Saviez-vous que les anciens Égyptiens déplaçaient des caissons en granit de 100 tonnes, et que les scientifiques se grattent toujours la tête pour comprendre comment ils ont fait ? Ces énormes caisses de pierre, trouvées dans des endroits comme le Serapeum de Saqqarah, étaient taillées avec une précision incroyable. Le plus étonnant ? Elles étaient transportées depuis des carrières à des centaines de kilomètres ! Les ingénieurs modernes sont perplexes quant à la façon dont cela a pu être possible sans grues, camions ou outils modernes. Certains pensent qu'ils utilisaient des méthodes ingénieuses impliquant des rampes, des traîneaux, et même de l'eau pour réduire les frottements. Quelle que soit la méthode, c’est un exemple stupéfiant d'innovation ancienne qui continue de nous émerveiller aujourd'hui ! Animation créée par Sympa.
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FunTranscript
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.