A Michael Broad Blog
Not Just Mousers: How Rituals, Not Rodents, Domesticated Cats. Recent genetic and archaeological research has reshaped our understanding of cat domestication, positioning ancient Egypt—not early farming communities—as the cradle of the human-cat bond. Contrary to the long-held belief that cats were domesticated primarily for pest control in agrarian societies, new evidence suggests that religious …
At the date of this post, Egyptian egyptologists are ecstatic at the recent discovery of a cache of 75 wooden and bronze statues and five lion cub mummies at the Saqqara necropolis near the famous Giza pyramids in Cairo. They were found at the foot of the Bastet Temple where cats were worshipped in …
In ancient Egypt cat mummies were offered to the gods for a favour or a sign of the person’s gratitude to the gods or God. A recent CT scan of a cat mummy indicates to some researchers that priests were sometimes involved in ‘cat mummy scams’. This is because the larger mummies sold for …
This is an interesting photograph as it shows a group of mummified cats as found and in situ in a tomb. The tomb is in the King Userkaf pyramid complex at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara, south of Cairo. Purpose? My first feelings are of sadness. All these cats, I presume, were killed for …
An ancient Egyptian mummified cat or kitten is being auctioned on 29-30 Aug 2018 with a guide price of $1,500 to $2,000. You can bid online by clicking on this link. This is probably a kitten, bred specifically for sacrifice and killed in a brutal manner. When we think of the ancient Egyptians and …
A few hundred mummified Egyptian cats exist in museums and analysis of some of the remains reveals that they are mackerel tabby cats like the North African wildcat. I suppose that result might be expected. However, these mummified remains were of cats that existed 2000 years after the first domestication of the North African …
