Why the Egyptians Faked Animal Mummies

Scientists are unravelling the mystery of some mysterious mummies. They've taken a closer look at the Egyptian practice of mummifying animals and have discovered that 70 million creatures were wrapped and buried in underground catacombs.

What's interesting is that now researchers have scanned more than 800 animal mummies to see what was really hidden beneath the bandages, according to BBC. They found that about a third contained complete animal remains, a third had bits of animal remains and the rest were filled with things like mud, eggshells and nest material.

"That is the most shocking to most people, that some of them don't contain what you are expecting," said Lidija McKinght, an Egyptologist, in an interview with the Washington Post. "I think the more we look at them, the more that becomes sort of commonplace."

So why the empty mummies? The researchers believe that because of the high demand for mummified animals, the makers resorted to using items associated with or close to the animals, such as nest material or eggshells.

Researchers actually knew about the empty mummies beforehand. Archaeologists unwrapped some of the mummies just to see what was in there, and found that some of them weren't complete animals.

Many people mistakenly believe that all Egyptian mummies were pets sacrificed to accompany their owners, according to The Washington Post. The reality is that there were four kinds of animal mummies, including cult animals, pets enshrined with their owners, animals mummified as food, and votive offerings.

This work is actually featured on a documentary airing Monday, May 11 at 9 p.m. on BBC 2.

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