Animal Mummies

People around the world revered animals, as manifestations of their gods, as votive objects, and as beloved pets. In ancient Egypt, embalmers treated some animals, like the Apis bull, with as much care as many humans. Here's one at the Smithsonian Institution:

Cat  mummies abound, as do ibises (sacred offerings to the god Thoth).

But in Peru, some animals were buried as pets, like this naturally dessicated puma with claws that were unworn. It was buried with jewelry and a special mantle:

Other animal mummies are just accidents of nature in a dry climate, such as this shriveled-up iguana I recently saw in the Galapagos:

My new favorite animal (not a mummy, just a burial) is a bobcat kitten found in Illinois. Buried with a necklace, it was clearly a valued pet until it died. Here's a reconstruction by Ken Farnsworth:

Mummies of the World class, Part II

Over the past couple of weeks, we have examined "spontaneous mummies," such as the Italian Iceman, and "prepared mummies," such as Lady Dai, the Chinese aristocrat, and a plethora of Egyptian mummies, prepared because their people believed a preserved body was essential for a person to have an afterlife. When the class is over, I'll post some short entries on specific mummies, but for now here is a list of mummy videos, websites, and books for further exploration:

THE IRON COFFIN BOY (19TH C. MUMMY IN WASHINGTON, DC)

David Hunt on boy in iron coffin (video!)

http://qrius.si.edu/watch/story-19th-century-boy-buried-iron-coffin

More Iron Coffin Boy: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/19/AR2007091902409.html

EGYPTIAN MUMMIES:

Smithsonian on Egyptian mummification

http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/mummies.htm Inca Ice Maiden http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2179217/Inca-ice-maiden-frozen-human-sacrifice-infection-lungs.html 

CHINCHORRO MUMMIES, SOUTH AMERICA:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/1995/03/chinchorro-mummies/arriaza-text

http://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/chinchorro/

ROMAN PERIOD MUMMIES FOUND  IN EGYPT:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2877855/Cemetery-one-MILLION-mummies-unearthed-Egypt-1-500-year-old-desert-necropolis-largest-found.html 

EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY: A MODERN MUMMY:

Bob Brier: http://archive.archaeology.org/0101/abstracts/mummy.html 

You tube video with Bob Brier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwJ7391G-1s

HISTORIC FACIAL RECONSTRUCTION: https://www.pinterest.com/waywardtraveler/historical-facial-reconstruction/

More faces: http://www.victorialywood.com/The_Mummies.html

BOOKS:

·         Aidan and Eve Cockburn, Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures (Cambridge University Press 1980)

·         Christine El Mahdy, Mummies, Myth and Magic (Thames and Hudson 1989)

•       Stuart Fleming et al., The Egyptian Mummy: Secrets and Science (University Museum, Philadelphia, 1980)

·         S. Ikram and A. Dodson, The Mummy in Ancient Egypt: Equipping the Dead for Eternity (Thames and Hudson, 1998)

·         Sarah Wisseman, The Virtual Mummy (University of Illinois Press, 2003)