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Egypt's pussies got the mummy treatment

Mummified cat

Cats were preserved with as much care as humans for their passage into the afterlife (Image: National Museums Liverpool)

Ancient Egyptians revered cats and other animals and took as much care in preparing them for their passage to the next life as they did with humans, scientists said.

A study of animal mummies from tombs dating back thousands of years showed the ingredients the Egyptians used to preserve them were the same as those used for humans.

The U.K. researchers published their study in today's issue of the journal Nature.

"The sorts of compounds we were finding indicate they were embalming them in the much same way, with some exotic ingredients," said Professor Richard Evershed, an expert in archaeological chemistry at the University of Bristol.

Millions of mummified animals, birds and reptiles have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs, which has led scientists to assume that little care or expense was involved.

It was thought they were simply wrapped in coarse linen bandages and dipped in preservatives.

But Evershed and his team, who studied the mummies of a cat, two hawks and an ibis dating from 818-715 BC and 380-343 BC, found traces of preservatives including beeswax, tree resin, petroleum bitumen, and possibly cedar resins and vegetable oil.

"The main aim of the study was to see if animals were mummified using the same sort of embalming agents as humans, and so contributing to the debate on whether they were treated with the same sort of reverence," Evershed said.

The scientists used mass spectrometry and other methods to detect the compounds in very small samples of balms and wrappings from the animal mummies.

Evershed said even the wrappings of the animals were elaborate.

"It suggests some degree of sophistication in the way they were treated," he said.

The types of compounds the ancient Egyptians used in embalming showed they were trying to halt microbial decay.

Substances like beeswax have antibacterial properties and vegetable and animal fats prevent water from getting back into the body.

"They knew what they were doing," Evershed said.

Tags: archaeology, zoology