's one of my favorite art history facts. The reason so much of ancient art looked the way it looks isn't because humans lacked the ability or skill or even the tools to create more realism styled art. It's that it's purposefully stylized to showcase the perfect/idealized view of bodies. It's what they felt would be accepted and appreciated by the gods.
I took an archaeology class with Professor Bestock at Brown!! She teaches all her classes with the same enthusiasm she shows here. She's the best
I was wondering that, she seems nice!
Archaeology is such a joke. They come up with BS answers and then never allow any other theories.
Egyptologists basically exist to train more Egyptologists.
It's a Pyramid scheme.
How cool. I loved the enthusiasm
does she have OF?
“Ancient Egypt was already ancient in ancient Egypt” has stuck in my brain ever since the first time I watched this when it was first uploaded and even after hearing it multiple times, it still blows my mind. I understand it but the concept alone makes my brain feel it’s exploding. It’s so wild to me and really puts into perspective how far back these events happened.
cringe
it's always some americans who thinks it's so "mindblowing" that the world isn't 200 years old
@@aramskaef6955No, they’re saying it’s mindblowing that Egypt lasted that long as a civilization.
@@aramskaef6955 do you lack some serious reading comprehension or what?
@aramskaef6955 well it is mindblowing to think that cleopatra lived closer to the invention of the Iphone than the construction of the Pyramids at Giza. The Pyramids were constructed 2500 years before cleopatra ruled egypt while iphone was released 2037 years after her death. It gives us a sense of how old egypt was and how long Ancient egypt persisted in history. Not alot of ancient empires did, not even rome.
10:54 listening to her read the hieroglyph is amazing- hard to listen to someone so passionate about their field without finding it infectious!
I just want more of that hieroglyphics reading, that was wild
@@nicholkidme too. It's so fascinating
Seriously, I can't believe I had never seen that before! so cool!
I got blown away when she start to read it fluently.
@@jnhkz im a 3rd year Egyptology student - by the 5th - 6th week of your first year, you're able to read the offering formula, its a nice party trick.. then comes the more complicated grammar when reading literature, letters, court documents, etc.
Dr. Bob Brier did a great video course and learning hieroglyphs, and a few books also help to teach the basics of reading hieroglyphs (namely Middle Egyptian). One such book is "How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs" by Dr. Mark Collier
When she said her favorite pharoah was Hatshepsut I squealed!!! Hatshepsut is so interesting and I love how much the expert is happy to explain such interesting ideas about egypt
That fact always makes me laugh
Cleopatra was a lot closer to the foundation of pizza hut than the foundation of the pyramids
Exactly 😂
Closer to TH-cam even!
She wasn't even Egyptian.
@@lovelyhurlin6494 I mean, she was born and lived there
Damnit, now I'm hungry for some pizza...
I literally lost it when she straight up started reading and translating hieroglyphics on the spot. This lady could talk to me about Ancient Egypt for hours and I still wouldn’t get bored
She just really pissed of all the wokers who made Cleopatra black all these years. I bet they feel stupid now!
@@stevolopezwhy would you hope that? Archeology is about chasing views once new information is available
@@stevolopez get a grip
@@stevolopez What? Learning something new is something anyone with a brain would strive for at every turn. I bet you slam the door behind you when someone tells you that you shouldn't pour milk all over the kitchen.
@@GoingNorthObv Go watch your Disney remakes and squeeze your b1ak boifriend's beebeecee for comfort!
As a professor myself, her style is amazing. I absolutely loved watching her speak. She is professional and no question goes unanswered. Very academic, very well explained. I could watch her on a TV show about Egypt if she had one - like on the History Channel. If she doesn't already have one, please put her on there. Outstanding and very down to earth explanations.
as a NON professor, She was dope AF..
She sparks joy
She's quite fit as well@@drollins9973
I'd be more inclined to say she should have her own TH-cam channel. Traditional TV like history channel is sensationalized garbage now.
Probably the part that everything is aliens. Can't it be ingenuity and hard labour over long periods of time like everything amazing we do? Naaah
As an Egyptian watching this and reading the comments I feel like I wanna cry God I love our country. The fact that these so many people are interested in our culture makes me more proud.Thank you so much lady professor 🌷 note: your Arabic pronunciation of the kings names is so cute 😂💕
I'd always wondered why ancient Egyptian art depicted people in such unique poses. Thinking of it as a "god's eye" view that simultaneously shows all the best aspects of a person at once is really quite poetic.
She didn't mention this (probably because of editing or time limits, I'm not trying to imply she didn't know this) but Ancient Egyptians were also very mathematical with their portraits. They would have a grid pattern on the wall and then would be very meticulous with the proportions (like chests were 3 squares high, for example) and that's how the art stays so uniform over many walls or even in different temples. This mathematical approach to art is also how the art stays relatively the same over the many years of ancient Egypt!
And kinda sweet, too
That’s jus how they stood and walked
@@Spicy-Ravenwe still do this to a degree! I'm a life model, and while I'm working they're discussing how many heads tall I am because the human body is a predictable number of heads tall, and you can measure the head to crotch/feet length that way.
This is the part that I enjoyed to most to learn! So interesting
"Get drunk in the tombs with your ancestors..." I can get behind that!
Similar to Day of the Dead (Dia De Los Muertos) 🥰
That’s incredible
@@Justin-d4lsounds more like an Irish thing to do.
I'll drink to that!
should read up on the rage of Sekhmet. a mythical tale in which to calm her rage, Ra turned the blood of her enemies into red ale. They held drunken festivities in observance of that story.
She’s dangerously entertaining… about to reignite my whole elementary school Egypt craze right now.
@Merooyy Be not afraid. Embrace it. lol
This video is the adult equivalent of being absolutely enraptured by the cover of a book about ancient Egypt while at an elementary school book fair
I'm studying Egyptology right now! Watching this video was so fun, I got so excited when I already knew the answer to something 😭😭
Aww, I had an elementary school Ancient Greek craze myself. I had such a teenage crush on the god Apollo and couldn't for the life of me understand why Daphne would rather change into a tree than be seduced by him.
I love how happy and cheerful she is when answering to all the questions. Learned a lot😊
This lady was very nice to answer the questions based on Ancient Aliens without rolling her eyes and sighing.
I agree! This is the only way to defeat pseudo-science.
she must get annoying questions like this all the time now. Graham Hancock is a fraud.
It's not only 'aliens' I mean, questions like 'does the professor know Cleopatra was Greek' or 'It's a shame no-one has deciphered the language'. I know I rolled my eyes at these questions!
@@Derry_Aire The questions are really just jump off points for an interesting conversation. You can tell they line up the questions in certain ways, and I wouldn't be surprised if the person doing the video helped organize the questions so that they could move through the props, stories, and fun facts in a semi-coherent manner. So, really, she's likely thankful for the stupid questions, as they allow her to lay some basic groundwork for other answers.
@@kindlin Ah, right. So it's all manipulated. Thanks for the reply.
When she pointed at the hieroglyphs and pronounced each word and translated each word to English... unf! Loved that!
@@StarfireReborn heck yeah
Youre an unf
It was so attractive ngl 😭 I felt intellectually dominated
I love professors like this woman. Knowledgeable, patient, enthusiastic about the entire field and never tires of sharing their knowledge on levels that everyone can understand. Excellent choice and amazing video!
This is the type of a professor/teacher of history you want - knowledgeable and fun. She really sells her passion for the ancient Egypt.
I really hope she has a long career sharing this passion with people th way she did in this video.
Ancient Egypt is fascinating enough to begin with but her enthusiasm and knowledge is awesome
She was so ready to defend how ancient Egypt is NOT overrated 😄
It really isn’t. Probably just that after deciphering their language it literally opened 5,000 years of history. Even 100 years of history is a lot.
that was an idiotic question
That would be because IT ISN'T
It’s not even on my top 50 places I want to see it’s overrated 💯
All deciphered thanks once again to Emperor Napoleon 🗿
"you can't actually walk like an Egyptian" my whole 80s childhood was a lie
مصر بلد التاريخ والعراقه
@@ahmedhasan7511I think the joke went over your head lol.
Also, you CANNOT wake me up before you go go
@@Matf2023 It's also astronomically impossible for there to be a total eclipse of one's heart
@@Matf2023 I can
Aw man I've never been so disappointed seeing a video end, because I can definitely listen to her for hours on end
Professor Bestock!!!! You were the best teacher a little Egypt obsessed kid could have ever hoped for. Thank you for existing
That’s awesome that you got to learn with her. I’m envious
I could listen to Professor Bestock talk for hours! Please bring her back! The way Ancient Egyptians had no word for "virgin" blew my mind a little
Or the word has not been found.
@@SiGa-i1r they probably would have found it by now
Probably had another way of defining it culturally.
@@bertreynolds8146"child" 😂
@@vzadeor just unmarried
The fact that she pointed out that the Egyptian speech used in The Mummy somehow sounded accurate made me love her and the movie more! ♥️
I think that's the coolest part of the movie. I just rewatched it and I didn't know it was actual ancient Egyptian
This woman is a paid liar like all the other Egyptologist and academics... The language of the mummy was Arabic, not Coptic or in any way close to the ancient Egyptian language.
@@Non_auro_sed_ferro_recuperanda Sources please
@@Non_auro_sed_ferro_recuperandaI think we found the person who definitely never attended university.
@@Knolch
The language in the mummy is not Coptic it's a fictionalized version of the language for theatrical purposes.
I don't need to give you a source look it up for yourself.
Laurel, you are clearly an expert in your field and I admire your intellect, energy and motivation. It is because of scientists like you that we have the honor of better understanding it past. Thank you for all you do and for being an inspiration to the next generation of scientists.
Cleopatra was closer to playing the Playstation 5 than she was to seeing the Pyramids being built.
She’s closer to GTA 6! 😮
Notice how cleopatra isn't playing any games on the ps5....
@@devinosland359 Yeah Shes loyal too loyal to Microsoft...
At the price it is right now she's closer to playing the PS5 than me...
@@benjaminthorpe7990That can go both ways this moment
Her enthusiasm made this your one of the best qna with anyone. Bring her back
Seriously, I loved this episode and a big part of that was how awesome she was.
What a simp
You can tell, she was very happy and excited to talk about Ancient Egypt :))
It's Her Passion
The way she talks smiling is so adorable. And she's so clearly knowledgeable. You got love a lady like this 😊
You can tell the real joy Professor Bestock has for ancient egypt and it made the video all the more engaging and enjoyable. Wish my history teacher in school was this enthusiastic!
half that much would have made me happy already 😊
Her bubbly enthusiasm is infectious, and her mannerisms and means of explaining topics make it exceptionally interesting and engaging, yet easy to understand.
What an excellent professor / historian! I wish all of my teachers were like her.
One interesting thing I saw in a documentary once is that Egyptians used to drink a lot of beer for health reasons. Whenever someone was sick or injured, they were prescribed beer by doctors of the time. At first that may seem ridiculous to us that they thought beer could cure anything. But as it turns out, it's been discovered that they used a unique brewing process and accidentally discovered antibiotics in that process. So beer back then really would have had curative properties.
alcohol is an antibiotic
It was likely cleaner than the water. There's a book called "The history of the world in six glasses" or something like that. It's a good read. Beer is discussed.
And their beer was more like a fermented grain soup in texture.
she is so wonderfully bright, knowledgeable, and articulate. thank you for this
Dang, the shoutout to Assassin's Creed Origins' accuracy shows how these games, while being more about entertainment than anything, have served as pretty educational products regarding history.
Origins and Odyssey have "Discovery Tour" mode where you just walk around the landscapes in the game as one of many characters you can pick, and can optionally take tours with dev commentary about most major locations, highly recommended!
Some say that AC Origins was much more successfull as an educational tool rather than a game.
O ye, I really loved roaming that place.
Although it's been an overlap of many timeperiods, the creators did try to be as genuine as they could while maintaining artistic freedom.
F.e. one of the names of Tutanchamun was written as grafiti on buildings, which is seen as Tut trying to go back to the old ways of religion, after Akhenaten had his reign ended.
They incorporated that timeperiod really well. It was very stimulating.
Assassin's creed in general is pretty good at history stuff
I think AC would never have been as successful if it wasn't this accurate. It would've been just another adventure game. A great adventure game but nothing that really sets it apart, which still allows for sequels that don't feel forced.
The devs did such a good job at making an immersive world that doesn't feel like a digital museum but is at the same time. If anything, it made many people think about history a lot more than they did before.
My favorite moment was someone asking "When will anyone ever translate these heiroglylphs?!" and then Dr. Bestock just reads them 😂
I laughed out loud when she did that
hieroglyphs, not a difficult word to spell: hiero like hierarchy and glyphs like letters
@@StanleyKubick1 chill out
I was fully expecting her to say "Well, someone HAS deciphered the, and that someone is me."
My favorite was, “You can’t always walk like an Egyptian.” 🤣
Really noteworthy that there is so much misinformation on Egypt - I felt like she was correcting myths half the time.
How do u know her information isn’t the misinformation?
@@Yamas258because you can study it and see for yourself
@@Yamas258 It's called education, as opposed to magical thinking spread through social media by charlatans and grifters.
@@Munenushi That's a good example of ignorant drivel. Science is not based on faith, but on what is called the scientific method, which requires every theory to be supported by proofs and sound logical thinking. An example - a religious text like Bible written by people who knew next to nothing about the universe and its laws tries to tell us that the world was created in seven days. Today, we know that it is false, because we have methods to date the age of materials (carbon decay), and we have archeological findings documenting the history of the evolution of the species and the evolution of human societies.
You can construct a computer or a space ship, but you can never pray out or conjure up a space ship or a computer precisely because science is based on factual knowledge of the world and the laws that govern it, while religion is based on fantasies, delusions and wishful thinking.
@@MunenushiOH BROTHER
im not sure if it's just her face but she looks so delighted to be sharing these facts. she's probably such a great professor to have
Gotta say that as an art history professor, I routinely reference assassins creed in my lectures to give context for what stuff looked like. Their research team is legendary in the history world!
I could listen to her talk on this subject for hours. Her passion for it is contagious.
I used to be and art teacher and told my students at no time in recent history, and this is across all cultures, has Egypt not been facinating. We used to study Egypt and do an Egyptian themed art project every year. Thanks for posting!
I love her!!!! You can tell by her answers that she really loves her job!!! Bring her back for more!!!❤❤❤
i took one of her classes and she is literally the best professor ever
It never ceases to amaze me when random internet nobody plebs think they know more about a subject than an actual expert on the subject. This was so enjoyable to watch. Wish I had history teachers like this in school.
Yeees I'm a strong believer that most people that "don't like history" just had a monotoned, boring teacher. I know that was the case for me for a long time
Many Egyptologists don't know squat about the Giza Pyramids and Sphinx. They still think they were built by the pharonic Egyptians. That's why John Anthony West used to call them "quackademics." They were then and they are now. They could never see the evidence that was right in front of their faces. "Experts" are people who went to universities and can't see their way out of them. When somebody uses the word "expert" to me, I know they're naive. Sorry.
Thanks a lot professor Laurel, this is Mark an Egyptologist tour guide at the Grand Egyptian Museum...your answers are perfectly perfect and I can't wait to see you and see all the people in the comments interested in our beloved civilization over at the GEM... 😍😍✊
@@StarfireReborn I'm sure you will someday, we'll be waiting
Those emojis our beyond cringe
@@gorrvaskr5963 Nobody asked for your opinion 😍😍😍
@@gorrvaskr5963 *are
No one’s gonna take you seriously if you sling an insult while sounding dumb, nor should they
There should be far more TH-cam channels of museums. Perhaps many of them could do a collaboration of a series with something like Hank Green’s company perhaps scishow or another one of their channels!
Love her confidence when she speaks about recreating the pyramids with dropping rocks and copper chisels👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
To me, the most surprising thing you revealed was the fact that we are closer in time to Cleopatra, than she was to the beginning of the Egyptian dynasty.
these videos are all the same, we're also closer in time to a t-rex than a t-rex is to some other dinosaur thats well known. forgot the name. just watched the dinosaur expert video lol.
@@Flippityflap that's how time works. It's just giving some perspective on these vast expanses of time.
@@Flippityflapalso the fax machine was invented before samurai died out, there’s a little anecdote about how there was a 22 year window in which a samurai could have sent a fax to Abe lincoln. The earliest version of a fax machine was invented in 1849
@@Flippityflap We're closer to t-rex, triceratops and ankylosaurus than they were to stegosaurus.
It’s not a fact. Its opinion based on questionable evidence.
She does AMAZING and has the personality that if I was taking a class or webinar on this and she was teaching, it would keep my attention! This was really interesting to watch and learn more. Thanks for having her on and I hope there’s a Part II
This brings a whole new meaning of, “and I brought the receipts” to defend your argument or statement. This specialist not only brought several detailed photos, they also brought a chunk of the ground’s layers… preserved. Bravo.
Well, to be fair all specialists prepare beforehand for these videos and bring examples/photos/historical pieces and documents with them... Just watch videos with professors of medieval and Rome history.
This one was awesome. Thank you Dr. Bestock for contextualizing Egyption history in a way anyone can understand and be interested in!
Her personality is very charming & very informative love it ❤
@@Masonj919yes the way she says her o!
Haha.. she reminded me of someone but not Drew Barrymore, it's Kate Winslet@@Masonj919
I love her so much. She is so kind and knowledgeable. I thought for a long time I was going to be an Egyptologist. Turns out I have ADHD, I found the course to be very demanding, especially learning to live on my own for the first time. Its wonderful to see people who have made a career of it. I can hear the passion she has when she speaks, and she has obviously developed a gift for teaching. Respect.
I have a very similar situation. ADHD would destroy me in trying to retain any and all of the history taught to me. Dates, names, erras, i know about them, but if you asked me to talk about the egytpian erra, my mind would just be blank, even tho its so fasicinating to me and i know, i know facts and history about it.
omg we need more of her, 20 minutes was not nearly enough! actually, she needs a show about egyptology asap
I need a whole series, stat. She's so engaging and her interest is infectious
The history channel should hire her and forget the ancient aliens crap
Search for her name and find lectures by her online.
I took 2 classes with a professor, polish descent, who natively spoke english, knew sanscrit and presented the class to us idiot puertoericans in spanish. His level of enthusiasm was off the charts. Loved the first one so much that i took the second part. I am/was an engineering major. A good professor who loves his/her stuff will draw you in. Loves this one!
She's the kind of teacher who you'd want to listen to even if you hate the subject (I don't hate Egyptology though). It's hard to ignore someone who talks with so much enthusiasm.
16:00 The Egyptian Book of the Dead is my new favorite ancient Egypt topic. How cool, "a cheat sheet for getting into the afterlife successfully."
Actually the book exact translation is Book of Emerging Forth into the Light (because our ancestors believed that life will continue after death)
Her reading hieroglyphics is one of the coolest things I've seen on TH-cam. Such a mic drop moment!
Love this lady’s passion for Egypt and history. She makes it so relatable for anyone to grasp, would love to be in Egypt on site with her as a guide, incredible knowledge source.
can we have an audiobook of her reading ancient hieroglyphs?? absolutely captivating
For science?!…
@@ericlataxes4555 because it’s interesting!!!
@CLLister what important things did she dodge?
This is my best and most enjoyed support answers on Wired. Prof Laurel Bestock was so happy and passionate in her responses, and provided responses in such a lovely educative way, breaking complex items down so simple for everyone to understand. Absolutely loved watching it and learnt a lot. Thanks for choosing the perfect person for this support Wired. Please bring her back for a part 2.
And a part 3 and 4 and 5 and ...
As someone who has very little interest in Ancient Egypt, I loved this! I really like how they always find an expert who's not only really passionate about the topic but also very engaging with their explanations. I'd love to see a part 2!
This was the best episode of this series. Good stuff!
WE NEED PART 2.
Finally, a sensible head debunking tweets without condescending them!
I wonder how many times they facepalmed/cried/laughed going through all those tweets? Lol.
Social media makes me want to give up on humanity and go live in a cabin in the forest sometimes.
Then you haven't watched many series then have you
@WildlifeWarrior-cr1kk yeah the subject matter experts are usually excited to educate.
@@Roddy556 yes
"did you know that we don't have the technology to build the pyramids today" deserves condescension
"Hey expert in this field, did you know that (basic high-school fact or conspiracy theory silliness)?"
This woman is clearly a teacher to exhibit such patience.
I'm glad she is. you have to be patient in science due to scientific biases. That's the whole point of the scientific method that even scientists are biased, often wrong, and have to challenge their own beliefs. I don't fault her mistakes. Most of "her mistakes, and biases," were handed down by others.
ikr that annoyed me
She pass the vibe check I suppose
@@bl8388 Could you please clarify your post by spelling out your evidence? Please use credible sources while doing so; or you will nullify your own argumentation and thus your credibility.
@@bl8388 wait wait wait... did you just say she's wrong about anything in her chosen field of expertise without providing a source or lick of evidence of your own?
We need a part 2 of this!
When an Egyptologist quotes, or even references any of the first 2 The Mummy movies, it's time to rewatch.
Another often over looked Egyptian invention is the solar calendar we use. Ceasar based his Julian calendar (which was later slightly updated to the modern Gregorian calendar) on the Egyptian calendar. Most calendars are historically lunar calendars since tracking moon phases is pretty easy, figuring out exactly how long it takes the earth to make a full revolution around the sun when they had no idea about anything like space or orbits was extremely impressive to say the least and involved complex astronomy, math, and pristine record keeping.
I have always loved Ancient Egypt every since I learned about it in 6th grade. Hearing her explain everything so eloquently and kindly even with some of the more meaner and not so nicely worded comments feels so refreshing.
Seeing this as a Egyptian makes me so happy
6:47 This is one thing that impresses me about past societies. It takes a certain perspective to start building a cathedral or a monument knowing you wouldn’t live long enough to see it finished.
I took two classes with Professor Bestock my senior year at Brown!! She’s one of my all-time favorite professors!
Egyptologists basically exist to train more Egyptologists.
It's a Pyramid scheme.
QT
Elegant, thorough, and passionate as always. And the way she embodies "there are no dumb questions" in this video! How lucky I was to have had her as a professor and to know her!
Your closet is simple a dream! Not just the *amzrepe* bags but the ready to wear that you have is absolutely stunning.
Shoutout to Wired for actually listening to the commenters on the Ancient Rome video!
This is the kind of professor one wants. Enthusiast, patient and very knowledgeable. I love reading about Ancient Egypt, and this is very much illuminating.
When I did ancient history at school, I did a whole presentation on Hatshepsut. She was my favourite ancient Egyptian.
I feel so lucky to have had a good education. In Italy we learn about most of these facts (which professor Bestock explained BEAUTIFULLY) during elementary school. The US should really start financing schools, everyone should have people like professor Bestock as history teachers. Such an inspiring woman!
Loved to hear about the scarab pushing the sun! He was named Khepri, pushing the sun across the sky and constantly toiling to make sure the people had light!
Khepri, my beloved
the audacity of people talking to a specialist starting with "did you know"
yah right haha
calm down, folks. It was most likely a child.
These types of videos answer questions that have been asked on the internet already, there is not a question survey or anything these were just things people posted online. They had no idea an expert would react to them
I assumed it was someone excited about ancient Egypt asking the question and that excitement showing through their question and less "I know more than you even though you are well studied."
@@geriwan1 Nah most republican adults are like that.
Statements akin to "Modern humans don't have the technology to build the Great Pyramids" always make me think that the person saying that is living in an isolated village somewhere in the Midwest, because otherwise there is no way they haven't witnessed the sheer industrial might of modern humanity. You could only ever think that if you have never seen a building crane.
Haha. I live a little south of Seattle Washington and I've heard people argue that. It's not just a "dumb Midwest farmer" conspiracy theory. There are a lot of people who do not trust authority in any form.
@@perceivedvelocity9914 Trusting authority has nothing to do with understanding how buildings are built.
@@AnarexicSumo Professional builders and engineers are an authority in the field of building things. Conspiracy theorists take their distrust of authority to such a point, that they don't believe in the expertise of the experts and so they refuse to listen to anything that comes out of the mouths of "the authority".
@@AnarexicSumo Well NASA is an authority on all things space and flat earthers continue to distrust them and believe their own thing.
You can put together the pyramid blocks on the outside with cranes but then how will you carve deep tunnels and then maneuver "caskets" through them some of which weigh upto 100 tonnes?
This was a pretty interesting video, thanks for all the information and enthusiasm, Professor Bestock!
This video is, by far, one of the most interesting that I've seen this year. Awesome information.
Video was released 2 weeks ago, not 2 years.
@@nabatean180you are absolutly right. I've edited the original comment. Thanks. :)
This is def one of the more hard hitting Tech Supports. I love this lady!
This was always the sort of professor in College where I would get excited taking the course. No matter how many times they answer a question, it always came with such enthusiasm.
Amazing. It is wonderful to hear some of the details of Egypt. Excellent video.
I could listen to her for days.
You can feel the passion and good vibes
I really love how enthusiastic the experts in this series are. They just project the joy of knowledge and sharing that knowlege ..love it.
I love the way she expresses herself, you can see the pasion about the topic, I didn't thought I would care so much about this topic, and now I'm even doing more dive deep on my own.
it always makes me laugh when people say we don’t have the technology anymore to build the pyramids or go to the moon
She was extremely polite considering how moronic a few of the questions were. A very nice tidbit of facts!
Definitely. And of course internet edgelord had to give us "Cleopatra was Greek huuuurrr got em!" and her response is "Not only did I know that, but did you also know (what none of those edgelords actually looked up in trying to sound smart)"
Yeah who the heck picked these questions? I recommend they check out History Hit as an example of picking quality questions.
You can still walk like a wild and crazy guy.
saw this before i watched the video and thought "how bad could it be" but... yeah some of these were pretty bad
@@jaydoggy9043 To be fair, I'm pretty sure that the conquest of Egypt by Alexander and its subsequent rule by the Ptolemies is a pretty standard part of the historical curriculum in most places with a half-decent education system. I'm not quite sure edgelords wouldn't know about it unless they dropped-out of school quite early on. It would be up there with not knowing that the French beheaded their royals. Literally one of the most important events in the history of both Europe and Africa.
Love hearing experts share their knowledge
She's so knowledgeable and charming! Loved her explanations! I'm so glad she debunked so many common misconceptions ("Did you know we can't recreate the Pyramids with modern technology?" or "Why do the Pyramids of Egypt match those in Mexico?"). I love this series!
One of the most entertaining episodes in this series ever. Professor Bestock was not only deeply informative it she was super funny and entertaining. Someone please give her a podcast or show of her own. It would be so good. She is a natural Host. We loved this episode.
Absolutely phenomenal presentation! The professor's depth of knowledge and passion for ancient Egyptology shines brightly throughout this video. It's evident that a tremendous amount of research and expertise has been poured into this, making complex concepts accessible and engaging for everyone. Such educators are rare gems who not only inform but also inspire their audience to explore and appreciate the rich tapestry of ancient Egyptian culture and history.
Kudos to the professor for an outstanding job!
11:48 she is so on point with the art perspective. Ancient Egyptian art was sacred and the tradition of “perspective” was kept for thousands of years unchanged for the reason she mentioned.
You can really tell she loves what she's talking about, I love it when someone asks something she clearly is very excited to explain, it's so wholesome 🥺
Pleasure to listen an expert in simple words. A+