Researchers Find 8 Million Mummified Dogs, Other Animals In Egyptian Mass Grave [Video]

A mass grave dating back to the 4th century BC contained about 8 million mummified dogs and other animals, researchers have learned. Paul Nicholson of Cardiff University announced the shocking discovery at Saqqara, Egypt.

According to CNN, Nicholson and his team of archaeologists first started working on the site in 2009. Today, 6 years later, Nicholson presented the results of their research. According to an article in the journal Antiquity, the catacomb is a series of huge subterranean galleries located next to the Temple of Anubis, in an environment frequented by priests, merchants, seers, and guides who helped the pilgrims to go to various temples, including animal breeders who would later sacrifice dogs and other animals.

The discovery of the 8 million mummified dogs and other animals led to an immediate link between Egyptian culture and the Egyptian god of the dead, Anubis, commonly associated with the figure of a jackal or dog.

Archaeologists believe dogs were drowned or poisoned to be converted into offering. However, studies were performed and researchers had to unravel the mysteries of the great cave.

“When you go to Saqqara now, you see an area of attractive desert with the pyramids sticking up and one or two of the prominent monuments,” Cardiff said. “It would be quite difficult to easily find complete, nicely wrapped mummies. What you have got is the decayed remains of the mummies.”

Many of the 8 million mummies have been lost, disintegrated, or were subject to looting for various uses, including agricultural, but thanks to the size of the findings, these specialists have been able to quantify the importance of the cult of Anubis.

The dark underground tunnels dating back from the years 747-332 BC consist of a central corridor filled with merchants selling statues of bronze deities, priests conducting ceremonies, people offering to interpret dreams, and tour guides jostling for business, Fox News wrote.

As for mummification, most of the remains belong to dogs, falcons, baboons, ibis (small bird), jackals, foxes, cats, and mongooses. Nicholson does not believe they died as a result of beatings or strangulation, but by dehydration or starvation.

“It’s a very long series of dark tunnels… There is no natural light once you’ve gone into the forepart of the catacomb, and beyond that everything has to be lit with flashlights. It’s really quite a spectacular thing.”

According to research, it seemed there was no special requirements for access to the rites, and the idea was to give the animals as an offering to the gods. The study speaks of an important economic activity related to these rites, and quantifies the importance of animals to the Egyptians, in this case, as one of the oldest record of tourism, considering that for every god there was a temple, with its respective catacombs and pilgrimages.

[Image via the Inquisitr]