Feline mummies as a fertilizer. Criticisms on the destruction of archaeozoological remains during the 19th century (original) (raw)
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The ancient Egyptians are unique in mummifying animals as well as people. Although ways of preparing the mummies is rooted in practical methods of food preservation, animal mummies are expressions of ritual behavior. They are of four types: victual mummies, (funerary food offerings for humans); beloved pets buried with their owners; sacred animals; votive offerings. In the early days of archaeology many samples from all these categories were regarded as mere curiosities, and often ignored or even thrown away after excavation (some were used as fuel, fertilizer, and even ship’s ballast). Gradually their importance in elucidating the environmental as well as religious and cultural history of Egypt was recognised, and examples were collected and kept in museums. This paper will present some of the results of the Animal Mummy Project (AMP) of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. The AMP has studied the mummies through non-destructive techniques: X-rays and visual examination. Results have shed light on the role of pets, diet, veterinary practice in ancient Egypt, the changing species found in Egypt, as well as information concerning changes in mummification techniques over time.
2015
The present investigation demonstrates the difficulty of securely determining the species of certain ancient Egyptian cat remains with regards to discussions on the possible presence of the Jungle cat (Felis chaus) among the tame and/or domestic cats of ancient Egypt. An exceptionally large and well-preserved cat mummy was studied by means of X-ray computed tomography and molecular methods. The skeletal remains revealed by radiology displayed a severely damaged cat with features characteristic of both the F. chaus and the ancestral species of the common domestic cat, Felis silvestris, as well as attributes with values intermediate between the two candidate species. Together with the results of the analyses of ancient mitochondrial DNA extracted from a caudal vertebra belonging to the cat mummy in question, and a review of quantified ancient Egyptian cat remains in the literature, it can be concluded that species identification is not always straightforward. We argue that more reference material is needed to precisely describe the taxonomic positions of the different kinds of cat remains of ancient Egypt and that a possible impact of occasional hybridization between the Jungle cat and the domestic cat kept by the ancient Egyptians may be considered. This study has also shown that multiple major matrilines, perhaps from more than one domestication event, existed among the mummified cats of ancient Egypt, at least by Roman times.
Studies in Ancient Art and Civilization 18 (2014)
Votive mummies of cats were offered at the shrines of particular gods, to whom these animals were sacred. They played an important role in Egyptian religion during the Late and Greco-Roman periods and represent an important source on the popular beliefs and practices of ordinary Egyptians at the twilight of their civilisation. For many years, this subject was neglected and a large number of animal mummies were simply destroyed. However, many specimens of unknown origin are still preserved in collections around the world, which allows further research to be conducted upon them. After the Second World War, the National Museum in Warsaw received five such artefacts. Their exact provenience, archaeological context and the precise time of their execution is unknown. In April 2011, an x-ray examination of the artefacts was conducted by Łukasz Przewłocki, Wojciech Ejsmond (students at the Institute of Archaeology, Warsaw University) and Dr. Monika Dolińska (curator of the Egyptian collection at the National Museum in Warsaw). This paper presents an interpretation of these objects in the wider context of animal mummies and also provides a description of the results of their recent examination. All the specimens can be dated to the Greco-Roman period (332 BC-AD 390) with the exception of one, which probably dates to an earlier time. There are some unusual aspects to the group, such as the presence of a human tooth in one specimen and traces of restoration carried out at an unknown date in other one.
Creatures of Earth, Water and Sky: ESSAYS ON ANIMALS IN ANCIENT EGYPT AND NUBIA, 2019
Research into mummification has been underway at the University of Manchester since the 1970s, leading to the development of an evolving best-practice methodology for the study of human and animal remains - The Manchester Methodology. A dedicated research project investigating animal mummies from ancient Egypt began in 2000 and was formally inaugurated in 2010 as the Ancient Egyptian Animal Bio Bank. The project aims to collate the disjointed and disparate information relating to this understudied body of material whilst adding valuable scientific data obtained through a programme of rigorous analysis. Analysis of a cross-species and cross-collection dataset has enabled existing theories about many specimens to be challenged. The authors describe their programme of experimental mummification which aims to attempt to replicate bodily preservation using techniques witnessed through radiographic and microscopic analysis of ancient mummies in the Bio Bank. This experimental research aims to establish the accuracy of current identification methods and suggest ways in which improvements could be made. The final section of the paper focuses on public engagement with animal mummies at The University of Manchester through an award-winning touring museum exhibition and accompanying outreach programme.
Cats of the pharaohs: genetic comparison of Egyptian cat mummies to their feline contemporaries
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2012
The ancient Egyptians mummified an abundance of cats during the Late Period (664-332 BC). The overlapping morphology and sizes of developing wildcats and domestic cats confounds the identity of mummified cat species. Genetic analyses should support mummy identification and was conducted on two long bones and a mandible of three cats that were mummified by the ancient Egyptians. The mummy DNA was extracted in a dedicated ancient DNA laboratory at the University of California-Davis, then directly sequencing between 246 and 402 bp of the mtDNA control region from each bone. When compared to a dataset of wildcats (Felis silvestris silvestris, F. s. tristrami, and F. chaus) as well as a previously published worldwide dataset of modern domestic cat samples, including Egypt, the DNA evidence suggests the three mummies represent common contemporary domestic cat mitotypes prevalent in modern Egypt and the Middle East. Divergence estimates date the origin of the mummies' mitotypes to between two and 7.5 thousand years prior to their mummification, likely prior to or during Egyptian Predyanstic and Early Dynastic Periods. These data are the first genetic evidence supporting that the ancient Egyptians used domesticated cats, F. s. catus, for votive mummies, and likely implies cats were domesticated prior to extensive mummification of cats.
"Mummies outside their closets". Paleoradiological investigation of Egyptian mummified remains
Forensic Imaging, 2020
Paleoradiological investigations of three mummified remains housed in the archaeological museum of Erba allowed us to investigate the origin, biological profile, embalming techniques and pathological conditions of finds unknown until now. These mummified remains, belonging to the private collection of the Majnoni family, were donated to the museum without any information about their origin. We are well aware of the past issue on the commercialization of mummified remains and of the low possibility for anthropologists to have access to ancient mummies. For this reason our intent is to stimulate curators of small collections to contact team of anthropologists, radiologists and paleopathologists to grant the study of finds housed in museums with the aim of obtaining more information about the anthropological cultural heritage.
More evidence for cat taming at the Predynastic elite cemetery of Hierakonpolis (Upper Egypt)
Journal of Archaeological Science 45: 103-111., 2014
Continued excavations at the Predynastic elite cemetery HK6 at Hierakonpolis have yielded new evidence for the cultural control of cats during the Naqada IC-IIB period (c. 3800e3600 BC). In the same burial ground where evidence was previously found for the keeping of jungle cat (Felis chaus), a small pit was discovered containing six cats. The animals that were buried simultaneously, are a male and a female, and four kittens belonging to two different litters. The long bone measurements of the adult individuals clearly fall in the range of Felis silvestris and outside those of F. chaus and F. margarita. Comparison of the measurements e through the log-ratio technique e with data from the literature, as well as morphological characteristics of the mandible, suggest that the animals are domestic. It is argued that these results should be used with caution, since the criteria established to distinguish wild and domestic cat in European sites may reflect differences at the subspecies level (wild Felis silvestris silvestris versus the domestic form derived from Felis silvestris lybica). In northern Africa only F. s. lybica (wild or domestic) occurs, thus the established criteria may not be adequate when applied to Egyptian material. However, possible circumstantial evidence for the cultural control of the cats buried at Hierakonpolis is provided by their ages at death which indicate a deviation from the birth pattern reported in Egyptian wild cats.