Friday 13 March 2009

Mummified dog


Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and his team of archaeologists found a rare intact mummy dating to pharaonic times when they opened a sealed limestone sarcophagus last month in the shadow of the world's oldest standing step pyramid at Saqqara.
Hawass said he believes the mummy in the limestone sarcophagus belonged to a nobleman, but so far this mummy and other mummies' identities found in the tomb remain a mystery. "Only the rich could afford to have sarcophagi made of limestone from Thebes," said Hawass. “Thebes is an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile, hundreds of miles to the south in what is today's Luxor”.
A dog's mummy — possibly of a pet — was also found along with mummies of children, prompting speculation the chamber holds the remains of a large family, with the richer, more prominent members, buried in the sarcophagi.
“There is no inscription to help understand more about this dog mummy. It may be that the owner of this dog had asked that his pet be mummified and buried along with him so that he could accompany his master to the afterlife. This was common in Egypt.”

3 comments:

Violets new Vintage said...

Its nice to know they loved their dogs. One of our local museums is doing a King Tut exhibit and now I will look for dog artifacts when I attend!

Whispering Walls said...

There's life in the old dog yet - maybe scientists could clone it?

Anonymous said...

SEO
vewry useful, thanx a lot for this article ........ This was exactly what I was looking for.