Eight million mummified dogs were excavated in Saqqara, one of Egypt's most historic sites, which are believed to be used as "“bridges afterlife" by the ancient Egyptians.
Eight million mummified dogs and other animals excavated by a group of British archaeologists were believed to be made for Anubis, the ancient jackal-headed "God of death and the underworld." Those remains were unearthed from catacombs of Anubis around Saqqara, one of Egypt's most historic sites.
However, researchers think that there's more than what they have found. Eight million mummified dogs is a figure that could already be surprising, but to know how the dogs ended in the catacombs could give more shocking revelations.
The project's director, Paul Nicholson from Cardiff University's School of History, Archaeology and Religion, said Saturday that one question is how these animals ended up in the catacomb dead or alive, the CNN reports.
"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.
Nicholson, who has been studying animal cult since the '90s, firmly believes that the eight million mummified dogs found have something to do with the ancient Egyptian's belief that the dogs are the best possible fit to interact with god Anubis or served as bridges to afterlife. Aside from dogs that comprise 92 percent of the mummified findings, jackals, foxes, mongoose, falcons, and even cats were also found.
Nicholson's team has begun studying the findings in 2009 with the support of the Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and National Geographic. They found out that some mummified animals died young, while some were even bred for the purpose of being offered at early age. Further study is still being conducted. The eight million mummified dog research was published this week in the journal of Antiquity.
