THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Chapter 49 Why is the Sabu disk a Solvay disc used for pure natron chemical manufacturing in the individual chambers of a Solvay-like process
Publié par Bruno Coursol dans The Pyramids of the Cold le 21/09/2025 à 06:31
The Sabu Disk from the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt was most probably a crucial component in an ancient chemical manufacturing process, specifically for the production of sodium carbonate (natron) and sodium bicarbonate using a Solvay-like process. This intricately carved schist disk functioned as a dome-shaped, perforated plate designed for counterflow chemical reactions within a larger industrial setup, requiring many individual reaction chambers. Most probably the stone basins at Abu Gorab are such reaction chambers. The mastering of a Solvay-like process, would have allowed the ancient Egyptians to manufacture the purest mineral form of natron, sodium carbonate Na2CO3, the salt used during the mummification process of te pharaohs. [illustration on the right] is the schematic drawing of an European carbonation Solvay tower for sodium carbonate manufacturing in the 1800s, showing the segmentation layout in individual chamber units and the counterflow dome shaped discs: https://www.lenntech.com/chemistry/ammonia-soda-process.htm
THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Study written by Bruno COURSOL (January 2021 to September 2025)
Section H • Chemical manufacturing in ancient Egypt
While there is no doubt about the production of cold by flash-evaporation in the horizontal passage of the Great Pyramid of Khufu (among other things because of the massive salt deposits that were discovered in this passage as well as in the Queen's chamber, but also because of the representation of the creation of the fog of microdroplets of water in the famous Dendera lights), the use of this cold for the cooling of chemical processes such as an ancient Solvay-like process and the production of pure natron remains hypothetical to this day, even if very probable.
Chapter 49 • Why is the Sabu disk a Solvay disc that was used for chemical manufacturing of 100% pure natron in the individual chambers of an ancient Egyptian Solvay-like process
In summary: deciphering the Sabu Disk certainly cannot be achieved simply by focusing on the object itself; it must undoubtedly be linked to other artifacts such as the famous stone basins of Abu Gorab, but also to the very strong smell of ammonia emanating from one of the chambers of the Red Pyramid. This chapter of The Pyramids of the Cold aims to demonstrate that the Sabu Disk was almost certainly used in an ancient chemical manufacturing of natron by a Solvay-like process. Thus, the Sabu Disk was likely one of many counter-current dome-shaped plates manufactured over the years. They were placed in individual chemical reaction chambers, probably stacked in towers, for the chemical production of sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃), also known as natron by the ancient Egyptians. Natron was the sacred salt used by embalmers during the mummification process of the pharaohs.
The type of stone used by the Egyptians is obviously one of the key elements in understanding its function, but surprisingly, it seems that no one attached the slightest importance to it; and yet, while the material used is extremely fragile to shock, making the Sabu Disk completely unsuitable for any action requiring movement, it is, on the contrary, extremely resistant to extreme temperatures. You simply cannot understand the Sabu Disk if you do not integrate these two essential characteristics together.
So, if the chemical manufacturing theory is right, the fact that the Sabu Disk is made of highly fragile metasiltstone isn’t a problem at all, and in the contrary it explains everything because each disk was completely protected from any physical shock inside its counter-current individual Solvay chamber. Metasiltstone is the ideal natural material for a counter-current Solvay plate; the Egyptians simply exploited its natural properties, just as we do today when we use the same type of stone on the roofs of our homes.
In every academic representation of the Sabu Disk, the disk is simply placed upside down: for the countercurrent process to work efficiently, brine is poured in from the top and hot gases are injected from the bottom. This countercurrent process is essential to optimize the efficiency of the chemical reactions occurring in the Solvay chambers. The fact is that we even have discovered the Solvay chambers themselves: they are the famous stone basins at Abu Gorab.
[illustration] Screenshot from "Evidence Of Ancient Cataclysm And Advanced Stone Machining In Egypt: Abu Ghurab". Video by Brien Foerster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPjtdfifsuk
Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Khufu for flash-evaporative cold production. While there is no doubt about the true function of the parts of the Great Pyramid known today, particularly from the deposits of scale discovered in what was the evaporation conduct (the horizontal passage) and the cold storage chamber (the Queen's chamber), but also from the representations that the ancient Egyptians themselves made of the production of the cloud of microdroplets in the Dendera Lights, the use of this cold to cool the production of natron by chemical means and a process similar to the Solvay process, remains a hypothesis to this day. No doubt, in-depth chemical analyses of the structure could nevertheless remove the doubt or invalidate the hypothesis. The Sabu Disk actually fits perfectly into this hypothesis of chemical manufacturing of natron by a Solvay-like process.
49.01 The Sabu Disk is a crucial element of The Pyramids of the Cold study but the chemical manufacturing theory that involves the early invention of a Solvay-like process has still to be verified
The purpose of The Pyramids of the Cold, and in particular this Chapter is to demonstrate that the Sabu Disk had a key role in what was the first technological research program of our species, and that everything we call today ancient Egyptian religion is actually referring to their technological accomplishment in physics and chemistry. Pharaohs were nothing but scientists and engineers, and they most certainly used and demonstrated their knowledge in order to legitimate themselves as rulers of ancient Egypt. The most probable theory about the disc, is that it was a Solvay disc that was set inside counterflow reaction chambers, that were most probably piled up into towers, for the chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate (also called natron, the salt used by ancient Egyptians for the mummification process) and sodium bicarbonate. In short, ancient Egyptians were the first to develop the ammonia-soda process, also called Solvay process, 4,500 years before it got reinvented in Europe during the early 1800s.
The Sabu disk is key, because it connects every single part of ancient Egypt, so to speak: it comes from the First Dynasty, and goes all the way to the Fourth Dynasty with Sneferu (the limestone kiln of the Red Pyramid), and of course Khufu (the Great Pyramid and the flash-evaporative cooling process).
49.02 The Sabu Disk is a metasiltstone schist artifact from the first Dynasty
The Disk of Sabu was discovered in the tomb of prince Sabu (around 3100-3000 BCE), pharaoh Anedjib’s son, by Walter Bryan Emery, a British Egyptologist who devoted his career to the excavation of archaeological sites along the Nile Valley. Anedjib was the fifth pharaoh of the first dynasty of Ancient Egypt.
The disk is made of metamorphic siltstone, a very fragile material that is actually a schist stone, and had been entirely carved from a single block. The disc of Sabu has a maximum diameter of 61 cm (24.01 inches) and a maximum height of 10.6 cm (4.17 inches); in the middle it has a hole of about 8 cm in diameter (3.15 inches).
From Wikimedia Commons: "Possible uses: mixing tool for mixing grains, with meat and water, and perhaps fruits and other. Other uses attempted - no further use, when inventor died. Tool used during large gatherings. Not a very successful design, buried with inventor. Sentimental value." https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Disk_of_Sabu
Other explanations include: "incense holder", "lotus flower shape vase" or "piece of a steam machine or turbine"... Many theories have been written about the Sabu Disk, but the disc couldn't have been a part of any kind of machinery involving rotating pieces of equipment or any steam machine: the disc of Sabu is way too fragile.
The common idea that the Disc of Sabu was a "mixing tool for mixing grains, with meat and water, and perhaps fruits and other" or that it was "Not a very successful design, buried with inventor. Sentimental value." is both sad and outrageous considering who really were the ancient Egyptians.
Burial chamber of Sabu (after Emery 1949): https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/egipto/esp_egipto_mist_2c.htm
49.03 Are you guys serious?
What's astounding about some theories that aim to decipher ancient Egypt is how even seemingly perfectly sane people are capable of producing the most outlandish ideas imaginable. Here, we'll focus for a moment on the work of Akio Kato, from the Department of Mathematics and Physics, Faculty of Science, Kanagawa University, Hiratsuka, Japan, who proposes that the Sabu Disk was used as a mash rake in beer making.
This theory is all the more interesting to me because it echoes my early life as a winemaker (my first professional diploma being that of the French Diplôme National d'Oenologue), which allowed me, of course, to work in wineries making wine, but also in breweries making beer. So when I read that someone thought the Sabu Disk might have been a mash rake, I don't know what to think: should I burst out laughing or cry? If there's one thing we can be sure of, it's that the author of this theory not only never worked in a brewery, but also never went to meet brewers and offered them a replica of the Disk to see what professionals might have used it for.
How can anyone imagine what the Sabu Disk was designed to do without taking into consideration its extreme fragility; nay, its extraordinary fragility: the slightest shock, or the slightest stress exerted on either the thin external parts or the thin axial part, and the Disk breaks. And yet, Akio Kato wants to use this Disk to mix wort in the chaotic environment of a brewery, when even today, many of these famous mash rakes are simply made of wood.
“The Tri-Lobed Disc in the Tomb of Sabu and the Basins at the Sun Temple Were for Beer”, by Akio Kato, Department of Mathematics and Physics, Faculty of Science, Kanagawa University, Hiratsuka, Japan. "We propose that the Tri-Lobed Disc excavated from the Tomb of Prince Sabu (about 3000 BC, First Dynasty) was used in brewing beer as a mash rake to mix and even out the mixture of grains and hot water in a fairly big mash tun": https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=114435
[illustration of a mash rake] “Once the kettle of water is almost boiling, the pulverized hops and malted barley are added to the mash tub where a special rake is used to mix them into a porridge-thick “wort” into which yeast is later added to begin the fermentation process. A Fall Feature on 18th-Century Beer Making, by Hoag Levins: https://hoagonsight.com/a-fall-feature-on-18th-century-beer-making/
This is the Red Pyramid of pharaoh Sneferu at Dashur, the one where is a gigantic hole in the so-called burial chamber; a hole supposedly digged by robbers, accordingly to egyptologists and a hole from which is emanating an unbearable smell of ammonia. [right photograph] The 'burial chamber' before cement has been poured on the blocks, I presume, in order to reduce the ammonia gas emissions. [left] 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/
49.04 The so-called 'burial chamber' of the Red Pyramid was a limestone kiln, this is why all the blocks in place are burnt and facing the center of the chamber: there was no robbers stealing anything
We've just seen that the Sabu Disk was most certainly part of an ancient Solvay process, or some other kind of chemical manufacturing requiring counterflow dome shaped plates. But there is something key to the Solvay process that we didn't talk about, and that is the mandatory limestone kiln. The thing is that such kiln, is still accessible today, in one of the great pyramids built by Sneferu: the Red pyramid; the one that literally stinks ammonia, an unbearable smell that comes from what really was an operational limestone kiln, of course at the time when the Red Pyramid wasn't finished being elevated yet. Just like with the Great Pyramid of Khufu, ancient Egyptians used and operated the Red Pyramid before its construction is completed.
On the left is the lower part of the Red Pyramid descending passage (looking up, we can see the sky) and showing only the natural color of the stone blocks. On the right is the same passage (looking down, towards the first chamber), 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, or get rid of most of the ammonia smell (I don't know if air is pumped in or out of the chamber). 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, was responsible for their presence.
49.05 The unbearable ammonia smell emanating from the ancient limestone kiln of the Red Pyramid indicates they were probably trying to master chemical manufacturing of pure natron using a Solvay-like process... and that they would have used appropriate counterflow perforated plates
On recent photographs of the 'burial' chamber, the blocks have also been recently covered with cement, I assume to reduce the ammonia smell. These stones would have been indirectly highly heated by the furnace of the limestone kiln, they would have get very dry, and when the operating of the Red pyramid was over, I guess all the ammonia waste of a Solvay process not controlled because of unsufficient cooling (hence the following Great Pyramid) got released in the pyramid and these dry rocks would have 'suck in' huge amount of ammonia; that is still released today.
The Red Pyramid is one of the most important keys of all about ancient Egypt, and we'll see why in next Chapter.
Probably the so-called stone basins of Abu Gorab (Fifth Dynasty) were part of a chemical manufacturing plant that involved some evolution of the disc of Sabu (First Dynasty), as the basins seem much larger than the Sabu disc. [screen shot] "Evidence Of Ancient Cataclysm And Advanced Stone Machining In Egypt: Abu Ghurab". Video by Brien Foerster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPjtdfifsuk
49.06 The Sabu disk and the ammonia-soda Solvay process: the chemical manufacturing theory
The purpose of this Chapter is to demonstrate that the Sabu disk had a key role in what was the first major technological research program of our species, and that everything we call today ancient Egyptian religion is actually referring to their technological accomplishment in physics and chemistry. In short, ancient Egyptians were the first to develop the ammonia-soda process, also called Solvay process, and it produces a set of two very different chemicals: sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate... which always come together.
49.07 Water, heat and cold insensibility: the fantastic properties of the metamorphic schist
The Sabu Disk is made of a very particular stone that gives to it properties perfectly fit for the job: the metamorphic schist. The Sabu Disk would have been placed inside counterflow chemical reaction chambers (like the stone basins of Abu Gorab) and submitted to very harsh conditions: the disc would have been in contact with very concentrated brine (50% salt solution or more) and saturated with ammonia NH3 and with very hot CO2 gas.
Metamorphic schist isn't sensible to fire or frost damaging. These properties explain why, in many regions of the world, this material is used to cover house's roofs: slates are made of metamorphic schist. Schist is completely waterproof and insensible to cold or hot temperatures. In short, while seemingly fragile, the weakly metamorphic siltstone (schist) from which the Sabu disk is made possesses properties highly resistant to extreme temperatures and chemical corrosion. This makes it an ideal material for a chemical reactor component. Additionally, the disk would have been housed within a larger, individual protective reaction chamber, minimizing physical stress and leveraging its chemical resistance.
There are actually other people than myself on the internet who are pointing to these very curious holes we can find on some of the stone basins of Abu Gorab; because if these things were designed to collect blood, why the hell would there be holes not at the bottom of the basins, but at the top? [illustration] "Abu Ghurob, Niuserre's Solar Temple". Photograph by kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/4149779521/in/photostream/
49.08 The stone basins of Abu Gorab (and the evolution in the design of the Sabu Disks over the years)
“Abu Gorab (Arabic: أبو غراب Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ˈæbu ɣoˈrɑb], also known as Abu Gurab, Abu Ghurab) is a locality in Egypt situated 15 km (9.3 mi) south of Cairo, between Saqqarah and Al-Jīzah, about 1 km (0.62 mi) north of Abusir, on the edge of the desert plateau on the western bank of the Nile. The locality is best known for the solar temple of King Nyuserre Ini, the largest and best preserved solar temple, as well as the solar temple of Userkaf, both built in the 25th century BCE during the Old Kingdom Period. Evidence suggests that as many as six solar temples were constructed during the 5th Dynasty, however, only the two temples previously mentioned (Nyussere's and Userkaf's) have been excavated. Abu Gorab is also the site of an Early Dynastic burial ground dating back to the First Dynasty.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Gorab
The Sabu Disk was most probably designed as a crucial component in an ancient chemical manufacturing process, specifically for the production of sodium carbonate (natron) and sodium bicarbonate using a Solvay-like process. This theory posits that the disk functioned as a dome-shaped, perforated plate for counterflow chemical reactions within larger industrial setups, possibly stacked in towers. [The Sabu Disk at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, in 2023] Photograph by Martin1833: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Disk_of_Sabu.jpg
49.09 The necessary cooling of the Solvay process and the cracks in the stone basins of Abu Gorab
There are a lot of photographs or videos you can find on the internet showing these stone basins at Abu Gorab; you will note there is two kinds of them: with one hole at the top, and just like here on the above image with three holes, still at the top of the basin. What I want to point out here, is the fact that pretty much systematically, these three holes-basins have horizontal cracks passing through the two lateral holes. The cracks almost never pass through the central hole, it looks like they start from one lateral hole and run to the other lateral hole.
Of course, knowing these stone basins were probably involved into some kind of chemical manufacturing, and because Egyptians obviously used water as refrigerant, whatever form of water they’ve used (flash-evaporative cold, ‘regular evaporative cold’ or simply water pipe systems), well it doesn’t take a genius to imagine that such water pipe system was running inside these stone basins. That would explain the cracks, most probably resulting from thermal stress induced by the cooling process. Please note that the central hole is nearly every time free of any fracture, in any photograph you can find on the internet.
49.10 The very first pyramid, the step pyramid of Djoser was called "the refreshment of the Gods"
If the idea of a technological role of the Great Pyramid, as a cold production unit, might seem to be troubling, let's keep in mind the official name of the very first pyramid, the step pyramid of Djoser (around 2650 BCE), that was officially and accordingly to egyptologists themselves, called the pyramid of 'the refreshment of the Gods'. It just turns out that this name has to be taken literally: the real name of the Pyramid of Djeser was 'the Pyramid of the Cooling by the gods'.
Because the second revelation of this study is the fact that gods and goddesses are nothing but glorifications and reinterpretations of how Egyptians achieved their scientific and technological prowess.
[photograph of Yousef over an alabaster stone basin at Niuserre's Solar Temple, Abu Gorab] “Wisdom of the Ancients Tour”: https://www.khemitology.com/primordial-egypt-tour/
The cracks resulting of thermal stress running from one lateral hole to the other one, without ever touching the central hole. "Evidence Of Ancient Cataclysm And Advanced Stone Machining In Egypt: Abu Ghurab". Video by Brien Foerster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPjtdfifsuk
49.11 The only weakness of the metamorphic schist: its fragility regarding to shocks
The brittleness of the schist explains why it is mostly only used nowadays on roofs: it isn't supposed to get hit by anything. The same way, the disc of Sabu would have been perfectly secured inside its individual counterflow chamber where they were set. In short, the only stress the discs of Sabu would have been subject to inside their individual protective chambers, was thermal and chemical stress.
The Sabu Disk was most likely designed as a component within a chemical manufacturing process, specifically as a dome-shaped, perforated plate for counterflow chemical reactions, possibly for the production of sodium carbonate (natron) and sodium bicarbonate using a Solvay-like process. Schist discs like the Sabu Disk (First Dynasty) would have been used inside the individual chambers of Solvay-like towers, probably until way after the end of the Fourth Dynasty (Abu Gorab dates from the Fith Dynasty). [illustration] "Sodium carbonate: Solvay method": https://chimicamo.org/chimica-generale/carbonato-di-sodio-metodo-solvay/
49.12 The countercurrent chemical principle is the key of the Sabu Disk original function: it has to be seen upside down
The Solvay process used in sodium carbonate manufacturing nowadays, is based on the counter current principle: the brine, saturated with ammonia NH3 gas, slowly passes through the carbonating tower, from top to bottom, while carbon dioxide CO2 is injected at the bottom of the tower and forced to top. Brine and CO2 are both passing through the perforations of the mushroom shaped plates, counterflow.
“Outline drawing of triradiate ‘schist’ bowl (restored; diameter ~ 60 cm), also called ‘Disc of Sabu’ after the owner of the tomb in which it has been found, from the First Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, discovered in 1936 in the necropolis of Saqqara, in plan-view (top) and corresponding side-view (bottom). The side-view is split into external view (left) and transverse section through the center point (right) (after Emery, 1949. “ By Gretarsson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabu_disk#/media/File:Sabu_disk_Emery.svg
49.13 One disc for 2 possibilities of counterflow chemical reactions
Other the years, probably dozen or hundreds of Sabu Disks, identical or similar to the tri-lobed schist disc of Sabu, would have been crafted and there could have been two major uses for such discs:
1 • The ammonia saturation of the brine: the 50% salt concentration brine had first to be saturated with NH3, ammonia gas. The brine was poured on the top dome shaped side of the disc and the NH3 was injected at the bottom of the unit or the tower so that the liquid and the ascending gas would react through this counterflow design.
Typically, this is the saturation tower of the Solvay process.
2 • The carbonation of the ammoniated brine (more likely), as shown in the diagram below: once the brine is saturated, the same process takes place, but this time this is the ammonia saturated brine that is gonna be reacting with an ascending flow of high temperature CO2 coming from the limestone kiln. Typically, this is the carbonation tower of the Solvay process.
49.14 Of course the Sabu Disk has aerodynamic properties
One of the most interesting experiments on the Sabu Disk came from some Airbus engineers who were able to demonstrate that the disk had undeniable aerodynamic properties and that this object had been designed with these same properties in mind. But in fact, what the Airbus engineers demonstrated was the fact that the Sabu Disk was designed to interact with fluids: air being just one fluid among many.
If the theory of the chemical manufacturing of 100% pure natron is correct, and I think it really is, the disk was actually completely motionless in its individual protective reaction chamber, but it was nevertheless traversed by two fluids:
• a rising hot fluid (CO2 gas from a limestone kiln)
• and a descending fluid (brine) poured on the dome-shaped real upper part of the Disk
“At the Airbus research center, copies of the disk were made using a 3D printer and the physical properties of the disk were examined. The copies had aerodynamic properties, and could serve as flying disks. However, due to their rotational symmetry (or non-chirality), use as a propeller or turbine is impossible. It was also shown that it was possible to use the disk as an oil lamp.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabu_disk
“ZDF filmmaker Gisela Graichen (centre), Airbus developer Peter Sander (right) and designer John Demand with replicas of the disc”. © HA | Marcelo Hernandez. “Airbus experts solve mystery discovery from the Prince's grave. Aircraft engineers are examining a 5,000-year-old disk from the tomb of the Egyptian Prince Sabu. What was it used for? Article by Berndt Röttger, March 29, 2018, in the daily newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt, Hamburg: https://www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/article213876125/Airbus-und-das-Raetsel-der-alten-Aegypter.html
49.15 Glass is one of the oldest chemically manufactured products, predating the industrial chemical revolution by millennia, so why isn't there anybody to talk about Egyptians and chemistry?
Once again, what is fascinating is the ease with which egyptologists and the general public as a whole have refused to see what is so glaringly obvious about ancient Egyptian civilization: how is it that there is no real branch of Egyptology openly dedicated to the study of the ancient Egyptians' ability to participate in the development of chemistry, even though everyone is obliged to acknowledge the existence of thousands of artifacts made of glass, which therefore demonstrate an extremely precocious mastery of chemistry by the Egyptians. If the ancient Egyptians already mastered glassmaking to perfection, why would they have stopped there in the development of their knowledge of chemistry?
[illustration] “Polychrome glass vessel in the form of a 'bulti'-fish: this is the most spectacular of a small group offish-form vessels, all representing the 'bulti'-fish common in the Nile and a standard feature of Egyptian decorative art. The body is core-built in blue glass, matt finish, and is decorated with simple festoons in groups of three or four white lines followed by a yellow line. The tail decorations are in the same colours. The dorsal fin is composed of a series of heavy threads in the body blue, white, yellow, and turquoise-blue. The front fins are each composed of one light and one darker blue thread. The front ventral fins are made from one white and one yellow thread each while the rear ventral fin is of turquoise-blue glass. A yellow thread outlines the mouth. The eyes are white opaque circles with the pupils represented by black thread loops. The fish is assembled from several fragments.” © The Trustees of the British Museum. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/372015001
“Glass beads are known from the 3rd millennium BC, but it is only in the late 2nd millennium that glass finds start occurring more frequently, primarily in Egypt and Mesopotamia. This is not to say that it was a widespread commodity; quite the contrary. It was a material for high-status objects with archaeological evidence for the Late Bronze Age (LBA) also showing an almost exclusive distribution of glass finds at palace complexes such as that found in the city of Amarna, Egypt. Texts listing offerings to Egyptian temples would start with gold and silver, followed by precious stones (lapis lazuli) and then bronze, copper and semiprecious stones, with glass mentioned together with the lapis lazuli. In this period it was rare and precious and its use largely restricted to the elite. Production of raw glass occurred at primary workshops, of which only three are known, all in Egypt: Amarna, Pi-Ramesses and Malkata. At the first two sites cylindrical ceramic vessels with vitrified remains have been identified as glass crucibles, where the raw materials (quartz pebbles and plant ash) would be melted together with a colourant. The two sites seem to show a specialisation in colour, with blue glass, via the addition of cobalt, being produced at Amarna and red, through copper, at Pi-Ramesses. The resulting coloured glass would then be fashioned into objects at secondary workshops — far more common in the archaeological record. It seems certain that glass making was not exclusive to Egypt (in fact, scholarly opinion resides with the industry having originally been imported into the country) as there are Mesopotamian cuneiform texts which detail the recipes for the making of glass. Further supporting this hypothesis are the Amarna Letters, a contemporaneous diplomatic correspondence detailing the demand and gift giving from vassal princes in Syro-Palestine to the Egyptian king; in these the most requested item is glass.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_glass_trade
[illustration] Blue glass ingots from the Uluburun shipwreck. Photograph by Panegyrics of Granovetter: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-brief-scientific-history-of-glass-180979117/
Pharaohs Amasis and Hatshepsut are not shown in a purification or baptism act and they are not bringing libation vessels so that their content would be used right away. What is inside the ‘libation vessels’ isn’t wine, beer or chicken stew, but sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, the two products of the Solvay process; and what Amasis and Hatshepsut are doing is demonstrating that the chemical manufacturing of these products was successful. If it was for purification, there wouldn't be two vessels, and the lids would have been removed. Pharaoh Amasis [left ] Kneeling statuette of King Amasis from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. Accession Number: 35.9.3 ; 570–526 BCE: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544886. Pharaoh Hatshepsut [right]: Large Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut. Accession Number: 30.3.1 (ca. 1479–1458 BCE): https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544448
49.16 The two final magical products of the Solvay process: sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate
It is only since I started to work on the Red Pyramid of Sneferu that I could figure out the reason why ancient Egyptians had to produce cold in the Great Pyramid: they were trying to master natron manufacturing by a Solvay process, or Solvay-like process. Since then, I only focused myself on the sodium carbonate manufacturing, because it is the purest mineral form of natron, and so I thought it was the goal of the entire process; but it was probably a mistake: the Solvay process final products are actually two different components: sodium carbonate (natron Na2CO3) and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3, also called today baking soda or bicarbonate of soda). Both have plenty of purposes, but the more important is that they were made by pure chemistry. That chemistry craft made by science was most probably seen by Egyptian people as pure magic.
If I'm correct, the two 'libation' vessels so proudly presented to us by pharaohs in so many figures and reliefs, are actually representing these two components. On the following figures, pharaohs Amasis and Hatshepsut are not shown in a purification or baptism act: they are not bringing libation vessels so that their content would be used right away; they are demonstrating that the chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate was successful.
49.17 The two vessel offerings with dark patina: the successful chemical manufacturing demonstration
I may be wrong, because I don't know the history of this particular Amasis figurine shown above, but it also looks like the two vessels have kind of a dark patina, like they were touched thousands of times, again and again for decades or hundreds of years, like worshipping people still do today on some parts of statues all over the world.
It is said in literature that this kind of ancient Egyptian libation vessels are made for water purification, or sometimes for beer or wine; but if you really are planning for a religious purification act, you don't come with the lids on the libation vessels: you remove the lids. If the lids are still on the vessels, it is because whatever is inside them, it needed to be sealed off. If it was for purification, there wouldn't need to be two vessels, and the lids would have been removed.
Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Giza for flash-evaporative cooling, hypothetically for managing temperatures of a Solvay manufacturing of pure sodium carbonate, called natron by ancient Egyptians, the salt that gave eternal life to pharaohs through the mummification process and the reason why the great pyramids have been associated with immortality. The Great Pyramid wasn't a tomb, but a chemical plant, 4,500 years ahead of its time. The chemical manufacturing theory that I’m suggesting here, posits that the disk's design facilitates the countercurrent principle crucial to the Solvay process, where liquids and gases react as they pass through perforated plates. This process, reinvented in Europe in the 19th century, produces sodium carbonate (natron), a salt vital for mummification and other ancient Egyptian practices.
The "Pyramids of the Cold" explains how the Great Pyramid of Khufu was designed and operated as a sophisticated flash-evaporative cooling system, capable of producing significant cold temperatures within its Queen's Chamber. This study challenges conventional egyptological interpretations of the pyramid's function, suggesting it was not merely a tomb but a complex industrial facility for chemical manufacturing, specifically the production of natron (sodium carbonate) and sodium bicarbonate. The core of the "Pyramids of the Cold" study is built upon several key observations and interpretations, and in particular the flash-evaporative cooling process, which is a highly efficient method of cooling. Unlike simple evaporative cooling (like a damp cloth), flash evaporation involves transforming a fog of microdroplets of liquid water into vapor. This phase transition absorbs a significant amount of heat from the surrounding air, leading to a substantial drop in temperature. Modern evaporative coolers operate on a similar principle, converting liquid water into vapor using the thermal energy in the air to lower its temperature.
The known part of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza was only designed to produce and store intense flash-evaporative cold. Likely temperature in the Queen's chamber cold room: -10 °C to -15 °Celcius (14 °F to 5 °Fahrenheit), due to the overpressure produced simultaneously with the creation of the fog of microdroplets of water. The Solvay unit would have been set on a 'flat roof' at the level of the Lady Arbuthnot's chamber. The constant high humidity rate resulting of the flash-evaporative cooling created in the horizontal passage is explaining the presence of very thick and hard incrustation of salt in both the horizontal passage and Queen's chamber.
The proof by the image: the Dendera Light is nothing but how ancient Egyptians themselves represented the creation of the fog of microdroplets of liquid water that produced intense flash-evaporative cold in the Great Pyramid (Chapter 04).
49.18 Low-Tech capabilities but with infinite human and financial resources
As I have already demonstrated in previous Chapters, what we call today "ancient Egyptian gods" were actually metaphoric representations of scientific knowledge and technological accomplishments; maybe natron manufacturing by a Solvay-like process, was the reason why this scientific adventure started in the first place, most probably even before Dynasty 1. This "quest" was nothing else than an applied research program on the field of chemical manufacturing and it is even possible that it is this program which really triggered the birth of the very first Dynasty, whether it was the "Dynasty 0" or " Dynasty 00".
The first thing to consider is that ancient Egyptian scientific and technological knowledge was nothing like modern egyptologists tend to describe. I'm not saying they were using electricity or any other thing that fancy, but they were at the very top of what we call today "Low Technology". The Low Tech is based on very natural and simple concepts, but if you have "infinite human and financial resources" like pharaohs did, you can achieve extraordinary results.
The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the outcome of that research programme, but what we know of that pyramid today is only its lower part. That Lower Great Pyramid was designed to produce, store and transfer cold to the Upper Great Pyramid, where were most probably installed the counterflow reaction Solvay chambers. The cold was produced by one of the most important Low Technology: evaporative cooling. If you put very small droplets of liquid water into dry air, the water evaporates by taking energy from the air. As a result, the air loses energy and cool down. In the Great Pyramid, it is not any kind of evaporative cooling that was produced, but flash-evaporative cooling with the creation of a fog of microdroplets; and I think that all this cooling thing was because Egyptian engineers had problem controlling the temperature of the reactions.
If ancient Egyptians really manufactured natron industrially, they would have needed massive airtight storage tanks to protect this chemical product from humidity, and we’ll see in chapter 51, that these airtight tanks are without any doubt the very nature of the so-called ‘giant sarcophagi’ at the Serapeum of Saqqara. Even today, the storage of sodium carbonate soda ash, the salt called natron by ancient Egyptians and used for the mummification process, must be made in airtight containers as the product is very sensitive to humidity. [illustration] https://learn.bulkflow.net/another-option-to-handling-and-transporting-sodium-carbonate/
49.19 Ancient Egyptians got stuck in what was the Emergence of the Technology in Europe (1500 to 1750)
The Great Pyramid of Giza is only without any doubt, the outcome of many decades of technological research on chemical manufacturing and evaporative cooling that started probably around the very first Dynasty, like it is suggested by the disc of Sabu, that comes from the First Dynasty. In Europe, it took about 250 years to achieve the Emergence of the technology (1500 to 1750), with the Renaissance and Leonardo da Vinci; and another 150 years for the Industrial Revolution (1750 to 1900). My guess is that, in some ways, ancient Egyptians got stuck in the first step of technological evolution: they were a civilization living the Emergence of the technology and they suffered from two major disadvantages:
• they were most probably slowed down in their research by the lack of power, because contrary to what the western world had in the 1700's or 1800's in Europe, they didn't have the steam engine.
• but most important of all, science and technology was in ancient Egypt a monopoly of the pharaohs, while in Europe everybody was allowed to experiment and profit of their achievements.
Schist discs like the disc of Sabu (First Dynasty) would have been used inside Solvay-like towers as dome-shaped and perforated plates for counterflow chemical reactions inside individual chambers, probably until way after the end of the Fourth Dynasty (Abu Gorab dates from the Fith Dynasty). [illustration] "Sodium carbonate: Solvay method": https://chimicamo.org/chimica-generale/carbonato-di-sodio-metodo-solvay/
49.20 Egyptians had reached a stage of development that could be described as pre-industrial... before going extinct
What The Pyramids of the Cold shows, and in particular this part devoted to the Sabu Disk and the mastery by the ancient Egyptians of a Solvay-like process for chemical manufacturing of 100% pure natron, the mummification salt, about 4,500 years before it was reinvented in the early 1800s in the modern Western world, is that the evolution of human knowledge and the evolution of the degree of development of civilizations themselves, has in reality had the same chaotic aspect as the evolution of life itself on our planet: everything did not unfold according to a flawless plan, without hitch, without backtracking. On the contrary, these two seemingly very different events have in reality had comparable histories: the history of life on Earth is extremely chaotic and complex and on at least 5 occasions, it has been on the verge of disappearing completely; well, the history of the development of civilizations is comparable in every way, and the ancient Egyptians, 4,500 years ago, had simply reached a stage of development that could be described as pre-industrial.
Undoubtedly, the fact that the pharaohs wanted to use their knowledge for their own benefit while controlling all scientific and technological research was fatal to them; the specificity of the Western industrial revolution was that it was not controlled by any authority and that anyone could embark on the great adventure of science.
Extinctions. How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves. By Michael J. Benton: https://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/books/extinctions-how-life-survives-adapts-and-evolves-hardcover
49.21 Why is there no chemical trace on the disc found in the tomb of "Prince Sabu"?
The truth is that very little is known about Prince Sabu; but let's imagine that instead of being a "prince" he was actually an engineer involved in mastering an early form of the Solvay process, and that he was particularly responsible for a major evolution of the Solvay disc used by the Egyptians. It is then perfectly understandable that he would have been buried with his creation; and of course, it certainly wasn't a worn-out disc that accompanied him into the afterlife, but a perfectly new one, without any trace of physical alteration, and without any trace of chemical deposits.
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