Animal Mummies

By Miss Cellania in Animals & Pets on Nov 5, 2009 at 12:28 pm

Thousands of mummified animals have been recovered in Egypt over the past hundred years. They include gazelles, shrews, rams, crocodiles, hawks, fish, dung beetles, and of course, cats. In the early days of excavation, they were considered unimportant, as things to be pushed aside in order to get to the treasure. Scientists are now studying them in detail for clues about the way ancient Egyptian humans lived. National Geographic looks at how the animals were preserved, and why. Link

(image credit: Richard Barnes)

Tags: animals, archaeology, Egypt, mummies

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Babycakes
Nov 5th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
it looks like the mummified all the living things (other than themselves/humans). but I have to say, the “coffins” or whatever of the animals look nice (at least nice detail). Maybe they were just big on inventory or cataloging?
pwscott
Nov 5th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I can’t wait to see the mummy zoo.
emmiline
Nov 6th, 2009 at 5:13 am
i loved that article…and i was totally jazzed that they spoke to Salima Ikram instead of Dr. Hawass. that guy is kind of a tool, but she’s totally precious.
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they mummified things that had significance to them. a lot of animals had special meaning for them not only as pets but as connections to the gods- so they took great care with their mummies.

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