The ancient Egyptians are actually considered to be extremely fond of animals. People kept cats and dogs, as well as birds, monkeys, meerkats and gazelles. Inscriptions on animal sarcophagi reveal that they named their pets. Splinted animal bones suggest that veterinarians already existed at that time. And numerous animal mummies have been preserved, especially from the first millennium BC. This practice can also be interpreted at least in part as a token of love, as preserving the body was considered a prerequisite for a good afterlife.
For example, the pet of the priestess Maatkare Mutemhat, who lived in Thebes around 1000 BC, caused a certain stir posthumously. Her mummified body was buried with a smaller mummy. For a long time, researchers thought she was a child and thought they were on the trail of a scandal that was thousands of years old, since priestesses were obliged to be chaste. Until then it became clear: The little creature was a monkey.
Whether those animal sarcophagus of which researchers now in the journal Scientific Reports to report, are also testimonies of such a loving burial, but it is rather doubtful. A team led by the X-ray specialist at the British Museum, Daniel O’Flynn, x-rayed six copper alloy vessels that were still sealed and decorated with depictions of animals. As the researchers write, they wanted to explore their design and find out whether it actually contains what is on it, i.e. whether it contains animal remains. After all, some containers are so small that the animals depicted could hardly have fit in – at least not completely. And scientists don’t assume they were pet sarcophagi. They suspect a sacred connection.
At the temple, pilgrims could buy mummified animals as offerings
In fact, especially in the first millennium BC, not only domestic animals were preserved. Animal mummies also served as offerings; many Egyptian deities were not only depicted with animal heads, but the corresponding animal species were also identified with them. Cats, for example, could represent the cat-headed goddess of war and fertility Bastet, ibises the wisdom god Thoth, crocodiles the water god Sobek.
Sacrificial animals served as mediators between humans and gods, and the demand was great. Animals were probably bred specifically to be killed, mummified, packed in small boxes and offered to pilgrims as offerings for sale directly at the temples. Hundreds of thousands of mummified cats and ibises have been found in the Saqqara necropolis alone. Recently, Belgian and Spanish researchers have examined crocodile mummies from Aswan, which apparently dried alive in the sun.
However, not all surviving boxes contain carefully mummified animals. In some supposed animal sarcophagi, Egyptologists found only individual body parts or no animal remains at all. Whether this was done through carelessness or with intent to defraud is unclear, as is whether the embalmers might have temporarily run out of the cats or ibises they needed, or whether they just wanted to save themselves the work.
One of the boxes contained only scraps of fabric
The containers that have now been examined by O’Flynn’s team date from the late Egyptian period from the 7th century BC. Three are decorated with representations of snakes or lizards and equipped with rings on which they could possibly be hung, they come from the Greek trading town of Naukratis in the western Nile delta. One box shows a lizard and comes from Tell el-Yahudiya northeast of present-day Cairo. The exact geographic origin of the two remaining containers is unclear. They are up to 30 centimeters long and each decorated with a snake-like animal with a crowned human head.
Because studies with X-rays had previously failed, the researchers led by O’Flynn now rely on neutron beams, which penetrate metals well and can image substances containing hydrogen and organic substances.
Inside the boxes they were presented with a mixed picture – although in general they do appear to contain what is depicted on them. The researchers found clear evidence of mummified animals in three boxes, and in one of them there was even a preserved skull that was comparable in size to that of a wall lizard, as they write. In another box, on the other hand, they found only remnants of cloth, possibly from linen bandages of the type commonly used in embalming. They also saw small, unidentifiable crumbs. Finally, in the two elongated snake cases, they recognized at least possible splinters of bone and presumed signs of decay.
And they found evidence of a practice that cannot be explained by a love of animals, but is very pragmatic: the Egyptians apparently poured liquid lead into the containers – for what purpose is unclear. Lead has been attributed magical properties, write O’Flynn’s team. But maybe it was just supposed to weigh down the containers so that they didn’t keep falling over despite their decorative figures.