Main Ideas
Different kinds of Animal mummies
Methods of mummification
Material was used
Ancient Egypt is famous for mummies, animal or human, which were preserved for eternal life.
Throughout history, animal mummies had little value, they were used as ballast for ships, fertilizer, fuel, and as medicine in powdered form.
Different Kinds of Animal Mummies
Beloved Pets, buried with their owners
Victual mummies, consisting of funerary food offerings for humans.
Sacred Animals worshiped during their lifetime and mummified with pomp upon their death.
Votive Mummies, dedicated as offerings at the shrines of specific gods to whom these animals were sacred.
Different Methods
1-Evisceration and Desiccation
The highest quality method including
The removal of the brain, then the viscera (lungs, stomachs, and liver ).
Cleaning of the body by washing it with water or palm wine
Desiccating the body using natron, this process takes forty days more or less, depending on the size of the creature.
Anointing the body with sacred oils such as castor oil, resins, and bitumen
2- Desiccation and Anointment
This method includes washing the body, then drying using natron, then anointing and wrapping.
It was commonly used on votive mummies especially during the Graeco Roman period.
3- Enemas
This method uses no incision, but the oil of cedar or pine ( turpentine) was injected into the anus ( like an enema ) to melt the viscera, then the body was desiccated using natron.
After a number of days, the body was taken out of the natron and the anal plug removed, releasing the body's contents, which had been liquefied, finally the body would be anointed then wrapped.
4-Defleshing
This technique used on some animal mummies, the bodies were defleshed, anointed with oils and resins, then wrapped.
5-Immersion
The final method, including a total immersion of live birds in vats of melted resin or bitumen.
This was considered a speedy and economical way of mummification
Materials
The most important materials are:
Natrun:- a kind of stone, was grounded, then smashed up .
Resins:- is originated in Ethiopia and Syria.
Various oils:- such as cedar oil, castor, and lettuce oils
The Sacred Animal Necropolis
The mummies of the sacred animals were finally placed in the sacred animal necropolises which were spread over the country, like the sacred animal necropolis at North Saqqara for baboon and ibis, the sacred animal necropolis at Tuna al-Gebel for ibis, and the necropolis for rams at Mendes.
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