New evidence for the emergence of a human-pet relation in early Roman Berenike (1st–2nd century AD)
Journal Title: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean - Year 2017, Vol 26, Issue 2
Abstract
Animals were as inextricable a part as they were indicative of the system of common ancient Egyptian beliefs. Their special role was manifested in a rich iconography and in multitudes of animal mummies deposited in the major sacral complexes. Seen in this light, the cemetery of small animals of 1st–2nd century AD date, excavated since 2011 in the Red Sea port town of Berenike, comes across as entirely unique, notwithstanding the spiritual aspects of cats, dogs and monkeys. Contrary to Egyptian animal burials of all periods associated with human ones, the Berenike inhumations were not intended as afterlife companions of their last owners; neither were they ever mummified. Recent results of research present the variety of species kept in the households and insight into their behaviour. Pathological changes on one of the dog skeletons suggest a deadly condition, that is, osteosarcoma. The Berenike data also shed new light on the distribution of the cat beyond Egypt and a rising preference for keeping the animal as a pet in Europe and the Middle East.<br/><br/>
Authors and Affiliations
Marta Osypińska, Piotr Osypiński
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP343280
- DOI 10.5604/01.3001.0012.1825
- Views 65
- Downloads 0
Deir el-Bahari. Temple of Tuthmosis III, campaigns 2012–2013
In 2012 and 2013 the mission continued research and documentation work, concentrating on scenes located in the Hypostyle Hall, the Bark Room, and rooms D, G and H. Dozens of painted stone fragments were cleaned and prote...
HLC Project 2017. Jagiellonian University excavations in southern Jordan
The HLC (Heritage–Landscape–Community) archaeological metaproject, carried out since 2016 by the Jagiellonian University in cooperation with the Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, Hashemite K...
The utility ware assemblage from the hermitage in tomb MMA 1152 in West Thebes. Selected issues, provisional characteristics, research methodology
The text concerns a pottery assemblage from one isolated site (a hermitage installed inside a Pharaonic tomb) in Sheikh Abd el-Gurna, inhabited by monks from the end of the 5th to the beginning of the 8th century. The sp...
Faience objects from the Tomb MMA 1152 at Sheikh Abd el-Gurna
Excavations in the area of tomb MMA 1152 at Sheikh Abd el-Gurna, conducted since 2003, have uncovered a substantial set of faience objects coming from burials made there during the later Pharaonic Period, before the tomb...
A “ghost” fragment from the chapel of Tuthmosis I in the Royal Mortuary Cult Complex of the Hatshepsut Temple
A peculiar drawing of a part of the decoration of the Royal Mortuary Cult Complex in the Hatshepsut temple at Deir el-Bahari, as copied once by Johannes Dümichen, is the subject of this paper. Its comparison with existin...