For many people, cats are favorite animals that are often used as pets at home. Her funny behavior and always innocent face make anyone nervous about this four-legged animal. But you know, if it turns out that cats have been considered special since ancient times you know. In ancient Egypt, for example, cats were even worshiped and considered as magical animals that could bring good luck to those who looked after them. As quoted by National Geographic Kids, when cats die, they will be mummified. To the extent that there is a special ritual from the owner who mourned the death of the cat.
Well, recently, there is a discovery that is quite astonishing for world archaeologists. A dozen mummies of cats are reported to be found in an old graveyard that is thousands of years old! The tomb is located in Saqqara, south of Cairo, Egypt. This is the result of their exploration since mid-2018. Curious, how about the shape of a cat that has become a mummy? Check out the Hipwee News & Feature together!
Dozens of cat mummies are found in the Saqqara pyramid complex, south of Cairo. Reportedly the age of the mummy has reached 6000 years!
The funeral turned out to have existed since the fifth dynasty of the old kingdom there. Uniquely, the door is still intact so that the contents are clearly still untouched
This search has been carried out by archaeologists since last April 2018. Aside from the mummy of the cat, there are also mummies of rare locusts found
In total there are seven sarcophagi - corpses made of stone - found in the tomb. One is still not opened by archaeologists, while three of them contain dozens of mummified cats
From dozens of mummified cats found, there are also 100 wooden statues and one bronze. This bronze one is special to the god of cats, Bastet
If humans are made mummies to preserve the body for life after death, cats are made mummies for religious reasons
Ancient Egyptians used to worship animals and one of them was a cat. The reason is that cats can give good luck