RAFAEL BARAGAÑO

SACRED ANIMAL MUMMIES: Sacred animal mummies are of animals that were worshiped during their lifetimes as a personification of a god, and buried with pomp and circumstance upon their deaths. The ancient Egyptians believed that the spirit of the god would enter the body of a specially marked beast, and upon the animal’s death would move to another animal which also had special markings (such as a scarab-shaped mark on its tongue, a tri- angle on its forehead). Priests would search for this new sacred animal, and, once located, it would be taken to a temple. These animals would have commanded the same respect (or more) as that afforded to a pharaoh. The Apis, Mnevis, and Buchis bulls, the Sobek crocodiles of Kom Ombo and the Fayyum, and the Rams of Elephantine and Mendes are examples of such beasts. Some of the sacred animals were mummified in an unusual way. The Buchis Bull and its mother (and perhaps other animals) were mummified using a turpentine enema. The enemas were found during the course of excavations at the Bucheum at Armant. The enema would introduce turpentine or juniper oil into the body cavity, the anus would be blocked by a tampon of linen, and left for some time so that it ate away at the internal organs. Once the liquefaction of these organs was complete, the tampon would be removed and the liquid organs removed. The process of mummification would then continue with natron in the usual fashion.

PET MUMMIES: The Egyptians kept pets from the earliest times. Their pets were not only useful animals, such as hunting dogs, but also pampered creatures, such as gazelles and monkeys. Pets were so beloved that the Egyptians wanted them to have eternal life, so they mummified and buried them. Pets were buried either within the owner’s coffin, or entombed with their owner in a separate coffin or sarcophagus. If the animal died during its owner’s lifetime, it was in all probability mummified and kept safely (perhaps in the tomb) until the owner’s death. If the animal died after its owner’s demise, it could be mummified and placed in the tomb with its master. Some pets, like humans, enjoyed quite splendid burials with their own carved sarcophagi, often with their own offerings, such as their favorite foods, and belongings (saddles, collars, etc.).

VICTUAL OR FOOD MUMMIES: Victual or food mummies consist of poultry or joints of meat that are wrapped in bandages and placed in tombs to provide food for the Afterlife. Most of these were placed in individual sycamore-wood ‘coffinets’ shaped in the form and dimensions of the meat; others were placed in reed baskets. The meat and poultry are prepared as if they are ready to be cooked: the meat is skinned and jointed, and the poultry is plucked, eviscerated, and, in most cases, has the wing-tips and feet removed. The poultry often has the liver and gizzards wrapped up and returned to the body cavity. Some of the mummies are colored brown; possibly the mummies had this roasted appearance (browning) due to the application of very hot resin on the wrapping which seared the mummy’s exterior surface. It is also possible that they were actually cooked, but this is difficult to determine after 3000 or so years. They were preserved using salt and natron.

Late/Graeco-Roman Period, Elephantine. This mummy belongs to a ram that was worshiped as the incarnation of the god Khnum at Elephantine. The head and foreparts are adorned in painted and gilded cartonnage, and it is crowned with a wooden atef crown. Amulets were scattered over the body. It was completely eviscerated, and the body cavity was filled with linen. The condition of the skeleton indicates that it died when it was very old. This ram’s chest is covered by a cartonnage bib with gilded raised plaster relief. It wears a gilded wooden crown, surmount- ed by a sun disk flanked by two uraei. Horns emerge from the mask; unlike the horns of the other rams displayed, these seem to belong to the animal itself.

PET BABOON 18-19th Dynasty, Valley of the Kings. This young baboon was found facing the hunting hound. Like the gazelle of Isitemkheb D, it also was also stuffed with packages in order to retain the shape that it had in life.

PET DOG 18th Dynasty Valley of the Kings. This dog was probably used as hunting dog, and is related to a Saluki. The owner of this dog is still unknown since neither an inscription nor a human mummy accompanied the burial. However, it is assumed to be the pet of either Amenhotep II or Horemheb, whose tombs are nearby.

These two figures, each wearing a heavy, braided wig and a broad beard with parallel stripes, bear offerings of fish, birds and aquatic plants. They represent the pharaoh Amenemhat III in the form of the Nile god Hapi, bringer of food and life. The statue associates the reigning king with fertility and abundance. The inscriptions engraved on front and back were added later in the time of Psusennes I. In the 21st Dynasty, Psusennes I had the monument transported to Tanis, his new capital and the burial place of the kings of that period.

Left: Middle kingdom (2169-1785 BC)– Eawara Alabaster-painted wood covered with plaster. The ancient Egyptian believed that death was a critical moment transferring him to the afterlife world, and believed their bodies had needs that mirrored those they have in life. The offering table was an essential element for the funerary furniture, Which was put at the tomb with the deceased in order to present the offerings on it Through magical spells recited by priest, these offerings were turned into a real one. Most offering tables were cut in different shapes such as rectangle, square, and circle one. The surfaces of these offering tables were used to present different kind of offering, and some of them were carved in order to present liquid offerings. These kind of offerings such as slaughtered ox, tied geese, cucumber, fruits, and haunch of meat.

Objects from the tomb of Queen Meritanun of the XVIIIth dynasty, whose munny was rewrapped under King Pinuten II of the XXIst dynasty. From El-Deir el-Bahari, Thebes.