by To date, thousands of animal mummies have been found in Egypt. But while there are millions of mummified cats, dogs, ibises and birds of prey, primate mummies are rare – and little understood.
Now, a new analysis of mummified baboons is shedding light on the animals’ place in ancient Egypt, revealing that although they were revered as sacred animals, their living conditions were less than ideal.
Researchers analyzed the bones of mummified baboons, which were discovered in the early 1900s in the necropolis Gabbanat el-Qurud, in the so-called Valley of the Monkeys, southwest of the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. The bones represented many individual baboons – from infants to adults – of two species: the hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas) and the olive baboon (Papio anubis).
These species were not native to Egypt – they were imported from two regions: “the olive baboon from the south (today’s Sudan), and the hamadryas baboon from mountainous areas bordering the Red Sea, in Sudan and south to the Eritrea, Somalia. and Ethiopia,” said lead study author Wim Van Neer, professor emeritus at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels. “The exact locations still need to be documented in more detail,” Van Neer told CNN in an email.
Of all the animals the ancient Egyptians were proud of, baboons were the only ones not native to Egypt, Van Neer said.
Baboons are thought to have played a role in ancient Egyptian rituals, scientists reported Wednesday in the journal PLOS One. But raising and caring for large wild animals – especially non-native species – is challenging. Before their deaths the baboons were exposed to sunlight and developed bone diseases due to poor nutrition, researchers found. Examination of the skeletal remains showed signs of rickets; the baboons had deformed hands, feet and faces, underdeveloped teeth, osteoarthritis and other pathologies caused by deprivation and metabolic diseases.
Their absence was similar to those seen in baboon bones from two ancient Egyptian sites – Saqqara and Tuna el-Gebel – dating around the same period, the authors wrote.
“This highly technical and applied study confirms the results of several earlier investigations into the health status of baboons in Ancient Egypt,” said Dr. Salima Ikram, Distinguished Professor of Egyptology from the American University of Cairo, who was not involved in the research. “More importantly, it also confirms that different types of baboons were brought to Egypt and raised in Egypt,” Ikram told CNN in an email. “It’s amazing to think that the ancient Egyptians tried to establish a breeding program of baboons so that they could be revered as well as used in religious rituals.”
Slot bones
At the three main Egyptian sites where mummies of Old World monkeys were buried, 463 mummified primates were found, according to the study. The baboon bones examined for the new analysis were collected in 1905 and 1906 by archaeologists from the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Lyon in France (now the Musée des Confluences).
In the tombs there were pieces of dried skin with long tufts of hair still attached, suggesting that the animals were buried there as mummies. French archaeologists recovered 23 skulls, 24 mandibles and more than 200 isolated bones, which were assembled into complete skeletons regardless of whether all the bones belonged to the same baboon, according to the study.
Two skeletons were assembled from the bones of two different baboons, and one skeleton was three of the primates. Of the four correctly assembled skeletons, only one had the correct skull. After analyzing the bones one by one, the study authors identified 36 different baboons of all ages, a set with more adults than juveniles and a few more males than females.
The bones also revealed signs of metabolic problems during adolescent growth, including curved shafts, misshapen shaft heads and arthritic joints. Two female baboons suffered from tooth decay. There were lesions in some of the skulls; Two of the primates had shortened snouts, and two others had chins that bent to the left.
The mummies were also hundreds of years older than previously thought. Based on the proximity of the mummies to nearby ceramic artifacts in the tombs, earlier estimates placed them between the first and second centuries at the earliest, and possibly as late as the seventh century.
But when the study authors examined bone collagen and fibers from textiles wrapped around intact baboon mummies, they found that the animals were likely buried between 803 and 520 BC. The researchers confirmed that time frame using a technique called radiocarbon dating, which can determine the age of organic matter by measuring the amount of decay in a radioactive isotope of carbon.
Sacred and avoidable suffering
Conditions for the captive primates may have been even worse than their remains suggest, as bones often do not preserve records of parasites and other forms of illness, the researchers reported.
However, it is important to note that the scientists’ findings do not indicate that the baboons were being abused on purpose. Their keepers probably did their best to take care of the animals, “but this must not have been easy,” Van Neer said.
“Baboons are good climbers so they were probably kept in buildings or enclosures with high walls to prevent them from escaping. Because of the lack of sunlight they developed the metabolic disorders we see, mainly rickets. There are no signs of broken bones to suggest that the animals were mistreated,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the Egyptians did not know enough about the care and feeding of baboons,” Ikram added. “While trying to respect and care for them they actually created conditions that would harm the health and welfare of animals – the road to Hell is paved with good intentions!”
Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine.
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