In the past few months I read all I could find about the Serapeum. It appears a lot of people reject the theory that the site was built for burials of the Apis bulls. As many pointed out, lots of things do not add up with that theory. The size of the granite coffers exceeding the size of the bulls; materials the coffers are made of, the accuracy with which they were built (to name a few). Also, if the site was used for ceremonial burials of the bulls, where are the bull mummies?
Often Eqyptologists ask if not that, then what the site was used for? and if we cannot provide alternative theory, it seems by default we fall back to the original theory of the Apis bulls with all its flaws. I gave this some thoughts and put together a theory which I think makes more sense. I give a few main points below. Let me know what you think.
1) For those who need background info on the Serapeum, I suggest article Seraperion I and II by Antoine Gigal, she wrote in this forum "[grahamhancock.com];.
2) It is well known that pre-dynastic Egyptians knew the process of fermentation [5-6]. In about 3000 BC they already utilized the ferment to brew the beer and bake the bread. Some mentioned the process was known well before then. Let’s assume someone in pre-dynastic Egypt mixed ferment, starch, and meat, placed those ingredients inside the giant coffer, and closed the lid. The following are the particular set of ingredients that come in mind: bread, barley, beer and ox, as those are often mentioned in the AE texts.
2) As fermentation starts, yeast begins to convert starch present in barley into CO2 gas and ethanol. The amount of the CO2 gas increase in the coffer which builds pressure. Yeast by the way is in bread, we know Egyptians made beer from it (not sure how they harvest it though).
3) The granite boxes are machined with high precision with tolerance found to be within 1 micron [7]. So, closing the lid essentially makes the coffer hermetically sealed. The granite is also not porous materials [8], so not much of the gas would get sipped through the granite walls. The lid is also weights about 30 tons, so the gas pressure inside the coffer can be quite substantial before the lid would prop open. So the process continues as long as the chemical composition of substances inside the coffer and temperature is comfortable for yeast to grow.
4) One component essential for yeast to grow as mentioned in a few studies is oleic acid [9]. This is a fatty acid present in the fats of animals. As was reported in [9], the oleic acid is essential for the yeast to maintain its growth rate. This acid is also essential for yeast to overcome the toxic effect of the ethanol, which would be building up in the coffer as a byproduct of fermentation. Similar studies were done by MIT University and reported in [10].
5) I cannot help by wonder if the main purpose of the meat or bull body parts placed in the coffer was to provide proper chemical components for the yeast to sustain its long time growth. That acid is present in abundance in meat.
6) As fermentation continues, the CO2 gas builds pressure in the coffer. As reported in [11], the granite can withstand at least 200 MPa pressure. The yeast in the coffer would be exposed to that pressure as well but according to this study [12], the yeast is capable of withstanding that much stress. As pressure grows, there will be mechanical stress on the coffer made of granite. Granite contains quartz crystals and under mechanical stress those crystals generate electric charge [13]. More pressure, more electric charge is generated.
7) It worth to mention here, that at some point the pressure inside the box, will overcome the lid weight and prop it open, releasing the gas. However, when the Serapeum was rediscovered in 1850, a few sketches were made of the interior of the Serapeum at that time or shortly after. See this picture below which shows one of those sketches.
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(Cannot find the exact source of this picture. If someone knows where it came from would appreciate the source). One interesting aspect that cannot be missed on this picture is the stack of stones piled on top of the lid. I cannot think of any reason why someone would pile those stones, except counter the pressure inside the box with additional mass, essentially extending pressure in the coffer.
8) One other point to make here. If someone would open the lid of the coffer millennia later, most likely that person would see inside only what yeast would not consume before drying out. That most likely would be bull bones which seems exactly what Mariette found in the undisturbed coffer.
9) The effect of high pressure stress on the granite material was analyzed in [13]. See this picture below for the experimental results i copied from the paper. So, when granite is stressed to high pressure, it sparkles and glows.
![]()
10) Some people who visited Serapeum noticed no soot on the ceiling and walls and wondered how the builders could built the site at the condition of total darkness. With pressure built in granite coffers, I do not think the grand gallery would be that dark after all.
11) Saying that though, it is very unlikely that builders went through so much effort moving so much weight around, with the only purpose to light the hall of the grand gallery. There has to be a more pragmatic reason for the coffers. That brings me to the following topic.
12) Over the centuries there have been numerous reports about lights which appear in different shapes, forms, duration above the ground surface shortly before, during or after earthquakes [14]. One recent instance of earthquake light occurrence was reported in L’Aquilla, Italy in 2009, when the place was hit with 6.3 tremor. Shortly before the earthquake people reported seeing the lights above the city. See this article [15]. Lots of research was put into this phenomena and a number of publications came out. See those [16-23].
13) As analyzed in [16] the phenomena is caused by electric charges which are released at the time of the earthquake above the ground and ionize the air pockets. When the air is ionized, the electrons in the Oxygen receive additional energy and gets excited. The electrons are typically de-excited by releasing photons or light in other words. I believe the builders used the similar phenomena in Serapeum to create the light over the Saqqara.
14) In summary I think the giant coffers were used to generate electric charges with the pressure built inside, The pressure put on the quartz created electric charges on the surface of the coffers. Those charges are dispersed from the underground toward the ground surface [read [16] where the authors comment on this]. The released charges would ionize the air above Saqqara and create air glow.
References:
[1] Margarett R. Bunson “Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt” ISBN: 0-8160-4563-1. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data. 2002
[2] Mohamad Ibrahim and David Rohl “Apis and the Serapeum” Journal of ancient chronology forum. Vol 2, 1988.
[3] Antoine Gigal ”From beyond the secrets of Serapeum” Archeological and historical researches [www.gigalresearch.com]
[4] Auguste Mariette-Pacha, Gasto Maspero ”Le Serapeum de Memphis” Kessinger Publishing, LLC, sept 10, 2010, ISBN-10: 1166740765
[5] Ian Spencer Hornsey “A history of beer and brewing”. Published by royal society of chemistry, ISBN: 0-85404-630-5, 2003
[6] Alice Stevenson “ The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation” Journal Archeological Research, Dec 2016, Vol. 24, issue 4, pp 421-468 (beer and bread making).
[7] Chris Dunn “Lost technologies of Ancient Egypt: Advanced Engineering in the temples of the pharaohs” ISNB-10: 1591431026, June 24, 2010.
[8] M. Schild S. Siegesmund A. Vollbrecht M. Mazurek ”Characterization of granite matrix porosity and pore-space geometry by in situ and laboratory methods” Geophysical Journal International, Volume 146, Issue 1, 1 July 2001, Pages 111–125.
[9] Ronald W. Walenga and William E.M. Lands ”Effectiveness of Various Unsaturated Fatty acids in supporting Growth and respiration in saccharomyces cerevisiae” Journal of Biological Chemistry” Vol. 250, No. 23, Issue of December 10, pp. 921-9129, 1965
[10] Kyung Man You, Claire-Lise Rosenfield and Douglas C. Knipple “Ethanol Tolerance in the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is dependent on cellular oleic acid content” Applied and Environmental Microbiology” March 2003, vol.69, no. 3, 1499-1503
[10] Felix H. Lam, Adel Ghaderi, Gerald R. Fink, Gregory Stephanopoulos “Engineering alcohol tolerance in yeast” American association for the advancement of science (AAAS) 2018
[11] Granite, [en.wikipedia.org]
[12] P.M.B Fernandez “How does yeast respond to pressure?” Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, August 2005, Volume 38(8) 1239-1245.
[13] Mamoru Kato, Yuta Mitsui, Takashi Yanagidani ”Photographic evidence of luminescence during faulting in granite” Earth, planet and space, may 2010, Volume 62, Issue 5, pp489-493
[14] I.V. Florinsky “Earthquake Lights in Legends of the Greek orthodoxy” Mediterranean archaeology and archaeometry, Vol. 16, No 1. 2016, pp. 159-168.
[15] C.Fidani “The earthquake lights (EQL) of the 6 April 2009 Aquila earthquake, in Central Italy” Natural Hazards and Earth system sciences, May 2010.
[16] Friedemann T. Freund, Akihiro Takeuchi, and Bobby W.S. Lau ” Electric currents streaming out of stressed igneous rocks- A step towards understanding pre-earthquake low frequency EM emissions” Physics and chemistry of the earth. 2006
[17] Brian Clark Howard, “Bizarre Earthquake Lights finally explained” National Geographic, Jan 7, 2014.
[18] Friedemann T. Freund ”Rocks that crackle and sparkle and glow. Strange pre-Earthquake phenomena” Journal of Scientific exploration. Vol.17, no. 1, pp 37-71, 2003
[19] Robert Theriault, France St-Laurent, Friedemann T. Freund, and John S. Derr “ Prevalence of Earthquake lights associated with rift environments” Seismological Research Letters, Vol. 85, Number 1, Jan/Feb 2014.
[20] Freund, F., “Pre-earthquake signals – Part I: Deviatoric stresses turn rocks into a source of electric currents”, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 7, 535–541, 2007.
[21] Scoville, J., et al., “Pre-earthquake magnetic pulses” Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 1873-1880, 2015 doi:10.5194/nhess-15-1873-2015
[22] Bishop, J. R. (1981). Piezoelectric effects in quartz-rich rocks. Tectonophysics, 77, 297–321
[23] Derr, J. S. (1973). Earthquake lights: A review of observations and present theories. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 63, 21277–21287.
Often Eqyptologists ask if not that, then what the site was used for? and if we cannot provide alternative theory, it seems by default we fall back to the original theory of the Apis bulls with all its flaws. I gave this some thoughts and put together a theory which I think makes more sense. I give a few main points below. Let me know what you think.
1) For those who need background info on the Serapeum, I suggest article Seraperion I and II by Antoine Gigal, she wrote in this forum "[grahamhancock.com];.
2) It is well known that pre-dynastic Egyptians knew the process of fermentation [5-6]. In about 3000 BC they already utilized the ferment to brew the beer and bake the bread. Some mentioned the process was known well before then. Let’s assume someone in pre-dynastic Egypt mixed ferment, starch, and meat, placed those ingredients inside the giant coffer, and closed the lid. The following are the particular set of ingredients that come in mind: bread, barley, beer and ox, as those are often mentioned in the AE texts.
2) As fermentation starts, yeast begins to convert starch present in barley into CO2 gas and ethanol. The amount of the CO2 gas increase in the coffer which builds pressure. Yeast by the way is in bread, we know Egyptians made beer from it (not sure how they harvest it though).
3) The granite boxes are machined with high precision with tolerance found to be within 1 micron [7]. So, closing the lid essentially makes the coffer hermetically sealed. The granite is also not porous materials [8], so not much of the gas would get sipped through the granite walls. The lid is also weights about 30 tons, so the gas pressure inside the coffer can be quite substantial before the lid would prop open. So the process continues as long as the chemical composition of substances inside the coffer and temperature is comfortable for yeast to grow.
4) One component essential for yeast to grow as mentioned in a few studies is oleic acid [9]. This is a fatty acid present in the fats of animals. As was reported in [9], the oleic acid is essential for the yeast to maintain its growth rate. This acid is also essential for yeast to overcome the toxic effect of the ethanol, which would be building up in the coffer as a byproduct of fermentation. Similar studies were done by MIT University and reported in [10].
5) I cannot help by wonder if the main purpose of the meat or bull body parts placed in the coffer was to provide proper chemical components for the yeast to sustain its long time growth. That acid is present in abundance in meat.
6) As fermentation continues, the CO2 gas builds pressure in the coffer. As reported in [11], the granite can withstand at least 200 MPa pressure. The yeast in the coffer would be exposed to that pressure as well but according to this study [12], the yeast is capable of withstanding that much stress. As pressure grows, there will be mechanical stress on the coffer made of granite. Granite contains quartz crystals and under mechanical stress those crystals generate electric charge [13]. More pressure, more electric charge is generated.
7) It worth to mention here, that at some point the pressure inside the box, will overcome the lid weight and prop it open, releasing the gas. However, when the Serapeum was rediscovered in 1850, a few sketches were made of the interior of the Serapeum at that time or shortly after. See this picture below which shows one of those sketches.
(Cannot find the exact source of this picture. If someone knows where it came from would appreciate the source). One interesting aspect that cannot be missed on this picture is the stack of stones piled on top of the lid. I cannot think of any reason why someone would pile those stones, except counter the pressure inside the box with additional mass, essentially extending pressure in the coffer.
8) One other point to make here. If someone would open the lid of the coffer millennia later, most likely that person would see inside only what yeast would not consume before drying out. That most likely would be bull bones which seems exactly what Mariette found in the undisturbed coffer.
9) The effect of high pressure stress on the granite material was analyzed in [13]. See this picture below for the experimental results i copied from the paper. So, when granite is stressed to high pressure, it sparkles and glows.
10) Some people who visited Serapeum noticed no soot on the ceiling and walls and wondered how the builders could built the site at the condition of total darkness. With pressure built in granite coffers, I do not think the grand gallery would be that dark after all.
11) Saying that though, it is very unlikely that builders went through so much effort moving so much weight around, with the only purpose to light the hall of the grand gallery. There has to be a more pragmatic reason for the coffers. That brings me to the following topic.
12) Over the centuries there have been numerous reports about lights which appear in different shapes, forms, duration above the ground surface shortly before, during or after earthquakes [14]. One recent instance of earthquake light occurrence was reported in L’Aquilla, Italy in 2009, when the place was hit with 6.3 tremor. Shortly before the earthquake people reported seeing the lights above the city. See this article [15]. Lots of research was put into this phenomena and a number of publications came out. See those [16-23].
13) As analyzed in [16] the phenomena is caused by electric charges which are released at the time of the earthquake above the ground and ionize the air pockets. When the air is ionized, the electrons in the Oxygen receive additional energy and gets excited. The electrons are typically de-excited by releasing photons or light in other words. I believe the builders used the similar phenomena in Serapeum to create the light over the Saqqara.
14) In summary I think the giant coffers were used to generate electric charges with the pressure built inside, The pressure put on the quartz created electric charges on the surface of the coffers. Those charges are dispersed from the underground toward the ground surface [read [16] where the authors comment on this]. The released charges would ionize the air above Saqqara and create air glow.
References:
[1] Margarett R. Bunson “Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt” ISBN: 0-8160-4563-1. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data. 2002
[2] Mohamad Ibrahim and David Rohl “Apis and the Serapeum” Journal of ancient chronology forum. Vol 2, 1988.
[3] Antoine Gigal ”From beyond the secrets of Serapeum” Archeological and historical researches [www.gigalresearch.com]
[4] Auguste Mariette-Pacha, Gasto Maspero ”Le Serapeum de Memphis” Kessinger Publishing, LLC, sept 10, 2010, ISBN-10: 1166740765
[5] Ian Spencer Hornsey “A history of beer and brewing”. Published by royal society of chemistry, ISBN: 0-85404-630-5, 2003
[6] Alice Stevenson “ The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation” Journal Archeological Research, Dec 2016, Vol. 24, issue 4, pp 421-468 (beer and bread making).
[7] Chris Dunn “Lost technologies of Ancient Egypt: Advanced Engineering in the temples of the pharaohs” ISNB-10: 1591431026, June 24, 2010.
[8] M. Schild S. Siegesmund A. Vollbrecht M. Mazurek ”Characterization of granite matrix porosity and pore-space geometry by in situ and laboratory methods” Geophysical Journal International, Volume 146, Issue 1, 1 July 2001, Pages 111–125.
[9] Ronald W. Walenga and William E.M. Lands ”Effectiveness of Various Unsaturated Fatty acids in supporting Growth and respiration in saccharomyces cerevisiae” Journal of Biological Chemistry” Vol. 250, No. 23, Issue of December 10, pp. 921-9129, 1965
[10] Kyung Man You, Claire-Lise Rosenfield and Douglas C. Knipple “Ethanol Tolerance in the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is dependent on cellular oleic acid content” Applied and Environmental Microbiology” March 2003, vol.69, no. 3, 1499-1503
[10] Felix H. Lam, Adel Ghaderi, Gerald R. Fink, Gregory Stephanopoulos “Engineering alcohol tolerance in yeast” American association for the advancement of science (AAAS) 2018
[11] Granite, [en.wikipedia.org]
[12] P.M.B Fernandez “How does yeast respond to pressure?” Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, August 2005, Volume 38(8) 1239-1245.
[13] Mamoru Kato, Yuta Mitsui, Takashi Yanagidani ”Photographic evidence of luminescence during faulting in granite” Earth, planet and space, may 2010, Volume 62, Issue 5, pp489-493
[14] I.V. Florinsky “Earthquake Lights in Legends of the Greek orthodoxy” Mediterranean archaeology and archaeometry, Vol. 16, No 1. 2016, pp. 159-168.
[15] C.Fidani “The earthquake lights (EQL) of the 6 April 2009 Aquila earthquake, in Central Italy” Natural Hazards and Earth system sciences, May 2010.
[16] Friedemann T. Freund, Akihiro Takeuchi, and Bobby W.S. Lau ” Electric currents streaming out of stressed igneous rocks- A step towards understanding pre-earthquake low frequency EM emissions” Physics and chemistry of the earth. 2006
[17] Brian Clark Howard, “Bizarre Earthquake Lights finally explained” National Geographic, Jan 7, 2014.
[18] Friedemann T. Freund ”Rocks that crackle and sparkle and glow. Strange pre-Earthquake phenomena” Journal of Scientific exploration. Vol.17, no. 1, pp 37-71, 2003
[19] Robert Theriault, France St-Laurent, Friedemann T. Freund, and John S. Derr “ Prevalence of Earthquake lights associated with rift environments” Seismological Research Letters, Vol. 85, Number 1, Jan/Feb 2014.
[20] Freund, F., “Pre-earthquake signals – Part I: Deviatoric stresses turn rocks into a source of electric currents”, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 7, 535–541, 2007.
[21] Scoville, J., et al., “Pre-earthquake magnetic pulses” Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 1873-1880, 2015 doi:10.5194/nhess-15-1873-2015
[22] Bishop, J. R. (1981). Piezoelectric effects in quartz-rich rocks. Tectonophysics, 77, 297–321
[23] Derr, J. S. (1973). Earthquake lights: A review of observations and present theories. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 63, 21277–21287.