It’s a Wrap! Bandaging Patterns on Animal Mummies from Ancient Egypt

Le résumé fourni par la source

The ancient Egyptians not only mummified humans, but also a large variety of other species. These animal mummies, given as votive offerings to the gods, are now found in museums throughout the world. Often collected as curiosities, they were also valued for their elaborate bandaging. While the past two decades have seen an increase of interest in studying these mummies’ production and role in Egyptian culture, economy and religion, there is no standard way of describing them. This article, based on research carried out in several museums and archaeological sites, is an initial step in addressing this issue and aims to lay the foundations of a typology to be adopted by other scholars in the field. This will facilitate comparisons in bandage descriptions, which in turn will contribute to an understanding of diachronic change in styles, if any, and to the identification of specific ateliers or geographic variations, as well as establishing whether specific styles of wrapping were favoured for particular species.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.