Egypt cat mummies discovered in ancient tombs

What a fascinating find this is. Eygpt is still full of surprises afr all these years. The most interesting part of this, is that there is still a sealed door to another tomb. Who knows what's in there. Amazing finds.

TextAncient Egyptians believed cats, and other animals, held a special position in the afterlife.

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a collection of mummified cats and scarab beetles in a series of ancient tombs.Text

Further work at the site in Saqqara is planned. Archaeologists found the door to another tomb that remains sealed and they plan to open it in the coming weeks.

www.bbc.co.uk...

a reply to: rhynouk

That's "cool for cats".

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS mummified more than just human corpses. Animals were viewed not only as pets, but as incarnations of gods. As such, the Egyptians buried millions of mummified cats, birds, and other creatures at temples honoring their deities.

Organic material decays rapidly, especially in hot climes like that of Egypt, Evershed said. Therefore, it was important for embalmers to remove water along with a corpse's internal organs before mummification. (Water is essential for bacteria, which can quickly rot a corpse.) To dry out a body, the ancient Egyptians rubbed salt into the corpse. Substances such as oils, beeswax, and pine tree resins—which repel water and microbes—were then applied. "To preserve something for hundreds or thousands of years, the most important thing is to halt rehydration and microbial decay," Evershed said.

From here

Another nice find.

It will be interesting to find out what the other sealed tomb contains.

a reply to: blackcrowe

Definitely cool for cats.

Thanks for the link. Their funeral and burial cultures are a subject to research on it's own. The evolution the their burial practices changed so much from the earliest days of their period in history. They had so much belief in the afterlife, even for their pets and animals.

A sealed tomb always gets my interest up. Probably more mumified cats, but there is always that chance of a huge find that could change the way we think of the Ancient Egyptians and how they dealt with death.

a reply to: rhynouk

It seems that there is plenty of discoveries to be made. And, the more they discover. The better picture of their lives and history will be revealed.

I was looking up historical tidbits about cats and one took place in Egypt so I will share it here.

A Roman soldier accidentally killed a cat in Egypt. The townspeople became furious forming an angry mob demanding retribution. The Pharaoh himself begged the people to show mercy and spare his life. It was, after all, an accident. Do you think they obeyed the Pharoah? The living God? No. They murdered the poor s.o.b. for accidentally killing a local cat.

(im pretty sure this was not ancient egypt, it might have been muslim egypt actually. muslims also revere cats to some extent apparently. Mohommed himself was said to cut the sleeves off his prayer robe because he needed it but a cat was sleeping on the sleeves, another ancient islamic guy was said to go out in the cold without his coat once because a cat was sleeping on it)

Animals were viewed not only as pets ...As such, the Egyptians buried millions of mummified cats and other creatures

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a collection of mummified cats and scarab beetles in a series of ancient tombs.

Organic material decays rapidly, especially in hot climes like that of Egypt, Therefore, it was important for embalmers to remove water along with a corpse's internal organs

The simplest explanation tends to be the correct one.... people just don't want to accept that Egyptians ate the cats , the weren't being mummified as a deity..., they were being preserved as a food supply...

a reply to: rhynouk

Nice find
@ times I do wonder if the original Sphinx was a cat 🤔

a reply to: rhynouk

Many of these are actually fakes, from the correct time period, but fake, it was a lucrative business to make them because they were a popular thing to add in tombs,

originally posted by: solve
a reply to: rhynouk

Many of these are actually fakes, from the correct time period, but fake, it was a lucrative business to make them because they were a popular thing to add in tombs,

Thanks for sharing that information I didn't know that. It makes sense to have a business that would be able to provide this to people without any type of pet. Being so engrained into their culture, I imagine it would be a very lucrative venture back then as well.

very interesting.

a reply to: Infoshill

No, they weren't used for food, instead protected the food. The symbiosis is how cats domesticated themselves.


a reply to: solve

I seen one of the fake ones at Ripley's believe it or not. Convincing to the untrained eye as these were pretty popular in traveling circuses.

A non Egyptian mummified body, displayed in carnivals, turned out to be the real body Elmer J. McCurdy. He died in 1911, and only in 1976 was his body discovered again after turning up missing in the past.

I guess as long as there's been cats apparently there's been cat ladies.


This is probably something they wish would return.

I was at a cat ladys house once, 28 cats.

I watched one piss in a pot on the stove...

she was like yeah thats just what that one does...

another one flushed the toilet, like used the toilet, flushed it.



So yeah.






Food supply?

Like some cat jerky but in whole form?


That's pretty hilarious.

Lets hear it for ancient cat ladies.


ps:

Dogs > Cats

Considering Sekhmet, Bastet and Ra cat worship I don't think they were mummified for food.

I think any time you're mummifying your dead and you don't want mice and rats and other little varmints gnawing on mummies while they await resurrection, it's good to have some cats around.

I find this Youtube channel pretty good for updates about anything ancient. The door sill being sealed as well makes my spidy sense tingle.
Some amazing replies here. I learn so much from you guys. Egypt is a fascinating place I hope to visit one day.

a reply to: rhynouk

Those rich Egyptians mummified anything with fur or feathers or scales. Not a great time to be an animal.

There's money in mummies. Mummy money.

Given the complexities of mummification, and the proximity of animal catacombs to temples, the practice was clearly administered by the priesthood, which seems to have treated it as a business. Preparations range from simple linen wrappings to fancy coffins shaped to evoke the animal inside: a divine messenger for every price point.

discovermagazine.com...

a reply to: Kandinsky

Definitely. I'm glad I didn't have a goldfish or a spider. I can't imagine trying to mummify those. I haven't really researched into when these types of practice started to flounder away to what we do today. I'm sure there are cultures out there who still do this.

a reply to: Phage

I once read about mummified critters and people being used to fuel the 19th Century Egyptian steam trains. It sounded a bit urban myth so I didn't check it up. It's quite an evocative image whether true or not.

Cats were of huge importance to them their very lives depended on it. Egypt had to store grain to feed its people the cats protected the grain from mice. Even in ancient times mice would overrun areas in Africa eating everything in sight. Luckily in egypt there was more cats than people to make sure it didn't happen in egypt. Worshipping Bastet was only part of it. Killing a cat held the same sentence as killing a person because of the importance.

Bottom line you cant live along a river bank and not have to deal with mice.