Birds, Pharaonic Egypt

Abstract

One hundred eighty‐three bird species have so far been identified on the balance of probabilities from the mummies, bone remains, hieroglyphs, art, and artifacts of ancient Egypt. Just six of these appear to have been depicted only in Predynastic times.

The ‘Meidum geese’ revisited: Early historical art is not a suitable basis for taxonomic speculation

“…One of the most widely known examples of Ancient Egyptian art depicting three species of geese (Anseriformes) was found in the Chapel of Itet and now housed in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, Cairo. Recently, in this journal, Romilio (2021) re-examined the taxonomic assignment of these species, including two strikingly patterned birds that have usually been identified as a well-known extant species, the red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis) (Nicoll 1919, Raven 1947, Houlihan 1986, Goodman & Meininger 1989, Wyatt 2013, although this was not universally accepted (Weesie 1988). Analysing the depictions using the Tobias et al (2010) criteria for species delimitation, Romilio (2021) concluded that these two birds represent "an extinct taxon that has no modern counterpart, or a partially accurate extant but locally extinct species, or a fabricated bird that includes elements of goose morphologies.…”