THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Chapter 50 The Red Pyramid's limestone kiln and awful ammonia smell can be explained by the very first attempt to master the Solvay process

In summary: if pharaoh Sneferu did built three great  pyramids by himself, it is certainly not because of a series of mistakes or change of thoughts. At the time of their construction, the great pyramids of Sneferu and Khufu were the biggest structures of all times, and they were designed for the exact same purpose than our own modern biggest structures of our time: their purpose was chemical manufacturing.

The Red Pyramid is famous for its stinky and almost unbearable ammonia smell that comes from the so-called ‘burial chamber’, even if no sarcophagus have ever been found in there, and even if instead of a flat floor, there is a huge hole instead. But if the ammonia smell comes from that hole, there is a reason for that: accordingly with egyptologists, bats are responsible; even if I’ve never had the chance to see any bat or any bat guano in any photograph or video from that pyramid; and even if in the close by Bent Pyramid (a second Great Pyramid of Sneferu), bats are everywhere, but there is no ammonia smell what so ever. But I guess, it is as always: ‘just believe everything egyptologists are telling you’, and you’ll be fine!

By the way, if anyone thinks robbers would have stolen hundreds of thousands of tons of limestone blocks from the floor of the ‘burial chamber’ and would have gone through the exhausting work of getting these blocks out of the Pyramid through the ascending passage, well ‘Houston, we have a problem’.

In previous Chapter, we’ve discovered the disc of Sabu was a counterflow dome-shaped and perforated plate designed to facilitate chemical reactions in a Solvay process; in this Chapter, we’ll see that the ‘burial chamber’ of the Red Pyramid was a limestone kiln; the kind of kiln used in a Solvay process.

50.01  The so-called 'burial chamber' isn't even at the center of the Pyramid and it is three great pyramids that have been built by Sneferu (that's a lot of tombs for just one guy... and a lot of 'mistakes' as well)

This is actually the same remark as the one made about the King’s chamber of the Great Pyramid: the ‘burial chamber’ of Sneferu isn’t at all at the center of the Pyramid. In other words, just ask yourself this: if the Red Pyramid of Sneferu had been designed to be the tomb of the pharaoh, wouldn’t you think he would have been placed at the center of the pyramid?

And by the way, Sneferu built three Great Pyramids, the Red Pyramid, the Bent Pyramid and the Pyramid of Meidum; would he have do so if pyramids really were tombs for pharaohs? Do you think Sneferu intended to be buried inside a great pyramid, then started to build one, and on a rainy Monday morning decided to change his mind about its location and internal layout, so started building another one just before changing his mind one more time to built the third great pyramid? Do you really believe ancient Egyptians were so dumb they didn’t plan for anything? Or that they wouldn’t have used the materials of a pyramid to build another one if there was some kind of mistake that would have been made?

It’s almost funny, because ‘stupid’ really isn’t the adjective that comes first when you think of the ancient Egyptian civilization; it feels like the correct one would be ‘awe’ and ‘respect’; but apparently it is ok to imagine Egyptians building three great pyramids just to have one tomb, and it is still ok to imagine these guys weren’t enough skilled to determine the center of their buildings.

The internal layout of the Red Pyramid of Sneferu, from the lower-end of the descending passage to the so-called 'burial chamber' [illustration] "A new survey of the upper chambers of Snefru’s pyramids at Dahshur", by Franck Monnier: http://www.egyptian-architecture.com/JAEA4/article23/JAEA4_Monnier.pdf

50.02  The huge cavity in the 'burial chamber': the academic explanation of the meticulous robbers

The Red Pyramid is absolutely crucial in the study of ‘The Pyramids of the Cold’ I’m working on since January 2021, because if the cold that was produced in the Great Pyramid is absolutely certain (because of the salt deposit that are the signature of the evaporative cooling process and the reliefs in Dendera that illustrate how ancient Egyptians themselves represented the creation of a fog of cold with the Dendera Light and how was produced this fog, with the spitting snake metaphor), the reason why Egyptians needed the cold in the first place was still a mystery.

So when I heard about this astonishing and unbearable stink of ammonia that was emanating from the ‘burial chamber’ of the Red Pyramid, it really got my attention onto that chamber; the same chamber where most of the floor looks like missing. Why the hell is that gigantic hole inside a chamber in a great pyramid? If you listen to egyptologists, they’ll tell you robbers digged that hole. But they didn’t stop at the digging: apparently they were really meticulous, for this guys, robbery is something important, they had real high standards and they made a point of honor in letting the interior of the pyramid clean by taking the ‘missing’ blocks out of the pyramid. When I heard this, I almost died laughing. Are you guys serious? Do you have an idea of the colossal and harassing work that is to take hundreds of tons of block from that chamber, transport it to the lower end of the descending passage and then lift it up to the exit of the pyramid? Again, are you guys serious?

The 'burial chamber' in the Red Pyramid, from which is emanating the unbearable ammonia smell. Robbers would have supposedly digged out both the huge central cavity of this chamber and the little hole next to the entry to the chamber. The picture has been taken after some cement had been poured on the blocks probably in an attempt of reducing the ammonia smell, but maybe also to hide the fact all the blocks have been exposed to high temperatures and are actually all burnt. Willy Blanchard, September 7, 2014: https://willyblanchard.ch/egypte-2014-pyramide-rouge/

50.03  The clue n°1 to the Solvay process: the unbearable ammonia smell in the 'burial chamber'

Of course, the ammonia smell is the first key for the understanding of the Red Pyramid. I’ve never been there, but there are many videos you can find on the internet where people are simply saying that the smell is so bas and so strong, that it is almost unbearable. But keep in mind that this ‘almost unbearable’ thing is a little under evaluated: cement has been poured all other the  cavity, and there is also a ventilation in place, getting fresh air in the chamber probably 24/7.

Egyptologists are explaining this awful smell is due to bats and their manure, even if there is no trace of any bat anywhere in the Red Pyramid in any picture of video I’ve seen so far, it simply doesn’t matter: the ammonia smell is because of bats. The funny thing is that just next to the Red Pyramid is another pyramid of Sneferu, the Bent Pyramid, and guess what: in this one, bats are literally everywhere! And is there any bad smell of ammonia, even a very tiny weird smell anywhere? Of course, the answer is negative: there isn’t any ammonia smell in the Bent Pyramid, even if bats are literally flying all over you when you make the visit. Egyptologist really is a wonderful job: you can say what ever you want, people either don’t care or don’t see why they would need to care in the first place.

Understand why there is this ammonia smell in the Red Pyramid and you’ll have make a huge comprehension leap about what ancient Egypt was really all about.

The 'burial chamber' of the Red Pyramid was actually a limestone kiln: it explains why there is no floor, why the remaining blocks are burnt and laid out in concentric circles, why they are forming a cone shaped hole and why there is a little passage, supposedly digged by robbers. A limestone kiln is the first step in sodium carbonate manufacturing. Please note, on the above left photograph, the burnt block on the foreground left corner. If you look attentively, you can find such burnt blocks all over the pit. [left image] The 'burial chamber' of the Red Pyramid at Dashur, before cement has been poured on the blocks, I presume, in order to reduce the ammonia gas emissions. [image on the right] ancient limestone kiln at Betws yn Rhos, Abergele (Wales, United-Kingdom), thanks to CPAT Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (in Recent projects, Llais Afon): https://cpat.org.uk/

50.04  The clue n°2 to the Solvay process: the limestone kiln in the 'burial chamber'

What is striking about the huge cavity in the so-called ‘burial chamber’ is the fact that all the ‘remaining’ blocks are facing the center of the cavity; and that is crucial, because it suggests that this cavity was actually intentional, that it had been designed this way since the very beginning . There was no robbers stealing any block; the chamber was meant to be this way; or at least the floor of the chamber was meant to be this way, with a gigantic cavity inside it.

There is actually another point that is worth saying, and that is about the little additional hole that is next to the entry of the chamber, a short and horizontal hole that looks as weird as the big central cavity itself. The first thing you need to keep in mind at all times about the great pyramids, is that they’ve never been the way they look since the beginning; there is no news there, right? The pyramids didn’t show all at once just the way they are today; they have been built, they have been elevated. The key point here, is that Egyptians never stopped building mastabas; they simply at some point finished the construction and the elevation to have a pyramid.

So when you look at this ‘burial chamber’ today, what you need to do is imagine what it looked like when the structure wasn’t a pyramid yet, but simply a mastaba where the ‘burial chamber’ would have been pretty much in open air. Once you’ve done that, you are ready to understand the true nature of the ‘burial chamber’: a limestone kiln.

Lime kiln found in the area to the south of the basilica, uploaded by Angela Stellati, "During a recent excavation campaign in Egnatia (south-eastern Italy) a lime-kiln was discovered. It was totally sealed and its original load was still inside": https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Lime-kiln-found-in-the-area-to-the-south-of-the-basilica_fig3_266858112

Lime kiln, Betws yn Rhos, Abergele. Basic 'flare kiln' of uncertain date. "Commonly used for small-scale agricultural lime burning, as well as small construction projects from the Roman period until the 19th century. The kiln would have been loaded with limestone from the top, the roughly hewn blocks being placed to form an arch over the base of the kiln, leaving a void into which wood was placed to fuel the kiln", by Sue Anderson: http://www.cpat.org.uk/projects/longer/betws/betws.htm

On the left is the lower part of the Red Pyramid's descending passage (looking up) and showing only the natural color of the stone blocks. On the right is the same passage (but looking down), above the lower section, and showing red and yellow deposits both onto the ceiling and the walls. The big pipe on the floor is going to the 'burial chamber' and is supposed to bring fresh air, and get rid of most of the ammonia smell. Where the ceiling has been recently damaged, we can see the natural color of the stone. Red and yellows really are deposits, they are not the natural color of the blocks: some activity inside the pyramid, after the passage was built, is responsible for their presence.

50.05  The clue n°3 to the Solvay process: the red and yellow deposits in the Red Pyramid's descending passage

On the left above photograph is the lower part of the Red Pyramid descending passage (looking up) and showing only the natural color of the stone blocks. On the right image, there is the same passage (looking down), but above the lower section, and showing red and yellow deposits both onto the ceiling and the walls. It is very important to note that they really are deposits: where the ceiling has been recently damaged, we can see the natural color of the stone.

Red and yellow colors really are deposits, they are not the natural color of the blocks: it implicates that some sort of activity took place inside the pyramid, after the passage was built, and that it was responsible for their presence. The colors are not decorative paintings either: red and yellows are mingled together in such a way that no artist would have been responsible for it.

The conclusion that these deposits are resulting from chemical manufacturing, is then inevitable.

50.06  Is the disc of Sabu responsible for these red and yellow colors because of iron?

We've seen in the previous Chapter, that one crucial equipment for the ammonia-soda Solvay process is a dome shaped and perforated plate that allows the counterflow reactions between descending brine and ascending gas, to perform in an efficient way, and that it most probably was the real function of the disc of Sabu. Interestingly, the schist material in which is made the disc of Sabu, contains a mineral with a very high concentration of iron: the ferrite. It is possible that the red deposits that are still visible inside the descending passage of the Red Pyramid (mostly on the ceiling), are coming from this ferrite mineral. The heat coming from the limestone kiln and CO2 would have had extracted ferrite iron from the discs of Sabu and it would have then deposited itself in the passage, where it would have rust and turn red.

Left and right: the Meidum Pyramid, built by pharaoh Sneferu. Center : the Red Pyramid at Dashur, by the same king. What is remarkable in the Meidum pyramid is that it shows a perfect split of the Red Pyramid layout in 2 completely independent parts. The red layout is the energy circuit, from the limestone kiln to the exit of the pyramid. The green layout shows the 2 chemical reacting chambers and the start of the descending passage.

50.07  The split replica of the Red Pyramid's internal layout in the Pyramid of Meidum

And there is something very cool. Sneferu built three great pyramids, including the Pyramid of Meidum; and the cool thing is that the internal layout of this Pyramid of Meidum is actually the exact same internal layout of the Red Pyramid, with one little twist: the internal layout of the Red Pyramid has been dispatched into two different but complementary phases. So, what can we deduct of this information? Well, something very simple: the Pyramid of Meidum only is some kind of mockup of the Red Pyramid. It’s like Egyptians wanted to study or model the entire operating system of the Red Pyramid, into two separate systems before building the final one in the Red Pyramid.

Now that we know that the Red Pyramid was a manufacturing mastaba before being the final Pyramid, and that it was some kind of ammonia-soda Solvay process that was in operation, with a functional limestone kiln in the ‘burial chamber’ to produce hot CO2 gas, we can start to understand these two separate systems.

• the limestone kiln layout (red) for lime and CO2 production

The red layout indicates the 'energy circuit', from the limestone kiln that was operated inside what is called today 'the burial chamber', to the descending passage and the exit of the pyramid. Lime and CO2 were then used inside the two chemical reaction chambers, through a Solvay-like process.

• the 2 chemical reaction chambers layout (green)

The green layout shows the two chemical reacting chambers and the start of the descending passage, where natron would have been separated from the steam getting out of the pyramid.

The Red Pyramid is in some ways, the most important of all pyramids, because it tells us what was the real goal of the three pyramids of Sneferu and the real function of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, Sneferu's son.

50.08  Limestone kiln + ammonia = Solvay process = natron

Now, we have all the information we need. Once you add up a limestone kiln with ammonia, what comes pretty fast in a research engine is the Solvay process and the manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. But of course, this is not enough, because I’m not a chemist and most people aren’t chemists either; so then you have to make more research about both sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, before realizing sodium carbonate only is the modern name of CaCo3. Ancient Egyptians didn’t use that name; they used the name ‘natron’, and natron was the salt used by the embalmers during the mummification process.

And of course, natron is the key: pharaohs didn’t want to use the poorest quality of natron you can find in the environment, they wanted to create natron. They wanted to create the purest mineral form of natron. They wanted to create 100% pure natron, and they wanted to create it using science and technology. This is the real story about ancient Egyptians: they were scientists and engineers; and they certainly used this knowledge to legitimate themselves as natural and undisputable rulers of ancient Egypt.

The Solvay by Martin Walls (Author): https://www.amazon.com/Solvay-Process-Martin-Walls/dp/0981675212

This is a perfect example of what looked like chemical manufacturing plants back in the 1800s, in Europe. Here it is a sulfate furnace with its three major chambers, the furnace is on the left side of the image, and then come the two main reacting chambers, just like it is with the internal layout of the Red Pyramid of Sneferu, about 4,500 years before. [source] page 190, fig. 71: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/56330/56330-h/56330-h.htm#Page_250

50.09  The model of the European chemical plant in the 1800s 

This isn’t the first time in the Study that we come to the conclusion that ancient Egyptians somehow achieved at least partially the same mastering than what the Europeans did in the 1800’s. Look closely to what looked like a chemical plant  in the 1800s, and you will see that the Red Pyramid’s internal layout comes very close to that.

Not only the Pyramid of Meidum would have been a mockup of the Red Pyramid, where each part could have been tested separately before everything could be assembled together, but it also clearly appears that the global layout of the Red Pyramid is surprisingly nearly identical to a European sodium carbonate plant in the early 1800s, and based on the late 1700s work by the French chemist Nicolas Leblanc: 3 adjoining and successive chambers, connected by low ceiling corridors and ended by an exhaust conduct. It is also of the first importance to point out that in Europe, the chemical industry started with the glass industry, and everyone knows that the first ones to master the glass manufacturing process, were the Egyptians, about 5,000 years ago. That is 500 years before Sneferu's reign and the Red Pyramid.

50.10  The over-heating problem: they couldn't cool down the reactions

Because of the huge ammonia smell in the Red Pyramid, we know they didn't control the chemical reaction temperatures: the ammonia is indispensable for the Solvay process to work, but the chemical balances of the ammonia cycle, if the temperatures are efficiently controlled, give to this element a minor role: there is about the same amount of ammonia consumed than ammonia produced by the Solvay process.

If huge quantities of ammonia was produced, it is certainly because they couldn't cool down the reactions.

The over-heating of the reaction chambers in the Red Pyramid explains why the evaporative cold was implemented in the design of the Great Pyramid of Giza : the known part of the Great Pyramid of Khufu was designed to fix this particular problem, with the horizontal evaporative cooling passage. The cold (between 5°C and 10°C, or 41°F to 50°F), was stored inside the Queen's chamber and then would have been transferred to a Red Pyramid-like natron manufacturing unit, that would still stand today inside the pyramid, waiting to be discovered.

50.11  The one chamber that is at the center of the Red Pyramid was the first reacting chamber

On the above image is the adjoining chamber to the 'burial chamber' limestone kiln; we can probably assume this chamber was the first reacting chamber, and that hot CO2 gas was probably getting into it; that would explain the presence of dark traces going up through the two opposite holes. Unfortunately, just like the salt deposit of the Great Pyramid, these traces had been recently cleaned, as well as all the other traces that were found onto the wall that is now hidden behind modern wooden stairs leading to the burial chamber.

Isn’t it interesting to see that the center of this chamber is the real and exact center of the Red Pyramid?

Plans of the Red Pyramid, by Franck Monnier: https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Pyramide-rouge-plans.jpg

Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Khufu for flash-evaporative cooling of a Solvay or Solvay-like process.

50.12  The Great Pyramid to the rescue

The quest for chemical manufacturing of the purest form of natron by Sneferu, Khufu's father, explains why Sneferu built three complete great pyramids. There was no mistake or last minute change of mind, but a very modern technological program. The ammonia accumulation in the Red Pyramid shows they were having difficulties in controlling the temperature of the chemical reaction chambers and this is why the Great Pyramid had been designed by Khufu, Sneferu’ son. Khufu would deliver the appropriate response about the cold production.

In short, the Great Pyramid only is the outcome of Sneferu's research program, in some way it is his fourth pyramid; and the reason why the Great Pyramid is so big, is maybe because they had to implement a cold production unit to the initial internal layout of the Red Pyramid.

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Table of contents

Operating diagrams of the Great Pyramid

Timelines

Index