Mummified animals found include gazelles, crocodiles, fish, cats, dogs, eels, monkeys, scarabs, bulls, lambs, beetles, and falcons. A lion mummy was discovered in the tomb of Maïa, a woman believed to have been King Tutankhamen's wet-nurse. Crocodile eggs were discovered at crocodile burials, and mummified joints of meat, food for the afterlife, were entombed with the deceased. Though mummified for different reasons, animals played a large part in both life and death for ancient Egyptians.
Ancient Egyptian Pets
Some animal mummies were once beloved household pets, preserved in hopes that they would accompany their owners into the afterlife. One man had his loyal dog embalmed and laid to rest near his feet in his coffin, while another man commissioned a decorated limestone sarcophagus for his pet cat.
Egyptians also kept and mummified more exotic pets like gazelles, birds, and even monkeys; a pet baboon mummy and a pet dog mummy were found together in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, mummified and positioned as if ready to do battle with each other.
Sacred Animals
Although the ancient Egyptians cherished their pets, most animal mummies were meant as sacrifices to gods and goddesses. For instance, mummified cats were offered to the Goddess Bastet, protector of women, and mummified crocodiles were associated with the water and fertility god Sobek.
During the Greco-Roman period (300 BC – 400 AD) animal cults were particularly popular and many Egyptians believed that animals which shared traits with deities were sacred. Large numbers of these animals were bred explicitly to be mummified as religious offerings and were kept at temples for pilgrims to buy. It’s thought that after purchase the animal was killed and embalmed, then offered to a deity in hope of winning the deity’s favor.
Amidst this industry of sacrifice and worship, mummy forgery appeared. Stone, pottery, reeds, feathers, cloth and even bones from entirely different animals were wrapped up in linen and sold as deity offerings to unsuspecting pilgrims. One explanation for sacrificial fakes is that certain animals, such as falcons and hawks, were hard to catch. Another reason may have been the high cost of embalming materials; when business was slow, sellers might have cut expenses by cutting corners.
Mummified Food
Food is another form of animal mummification. Whole fowls and joints of meat were found in tombs in pottery dishes or their own meat-shaped coffins. Treated with salts and wrapped in linen, food was buried with the dead in the belief that they would enjoy it in the afterlife.
Sources:
Australian Museum: "Animal Mummies"
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Jenn Ostrowski - Jenn Ostrowski is a traveler, writer and photographer from the bowels of Florida, living somewhere between the small intestine and Miami. ...
