70 Million Animal Mummies: Egypt's Dark Secret Horizon


70 Million Animal Mummies: Egypt's Dark Secret

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In 1871, three Egyptian brothers, Mohammed, Ahmed and Hussein El Rasul

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were scrambling up a steep cliff path in the Western Desert

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when they came across a secret that had remained hidden for 3,000 years.

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Several boulders had shifted to reveal a narrow cleft

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in the base of the rocks.

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Clambering inside, they discovered a shaft 12 metres deep.

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But at the bottom, a tiny man-made passageway.

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The brothers crawled into the blackness

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and uncovered something they would never forget.

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Dozens of mummified bodies.

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One of them was discovered to be a high priestess

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and daughter of a pharaoh.

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Her name was Maatkare.

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But Maatkare was not buried alone.

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At her feet was an infant-sized bundle.

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For over 100 years, it was presumed Maatkare had died in childbirth,

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her baby buried with her.

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But modern medical techniques revealed the bundle to be

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something very different.

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We had always thought it was a child

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but the X-ray showed that in fact it contains a green monkey, a vervet.

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And not her baby at all.

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This monkey was found with Maatkare,

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sort of cradled against her body,

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so I think it must have been a beloved pet.

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The brothers' discovery was yet another episode

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in centuries of interest in Egyptian mummies.

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Both human and animal.

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19th-century collectors removed thousands of them

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and many have ended up in museums across the world.

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Now, experts are applying 21st-century science and technology

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to look inside these animal mummies.

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Revealing fascinating new details about religion and belief

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in ancient Egypt.

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These mummies give an insight into understanding

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the relationship between human beings and animals.

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Animals were magical creatures who could in fact speak to the gods.

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And new techniques are helping archaeologists to expose

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the shocking reality at the heart of this ancient ritual.

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In the dead of night,

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at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital,

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medical experts are at work.

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Not on the living, but on the ancient dead.

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Radiographers and Egyptologists working here are collecting

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information on hundreds of animal mummies.

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The biggest survey of its kind in history.

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The team are using the latest medical imaging technology

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when it is not needed for human patients

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so they can see inside the mummies without damaging them.

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First on the X-ray table is a small bundle

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that is usually on display at Manchester Museum.

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It was made in southern Egypt between 664 and 332 BC.

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Next, a CT scanner takes hundreds of X-ray images, or slices,

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from 360 degrees around the mummy.

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These images are combined to create a three-dimensional model.

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It brings up nice definition of the wrappings, doesn't it?

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-The CT.

-Yeah.

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And before your very eyes...

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-Oh!

-There we are.

-A little rodent.

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Who's got very, very prominent incisors.

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And then he has got a space until you reach the molars.

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-It couldn't be a shrew, could he?

-Possibly.

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To be able to look at the inside of something that was wrapped

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possibly 2,500 years ago in the deserts of ancient Egypt,

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is absolutely astounding.

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It never, ever fails to amaze me, what we find

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when we have scanning sessions at the hospital.

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There is always something that is a little bit surprising.

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And that is what makes every mummy different.

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Egyptologists have long been fascinated by the bizarre practice

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of animal mummification.

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During the 19th and 20th centuries,

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hundreds of such mummies were unwrapped,

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including at least two for a 1970s BBC documentary.

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The wrappings contained dozens of creatures, including cats,

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crocodiles, hawks and wading birds,

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snakes, shrews and even fish.

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But unwrapping the mummies in this way completely destroyed them

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and much of the information they contained was lost.

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Every mummy is unique.

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And it is impossible to know what's in it until it has been scanned.

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This mummified rodent has been made in two parts.

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So we have got the main mummy bundle here and then on its back

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we have got the secondary package which is sort of fixed to the top.

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So if we scroll through, we should see if there is anything...

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-Is there anything in it?

-No, it just goes...

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HE GROANS

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It could be constructed just of linen.

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But why would you put an empty linen bundle onto a mummy of a tiny shrew?

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Because we did think that would contain something.

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Basically looking for anything that could be grain, which is

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what it is always been presumed that the little package contained,

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a food offering for the rodent in the afterlife.

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Um...

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But we certainly can't see anything on this scan.

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With or without grain, the backpack was there

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to help this little animal's journey into the afterlife.

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The ancient Egyptians believed that animals, like humans,

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had a soul that survived death.

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Professor Joann Fletcher is an expert on ancient Egyptian beliefs.

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It is quite clear that for the ancient Egyptians,

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death was simply a transition into another world

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that replicated life on Earth.

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For instance, the bases of some coffins have maps of the afterlife,

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so the deceased would know just where to go

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to find their way through into the next world.

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Whether human or animal, by mummifying a body,

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the ancient Egyptians believed they were providing the soul

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with a physical vessel for its journey to the afterlife.

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Mummification is very important for animals,

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just as it is for humans, because that is the act

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which makes sure

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that they can make it from this life to the next and live for ever.

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Nice and gentle.

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There we go.

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Oh... That's lovely.

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Back at the hospital, the team are scanning a crocodile mummy.

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He is a lovely one, I like him.

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He has a very unnatural shape, though, because he is quite short.

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-Yes.

-Do the scan now.

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And in we go.

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Continuing the Victorian obsession of mummy-collecting,

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this specimen found its way into the Manchester Museum

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via German collector Maximilian Robinow,

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who visited Egypt in 1896.

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Its exact contents have remained a secret for thousands of years.

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Until now.

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-Well!

-Ooh.

-Didn't expect that, did we?

-No.

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So we had what looked like a complete crocodile mummy bundle,

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so we were expecting one crocodile.

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And we have got four skulls in a line.

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It is picking something up here.

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-Oh, what's...

-And there.

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-What's that?

-So there is something else in there as well.

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-Ooh! There we go!

-There you go, there is little crocodile.

-Oh, wow!

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Oh, look, complete, a complete crocodile.

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-A complete crocodile and just look.

-There is one there.

-Oh, wow.

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-So that is one, two, three...

-So how many in total do you think?

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-Four skulls and four babies?

-Yes, four skulls and four baby crocs.

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So eight all in one.

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But the question is,

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why on earth would you have eight individual crocodiles

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represented in one quite small mummy?

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Each mummy should have one animal.

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They have got crocodile mummies

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-where they have buried babies with an adult one, haven't they?

-Oh.

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But, I mean, these are not adult sized, are they?

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They are quite small. And there's hatchling ones.

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That is interesting.

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The scan reveals more.

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There is evidence of tricks of the embalmer's trade.

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Oh...

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-So they have used a stick or reed...

-It is like a stick, oh...

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..to create the shape.

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Of course, you have not got the complete skeleton to provide

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shape and rigidity and obviously a great amount of time and effort

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has gone into producing what looks like a complete crocodile...

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-Yeah, the package.

-..from bits and pieces, essentially.

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Whoever mummified these eight crocodiles did so with considerable

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care and attention to ensure their souls made it to the afterlife.

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And we know that for very important animals,

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like Maatkare's monkey, the process of mummification

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could be as involved and complex as it was for humans.

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These ancient techniques are being studied by Dr Stephen Buckley

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at the University of York with hands-on experimental archaeology.

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What the experimental archaeology does is,

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it allows you to get your hands dirty

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and in that way allows a far better understanding of the processes,

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the methods, the materials they must have used.

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Like all the animals he uses,

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the piglet Stephen is mummifying today died of natural causes.

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Every animal the ancient Egyptians mummified was treated

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with the utmost respect and the embalmer's first job was

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to remove the internal organs to stop the body from decaying.

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Here I have the stomach.

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That is the liver.

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And I have...

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one of the lungs.

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In very special cases, the embalmers even placed the internal organs

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in their own sacred jars to be buried alongside the animal.

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Just feeling the heart.

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The idea certainly was to try to leave the heart in

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because it was the seat of the soul.

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And so the heart was important to leave in

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so that it would be there for Judgment Day, really.

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So seen as a vital organ in the context of the afterlife.

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With the internal organs removed,

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the cavity could be sterilised with alcohol.

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Embalming was a highly, highly technical and skilled practice

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and there were groups of people who were specialised in it.

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So it was not something that, "Oh, I will do it myself,"

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and then take it off and give it to the god.

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You had to go to the temple

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and someone else would do the whole thing for you.

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The embalmers then filled the cavity with linen bags containing

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rare spices such as cinnamon and myrrh.

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Myrrh came from possibly Somalia,

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possibly the other side of the Red Sea as well, Yemen.

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An expensive ingredient.

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And also cinnamon of course coming from India, coming some distance.

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And all these ingredients have antibacterial components.

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So not only did these packages retain the original shape,

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but they also protect it.

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With the body packed out,

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the embalmers could begin the ritual of covering it with a special resin.

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The recipes are for these sacred resins remained a mystery

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for thousands of years

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but Stephen has been able to isolate the exact ingredients.

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This recipe is made up of sesame oil, pine resin and beeswax.

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The mixture sets so that it would seal the body

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and so...

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provide a complete protective barrier to insects that might want to get in.

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But also killed bacteria.

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The key to successful mummification was to dry out the body completely.

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So the embalmers used a naturally occurring salt called natron

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mined from two hidden locations in the north and south of Egypt.

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What the natron does is,

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is to effectively suck the water out from the body

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but also the alkaline content

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helps inhibit the bacteria and enzymes that cause decay.

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The largest animals were packed in natron for up to 40 days

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before the ceremonial wrapping of linen bandages could begin.

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The final hallowed act

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was to coat the bandages in the sacred resin

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before the animal was finally ready

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to embark on its long journey to the afterlife.

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Ancient Egyptian mummification was actually involved and costly

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because some of these ingredients were coming from quite some distance.

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They clearly went to great effort to mummify some animals

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in a similar way that they did with humans.

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The care, attention and expense lavished on an animal to help it

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on its journey to the afterlife may seem extreme.

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But there was one creature whose treatment overshadowed all others.

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A few kilometres south of Cairo

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is one of the most important sites in ancient Egypt, Saqqara.

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Overlooking the ancient city of Memphis,

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Saqqara was a sacred place 5km square.

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And it was the final resting place

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of the most important animal in ancient Egypt.

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A beast so strong, so powerful, so virile,

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it could symbolise the very moment of creation itself.

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It was called the Apis Bull, an animal venerated

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since the dawn of ancient Egypt, as far back as 3,000 BC.

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Dr Aidan Dodson of Bristol University has been studying

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this bull cult for over 20 years.

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The bull was very much a pampered individual.

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It would be massaged, it would be adorned with flowers.

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Certainly a life far above the farmyard.

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Only one sacred Apis Bull could exist at anyone time.

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And when it came to the end of its natural life,

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it was given the equivalent of a state funeral.

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In many ways, the death of one of these sacred bulls

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was almost like the death of the King.

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After taking over two months to mummify,

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the bull was then interred in its own huge sarcophagus

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alongside the Apis Bulls that had lived before it.

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They are perhaps two metres high, three or four metres long,

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absolutely vast things.

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The burial of a sacred bull like the Apis clearly involved

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a vast amount of human effort.

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The people who were quarrying the tomb, those who were making

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the sarcophagus for it, those who were doing the embalming process...

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There is also going to be all kinds of ceremonial around there,

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there is probably feasting around it as well.

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So there is a huge amount of resource being put into this.

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More than 50 Apis Bulls were buried at Saqqara.

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None of their remains survive

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as they were either stolen or destroyed centuries ago.

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But experts do know an extraordinary amount of care and effort

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went into mummifying and burying every one of these great beasts.

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Making the cult of the Apis Bull one of the greatest examples

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of devotion to animals in human history.

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But these bulls were not the only creatures

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the ancient Egyptians venerated.

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The fertile plains of the Nile valley once teamed with animals

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and the people who live there were fascinated

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by their seemingly superhuman abilities.

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JOANNE FLETCHER: Each type of animal embodying certain powers

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that humans didn't have. So this made them special.

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It almost seemed as if the animals did have these magic qualities.

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Cats, for instance, that can see in the dark.

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What a brilliant skill to have. So they had great respect for animals.

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This is because animals had a supernatural sense

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of how nature worked.

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The ancient Egyptians observed that crocodiles could predict

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the levels of the Nile's yearly flood.

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Crocodiles build their nests just above where the flood will come.

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And they do this long in advance of any of the water rising.

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So, by looking at where the crocodiles had made their nests,

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the Egyptians could help predict the height of the flood.

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These seemingly supernatural powers linked animals to their gods.

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Animals were able to do things simple humans couldn't.

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They would see a falcon, the black outline against the sun,

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flying at great heights which to them appear to almost touch the sun.

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So what better creature to embody, to exemplify the great sun god Ra,

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than this wonderful falcon?

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Baboons are associated with the sun god because in the morning,

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just before sunrise, they turn towards where the sun rises,

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stretch up their arms and make a terrible racket.

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So the Egyptians thought the baboons are singing to the sun

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and helping the sun rise and protecting the sun from his enemies.

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Animals were magical creatures who could in fact speak to the gods.

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Of course, not all of them were sacred,

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otherwise they wouldn't eat them or use them to plough the fields.

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So it is only special animals that were regarded as sacred.

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It was believed one of the creatures that could communicate

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with the gods was also one of the most common birds in ancient Egypt.

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It was called the sacred ibis.

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So we can see that its skeleton is in the central part of the bundle.

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In Manchester, the team are scanning an ibis mummy which,

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it is thought, was buried at a site in Middle Egypt called Abydos.

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This is a mummy bundle, presumed to be that of an Ibis

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from the external appearance.

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-Ah, there we go, you see?

-Mm.

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The sacred ibis bird has been extinct in Egypt

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since the 19th century.

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But similar species can still be found in Africa.

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So there, we can see the complete skeleton there.

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So it has been positioned with the limbs folded in, the wings folded in,

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and then the neck bent all the way back round the top of the spine.

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So it is essentially upside-down?

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Yes, the head is down towards the feet.

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2,500 years ago, huge flocks of ibis would migrate

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to the wetlands of the Nile Valley when it flooded.

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The birds are associated with the Egyptian god of wisdom, Thoth,

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because their long beaks evoked the crescent moon.

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Artefacts found buried with sacred ibis birds provide clues

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to why the ancient Egyptians mummified them.

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MAN SPEAKS ANCIENT LANGUAGE

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Written in ancient demotic script, it is thought these scraps

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of papyrus date from between the second and first centuries BC.

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Experts think they were buried to the south of Saqqara,

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at another religious site called Tuna El-Gebel.

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Now the papyri are held in the storerooms of the British Museum.

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Cary Martin is an expert in ancient languages

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and can translate this demotic text.

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It is a plea from a son

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whose father is desperately ill

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and the son is worried that his father is about to die

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and he says to the gods,

0:25:330:25:34

he is praying to the gods. He says, "If my father recovers,

0:25:340:25:39

"if he does not die of the illness that he is currently suffering in,

0:25:390:25:42

"I will make an offering for the burial of the sacred ibis.

0:25:420:25:46

"I will provide money for this and I will provide it on a regular basis.

0:25:460:25:51

"If my father lives, I will help you, I will honour you, O God."

0:25:510:25:57

So he is desperate, his father is dangerously ill.

0:25:570:26:00

He doesn't know what else to do, he is appealing to the gods for help.

0:26:000:26:04

Pleas to the gods like this one would have been placed

0:26:080:26:11

with the animal mummy before burial.

0:26:110:26:13

An animal mummy was more potent than anything else

0:26:140:26:17

to get your message to the God because of course,

0:26:170:26:19

once the animal died and was mummified,

0:26:190:26:22

its spirit immediately moved into the land of the gods.

0:26:220:26:25

So there, it had direct access to the gods

0:26:250:26:28

and could take your request to them and constantly be there,

0:26:280:26:32

saying, "Hello, God, so-and-so wants such-and-such."

0:26:320:26:35

And constantly be there, reminding the god of your request.

0:26:350:26:39

The divine was an integral part of day-to-day life.

0:26:390:26:43

It was totally and completely tied up in their normal existence.

0:26:430:26:50

And the Egyptians must have had so much faith in what this mummy

0:26:500:26:55

would do for them in terms of the gods granting them their wishes.

0:26:550:26:59

The ancient Egyptians were using animal mummies

0:27:010:27:04

as what are termed votive offerings.

0:27:040:27:06

Vessels to carry their pleas to the gods.

0:27:060:27:10

Votive offerings are not just something you see in ancient Egypt.

0:27:100:27:13

This practice continues today

0:27:130:27:15

because votive candles, which are the same as a votive mummy, really,

0:27:150:27:19

are burnt in churches

0:27:190:27:20

and the smoke is supposed to take your prayer to God.

0:27:200:27:23

So you can see how organised religion today

0:27:230:27:26

still uses the same trope that ancient Egyptians did.

0:27:260:27:30

Different animals were mummified to carry pleas to different gods.

0:27:430:27:47

Just how extensive this practice was

0:27:500:27:52

can be revealed at the sacred site of Saqqara.

0:27:520:27:56

A few hundred metres from the catacomb of the Apis Bulls

0:28:090:28:13

are another set of underground tombs.

0:28:130:28:16

Buried by shifting desert sands,

0:28:200:28:22

they were lost for nearly two millennia.

0:28:220:28:25

Professor Paul Nicholson has been excavating

0:28:330:28:36

and mapping the Saqqara site for over 20 years.

0:28:360:28:40

He first entered this tomb in 1995.

0:28:440:28:47

Now he has returned to explain what he found.

0:28:490:28:52

We have masses and masses of dog mummy.

0:29:050:29:09

You can see it piled here to a depth of over one metre.

0:29:090:29:13

Some thousands of them,

0:29:130:29:14

running back 20 or so metres to the end of the burial gallery.

0:29:140:29:20

Originally, we can imagine that most of them

0:29:200:29:23

would have been nicely stacked one on top of the other in layers.

0:29:230:29:28

They would have been well wrapped and soaked in resin.

0:29:280:29:31

But what has now happened is that that resin has broken down,

0:29:310:29:35

the bandages have gone to powder.

0:29:350:29:39

They have been turned over by robbers

0:29:400:29:42

so that we are left with only a few complete examples

0:29:420:29:46

sitting on the surface of the pile.

0:29:460:29:48

And this is only one of over 40 galleries in the catacomb itself.

0:29:500:29:55

Our estimate is that

0:29:570:29:58

there were somewhere between seven and eight million animals

0:29:580:30:02

originally placed in the dog catacomb.

0:30:020:30:04

It is likely the dog catacombs were in use for around 500 years.

0:30:070:30:12

Meaning to 16,000 dogs were mummified

0:30:120:30:15

and buried here every year.

0:30:150:30:18

The dog catacombs are huge.

0:30:220:30:24

The main corridor is around 170 metres long,

0:30:260:30:29

with galleries leading off it every few metres.

0:30:290:30:33

Originally, each gallery was 1.5 metres deep in dog mummies.

0:30:330:30:39

But this catacomb is only one of at least eight

0:30:390:30:43

underground animal tombs at Saqqara,

0:30:430:30:45

filled with up to 15 million animal mummies of different types.

0:30:450:30:50

And Saqqara is not the only site.

0:30:500:30:53

30 more have been found right across Egypt that may have held

0:30:540:30:59

up to 70,000,000 mummified animals.

0:30:590:31:02

Most experts believe the vast majority of these animal mummies

0:31:100:31:14

were votive offerings.

0:31:140:31:15

These millions of votive mummies that we have,

0:31:180:31:21

each one is the prayer of an individual.

0:31:210:31:25

So they don't just represent a prayer,

0:31:250:31:27

but they represent millions and millions of believers who actually

0:31:270:31:31

went to the temple, made this dedication and believed in that God.

0:31:310:31:35

When animal mummies were given, it was a very formalised system.

0:31:370:31:41

The person who wanted to give the gift would go to the temple,

0:31:410:31:45

talk to a priest and then purchase -

0:31:450:31:47

from the priest, because the temples were not foolish! -

0:31:470:31:50

one kind of animal mummied,

0:31:500:31:52

and then the priest would be in charge of dedicating it formally

0:31:520:31:55

to the god after of course the person had paid the temple.

0:31:550:31:59

Depends on how much one could afford.

0:32:010:32:03

Of course, if you were elite and noble, you could easily go

0:32:030:32:06

and get lots of animal mummies.

0:32:060:32:08

Or else, entire families might club together

0:32:080:32:11

so that one mummy could be dedicated but with the name of lots of people.

0:32:110:32:16

From 500 BC, the demand for animal mummification increased massively.

0:32:170:32:23

More and more people were drawn towards it

0:32:230:32:26

as Egypt's political fortunes changed.

0:32:260:32:29

It seems there was a never-ending series of waves of foreign invasion

0:32:290:32:34

which really threatened their very way of life.

0:32:340:32:37

And so they sought ways in which they could best express themselves as a nation

0:32:380:32:43

and what typified the Egyptians above all other nations

0:32:430:32:47

was their ability to mummify, to preserve their dead.

0:32:470:32:51

The Egyptians turned to their religion,

0:32:510:32:54

turned to animal mummification as a means of demonstrating that

0:32:540:32:58

to all these foreigners that were coming in.

0:32:580:33:00

This was a way for them to find themselves, feel more secure

0:33:020:33:06

and establish their identity.

0:33:060:33:08

MUEZZIN CHANTS

0:33:080:33:14

To account for the millions of animal mummies found at Saqqara,

0:33:170:33:21

experts think that large religious festivals must have been held there,

0:33:210:33:26

attracting pilgrims from across the country.

0:33:260:33:29

Thousands and thousands of people would probably flock there

0:33:290:33:32

for the big celebrations.

0:33:320:33:34

So you would have lots of people there,

0:33:360:33:38

you would have lots of people buying things, selling things, food, drink.

0:33:380:33:43

So it would be densely populated, very lively, noisy, smelly.

0:33:430:33:48

And it would be really a mass festival,

0:33:480:33:51

the same way you have at important shrines nowadays.

0:33:510:33:55

Early writers suggest hundreds of thousands of pilgrims

0:33:580:34:01

were visiting Saqqara, spending huge amounts on votive offerings.

0:34:010:34:06

The personal ritual of offering an animal mummy to a god

0:34:080:34:12

had become big business.

0:34:120:34:14

When one looks at the number of sites where animal mummies

0:34:150:34:19

occur throughout Egypt, you can tell that this was a massive industry.

0:34:190:34:24

Because you had to have people all over the country

0:34:240:34:26

who are rearing different kinds of animals,

0:34:260:34:29

you have to feed them, you have to look after them.

0:34:290:34:31

Then there are people who are going to mummify them.

0:34:310:34:34

So you need all the materials that were used for mummification

0:34:340:34:37

as well as all the personnel.

0:34:370:34:39

People were expending huge amounts of money on bandages and paint,

0:34:410:34:46

plaster, gilding, maybe even glass eyes.

0:34:460:34:51

All kinds of stuff in order to produce these animal mummies.

0:34:510:34:55

And this had a huge impact on the economy of Egypt.

0:34:550:34:59

In using animal mummies to carry their pleas to the gods,

0:35:050:35:08

the Ancient Egyptians transformed the rare and special act

0:35:080:35:12

into a mass industry.

0:35:120:35:13

Latest imaging techniques have given archaeologists

0:35:200:35:23

more insight into why.

0:35:230:35:25

But now, medical and forensic science is also revealing how

0:35:360:35:40

this huge industry actually worked.

0:35:400:35:43

At Swansea University, materials scientist Dr Richard Johnston

0:35:470:35:52

is using the latest industrial technology to study a mummified cat.

0:35:520:35:57

Little is known about its origins

0:36:020:36:04

but the style of its wrappings suggests it died around 600 BC.

0:36:040:36:09

The micro-CT scanner produces images with 100 times

0:36:150:36:20

the resolution of normal CT scans.

0:36:200:36:22

Zoo archaeologist Dr Richard Thomas from the University of Leicester

0:36:240:36:28

can use them to determine how this cat may have lived and died.

0:36:280:36:32

And then if we remove the wrappings completely...

0:36:330:36:36

..so we can just see the bones then.

0:36:370:36:40

Fantastic. It's amazingly clear.

0:36:400:36:42

The scans are so detailed they allow a 3-D printer to create

0:36:460:36:50

an exact replica of the skull.

0:36:500:36:53

For the first time, Richard can actually feel the bones for himself.

0:37:060:37:10

-This is around two and a half times the size of the original skull.

-OK.

0:37:100:37:14

It's amazing, the level of detail. It's incredible.

0:37:140:37:18

There may be evidence this cat didn't die naturally.

0:37:180:37:22

One of the things that's strikingly obvious is that

0:37:220:37:25

you've got a real big piece of skull missing.

0:37:250:37:27

-So where on earth did those bits of skull go?

-OK.

0:37:290:37:32

If that damage occurred before mummification,

0:37:320:37:35

then we wouldn't expect to find any evidence for those

0:37:350:37:38

bits of skull, they would tended to have fallen away from the skull.

0:37:380:37:41

Can you show me an image that might help see

0:37:410:37:44

-if we've got any parts of that skull actually within the brain case?

-Yes.

0:37:440:37:49

If we look at this image, this is a slice or plane through the skull.

0:37:490:37:54

This is a really helpful image in fact, actually.

0:37:540:37:57

You can see where the missing portions of the skull are,

0:37:570:38:00

that have broken away and fallen into the brain casing.

0:38:000:38:03

So what that tells us immediately is that this damage

0:38:030:38:05

must have happened after mummification.

0:38:050:38:09

So clearly this cat mummy has not been well

0:38:090:38:11

treated following mummification.

0:38:110:38:13

But is there anything within this that suggests that we might

0:38:130:38:17

come up with a theory for how it was killed?

0:38:170:38:20

-Well, can we have another look? That might give us some useful clues.

-OK.

0:38:200:38:24

-Erm, so, can have a look at the teeth?

-Yeah.

0:38:250:38:29

So, the first thing that I can tell is that this cat has a full

0:38:290:38:33

adult set of teeth. So this cat must have been older than six months.

0:38:330:38:38

And if we take a really close look at the mandible...

0:38:380:38:41

we can see that there's no signs of gum disease, there's no tooth loss.

0:38:410:38:47

This happened during the course of the life of this animal,

0:38:470:38:50

which is the kind of thing we would expect if it was a very old cat.

0:38:500:38:53

So, what else can we see?

0:38:530:38:54

Here you've got the vertebrae of the neck

0:38:540:38:56

and you see how tightly packed and close together they are,

0:38:560:38:58

whereas in between these two vertebrae,

0:38:580:39:00

you've got this separation -

0:39:000:39:02

there's this kind of big gap that shouldn't be there, effectively.

0:39:020:39:06

In all mammals, the atlas

0:39:060:39:08

and axis are the top two vertebrae of the neck.

0:39:080:39:12

In a cat this size, they should only be a few millimetres apart.

0:39:120:39:15

Now, one possibility is that that kind of displacement

0:39:170:39:22

of the cervical vertebrae can occur through strangulation

0:39:220:39:27

or the breaking of the neck of an animal.

0:39:270:39:29

That would be a fairly instantaneous cause of death

0:39:290:39:33

and the strongest possible clue we have

0:39:330:39:36

-to how this animal may have died.

-OK.

0:39:360:39:38

But this cat isn't the only animal mummy which shows

0:39:450:39:48

signs of being deliberately killed.

0:39:480:39:51

So, this is the upper part of the skull and actually,

0:39:550:39:58

there looks to be a defect there.

0:39:580:39:59

Can you see on the skull, on the top of the skull?

0:39:590:40:02

So there is a bit of bone actually missing there.

0:40:020:40:05

The Manchester team are grappling with their largest mummy,

0:40:050:40:09

-a Nile crocodile.

-Get ready to catch him.

0:40:090:40:12

-He's actually quite heavy.

-It's all that resin, I think.

0:40:120:40:16

Just move him back in there now. That's it. Nice and slowly.

0:40:160:40:19

Make sure he doesn't come a cropper.

0:40:210:40:23

That's brilliant, okey doke.

0:40:250:40:26

At nearly two metres long,

0:40:260:40:28

the team estimate it must have been around five years old when it died.

0:40:280:40:32

The fracture pattern to the crocodile's skull suggests

0:40:340:40:37

this was a fatal blow delivered before it was mummified.

0:40:370:40:40

But the scans reveal more.

0:40:420:40:44

Something has happened here.

0:40:440:40:46

The ancient embalmer who mummified this crocodile didn't use

0:40:470:40:51

the most thorough techniques.

0:40:510:40:53

So, can we scroll through?

0:40:540:40:55

So, these little opacities here are most probably gastroliths

0:40:580:41:02

which crocodiles swallow. So they ingest food in big chunks,

0:41:020:41:07

often whole, and then they use stones which they have ingested

0:41:070:41:11

to break up the food.

0:41:110:41:14

But of course, that does prove that it's still got its internal organs,

0:41:140:41:17

-because they are still in the abdomen.

-They've not been...

0:41:170:41:20

It's not been eviscerated.

0:41:200:41:21

The reason that votive animal mummies are probably not as carefully

0:41:230:41:27

made as other kinds of animal mummies is because they were mass produced.

0:41:270:41:31

Because when you had pilgrims come, you need thousands

0:41:310:41:34

and thousands of these things

0:41:340:41:36

and so if you want to have a quick production line,

0:41:360:41:39

you can't expend the same amount of time, effort,

0:41:390:41:42

energy and quality of materials as you would for a pet or a human being.

0:41:420:41:47

These less sophisticated mummification techniques enabled

0:41:500:41:54

the embalmers to produce animal mummies more quickly and cheaply.

0:41:540:41:58

But that couldn't solve the most serious problem they faced -

0:42:030:42:07

how to ensure they had a steady supply of animals to meet

0:42:070:42:11

the demand of visiting pilgrims.

0:42:110:42:13

Lost for over 2,000 years, this ibis bird catacomb at Saqqara

0:42:320:42:38

was rediscovered by archaeologists in the 1960s.

0:42:380:42:42

THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE

0:42:420:42:44

It's been sealed for 20 years.

0:42:450:42:47

Now, molecular biologist Sally Wasef is going to re-enter the tomb.

0:42:490:42:53

Over two million mummified ibis birds are buried in this catacomb.

0:43:160:43:20

Sally is hoping to understand how they were supplied

0:43:220:43:25

for mummification by comparing samples of their DNA.

0:43:250:43:28

The DNA is usually not in a very good condition because inside a catacomb,

0:43:300:43:35

it's really hot and humid

0:43:350:43:37

and that helps degradation to be faster for the DNA.

0:43:370:43:41

But Ancient Egyptians helped us by mummifying the birds which

0:43:410:43:45

slowed the degradation process,

0:43:450:43:48

so it helped to preserve some of the DNA.

0:43:480:43:50

Unlike the mummy collectors of the 19th century, Sally works

0:43:520:43:56

to strict rules on which bones she can take away as samples.

0:43:560:44:00

Such a mummy, I'm not allowed to open it or take samples from

0:44:010:44:06

because it's fully wrapped and inside the jar.

0:44:060:44:10

So I usually sample from those broken stuff

0:44:100:44:14

where you can see the bones loose,

0:44:140:44:17

and such a bone is nice.

0:44:170:44:19

Still have the skin intact,

0:44:190:44:22

the feathers and everything which give me more indications

0:44:220:44:26

that most likely I'll be ending up with good DNA quality from this bone.

0:44:260:44:30

Back in the lab, Sally will be able to reconstruct the DNA of this

0:44:330:44:37

mummified bird from the fragment still contained in its bones.

0:44:370:44:41

She can then compare it to other birds in the catacomb

0:44:440:44:47

to determine how closely they were related to each other.

0:44:470:44:50

Once we have that DNA picture completed, what we do

0:44:520:44:56

is that we look at how those are different from each other.

0:44:560:45:00

Are they close together?

0:45:000:45:02

If we find a lot of similarity between a large number of birds,

0:45:020:45:07

we can say, "OK, those birds were raised together,

0:45:070:45:11

"they were farmed," or if you have too many variations,

0:45:110:45:15

actually they are caught from the wild or migrating from outside Egypt.

0:45:150:45:19

Sally's research is ongoing.

0:45:220:45:24

But so far, results have suggested there is a low genetic

0:45:260:45:29

variance between the mummified ibis birds at Saqqara.

0:45:290:45:32

If proven, it's evidence the birds were being farmed to satisfy

0:45:340:45:39

the increasing demand for animal mummies.

0:45:390:45:42

700 metres away in Saqqara's dog catacomb,

0:45:480:45:52

the remains of eight million dog mummies suggest a mass breeding

0:45:520:45:56

programme for dogs as well as ibis birds must have been in place.

0:45:560:46:01

Professor Ikram has been studying the piles of bones.

0:46:040:46:08

She has found more evidence of how this animal production line

0:46:080:46:12

could have worked.

0:46:120:46:13

One of the things we found is that there are really diverse ages

0:46:150:46:19

and you can tell this from the jawbones,

0:46:190:46:21

because you get these, sort of, teeny-weeny little jaws

0:46:210:46:24

and then you have huge things. And then they would have taken

0:46:240:46:28

the puppies away when they were, well, very young,

0:46:280:46:32

either drowned them or just removed them

0:46:320:46:35

from their mother's care so they would have died quite quickly

0:46:350:46:38

and could have been mummified.

0:46:380:46:39

And then, of course, their mothers would have whelped again

0:46:390:46:42

and so you would have forced the breeding to, instead of once

0:46:420:46:45

or twice a year, to twice or three times a year, which kept this

0:46:450:46:48

puppy farm going and gave us the eight million dogs that we have here.

0:46:480:46:52

Now these bones can reveal more.

0:46:540:46:56

There is evidence of how the dogs at Saqqara were treated.

0:46:570:47:00

We have evidence for a lot of sick animals,

0:47:020:47:04

for example something like this where there are holes.

0:47:040:47:08

You can see where the bone has grown over,

0:47:100:47:13

so this has been a diseased animal that would have been limping

0:47:130:47:16

on its foreleg and it died when it was quite young.

0:47:160:47:20

Here's another one which has some sort of horrible growth

0:47:220:47:26

coming out from an infection.

0:47:260:47:28

Often you see this kind of extreme disease on zoo animals,

0:47:280:47:32

where they have been kept in confined spaces, so this is why

0:47:320:47:36

we think that quite possibly the dogs were kept in enclosures,

0:47:360:47:40

they weren't always allowed to move freely if they got infected

0:47:400:47:43

because the people who were looking after them

0:47:430:47:45

knew that they'd be dead soon enough.

0:47:450:47:47

They didn't really bother to take care of them.

0:47:470:47:49

It's very likely that many of the dogs that ultimately

0:47:510:47:54

find their way into the dog catacomb would have been bred

0:47:540:47:58

in and around ancient Memphis,

0:47:580:48:00

probably in a series of puppy farms breeding perhaps

0:48:000:48:05

dozens of animals at a time for mummification.

0:48:050:48:08

The whole question of the killing of animals is quite a difficult one,

0:48:100:48:15

quite an emotive one for us from a 21st century perspective.

0:48:150:48:20

However, what we have to bear in mind is that what

0:48:200:48:23

they were doing was providing for the eternity of that animal,

0:48:230:48:28

providing a suitable burial for a representative of a God.

0:48:280:48:33

So what they were doing was a sacred act.

0:48:330:48:35

By the end of the fifth century BC,

0:48:370:48:40

these private rituals had grown into a national obsession.

0:48:400:48:43

Animals were being bred, killed and mummified at sites right across

0:48:450:48:49

the country, employing thousands of workers and generating huge profits.

0:48:490:48:55

And then, 200 years later,

0:49:030:49:06

another huge political upheaval shook Ancient Egypt -

0:49:060:49:10

the ruling Persians were replaced by Greeks

0:49:100:49:13

who poured money into animal cults.

0:49:130:49:17

It became a massive, massive growth industry, even more than before.

0:49:170:49:21

They were spending the equivalent of millions today on maintaining cults

0:49:210:49:25

that were for the Egyptians crucial to the continuation of this culture.

0:49:250:49:30

Animal mummification had become a tool of state control.

0:49:320:49:35

Religion is a very unifying force

0:49:370:49:39

and politically... It's every politician's dream.

0:49:390:49:42

If you have got this idea of mass control over millions of people

0:49:420:49:47

through a form of religion you ultimately fund and sustain,

0:49:470:49:51

it's brilliant, because you have control of those people.

0:49:510:49:54

Dozens of new temples were built, encouraging more and more

0:50:000:50:04

pilgrims to visit sites like Saqqara and purchase animal mummies.

0:50:040:50:08

But cracks were beginning to appear in the burgeoning industry.

0:50:110:50:15

It seems the embalmers had problems keeping up with the demand.

0:50:150:50:18

-There's the tissue paper. Oh!

-Aw, that's cute.

-Lovely.

0:50:210:50:26

-He's got a nice face.

-Nice face, nice ears.

0:50:260:50:28

-Shall we move him in, then?

-OK.

0:50:280:50:30

It's thought this beautiful cat mummy was buried at a site

0:50:330:50:36

called Beni Hasan in Middle Egypt.

0:50:360:50:38

But this mummy is not all it seems to be.

0:50:400:50:44

It's got the nice modelled face with a little roll of linen

0:50:440:50:47

for the nose and then two eyes.

0:50:470:50:49

It's very cylindrical, it's quite typical of a cat mummy.

0:50:520:50:55

Have a look what's inside.

0:50:560:50:58

What's inside?

0:50:590:51:01

-Oh.

-Mmm.

0:51:010:51:03

-Oh.

-Not an awful lot, is the answer to that.

-Oh, yeah.

0:51:030:51:08

-Would you say that's bone?

-It's got the density of bone.

0:51:080:51:11

-Would you agree?

-There's not limbs or anything like that.

0:51:110:51:15

You can't see long bits of, you know, limbs or anything like that.

0:51:150:51:19

-Oh, vertebrae.

-That's about the most substantial, isn't it, really?

0:51:190:51:24

Certainly not the complete cat skeleton we were imagining

0:51:240:51:28

we would see.

0:51:280:51:29

What you see on the outside is not always what you see on the inside.

0:51:290:51:34

If they are skeletal remains, they are in that area there.

0:51:340:51:37

So they've made a kind of core, if you like, from bits

0:51:370:51:41

and pieces that were lying around and then they've made it quite

0:51:410:51:44

-deliberately elongated and made into a much bigger bundle.

-Artificially.

0:51:440:51:48

It's been very decoratively wrapped

0:51:480:51:50

and then given this wonderful modelled face.

0:51:500:51:52

In fact, these incomplete or partial animal mummies have been

0:51:550:51:59

a common feature of Lidija's study,

0:51:590:52:02

their contents hidden from pilgrims

0:52:020:52:04

and museum curators for thousands of years.

0:52:040:52:07

We found that in about two thirds of the cases,

0:52:080:52:11

we have got some animal skeletal material, but then

0:52:110:52:15

only in about half of those do we have a complete animal skeleton.

0:52:150:52:19

So somewhere between a third and a half of all the mummies

0:52:190:52:22

we have looked at have a complete animal inside.

0:52:220:52:24

Most 19th and 20th century Egyptologists thought this

0:52:260:52:30

was evidence the embalmers, either struggling to keep up with

0:52:300:52:34

the demand for animals or just keen to make some easy cash,

0:52:340:52:37

were swindling pilgrims by selling them

0:52:370:52:39

fake mummies without their knowledge.

0:52:390:52:42

But by analysing the wrappings and resin

0:52:440:52:46

used in the mummification process,

0:52:460:52:49

scientists like Stephen Buckley are challenging this assumption.

0:52:490:52:53

What's interesting is that we are seeing a recipe...

0:52:530:52:57

Different recipes for different animals.

0:52:570:53:00

We found with cat mummies, for example,

0:53:000:53:03

pistachio resin from the north-east Mediterranean.

0:53:030:53:05

And yet, the crocodile mummy, we found sandarac,

0:53:070:53:11

a resin from north-west Africa from the Atlas Mountains.

0:53:110:53:15

The molecular fingerprint, if you like, is showing us that they

0:53:150:53:18

were using exotic, expensive ingredients from far and wide,

0:53:180:53:23

so quite a lot of care and expense.

0:53:230:53:25

Crucially, Stephen has found traces of expensive resins not only

0:53:270:53:31

on the complete animal mummies but on the partial ones as well.

0:53:310:53:35

With these so-called fakes,

0:53:360:53:39

the embalming agents, where they're using costly imported ingredients,

0:53:390:53:44

the recipes are the same as those used on those mummies

0:53:440:53:49

where the full animal is there.

0:53:490:53:52

So the fake mummies are actually,

0:53:520:53:54

as far as the embalming agents were concerned, treated with

0:53:540:53:57

the same amount of effort and care and expense,

0:53:570:54:00

and it seems to be that with that, whether it was just a bone or

0:54:000:54:04

the real animal, as long as the recipe was there,

0:54:040:54:07

as long as it looked right, that was good enough for the gods.

0:54:070:54:11

It's scientific proof of the embalmer's intentions.

0:54:130:54:16

To the Ancient Egyptians, even the tiniest fragment of bone

0:54:160:54:20

must have been deemed sacred and worthy of mummification.

0:54:200:54:25

You've got to remember these things were presumably made to be sold,

0:54:250:54:29

sold to pilgrims, so you want your product to be attractive

0:54:290:54:33

and maybe it's sufficient to have the sweepings from the workshop.

0:54:330:54:36

That's got enough magical, religious power

0:54:360:54:40

to satisfy your plea to the gods.

0:54:400:54:43

It's suitable for the goddess Bastet, presumably, the cat goddess,

0:54:430:54:47

and that's, you know, the job's a good 'un.

0:54:470:54:50

700 years after high priestess Maatkare had been buried

0:54:590:55:03

with her pet monkey, Ancient Egyptian animal mummification had

0:55:030:55:08

grown from a few elite to pets and sacred animals into a vast religious

0:55:080:55:14

cult and an industry ingrained in the fabric of society

0:55:140:55:19

where animals were not only killed to be mummified

0:55:190:55:22

but were intensively bred in their millions to satisfy

0:55:220:55:26

a national obsession with animal mummification.

0:55:260:55:29

These mummies give one an insight,

0:55:310:55:34

a way into understanding Egyptian history - the culture, the religion,

0:55:340:55:39

the technology and the way people might have felt,

0:55:390:55:43

believed and thought -

0:55:430:55:45

and also the relationship between human beings and animals,

0:55:450:55:49

so it really is an astonishing way in to understanding

0:55:490:55:53

a vast number of things about the Ancient Egyptians.

0:55:530:55:57

But the ritual of animal mummification wasn't to last.

0:56:000:56:04

In 380 AD, the Romans, who had conquered Egypt nearly four

0:56:120:56:17

centuries before, officially converted to Christianity -

0:56:170:56:21

a new religion that fiercely opposed all forms

0:56:210:56:24

of mummification and animal cults.

0:56:240:56:27

All Egyptian temples were closed down.

0:56:290:56:32

Not only did this prevent worship continuing, but each temple

0:56:320:56:37

functioned as a kind of town hall for every settlement throughout Egypt.

0:56:370:56:41

So by closing the temple,

0:56:410:56:42

you not only put an end to the pagan practices of worship,

0:56:420:56:45

but also the transmission of ideas,

0:56:450:56:48

the mummification of humans and animals.

0:56:480:56:51

The demise of animal mummification didn't only signal

0:56:530:56:56

the end of its religion, but the entire Egyptian civilisation.

0:56:560:57:01

The early Christians did everything they could to distance themselves

0:57:030:57:06

from these pagan practices and that's when you see a great divide.

0:57:060:57:09

And of course, we in the modern West have gone with the Christian notions,

0:57:090:57:13

the Ancient Egyptians are left over there,

0:57:130:57:15

and that's why today we see their practices, their beliefs as quite

0:57:150:57:20

strange, different to ours, and they can be quite difficult to understand.

0:57:200:57:23

And I think this is nowhere better exemplified

0:57:230:57:25

than in their practice of animal mummification.

0:57:250:57:28

The great era of Ancient Egypt had ended.

0:57:340:57:38

The immense pyramids and imposing temples

0:57:390:57:42

would stand for thousands more years,

0:57:420:57:46

but the rituals of animal mummification

0:57:460:57:49

became a distant memory.

0:57:490:57:50

The desert sands gradually covered the catacombs

0:57:520:57:55

and locked away their secrets.

0:57:550:57:57

Now, modern scientific techniques are allowing these sacred

0:57:580:58:02

animals finally to tell their story.

0:58:020:58:05

One last message carried from the afterlife.

0:58:070:58:11

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