Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered what they believe is the world’s oldest known pet cemetery.
Nearly 600 cats, dogs and monkeys have been carefully laid in individual graves in Berenike, a remote seaport on the west coast of the Red Sea.
Some of the animals still wore collars and other decorations, and others proved that there were diseases that were cared for by humans.
But the lack of mummification or sacrifice on the 2000-year-old site suggests that they were companion animals, not used in rituals or worshiped as gods.
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The remains of about 588 cats, dogs and monkeys were found in a site in the ancient Egyptian port of Berenice in what archaeologists say is the oldest known pet cemetery, pictured: A cat skeleton from Berenice with a bronze collar
Berenice was founded in 275 BC by Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who named it after his mother, Berenice I of Egypt.
It was a bustling Roman port, and excavations uncovered ceramics, spices, materials and other goods from as far away as India, as well as luxury items from across the empire.
Berenike was also a road station for ‘war elephants’ from Africa that would be sent to fight in various battles.
Archaeologist zoologist Marta Osypinska and her husband of archaeologist Piotr originally discovered the cemetery in 2011 while excavating a Roman landfill on the outskirts of the city.
A number of the dogs found at the site have medical problems that they would not have been able to survive without human caregivers. Many, like this dog, were buried under pottery ‘which formed a kind of sarcophagus’.
In 2017, they dug up the remains of about 100 animals, mostly cats, and began to form a picture of what the area was used for.
Other experts still believed that they might have just been thrown in the trash.
It was not uncommon to bury pets in ancient Egypt, but usually they would be buried with their owners and not placed in a dedicated space.
“Initially, some very experienced archaeologists discouraged me from doing this research,” Osypinska told Science.
They insisted that there was little to learn about Berenike culture from studying pets.
“I hope the results of our studies prove to be worth it,” she told the magazine.
Marta and Piotr Osypinska first excavated the site in 2011, but did not immediately determine its purpose as a pet cemetery. Even after more than 100 animal remains were discovered there, experts discouraged their research
According to her research, published in the journal World Archeology, the ‘pet cemetery’ in Berenice operated for about a hundred years, from the middle of the first century to the middle of the second century.
DID ANCIENT EGYPT WORK CATS?
It is believed that the ancient Egyptians cared for domestic cats as long as 3700 BC.
Until recently, it was thought that cats were first made in the country in 1950 BC.
However, evidence of pet cats has also been found in China, suggesting that farmers cared for cats in 3300 BC.
As a respected animal, cats can receive the same mummification as humans. Their remains and are often dedicated to the goddess Bastet. In the photo: Statue found at Saqqara
Cats were also used as religious sacrifices in ancient Egypt more than 5,500 years ago.
They are known as ‘Mau’ and were important in later Egyptian society and became symbols of grace.
Two goddesses took the form of cats – Mafdet, a lion goddess of justice and execution, and Bastet, representing fertility and motherhood.
As a reverent animal, cats could be mummified after death and their remains were often assigned to Bastet.
It is believed that there were four main reasons for mummifying animals: To be worshiped as manifestations of certain gods, as sacrifices to the gods, to give food in the afterlife and to allow beloved pets to live on in the afterlife .
In all, the team has so far found 585 animals, some of which are not from Africa.
The vast majority – more than 90 percent – were cats, although there were also dogs, baboons and two species of macaques native to the Indian subcontinent.
Of the dogs, most were light-colored Spitz breeds, but there were also toy dogs and larger dogs such as mastiffs.
Many of the cats wore metal collars or chains with ostrich-shell beads.
Osypinska told Science that many of the animals were covered with textiles or pottery, ‘forming a kind of sarcophagus’.
The animals were not randomly discarded, but carefully laid in individual pits.
One magazine was placed on top of the wing of a large bird, the magazine reported.
Osypinska’s team was able to determine in conversation with a veterinarian that several animals have diseases that they would kill without human caregivers.
According to the Archeology News Network, the remains of a dog suffering from bone cancer were found in a mat of palm leaves covered with an amphora.
His stomach still contains remnants of fish and goat meat, the last meal.
Other dogs were missing most of their teeth, had gum disease or showed signs of joint degeneration.
“We have people with very limited mobility,” Osypinska said. “Such animals had to be fed to survive, sometimes with special food in the case of the almost toothless animals.”
According to the report, the kind of dedication needed to nurse an old pet shows that the people of Berenice had strong emotional ties to domestic animals.
Archaeologists have previously discovered mass graves in Egypt, but almost always the creatures were sacrificed or worshiped, not treated as pets.
Dozens of mummified cats were found in 2018 on the edge of the King Userkaf pyramid complex in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara, south of Cairo.
A few years earlier, a labyrinth of sacred tunnels had been uncovered in the same region, filled with the mummified remains of up to eight million dogs, some of whom were only hours old when they were sacrificed.
Other dogs were treated as living representatives of the approval head Anubis, who lived their lives in the nearby temple before being preserved and laid to rest in the network of tunnels.
The people of Berenike treated these animals as loving companions, Osypinska insists: “They did not do it for the gods or for any useful benefit.”