00:00In 1850, the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette went to the land of the pharaohs in search of manuscripts,
00:07but came across a head of a sphinx emerging from the dunes.
00:11After clearing the sand, he understood that this sphinx marked the entrance of an underground structure.
00:16A few months later, he finally entered the Serapeum of Saqqara.
00:20Inside, he discovered a gigantic sarcophagus made of granite, containing the remains of 64 bulls.
00:27Scientists are amazed by the technology used by the ancient Egyptians to move these huge blocks.
00:34The Serapeum, built around 3000 BC, was an underground grave dedicated to the sacred bull Apis,
00:42venerated in ancient Egypt.
00:45It had a long corridor of nearly 150 meters, bordered by large stone halls.
00:50Some sarcophagi, weighing up to 100 tons, or the equivalent of 50 average cars,
00:55were made with remarkable precision, with perfect angles of 90 degrees.
01:01Decorated with hieroglyphs and engravings, these pieces detailed the stories and importance given to the bull Apis.
01:08Today, only 24 sarcophagi remain.
01:12In ancient Egypt, the bulls Apis occupied a prominent place due to their connection with the god Ptah.
01:19They were perceived as bearers of his spirit and wisdom, while supporting the pharaoh and his people.
01:26The priests identified these sacred bulls by looking for distinctive signs.
01:31A white triangle on the forehead, a symbol of divine light,
01:35a dorsal mark evoking the wing of a vulture,
01:38and a form of scarab under the tongue, associated with reincarnation.
01:42When a bull wore these marks, it was considered as chosen by Ptah and treated with veneration.
01:48The animals lived in a temple dedicated to Memphis, a city where Ptah was honored,
01:53and received the most attentive care, as well as offerings from visitors eager to receive their blessing.
01:59Upon their death, the bulls Apis were mummified and honored with the greatest solemnity.
02:04When Mariette entered the serapeum, he observed traces of rolls on the floor of the galleries,
02:09and discovered two horizontal wooden troughs, each with eight levers.
02:14Subsequently, other explorers pointed to the presence of double rails.
02:18The funerary chambers were located at a level lower than the floor of the corridor.
02:22To position the sarcophagi, the workers filled these chambers with sand,
02:26thus allowing a straight movement.
02:29Then, the sand was gradually removed,
02:32gently lowering the sarcophagi into perfectly carved places in the rock.
02:37A stone inscription found in the serapeum mentioned that at the time of Ptolemy,
02:41in 247 B.C., it took 28 days to place a single sarcophagi with its cover.
02:49The incredible precision of the sarcophagi, especially their 90-degree angles,
02:54is also explained by the geometric advances of the ancient Egyptians.
02:58As early as 1850 B.C., they wrote treaties of geometry,
03:03demonstrating that they knew an approximate value of π,
03:06and knew how to calculate the volume of a truncated pyramid.
03:09These advanced mathematical skills explain their ability, five centuries later,
03:14to sculpt perfectly flat surfaces.
03:17Although all this may seem logical, some point to inconsistencies.
03:21The size of the sarcophagi far exceeds that of the bulls,
03:24while the pharaohs were buried in small coffins, barely adapted to their bodies.
03:29In addition, these sarcophagi, made of granite with remarkable precision,
03:34could not have been made of limestone, a much easier material to work with.
03:40The transport of these huge sarcophagi seems feasible in theory, but remains complex.
03:46If a person could pull about 200 kg, it would have taken at least 250 people to move a single sarcophagi.
03:53However, the tunnels of the serapeum are extremely narrow,
03:56exceeding barely 60 cm the width of the sarcophagi themselves.
04:01It would have been impossible for hundreds of people to squeeze into these confined spaces to pull the sarcophagi.
04:08And even then, how could they have rotated the blocks in these narrow corridors,
04:13lowered them into their niches, and positioned them perfectly in the center?
04:17However, this was done no less than 24 times, each sarcophagi being impeccably centered.
04:23In addition, the rooms were covered with dust, without any trace of mold from the lamps,
04:29which would imply working in almost total darkness.
04:32The true function of these sarcophagi could however have been different.
04:36Long before the era of the pharaohs, local populations already knew the fermentation process.
04:42This phenomenon occurs when microorganisms, such as yeast,
04:46consume substances such as starch, thus producing carbon dioxide and ethanol.
04:52It is therefore possible that in ancient Egypt, foods such as barley, bread, or even meat
04:58were placed in these huge stone chests, then sealed hermetically with heavy lids.
05:04These granite sarcophagi, of remarkable precision, were practically hermetic, preventing any leak.
05:10When the yeast began to act, it gradually generated carbon dioxide, increasing the internal pressure.
05:17The sarcophagi, with exceptional robustness, could withstand pressures much higher than that of car tires.
05:24As a result of this compression, the granite crystals produced a very low electric charge.
05:30This phenomenon was possible thanks to the presence of quartz in the granite, a reactive material to pressure.
05:36In addition, the addition of meat or animal parts could have favored the development of yeast.
05:42The meat indeed contains oleic acid, an element necessary for the yeast to continue to grow
05:48and resist the toxic effects of the ethanol it produces.
05:52Thus, with the accumulation of gas and the production of electricity,
05:56these sarcophagi would not only have served as old food stations,
06:00but could have been real energy systems.
06:03Over time, the internal pressure became so high that it could repel the lid,
06:09releasing the gas with a dry noise.
06:11However, when the Serapeum was rediscovered in 1850,
06:16ancient paintings showed that stones were stacked on certain lids.
06:20This suggests that, in Antiquity, efforts were made to weigh these lids
06:25in order to limit the losses due to the internal pressure.
06:28This additional weight also allowed the granite quartz crystals
06:33to continue to generate more electricity under the effect of pressure.
06:37If someone opened one of these stone sarcophagi several millennia later,
06:42he would only discover the bones of the bulls deposited inside.
06:47This is precisely what Mariette brought to light in the 1850s.
06:51Shortly after the first excavations carried out in the second half of the 19th century,
06:56the Serapeum was opened to visitors.
06:58The Prince of Wales, future Edward VII,
07:01would have even had lunch with his guests in one of his tombs.
07:04Although the site was made inaccessible for a while due to sand and earthquakes,
07:10it is now again possible to visit it in order to unravel the mystery.
07:15Thanks to modern technology,
07:17we could soon solve many other historical riddles.
07:21A team of scientists from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago
07:25recently used a specific scanner to analyze Egyptian mummies without unpacking them.
07:31The researchers carefully transported 26 mummies
07:34on chariots adapted to the parking lot where the scanner was located.
07:38It took thousands of detailed x-rays of each mummy and its coffin.
07:43By grouping all these images,
07:45they were able to create 3D models revealing the interior of the mummies,
07:48including the skeletons and some artifacts.
07:51These images should allow archaeologists to better understand
07:54the Egyptian funeral practices dating back more than 3,000 years.
07:58Although the digitization phase was carried out in just 4 days,
08:02the complete analysis of the data could take up to 3 years.
08:06Researchers have nevertheless already been able to discover
08:08some personal details about certain mummies.
08:11One of the most famous mummified figures in the museum is Shenet A'a,
08:16an aristocrat who lived in Ancient Egypt about 3,000 years ago.
08:20She would have died at the end of her thirties or at the beginning of her forties.
08:24The embalmers had inserted filling in her neck to prevent her from fainting,
08:29thus ensuring that her body remained intact through the ages.
08:33They had also placed artificial eyes in her orbits
08:37so that she kept a complete appearance in the afterlife.
08:40She was wrapped in a raffined linen and placed in a richly decorated coffin.
08:45Scans revealed that it had a slit in the back,
08:48used by the embalmers to adjust the body,
08:51as well as artistic details such as marks indicating the position of her knees.
08:56Her funeral seemed comparable, in terms of sophistication,
08:59to the design of a high-end car.
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