By: Bryan Li
2500-year-old crocodile mummies were found at the Qubat al-Hawa, a small tomb on the Nile River’s west bank. The crocodiles were likely mummified to honor Sobek, an Egyptian god of fertility.
We know that crocodiles were important to the Ancient Egyptians. Crocodiles provided for meat for food and skin for clothing, and even fat for balms to cure pain and stiffness. Mummified animals such as cats were also common in tombs, so what made finding crocodiles special?
Bea De Cupere, an archaeozoologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, says that “Most of the time I’m dealing with fragments, with broken things. More than 20 burial sites with crocodile mummies are known in Egypt, but to find 10 well-preserved crocodile mummies together in an undisturbed tomb is extraordinary,” Five of crocodiles discovered were heads, one was almost complete, and the others were all somewhere in between. One crocodile was so well preserved that river stones were found in its stomach, indicating that the Egyptians had not cut open the crocodile.
The crocodiles had small traces of linen around them, but no resin,
meaning that they were mummified during the Ptolemaic period before resin and bitumen were used. The reptiles were likely killed by suffocation or dehydration, then buried in sand pits to undergo natural mummification before dug up and brought to the temple. This was completely unique, as no other specimen preserved like this has been found. The linen process allowed for the crocodiles to be studied easily without having to resort to CT scans and radiographs.
By studying the shape of the crocodiles’ skeletons, the majority of the crocodiles were determined to be Crocodylus suchus, which was a relatively passive crocodile, one you could in theory swim with and get out alive. The ancient Egyptians must have known this, because almost all of the mummified crocodiles were the more passive ones.
De Cupere says that this discovery is so wonderful because it makes us question “what we know, or think we know” about the ancient Egyptians and their practices, and that it raises more questions than it answers, giving people motivation to keep looking for answers. This discovery has given us more information about the Ancient Egyptians and their religious practices, but also creates questions we cannot yet answer. What did the citizens view this tomb as? How did they catch the crocodiles if their bodies were mostly unharmed? The Ancient Egyptians knew things we don’t, and researchers are trying to find out what that is.