CAIRO: Mummies were stored in the catacomb of a temple belonging to a cult that worshiped Anubis, the jackal-headed god of death, according to a new study.
Catacombs adjoining a temple in the ancient Egyptian capital Memphis once contained nearly eight million mummified dogs, according to a new study that was reported by the Discovery News website.
The temple belonged to a cult that worshipped Anubis, the jackal-headed god of death. Pilgrims visiting the temple likely viewed the display of the mummies as expressions of gratitude to the gods, said the study’s lead researcher, Paul Nicholson, a professor of archaeology at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom.
The study was published in the June edition of the journal Antiquity.
The rock ceiling of the catacomb contains the fossil of a marine vertebrate – possibly a relative of modern-day manatees and dugongs – that’s more than 48 million years old. Nicholson said it was unclear whether the Egyptians noticed the existence of the fossil when they built the tomb for the canine mummies.
Many of the mummies have since disintegrated or been disrupted by grave robbers and industrialists, who likely used the mummies for fertilizer. Even so, archaeologists have found enough evidence to suggest that the Anubis animal cult was a large part of the ancient Egyptian economy.
Many of the dogs were only hours or days old when they were mummified. Some older dogs had more elaborate burials, and may have lived at the temple, but the younger pups were likely “bred — farmed if you will — for the cult,” Nicholson said.
