The invention of mummification enabled the ancient Egyptians to preserve the bodies not only of humans but also of animals, so that they could live forever. Mummified animals are of four different types: food offerings, pets, sacred animals, and votive offerings. For the first time, a series of studies on the different types of animal mummies, the methods of mummification, and the animal cemeteries located at sites throughout Egypt are drawn together in a definitive volume on ancient Egyptian animal mummies. Studies of these animals provide information not only about the fauna of the country, and indirectly, its climate, but also about animal domestication, veterinary practices, human nutrition, mummification technology, and the religious practices of the ancient Egyptians. A new postscript is included in this paperback edition, taking account of the latest discoveries and research. Contributors: Edda Bresciani, Aidan Dodson, Salima Ikram, Dieter Kessler, Abd el-Halim Nur el-Din, Paul Nicholson, Donald Redford, Susan Redford, Roger Lichtenberg, and Alain Zivie.
Divine Creatures
Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt
Edited by
Salima Ikram
14 November 2015
316 pp.
100 illus. incl. 60 in color
17X24cm
ISBN 9789774166969
For sale worldwide
$24.95
Related products
Anubis, Upwawet, and Other Deities
Personal Worship and Official Religion in Ancient Egypt
Supreme Council of AntiquitiesAncient Egyptian religion is immensely complex in its symbolism and in its intellectual and artistic depth. From the early times, certain animals, such as the cow, the falcon, and the snake, were closely associated with religion and with kingship. These animals are among the many embodiments of maginal power. This volume looks at the Egyptian attitude to animals, the jackal deities and their relationships, and the Salakhana stelae
...read more
1 May 2008
Paperback
80 pp.106 color illus.
21X29.5cm
$16.50
Ancient Nubia
African Kingdoms on the Nile
Edited by Marjorie M. FisherPeter Lacovara
Salima Ikram
Sue D’Auria
Photographs byChester Higgins Jr.
Foreword by Zahi Hawass
2012 American Publishers (PROSE) Awards winner for Best Archaeology & Anthropology Book
For most of the modern world, ancient Nubia seems an unknown and enigmatic land. Only a handful of archaeologists have studied its history or unearthed the Nubian cities, temples, and cemeteries that once dotted the landscape of southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Nubia’s remote setting in the midst of an inhospitable desert, with access by river blocked by impassable rapids, has lent it not only an air of mystery, but also isolated it from exploration. Over the past century, particularly during this last generation, scholars have begun to focus more attention on the fascinating cultures of ancient Nubia, ironically prompted by the construction of large dams that have flooded vast tracts of the ancient land. This book attempts to document some of what has recently been discovered about ancient Nubia, with its remarkable history, architecture, and culture, and thereby to give us a picture of this rich, but unfamiliar, African legacy.
...read more
6 September 2012
Hardbound
472 pp.200 color illus.
23X30cm
$75.00
Abydos
Egypt’s First Pharaohs and the Cult of Osiris
David O’ConnorAs both the burial place of the first pharaohs and a cult center for the god Osiris, Abydos was of immense importance to the ancient Egyptians for thousands of years and continues to yield spectacular discoveries. However, no full analysis of the site has been written in the last thirty years. Here David O’Connor provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive account of the site’s extraordinary history, as well as telling the story of his own excavations there. O’Connor himself has made some of the most remarkable finds of recent years, including a royal burial consisting of a fleet of fourteen boats, buried far out in the desert. This beautifully illustrated and authoritative book fills a significant gap in the literature on ancient Egypt and will be of interest both to students and to anyone who ever wondered about the origins of one of the greatest civilizations in world history.
...read more
Hardbound
216 pp.114 illus. incl. 11 color
19X25cm
$39.95
Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Egypte
Vol. 82
Supreme Council of AntiquitiesFor centuries, Egyptian civilization and its antiquities have inspired passionate interest. Archaeologists, engineers, astronomers, poets, painters, people of different cultures, and travelers have been riveted by Egypt’s ancient monuments. How much do we really know about these awe-inspiring wonders of the ancient world? This publication provides an up-to-date account of archaeology in the land of the pharaohs, including new discoveries and recent studies. This authoritative volume remains the definitive source for the findings of the various archaeological excavations undertaken in Egypt. For more than a hundred years, the Annales du Service has been studied by Egyptologists, students, and laypersons alike. Published under the auspices of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, its contributors include some of the most well-known Egyptologists in the world covering a broad range of archaeological disciplines and spectrums. This volume of the Supreme Council of Antiquities’s scholarly journal documents the latest excavations and projects at various sites throughout Egypt, including the Ammoneion project at Siwa Oasis, the Amenmesse project at Luxor, and the conservation of the monuments of Sneferu at Dahshur.
...read more
15 October 2010
Paperback
373 pp.21X29cm
$39.50