Mystery of Ancient Egypt's Mummified Animals: Lion Cubs, Cobras, and Crocodiles Revealed
Of the five large mummified wildcats, two have been identified as lion cubs. Meanwhile, three of them have yet to be identified. Head of Egypt’s Supreme Council for Antiquities, Mostafa Waziry, isn’t too concerned. He’s one of many who believe this stunning cache of relics will boost tourism to the country.
“If it’s a cheetah, a leopard, a lioness, a panther — whatever, it will be one of its kind,” he said.
Egyptian Ministry of AntiquitiesThe trove reportedly dates back to the seventh century B.C. and boasts an impressive amount of cat statues.
Officials like Khaled El-Enany, Egypt’s antiquities minister, couldn’t agree with Waziry more. El-Enany called this find “wonderful promotion for Egypt.”
To his point, this archaeological find is more than a mere unearthing of ancient relics — it provides insight into the religious, cultural, and social lives of those who routinely mummified animals or made statues of them.
“People would make devotional offerings in the form of animals as mummies,” said Dr. Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist and mummy expert at the American University of Cairo. “This would have more potency as a blood sacrifice, compared to stone or wooden images.”
It’s largely agreed upon in the field of Egyptology that these ancient worshippers either believed these mummified animals were deities themselves, or actively mummified them as ritualistic offerings to the gods.
Ikram leans toward the latter. She called this discovery “one of the most exciting series of finds in the world of animal mummies ever.”
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