All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

Examples of Egyptian animal mummies in the British museum. The experts don’t know if the mummified animal found in Turkey is a cat, other animal, or a hoax.

Mysterious Mummified Predator Baffles Experts

Print

Some people may not be aware, but animals have been mummified throughout history in various places, including Turkey in the Middle Ages. Niğde, Turkey is a site were researchers have recently found mummified remains of an apparent carnivore - that has defied classification so far.

“We are examining pictures of the skeleton and it seems to be a carnivore,” Aydin Topcu, Natural History professor at Niğde University, told the Daily Mail. “But we need more time to conduct further tests. After the examinations we will be able to tell what species it belongs to and of which period of time it is.”

The Daily Mail wrote in its article that it had sent photos of the find to the Zoological Society of London, the Horniman Museum, the Natural History Museum and the British Museum, the last of which refused to comment on the photos. The news agent says the creature could be a hoax, but it resembles a cat. Some experts told them it could be a prehistoric animal.

 

 

There is a history of cats and children being mummified in Anatolia from the 10th to the 13th centuries AD, the Daily Mail said. This particular specimen, 1 meter long (3 feet) from nose to tail tip, was found by a locksmith in an old cellar of his shop in Niğde. He has put the creature on display.

Cats were revered and mummified in ancient Egypt, and some experts think Anatolia was influenced by the practice. One reason cats were so loved in Egypt was because they could eat the rodents that threatened the grain supplies. A cat could also take on a cobra, the Daily Mail says.

Some ancient Egyptians adorned their cats with gold jewelry and allowed them to eat off their plates.

Mummified cat from Ancient Egypt.

Mummified cat from Ancient Egypt. (Public Domain)

Millions upon millions of animal mummies have been found in the dark, carved stone tunnels beneath the location of Egypt’s earliest pyramid at Saqqara. The necropolis of Saqqara is the burial site of kings, commoners and sacred animals.

The astounding piles of preserved animal remains not only signify a cultural and religious phenomenon, but also speak to the mammoth industry that operated to maintain a source of constant tributes to the gods.

The Catacombs of Anubis at North Saqqara,” a study published in 2015 in the archaeological journal Antiquity, examines the underground world associated with the temples dedicated to animal deities of ancient Egypt.

The Saqqara catacombs served as the burial places of animal tributes to the jackal-headed deity Anubis. Between this study, and other studies by Egyptologists from University of Manchester, it can be seen that the millions of dogs sacrificed and mummified to the canine deity were only one part of a wider practice of sacred animal cults.

A Hopewell culture burial mound from the Mound City Group in Ohio.

A Hopewell culture burial mound from the Mound City Group in Ohio. (CC BY ND 2.0)

But the Egyptians mummified many cats too, though they are not the only people in the world to have buried felines with elaborate ceremony and in recognition of status or symbolism.

In 2015, archaeologists found the remains of a bobcat in an important mound burial from 2,000 years ago. The mound was usually reserved for humans, but the feline was important enough to the Hopewell people of western Illinois to be included. The bobcat had been decorated with sea shells and bear-teeth pendants, and found with its paws placed together. It was included in the human burial mound, while dogs were buried around the village. Researchers speculate the bobcat was a beloved pet, not sacrificed or violently killed, and that it held spiritual significance to the Native Americans.

Featured image: Examples of Egyptian animal mummies in the British museum. The experts don’t know if the mummified animal found in Turkey is a cat, other animal, or a hoax. (Mario Sánchez/ CC BY SA 2.0)

By Mark Miller

 

Comments

Did anyone else happen to notice that the professor claiming "Nefertiti" (The Beautiful Aditi) is buried in Tut's tomb also states that TIYE is Amenhotep III's MOTHER...not his wife. This means she was Amenhotep II's wife...He is the biblical Jacob.

The only historically-attested son of the king westerners label "Amenhotep III" and his wife "Tiye" was crown prince/User Thutmose. Murdered actually, because there is the "x" indicating foul play. He was buried with his beloved cat "Tae Meu." A she cat. What is interesting is that in the Thai language "Tae" or Teh means she or her...and a cat is a "meu-meu." Coincidence? Hardly....Egpyt was "Mudraya"...the Mudra of Buddha...Egypt means "Land of Ptah." That is Butah..the avatar of Vishnu...even Buddhists admit this is so. Vishnu is "Auser/Osiris"...with his children growing out of his navel. Go look at Vishnu and Osiris iconography...verify. That is all faked iconography...by a very devious "storyteller." "Yuya/ANTIGONAS I."

The cat who lives with me (notice I didn’t write my cat, no one owns a cat but the cat her/himself) thinks she’s the reincarnation of Bast and want’s to rule the household.  She almost does actually.

Si vis pacem, para bellum

Cat's carry a parasite called taxoplasmosis, which takes control over your brain and makes you a slave of the cat.  They took over Egypt and through them the rest of the world.  People like David Icke think reptilians control the world, but I bet he “owns” a cat.

;)

Tom Carberry

I will have forever in my memory the vision of my small Siamese & Korat kittens playfully swatting a visiting cobra on the nose… cobra lifted her head hood and hissed very loudly, a sharp sustained sound, unlike the hiss of a cat, cobra spit just enough venom to deter the naughty kittens, but not enough to hurt them, she then slithered quickly by. The cats & cobra seemed to have an understanding of each other and of the territory, human, cat, garden…. Cats have always been welcome in my garden for this reason…..

Pages

Mark Miller's picture

Mark

Mark Miller has a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and is a former newspaper and magazine writer and copy editor who's long been interested in anthropology, mythology and ancient history. His hobbies are writing and drawing.

 
Next article