Living Death and Deading Life: Animal mummies in Graeco-Egyptian Magic and Ritual

Palaeopathological and demographic data reveal conditions of keeping of the ancient baboons at Gabbanat el-Qurud (Thebes, Egypt)

“…The specimen was found among five disturbed human skeletons and a stone coffin for a falcon. Larger numbers of cercopithecid mummies have been reported from three major cemeteries, namely an estimated 180 individuals at Saqqara [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], 247 at Tuna el-Gebel [17] and 36 at Gabbanat el-Qurud ( [18,19] and this study) (Fig 1). The bone studies, and in particular the palaeopathological observations, of the monkeys from Saqqara [14,16] and Tuna el-Gebel [17,[20][21][22][23] provide information on the skeletal health status and living conditions of these animals.…”

“…So far, tens of millions of mummies have been discovered in necropolises across the country, testifying to the Egyptians' attention to sacred or sacralised animals [3][4][5][6][7]. The vast majority of the mummified animals were and are mostly classified by Egyptologists as votive offerings to deities, but there was certainly wider diversity within this Egyptological category [8,9]. Selected individuals, a minority, were considered incarnations of deities among humans, for example the Apis, Mnevis and Bouchis bulls or the Sobek crocodiles.…”