X-ray images of falcons show they were carefully preserved (Image: Natural History Museum)
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Mummified monkeys have been found buried alongside their owners (Image: Natural History Museum)
A new collection of mummified creatures could help unravel some of the mysteries surrounding ancient Egyptian society.
The Egyptians mummified both humans and animals to preserve them for the afterlife. Mummified cats, birds, monkeys and even gazelles have in the past been found buried alongside their owners.
Researchers say the new collection - including mummified cats, birds, baboons and crocodiles gathered from a variety of other collections - adds weight to the idea that the humble house cat was first domesticated animal to provide a source of ritual offerings for the gods.
Scientists at the Natural History Museum in London, UK, compared numerous specimens and used X-rays to peer beneath the animals' bandages. They found fresh evidence that many were killed and mummified specifically to provide religious offerings.
Votive offerings
Mummified cats, for example, might have been offered to the feline-headed goddess, Bastet, who Egyptians believed protected the home.
Richard Sabin, curator of mammals at the museum, notes the collection includes both the African subspecies of wild cat Felis silvestris lybica and the smaller predecessor to the modern domestic cat. This may mean mummification might have played a role in the domestication of the cat.
"We're looking at a point in time that is very close to the origin of the domestic cat," Sabin told New Scientist "It adds to the body of evidence and to the theory that cats were being bred for the mummification process."
Sabin adds that many of the mummified cats in the collection have skeletal damage suggesting their necks were deliberately snapped. "The suggestion is that these animals were being selectively bred and killed," he says.
Preserved pets
But the new collection also illustrates the fondness with which Egyptians regarded some of their animals. Jo Cooper, curator of the bird collection at the museum, notes the preserved birds show different kinds of mummification. The falcons, for example, thought to have been kept as pets, are lavishly mummified with great care. Meanwhile ibises and hawks, which may have been offerings to the Moon god Thoth, are mummified in a more casual manner.
Animal statues and amulets also on display in the exhibition reinforce the importance of animals in the world of ancient Egypt.
"It's interesting to start getting a feel for how people interacted with animals and to see them as objects of symbolism," says Cooper. "We're getting insight into the Egyptians as curators and preparers of these votive offerings."
But Sabin also points out that the Egyptians' sheer enthusiasm for mummification can sometimes pose a problem. "It can be difficult to draw conclusions because they were mummifying anything they could get their hands on," he says.
The collection will also go on display at the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum in Hertfordshire, UK, from 14 February in an exhibition called Animal Mummies of Ancient Egypt.
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