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Here’s what you’ll learn from reading this story:
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The ancient Egyptians regularly mummified crocodiles in elaborate ceremonies in dedication to their crocodile god Sobek.
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A study of one of these crocodiles reveals details about the animal’s death and the methods by which the Ancient Egyptians captured these fearsome predators.
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Using x-ray and CT-scanning technologies, archaeozoologists can now explore the insides of these animals, which, unlike human mummification, have their organs intact.
To uncover the mysteries of the past, scientists employ a wide variety of techniques to get to the truth. Climate scientists dig two-mile-long ice cores to see Earth’s past climate conditions. Paleontologists analyze sediment layers to visualize the physical chronology of past epochs. And while Egyptologists likewise use lots of advanced archaeological techniques, sometimes it’s better to just use a mummified crocodile’s stomach.
This is exactly what researchers at the University of Manchester did with a 3,000-year-old, 7.2-foot-long crocodile carcass, which was kept at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and known simply as 2005.335. Although the Ancient Egyptians typically removed the organs when they mummified humans, the crocodiles sacrificed to the crocodile god Sobek kept their insides intact, and this slight deviation from tradition allows scientists in the 21st century to analyze the organs to unlock the mysteries of this strange ritual of sacrifice.
To preserve the specimen for future display, the research team deployed non-invasive techniques, such as x-rays and CT scanning, to catalog the contents of the crocodile’s stomach. Among the ancient gastronomic detritus, scientists have found some usual suspects called gastroliths, which are small stone crocodiles swallow regularly to aid digestion.
However, the scientists also found an intact fish baited on a bronze hook. Because the time period between the croc’s last meal and its death was so short—the gastroliths had not yet reached the stomach—the crocodile was probably intentionally captured by the Ancient Egyptians to be part of a sacrificial ceremony to Sobek.
“While previous studies have favored invasive techniques such as unwrapping and autopsy, 3D radiography provides the ability to see inside without damaging these important and fascinating artefacts,” University of Manchester archaeozoologist Lidija McKnight, co-author of a study published in the journal Digital Applications in Archeology and Cultural Heritagehe said in a press release.
While keeping the long-dead crocodilian intact, McKnight and her team also “virtually” recreated the bronze hook that was lodged in the specimen’s stomach for future museum displays. McKnight says that in the past the Ancient Egyptians probably used hardened clay to create a mold and then poured molten metal over a charcoal fire to create the hook.
“Despite several millennia passing between the production of the ancient fish hook and the modern replica, the casting process remains remarkably similar,” McKnight said in the press release.
Although 2005.335 met a sordid fate, crocodiles were actually revered in Ancient Egyptian society for their health but also for their kindness (especially to their young)—but perhaps they were too much worshiped Archaeologists believe that this Nile-based culture, in which the crocodile was the top predator (besides humans, of course), likely bred the animals specifically for sacrificial purposes by “Crocodile cults.” In the Egyptian city of Fayoum, which was the center of worship for Sobek, experts discovered thousands of mummified crocodiles, most of them babies.
But thanks to these long-ago sacrifices, the story behind these ancient mummified crocodiles is finally spilling its guts.
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