A research team led by French archaeologist Alain Zivie found the lion's remains in 2001 as they excavated the tomb of Maia, wet nurse to Tutankhamun, or King Tut, the "boy king" popular with museum visitors today for his opulent gold funeral relics.


"It confirms the status of the lion as a sacred animal," Zivie reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.


Inscriptions in ancient Egypt mention the breeding and burial of lions, but no lion remains previously had been found, said Zivie, who is with the French Archaeological Mission of the Bubasteion.