Eight million mummified dogs have been found in the catacombs near the sacred temple of Anubis, the jackal-headed "god of death" that ancient Egyptians are known to have worshipped.
"The intention of this new work has been to investigate animal cults with a focus on the animals themselves, the individuals who operated aspects of the cult (e.g. animal breeders, priests) and the subterranean structures associated with them. The temples and shrines, though undeniably significant, are often only the tip of the iceberg," wrote Paul T. Nicholson, Salima Ikram, and Steve Mills, the authors of the study.
Ancient Egypt is known for cult activities that involved the sacrifice of animals. However, there has yet to be a study as extensive as this one, where the actual mummified animals have been unearthed.
Ninety-two percent of the mummies found were dogs, but there were also bodies of foxes, jackals, falcons, mongoose and even cats. It remains unclear to the researchers as to why these animals were included, Live Science reported.
The Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities, who kindly permitted the researchers to work on the catacomb, has a laboratory in Cairo where the samples of the mummified dogs will be sent for dating. Dating the sample will determine how many sacrifices were made each year.
The study was published in the June issue of the journal Antiquity.
