Young souvenir vendor walks along an almost empty road to the Giza pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. (AP-Yonhap News)
When people think of Egypt’s representative animal, they usually think of cats. But they may change their minds, as about 8 million dogs were found in an underground tunnel in northern part of the country.
The Daily Mail reported that scientists from Cardiff University investigated the underground network of Saqqara desert and found the stunning remains.
The structure was composed of one central pathway along with other many smaller roads stretching out. Pilgrims bought puppies from farms, and made them into mummies.
Some of the dogs found were made into mummies only a few hours after birth. It is assumed that the mummies were made and treated as a symbol of Anubis, one of the gods of the dead.
Anubis, from Egyptian myth, has the head of jackal and the body of human.
“These animals were not strictly ‘sacrificial.’ Rather, the dedication of an animal mummy was regarded as a pious act, with the animal acting as an intermediary between the donor and the gods,” Dr. Paul Nicholson from the university’s School of History Archaeology and Religion told the Daily Mail.
It is assumed that the practice was stopped after the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 B.C.
By Kang Yoon-seung (koreacolin@gmail.com)
Intern reporter
