Were Egypt's Animal Mummies Really Ancient Scams?

Introduction

Were Egypt’s animal mummies really ancient scams? The short answer is: sometimes perhaps, but not always. Modern X-rays and CT scans have revealed that a surprising number of animal mummy bundles contain incomplete skeletons, isolated bones, feathers, eggshells, plant material, mud, reeds or even apparently empty spaces rather than a whole preserved animal. At first glance, this looks like evidence of fraud in a vast religious industry that produced millions of votive offerings for pilgrims. Yet many Egyptologists now argue that the story is more complicated. What appears to modern observers as a fake may have functioned perfectly well within ancient Egyptian religious practice. The debate sits at the boundary between commercial deception, ritual symbolism and modern assumptions about authenticity.[manchester.ac.uk]manchester.ac.ukbbc horizon egypts dark secretThe University of ManchesterBBC Horizon: Egypt's dark secret11 May 2015 — A university team of radiographers and Egyptologists are filmed…Published: May 2015

What scans found inside the bundles

The controversy gained public attention when researchers used radiography, CT scanning and, more recently, micro-CT imaging to examine animal mummies without unwrapping them. These techniques allow scientists to look through the linen wrappings and identify the contents in detail.[nih.gov]pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govImaging of Ancient Egyptian Animal Mummiesby LM McKnight · 2015 · Cited by 44 — Noninvasive imaging methods enable mummy bundles to…

The results showed that animal mummies were far from uniform.

Some bundles contain:[researchgate.net]researchgate.netSource details in endnotes.

Research associated with the University of Manchester and other institutions found that many animal mummies did not contain the complete creature suggested by their external appearance. Public reports of the work popularised claims that many were “empty” or “fake”. Some estimates suggested that only a minority contained an intact animal body, although the exact proportion varies by sample and mummy type.[manchester.ac.uk]manchester.ac.ukbbc horizon egypts dark secretThe University of ManchesterBBC Horizon: Egypt's dark secret11 May 2015 — A university team of radiographers and Egyptologists are filmed…Published: May 2015

Individual scans have produced striking examples. Objects labelled as one species have occasionally turned out to contain another. Some bundles thought to hold birds contain only fragments. Others include carefully arranged remains surrounded by packing material designed to create the desired external shape.[augmentum.ch]augmentum.chOpen source on augmentum.ch.

These discoveries transformed animal mummies from seemingly straightforward archaeological objects into evidence for a much larger debate about ancient religious practice and commercial behaviour.

Did ancient sellers deceive pilgrims?

The argument for fraud begins with the scale of the industry. By the first millennium BC, pilgrims visiting temples could purchase animal mummies as offerings to specific gods. Vast catacombs filled with ibis, cat, dog and other animal mummies suggest an enormous demand. Some researchers estimate that tens of millions of animals were produced over centuries.[manchester.ac.uk]manchester.ac.ukbbc horizon egypts dark secretThe University of ManchesterBBC Horizon: Egypt's dark secret11 May 2015 — A university team of radiographers and Egyptologists are filmed…Published: May 2015

Such demand created obvious incentives. If pilgrims expected to buy a sacred ibis mummy, a seller could potentially reduce costs by using only part of an ibis or by padding a bundle with other materials. Ancient Egyptian documents also contain occasional complaints and accusations involving temple economies, which some scholars see as evidence that religious commerce was not always beyond criticism.[Discover Magazine]discovermagazine.comthe animal mummy business 17930the animal mummy business 17930

Supporters of the fraud interpretation point to several features:

From this perspective, at least some animal mummies may represent an ancient version of selling a customer something less substantial than advertised.

Why ritual symbolism complicates the verdict

The strongest challenge to the fraud theory is that it assumes ancient buyers expected exactly the same thing modern museum visitors expect.

Researchers studying votive animal mummies increasingly argue that the religious meaning of the offering may have mattered more than the physical completeness of the contents. A mummy bundle was not necessarily intended as a transparent biological specimen. It was a ritual object designed to communicate with a deity.[ukri.org]gtr.ukri.orgAppearance and Reality in Ancient Egyptian Votive Animal…These votive animal mummy bundles containing anything other than a complet…

Evidence from archaeological studies suggests that incomplete remains could still fulfil the same votive purpose as complete animals. Some bundles may have deliberately contained symbolic elements rather than whole bodies. Others may have represented a sacred animal through a fragment associated with it.[ResearchGate]researchgate.net329403691 Imaging the Gods animal mummies from Tomb 3508 North Saqqara Egyptanimal mummies from Tomb 3508, North Saqqara, EgyptThe evidence suggests that incomplete and skeletonised animal remains fulf…

Modern researchers have therefore questioned whether terms such as “fake” accurately describe these objects. A grant-funded project specifically examining the issue noted that interpreting non-complete bundles as fraud automatically assumes deliberate deception, something the archaeological evidence does not always demonstrate.[GtR]gtr.ukri.orgAppearance and Reality in Ancient Egyptian Votive Animal…These votive animal mummy bundles containing anything other than a complet…

An important comparison is the difference between a relic and a portrait. A religious object may derive significance from what it represents rather than from its material completeness. If ancient worshippers accepted that symbolic remains carried sacred power, then a bundle containing part of an animal might not have been viewed as defective at all.[Archaeology Magazine]archaeology.orgMagazine News“We shouldn't view animal mummification through our…Read more…

What the evidence actually supports

The most cautious conclusion is that there was no single practice.

Animal mummification lasted for many centuries, involved different regions, temples and animal cults, and operated on a huge scale. It would be surprising if every workshop followed identical standards.[Cambridge University Press & Assessment]cambridge.orgOpen source on cambridge.org.

The evidence supports several possibilities existing side by side:

Complete votive offerings. Many bundles genuinely contain carefully preserved animals and show considerable investment in preparation and wrapping.[Nature]nature.comEvidence of diet, deification, and death within ancient…by R Johnston · 2020 · Cited by 16 — In this study, we use microCT to im…

Symbolic offerings. Some bundles appear intentionally designed around partial remains or symbolic contents that may still have been religiously acceptable.[University of Arizona Journals]journals.librarypublishing.arizona.eduUniversity of Arizona JournalsAnimals were mummified throughout Egyptianby L McKnight · Cited by 8 — Mummy bundles that contained less th…

Occasional commercial shortcuts. Given the scale of production and evidence of mismatched contents, some level of cost-cutting or misrepresentation probably occurred.[Discover Magazine]discovermagazine.comthe animal mummy business 17930the animal mummy business 17930

Modern misunderstandings. Museum labels, collectors and early excavators often assumed that every wrapped bundle concealed a complete animal. CT scanning has shown that this assumption was frequently wrong.[Augmentum]augmentum.chOpen source on augmentum.ch.

In other words, the scans uncovered genuine surprises, but they did not prove a universal scam.

Why the debate still matters

The story remains popular because it resembles a classic fraud narrative: ancient pilgrims apparently buying mummies that were empty inside. Yet the real lesson is less straightforward and arguably more interesting.

The animal mummy debate highlights how easily modern ideas about authenticity can be projected onto ancient religious objects. A twenty-first-century buyer expects a product to match its description. An ancient worshipper may have cared more about ritual efficacy, temple authority and symbolic connection to a deity.[Archaeology Magazine]archaeology.orgMagazine News“We shouldn't view animal mummification through our…Read more…

For historians of Egyptian hoaxes and contested truths, animal mummies occupy an unusual position. They are not a clear-cut forgery like a modern fake antiquity, nor are they simply a misunderstanding. Instead, they demonstrate how discoveries made by modern science can appear to expose a deception, only for deeper investigation to reveal that the original question may have been framed incorrectly.

The most defensible conclusion is therefore not that Egypt’s animal mummies were ancient scams, but that some may have involved deception while many others reflected religious conventions that modern observers initially misunderstood. The CT scanner revealed what was inside the bundles; it did not automatically reveal what ancient Egyptians believed those bundles were meant to be.[nih.gov]pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govImaging of Ancient Egyptian Animal Mummiesby LM McKnight · 2015 · Cited by 44 — Noninvasive imaging methods enable mummy bundles to…

Amazon book picks

Further Reading

Books and field guides related to Were Egypt's Animal Mummies Really Ancient Scams?. Use these as the next step if you want deeper reading beyond the article.

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Ancient Egypt

By Barry J. Kemp

Provides religious and social context for votive animal mummification.

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The Oxford Handbook of Egyptology

By Ian Shaw, Elizabeth Bloxam

Includes authoritative coverage of Egyptian religion and burial practices.

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Ancient Egypt On 5 Deben a Day

By Donald P Ryan

Helps explain how ritual practices can differ from modern assumptions.

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Mummies, Disease, and Ancient Cultures

By Aidan Cockburn, Eve Cockburn

Explores mummification practices and scientific examination of preserved remains.

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Browse more on Amazon:Ancient EgyptThe Oxford of Egyptology booksAncient Egypt On 5 Deben a Day

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Endnotes

1. Source: archaeology.org
Title: Magazine News
Link:https://archaeology.org/news/2015/05/11/150511-egyptian-animal-mummies/

2. Source: nature.com
Link:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-69726-0

3. Source: journals.librarypublishing.arizona.edu
Link:https://journals.librarypublishing.arizona.edu/jaei/article/1358/galley/1353/download/

4. Source: researchgate.net
Title: 329403691 Imaging the Gods animal mummies from Tomb 3508 North Saqqara Egypt
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329403691_Imaging_the_Gods_animal_mummies_from_Tomb_3508_North_Saqqara_Egypt

5. Source: history.com
Title: Scientists Reveal Inside Story of Ancient Egyptian Animal
Link:https://www.history.com/articles/scientists-reveal-inside-story-of-ancient-egyptian-animal-mummies

6. Source: augmentum.ch
Link:https://www.augmentum.ch/post/divine-creatures-year-one-highlights-from-the-british-museum-s-animal-mummies-project

7. Source: mdpi.com
Link:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/21/9882

8. Source: dokumen.pub
Link:https://dokumen.pub/imaging-applied-to-animal-mummification-in-ancient-egypt-9781407307190-9781407337203.html

9. Source: augmentum.ch
Title: British Museum: Animal Mummies in ancient Egypt
Link:https://www.augmentum.ch/post/british-museum-animal-mummies-in-ancient-egypt

10. Source: cambridge.org
Link:https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/imaging-the-gods-animal-mummies-from-tomb-3508-north-saqqara-egypt/D01E2D492C05E8EFEFBBE7EDC4C04584

11. Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329275892_Imaging_Applied_to_Animal_Mummification_in_Ancient_Egypt

12. Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/245026167_Looking_inside_votive_creatures_Computed_tomography_CT_scanning_of_ancient_egyptian_mummified_animals_in_iziko_museums_of_south_africa_A_preliminary_report

13. Source: youtube.com
Title: Fake Animals Mummified for Profit?: Inside Egypt’s Biggest Fraud
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zfh1AfGMUg

14. Source: youtube.com
Title: Ibis Mummy
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMgr0ARLnMw

15. Source: manchester.ac.uk
Title: bbc horizon egypts dark secret
Link:https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/bbc-horizon-egypts-dark-secret/

Published: May 2015

16. Source: gtr.ukri.org
Link:https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FP005047%2F1

17. Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26562240/

18. Source: smithsonianmag.com
Title: many animal mummies are just bundles rags 180955247
Link:https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/many-animal-mummies-are-just-bundles-rags-180955247/

19. Source: discovermagazine.com
Title: the animal mummy business 17930
Link:https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-animal-mummy-business-17930

20. Source: smithsonianmag.com
Title: scientists digitally unwrap ancient egyptian animal mummies 180975628
Link:https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-digitally-unwrap-ancient-egyptian-animal-mummies-180975628/

Additional References

21. Source: britishmuseum.org
Link:https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/projects/divine-creatures-animal-mummies-ancient-egypt

22. Source: youtube.com
Title: Why Did Ancient Egyptians Mummify Animals Along with Humans?
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP_8eRRvNoc

23. Source: facebook.com
Link:https://www.facebook.com/groups/davidattenboroughfanss/posts/3942684739336004/

24. Source: facebook.com
Link:https://www.facebook.com/groups/1331722814218106/posts/1584279428962442/

25. Source: nhm.ac.uk
Link:https://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/tring/animal-mummies-whats-inside-exhibition.html

26. Source: britishairways.com
Link:https://www.britishairways.com/travel/home/public/en_gb/

27. Source: britishmuseum.org
Link:https://www.britishmuseum.org/visit/family-visits/museum-missions/egyptian-death-and-afterlife-mummies

28. Source: britishmuseum.org
Link:https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/galleries/egyptian-death-and-afterlife-mummies

29. Source: reutersconnect.com
Link:https://www.reutersconnect.com/item/british-prime-minister-keir-starmer-speaks-at-london-tech-week-in-london/dGFnOnJldXRlcnMuY29tLDIwMjY6bmV3c21sX1JDMktQTEFSUzNYWQ

30. Source: reddit.com
Link:https://www.reddit.com/r/ancientegypt/comments/1ss9n26/this_egyptian_mummy_in_the_british_museum_has/