Anthropology: Cat mummy in Western Australian Museum a fake.
It is known that ancient Egyptians made counterfeit mummies, particularly of birds and cats who were given as offerings to the gods. In 1982 an X-ray of a cat mummy showed that it was a fake, probably made in the early 20th century. Staff of the Western Australia Museum who were custodians of the "mummy" were shocked and disappointed by the discovery.
A recent CT scan of the "mummy" highlights a human femur broken in the middle then molded to take the shape of a cat. The scan has been sent to Cairo for further study. To solve this problem once and for all a determination of its real age needs to be done. Why waste time looking and re-interpreting? The WA Museum is still so ashamed of the issue that is has never released a photo of the fake cat mummy nor will show the X-ray or scan to the public.
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| Genuine fake-cat mummy from Saqqara in Egyp |
Genuine mummies are on display today at the WA Museum with the Afterlife: Magic Mummies and Immortality in Ancient Egypt exhibition brought over from the British Museum. Let us hope that tests to verify age has been done on these ancient wrappings.
◆ Athropology by Ty Buchanan ◆
Australian Blog
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