The KBYU documentary, Secrets of the Pharaohs: A Quest for Ancient DNA, will be broadcast nationally on April 15, 1996, on the Discovery Channel. Check local listings for air times.
The hour-long program documents the work of BYU scientists at an excavation in Egypt (see “From Darkness to the Light,” Brigham Young Magazine, May 1994). Through their work, BYU archaeologist Wilfred Griggs and microbiologist Scott Woodward have discovered much about the culture of ancient Egyptians. And through Woodward’s analysis of DNA extracted from royal mummies and from remains of commoners and servants, the researchers are piecing together family relationships, human characteristics, and health records–information that not only sheds light on the past but also illuminates the future.