Mummified head of a cat
- Accession Number
- AB77a
- Current Location
- House of Life (first floor), Votive offerings case
- Object Type
- Organic remains, Mammal, Mammal mummy, Cat mummy
- Period
- Graeco-Roman Period
- Dynasty
- Ptolemaic Period
- Material
- Mummified remains (Animal remains)
- Number of Elements
- 1
- Animal
- Cat
Licensing details
- Description
-
A mummified cat head with its features drawn onto the bandages and false ears constructed. It is likely dating to the Graeco-Roman Period. It was a gift from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. The accompanying label states that it was presented to Aberystwyth by J. Bryan of Cairo. In the Graeco-Roman Period, cats were mummified and presented to the goddess Bastet, whose cult centre was at Bubastis. This object was Micro-CT scanned by Richard Johnston of the Engineering Department of Swansea University in 2014. It was found to contain a cat with a cracked skull. The object was featured on 11 May 2015 on BBC 2 Horizon Programme '70 million animal mummies: Egypt's dark secret'. See also AB77b, the body to which it belongs.
- Bibliography
-
Anonymous. 1996. The face of Egypt: Swansea Festival exhibition: 5 October 1996–5 January 1997. Swansea: Glynn Vivian Art Gallery. [Cat. 79] Johnston, Richard, Richard Thomas, Rhys Jones, Carolyn Graves-Brown, Wendy Goodridge, and Laura North 2020. Evidence of diet, deification, and death within ancient Egyptian mummified animals. Scientific Reports 10 (article no. 14113).
- Other Identity
- A241 (Aberystwyth number)
- Previous Owners
- University of Wales, Aberystwyth | Joseph Davies Bryan (1864–1935)
- Acquisition
- Gift, The University of Wales, Aberystwyth (24 Mar 1997)
- Last modified: 23 Mar 2022