Crocodile was mummified with prey still in the belly to sacrifice

Thousands of years ago, Egyptian mummy traders killed wild crocodiles by smashing their skulls and quickly processing them to mummify them.

In ancient Egypt, the need to buy crocodile mummies was huge.

Merchants raised thousands of slaves, teaching them good mummification techniques to create mummies to worship the gods. Researchers in France using high-tech scanners found evidence that crocodiles were captured and killed by smashing skulls to maintain a supply of 'mummy' fever .

According to Stephanie M. Porcier, lead author of a new report in the Journal of Archeological Sciences, she and her colleagues were astounded because they didn't expect to discover the mummy's skull had been broken when it was captured. analysis head.

The mummy trade flourished

The Egyptians are famous for being obsessed with mummification. According to many magazines and reports, apart from human corpses, millions of animal carcasses including dogs, cats, foxes, antelopes, monkeys, horses, lions, goats, even shrews are all professionally preserved. in this manner.

In ancient Egypt, the need to buy crocodile mummies was huge.(Photo: The Washington Post).

Egyptologist Salima Ikram of the American University of Cairo has discovered a male body named Hapymin buried with his dog's mummy curled up at his feet.

Musée des Confluences, a science museum in Lyon, France, has 2,500 animal mummies. According to Ikram, an estimated 10,000 bird mummies are buried every year at a sacred animal graveyard.

Edward Bleiberg, curator of the Near East, classic and ancient art area of ​​the Brooklyn Museum, said the mummified trade was a huge business, especially before and after Egypt was attacked by Rome. dominate.

The animal mummies are produced in large quantities to worship at the request of the gods. Many deities are associated with certain animals and must be offered to the corresponding mummies.

'For example, the eagle mummy for Horus, the cat mummy for Bastet, the dog mummy for Anubis, the Mummies for Thoth' , Mr. Bleiberg said, 'It all depends on how people ask for things. What, for health, for yourself or for your loved ones, or petitions to resolve business disputes'.

Merchants set up animal farms, mummified houses and hired priests to conduct mummification and sacrifice rituals to collect fees. The mummies will then be buried in an underground tomb, with separate areas for different animals.

Crocodile is one of the most revered animals. Ancient Greek historian Herodotus records the worship of the reptile so much that they tamed the crocodile and put on jewels for it.

Crocodile mummification is also common. According to scholar Michal Molcho, thousands of crocodile mummies, some of them very elaborate and special decoration, were found in a crocodile cemetery in the towns of Tebtunis, Egypt in 1899 and 1900.

Crocodile smashed his skull before mummifying

The crocodile god is Sobek, a symbol of fertility, the ruler of the Niles river and related reptiles, with a crocodile head attached to a man's body.

Archaeologists also found evidence of ancient crocodile farms. A 3.5-meter-long Egyptian crocodile mummy in the British Museum was recently found to have the front leg of a cow in its belly, inferred that it was raised on a selective diet.

Teeth and eyes made of gold and ivory were attached to the decorations after mummification.

According to the report, two common crocodiles in Egypt are the 'notorious' Nile crocodiles and the West African crocodile with a smaller size.

3D image restoring bad mummy.(Image: The Washington Post)

Nile crocodile can be longer than 6 m, weighs more than 450 kg and can knock down a buffalo. The latter is said to be less aggressive but can still be up to 3 meters long.

The hunt was probably done very carefully.'Very few Egyptologists believe in the supply of crocodiles from hunting because there is insufficient evidence,' Porcier and five colleagues wrote in the journal. They studied the mummy of a 1 meter long male crocodile of the museum in Lyon using modern scanning technology, but could not identify which crocodile species.

The mummy was acquired in the early 20th century from the ancient city of Kom Ombo on the Nile, where there is a magnificent temple dedicated to the god Sobek and recently opened a crocodile mummy museum.

The scanning process allows scientists to virtually eliminate the linings and skin, so the crocodile skeleton and internal organs can be thoroughly studied. Crocodile body around 2,000 years old, well preserved, no trace of decomposition.

For animals, their organs are not removed and removed during mummification. Its stomach contains food typical of wild crocodiles: rodent carcasses, insects, fish and eggs.

According to Porcier, mummification was apparently done very quickly after the animal died. An important finding is that the head wound caused the crocodile's skull to smash in different areas, implying that the animal was brutally beaten.

The cause of death is a direct injury to the brain . The concave skull was repaired and filled during the mummification process to make it the perfect scapegoat for the god Sobek.

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