The ancient Egyptians often mummified sacred animals such as cats, crocodiles, birds, dogs, etc. as sacrifices to the gods. Now, after thousands of years buried underground, the secrets hidden in these mummies have been revealed by scientists thanks to modern scanning technology.
In October, about 60 ancient Egyptian animal mummies will be widely displayed at the Manchester Museum (UK), promising to give the public a more realistic and closer look at the animal mummification “technology” applied by the Egyptians thousands of years ago.
In the past, sacred animals such as cats, crocodiles, dogs, etc. were often mummified by the Egyptians as sacrifices or placed in tombs as a way to communicate with the gods and the spiritual world. In particular, at this exhibition, there is a mummy of a dog that was discovered to contain human bones inside.
Among them, cats are often used as sacrifices to Bastet – the goddess of war, dogs are used as sacrifices to Anubis – the wolf-headed god who represents mummification and the afterlife, and Ibis birds are used as sacrifices to Thoth – the god of wisdom.
Unlike the complicated and elaborate mummification process for humans, the ancient Egyptian mummification process for animals was quite simple, using only beeswax and tree resin. In the picture is the mummy of a falcon.
Even X-ray scans of the mummies show that their internal organs were not removed. The reason why mummies have survived for so long is because of the thick and elaborate wrappings of cloth or wood.
Through research, scientists at the University of Manchester discovered that: only about 1/3 of ancient animal mummies contain actual animal remains. In the pH๏τo, the mummy of a crocodile is тιԍнтly wrapped and preserved quite intact.
The remains were either empty mummies containing a few animal bones inside, or containing the bodies of several animals bundled together.
Pictured is the mummy of an Ibis bird.
Along with the mummies, the exhibition will also feature X-ray and CT scans so visitors can get a clear view of what was inside these animal mummies.
