by To date, tens of millions of animal mummies have been unearthed in Egypt. But while there are millions of mummified cats, dogs, ibises and birds of prey, primate mummies are rare and poorly understood.
Now, new analysis of mummified baboons is shedding light on the animals’ place in ancient Egypt, revealing that while they were prized as sacred animals, their living conditions were not ideal.
The researchers analyzed bones of mummified baboons, which were discovered at the beginning of the 20th century in the Gabbanat el-Qurud necropolis, in the so-called Valley of the Monkeys, southwest of Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. The bones represented dozens of individual baboons, from babies to adults, from two species: the hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas) and the olive baboon (Papio anubis).
These species were not native to Egypt; They were imported from two regions: “the olive baboon from the south (present-day Sudan) and the hamadryas baboon from mountainous areas bordering the Red Sea, in Sudan and south to Eritrea, Somalia. and Ethiopia,” said the study’s lead author, Wim Van Neer, professor emeritus at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels. “The exact provenances still need to be documented in more detail,” Van Neer told CNN in an email.
Of all the animals ancient Egyptians revered, baboons were the only ones that were not native to Egypt, Van Neer added.
Baboons are believed to have played a role in ancient Egyptian rituals, scientists reported Wednesday in the journal PLOS One. But raising and caring for large wild animals, particularly non-native species, is a challenge. Before they died, the baboons were deprived of sunlight and developed bone ailments due to poor nutrition, the researchers found. Examination of the skeletal remains revealed signs of rickets; The baboons had deformed arms, legs and faces, undeveloped teeth, osteoarthritis and other pathologies due to deprivation and metabolic diseases.
Their deformities resembled those observed in baboon bones from two other ancient Egyptian sites, Saqqara and Tuna el-Gebel, dating to roughly the same period, the authors wrote.
“This excellently prepared and executed study confirms the results of some previous research on the health status of baboons in ancient Egypt,” said Dr. Salima Ikram, distinguished professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, who was not involved. in the study. investigation. “More importantly, it also establishes the fact that different types of baboons were brought and raised in Egypt,” Ikram told CNN in an email. “It’s fascinating to think that the ancient Egyptians attempted to institute a baboon breeding program so that they could be revered and used in religious rituals.”
A jumble of bones
According to the study, at the three main Egyptian sites where Old World monkey mummies were buried, 463 mummified primates were discovered. The baboon bones examined for the new analysis were collected in 1905 and 1906 by archaeologists from the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Lyon in France (now Musée des Confluences).
In the tombs were pieces of dried skin with long strands of hair still attached, suggesting that the animals had been placed there as mummies. French archaeologists recovered 23 skulls, 24 jaws and more than 200 isolated bones, which were assembled into complete skeletons regardless of whether all the bones belonged to the same baboon, according to the study.
Two skeletons had been improvised from bones belonging to two different baboons, and one skeleton represented three of the primates. Of the four skeletons that were assembled correctly, only one had the correct skull. After analyzing the bones one by one, the study authors identified 36 different baboons of all ages, a group with more adults than young and some more males than females.
The bones also revealed signs of metabolic problems during adolescent growth, including curved shafts, deformed shaft heads, and arthritic joints. Two female baboons had suffered cavities. There were injuries to some of the skulls; two of the primates had shorter snouts and two others had snouts curved to the left.
The mummies were also centuries older than previously thought. Based on the proximity of the mummies to nearby ceramic artifacts in the tombs, earlier estimates placed them between the 1st and 2nd centuries at the earliest, and possibly as recently as the 7th century.
But when the study authors examined bone collagen and fibers from a tissue that had been wrapped around an intact baboon mummy, they discovered that the animals were probably buried between 803 and 520 BC. The researchers confirmed that time period using a technique called radiocarbon dating, which can determine the age of organic material by measuring the amount of decay into a radioactive isotope of carbon.
Sacred and suffering
Conditions for captive primates may have been even worse than their remains suggested, as bones often retain no records of parasites and other types of ailments, the researchers reported.
However, it is important to note that the scientists’ findings do not suggest that the baboons were being intentionally abused. His caretakers likely did the best they could to care for the animals, “but this can’t have been easy,” Van Neer said.
“Baboons are good climbers and therefore were probably kept in buildings or enclosures with high walls to prevent them from escaping. Due to lack of sunlight they developed the metabolic disorders we see today, mainly rickets. There are no signs of broken bones to indicate that the animals were physically abused,” he stated.
“Unfortunately, Egyptians did not know enough about caring for and feeding baboons,” Ikram added. “While attempting to provide reverence and care, they actually established conditions detrimental to the animals’ health and well-being – the road to hell is paved with good intentions!”
Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American, and How It Works magazines.
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