'Expedition Unknown' Is Taking Viewers On A Live Journey Through Egyptian Tombs

On Sunday, the Discovery Channel is going to do something that's never been done before on TV: open a sarcophagus while broadcasting live from Egypt.

What does "Expedition Unknown" host Josh Gates expect to find at the archaeological site?

"Kind of the beauty of this is, I don't know," Gates (@joshuagates) tells Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson, "and I think that's the fun of it. We know that there are a lot of mummies that are down there."

The two-hour special is called "Expedition Unknown: Egypt Live," and it takes place in a less-visited part of the country where new, exciting finds are coming to light. Gates says they offer a glimpse of the "late period" in Egyptian history, around 600 BCE.

"A few years ago, [archaeologists] started making some really significant discoveries here: a series of burial shafts leading down to a network of chambers and tunnels," Gates says. "There's a lot of folks buried down in these chambers. A lot of noble elite, high priests, things like that. So it's a fascinating place to get a snapshot of this ... period of Egyptian history."

Because the burial site is the final resting place of some who were in the upper tier of Egyptian society, Gates says he and his crew anticipate finding physical remains. But true to live-TV form, there is still an "anything-could-happen element."