he went totally gaga for the ancient kingdoms.

He brought in scholars to document their findings

and they helped themselves to whatever they wanted,

even returning to France with a severed mummy head

for Napoleon's wife.

(Napoleon) Oh, Josephine will love this.

When images of the findings reached Europe,

scholars went cuckoo for these corpses.

And over the next century, hundreds of rich Europeans

started excavating Egyptian cultural sites like crazy,

pilfering thousands of priceless treasures.

Check out this sexy-ass statue.

I'm gonna put it next to my toilet.

(Ms. Dazzle gasps)

It gets worse.

Rich Europeans even held mummy parties

where they unwrapped the ancient remains

as a party game.

Last person to unwrap the mummy

has to grind it up and snort it.

Oh, fish sticks. This is very disturbing.

But what does it have to do with King Tut.

A lot, actually.

Because this Egyptomania fad led to the excavation

of over 30 pharaohs' tombs.

Except for one, the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Tut was so unimportant that his tomb

was pretty much ignored by grave robbers.

That's why, when Howard Carter uncovered it in 1922,

it was so well-preserved,

that over 5,000 separate items were found inside.

(panting)

I was in there for thousands of years.

Why did no one come back for me?

Why didn't I die?

The discovery of the tomb made international headlines.

But not because Tut was historically significant.

It was because of that ancient Egyptian bling.