New study suggests the ancient Egyptians cared for domesticated cats as long ago as 5700 years ago

By SARAH GRIFFITHS
DAILYMAIL
March 6, 2014

     In brief:
     --Researchers from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences said a cat skeleton     
     indicates humans cared for cats in 3,700BC
     --It's long been thought cats were first domesticated by the Egyptians, but a recent study 
     found Chinese farmers also kept them as pets in 3,300BC
     --DNA studies suggest most domestic cats today are descendants of the near eastern 
     wildcat, which still lives in northern Africa and the Middle East
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dogs may be known as man’s best friend, but cats have also been enjoying the company of humans for longer than previously thought.

The skeleton of a cat believed to have been cared for by humans indicates that the ancient Egyptians kept felines as pets in 3,700BC. It has long been thought cats were first domesticated by the Egyptians, but a recent study found that Chinese farmers also kept them as pets as long ago as 3,300BC.

The skeleton of a cat believed to have been cared for by humans indicates that the ancient Egyptians kept felines as pets in 3,700BC. DNA studies suggest that most of the 600million domestic cats today are descendants of the near eastern wildcat (pictured), which still lives in northern Africa and the Middle East

Until recently, it was thought that cats were first domesticated in ancient Egypt in around 1,950BC, but this new research sheds new light on humans’ relationship with cats. ‘It is clear that there was a close relationship with humans that predate the oldest accepted evidence for domestic cat in Egypt by almost two millennia,’ said Wim Van Neer of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, who led the study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

The discovery at the crux of their study was a group burial at the cemetery of Hierakonpolis, which was once a large city predating the pyramids, Pacific Standard reported. Skeletons dating from 3,700BC included a small jungle cat, with a healed bone fracture, indicating it had ‘been tended to for several weeks prior to its sacrifice,’ according to the archaeologists.

They believe the find proves that the cat was domestic – at least for the latter part of its life and measurements of the bones strengthen their case. The same cemetery also yielded another six cats, which were apparently killed as part of a religious ritual. The cats came from three or four different litters.

‘If all these animals are supposed to be taken from the wild, four different captures must be accepted. It seems unlikely that sufficient opportunities for successful capture would have occurred in a short period of time prior to the sacrifice. For that reason, it seems that at least some of the cats may have been kept in captivity prior to the burial,’ they wrote.

While there is a chance that the cats were wild but lived nearby the human settlement, the researchers believe that felines still had a close connection with humans over five millennia ago.

It was announced in December that the bodies of cats found at a dig at a village in Shaanxi province in central China dated back 5,300 years – re-writing cats and humans’ joint history.
Dr Fiona Marshall, of Washington University in St Louis said analysis including radiocarbon dating of bones suggested the cats preyed on rodents that lived on farmed millet.

These cat mummies date from the first century AD and are 

associated with the goddess Bastet

The team analysed eight bones from at least two cats excavated from the site. One of the cats had old bones - suggesting it had survived well into old age in the village. Another was shown to have eaten fewer animals and more millet than expected, suggesting it had been fed by the villagers. Dr Marshall, who studied the site with scientists from Chinese universities, suggested that the cats were domesticated to control the villagers’ rat problem.

Our data suggests that cats were attracted to ancient farming villages by small animals, such as rodents that were living on the grain that the farmers grew, ate and stored,' she said. ‘Results of this study show that the village of Quanhucun was a source of food for the cats 5,300 years ago, and the relationship between humans and cats was commensal, or advantageous for the cats.

‘Even if these cats were not yet domesticated, our evidence confirms that they lived in close proximity to farmers, and that the relationship had mutual benefits.’ DNA studies suggest that most of the estimated 600million domestic cats around the world today are descendants of the near eastern wildcat, which still lives in northern Africa and the Middle East.

An Ancient Egyptian archaeological marvel: 2400 yr old mummy embalming instrument discovered still INSIDE mummy skull

Tool used by ancient Egyptians to remove BRAINS discovered in the skull of a 2,400 year old mummy- after it was LEFT INSIDE by bumbling embalmer

• Scientists were baffled by discovery of object in mummy's brain
• It turned out to be a brain removal tool made out of a bamboo-type plant
• Researchers say this is only the second time a tool of this kind has been found in a mummy's skull

By HARRIET COOKE
DAILYMAIL
December 16, 2012

A brain-removal tool used by ancient Egyptian embalmers was found wedged in the skull of a female mummy after embalmers left it there thousands of years ago. The three-inch object was located in the body of a 40-year-old woman dating back 2,400 years, initially causing bafflement among researchers over what it was. After carrying out CT scans, scientists found the instrument between the left parietal bone and the back of the skull, which had been filled with resin during the mummification.


Analysed: The mummy had a brain removal tool lodged in its skull

Keen to examine the tool, the team used an endoscope - a thin tube often used for noninvasive medical procedures - to detach it from the resin to which it was stuck.

Discovery: Scientists found a bamboo brain
removal tool lodged in skull of the mummy

Embalmers would have inserted it through a hole punched in the skull near to the nose, and used it to liquify and remove the brain.

In an interview with the website LiveScience, Dr Mislav Čavka, of the University Hospital Dubrava in Zagreb Croatia, explained the tool was cut using a clamp through the endoscope.
'Some parts (of the brain) would be wrapped around this stick and pulled out, and the other parts would be liquefied,' Dr Čavka said.

The mummy could then be turned onto its front and the liquid drained through the nose hole.

'It is an error that [the] embalmers left this stick in the skull,' she said.

The mistake made thousands of years ago has helped researchers to understand the ancient embalming process.

The tool was made from plants in the group Monocotyledon, which includes forms of palm and bamboo, which may have been used instead of metal because it was cheaper.

The only other brain-removal stick found inside a mummy's skull dates back 2,200 years and was made from a similar type of material.The details emerged in a report recently published by Dr Mislav Čavka's team in the journal RSNA RadioGraphics.

The mummy is currently in the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb Croatia. It was brought to Croatia in the 19th century without a coffin and it is not known where the woman was from or how she died. It is known that mummification was widely practiced throughout ancient Egyptian civilization, but it was a time-consuming and costly practice.

'Thus, not every­one could afford to perform the same mummifi­cation procedure," the researchers wrote in the article.


Brittle: The tool was in a fragile condition after experts removed it with an endoscope

Pharaonic rule traced back to 5,000 years ago in stunning discovery in Southern Egypt

'The beginning of history': Oldest known depictions of a Pharaoh dating back more than 5,000 years found in southern Egypt

• Carvings on rock faces are the earliest indication of royal power in Egypt
• They show Pharaoh riding boats in what is thought to be tax-collecting tour
• First found in the 1890s, they were rediscovered in 2008 and have just been described in a scientific journal for the first time

By DAMIEN GAYLE
DAILYMAIL
December 12, 2012

The oldest known representations of a Pharaoh dating back as far as 3200BC have been found carved on rocks near the Nile River in southern Egypt, a new study claims.

Researchers say the engravings on rock faces in the desert four miles north of the Aswan Dam are the earliest found indication of royal power in the country.

The images of a Pharaoh riding boats with attendant prisoners and animals offer a window on Dynasty 0, they say, and show the moment pre-Dynastic Egypt was first captured by the rule of a single monarch.


The royal boat procession: This image, heavily damaged in recent times, shows the earliest known image of a ruler wearing the 'White Crown', one of the earliest symbols of Egyptian dynastic power


Traced: The researchers copy of the carving shows the detail of the picture more clearly

'It's really the end of pre-history and the beginning of history,' study researcher Maria Gatto, of Yale University, told LiveScience.

Researchers found seven carvings around the area, many of which are tableaux of boats flanked by prisoners.

On of the most extensive shows the earliest known image of a ruler wearing the 'White Crown', one of the earliest symbols of Egyptian dynastic power, as he travels in ceremonial processions and on sickle-shaped boats.

Falcon and bull insignia on the Pharaoh's boat indicate royalty, which is emphasized by by the four men standing alongside it holding ropes - most likely to tow it along the Nile.

The cycle of images is said to be the first with hieroglyphic annotation, with one on this particular scene labeling it a 'nautical following'.

This the researchers say, is likely related to the royal and ritual event known as the 'Following of Horus', a biennial tax-collection tour made by the royal court to stamp its authority on the country.


Symbolism: These are animal representations, with mythological animals on the right


The same picture as it appears after being traced by the researchers


A general view of both tableaux: The site was discovered in the southern Egyptian desert, 4km north of the Aswan High Dam

Other carvings include pastoral scenes of cattle herding and a cluster of animals, two of which appear to be mythical part-lion creatures.

'The theme of catching and bringing up wild animals is most important for pre-Dynastic times,' the researchers said.

'Although archaeozoological studies show that hunting was only of marginal economic importance during pre-Dynastic times hunting was part of the elite lifestyle, and slaughtering wild animals on the occasion of religious festivals or elite burials allowed the upper echelons of society to show their importance in real life.'

Other animals shown are familiar native African species, including ostriches, an ibex and a bull - the latter of which is shown 'dominating' the animals around it and is said to be a royal symbol.

Another tableau shows people brewing and drinking beer, perhaps in reference to some kind of festival.


This carving shows a boat with three men, probably prisoners, behind and slightly below the stern: Researchers found seven carvings around the area, many of which are tableaux of boats flanked by prisoners

First recorded in the 1890s by the archaeologist Archibald Sayce, the carvings were lost to Egyptologists until the Sixties, when Egyptian archaeologist Labib Habachi found and photographed them, but never published his work.

It was after seeing one of these pictures that Ms Gatto led a team of international researchers that rediscovered them in 2008, despite fears they had been destroyed in the interim

The study published in the most recent issue of Antiquity is the first to offer a detailed description of the carvings.

Ms Gatto told LiveScience that the style of the carvings and the kinds of hieroglyphics dated the images to between 3200BC and 3100BC, around the time of the reign of Narmer who was the first Pharaoh to unify Upper and Lower Egypt.

'It seems that for Narmer it was important first to settle the situation in the South, to control the South, and then apparently move to the North, and at that time he unified Egypt and we have the first dynasty,' she said.

Read more:
Oldest Pharaoh Carvings Discovered in Egypt | LiveScience

Khufu Reborn Interactive–The Guided Tour

Posted by: Shemsu Sesen
EM HOTEP
July 14, 2011

If you weren’t able to make it to the premier of Khufu Reborn, the second episode of Jean-Pierre Houdin’s theory of how the Great Pyramid of Khufu was built, then you are in luck—the full presentation is now available on the web, courtesy of Dassault Systèmes! This isn’t just a dry lecture with some slides, this is the full 3D presentation, with narration.

In addition to providing the full simulation illustrating Jean-Pierre’s theory in detail, the Khufu Reborn universe is interactive. You can actually navigate you way around the Giza Plateau of 4,500 years ago. But if you aren’t ready to dive into Khufu’s world just yet, this Em Hotep tour and tutorial will equip you for the journey.

On January 27, 2011, Khufu Reborn premiered at La Géode in Paris, France. This was the official launch of Episode Two of Jean-Pierre Houdin’s work with the Great Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu. The presentation was a stunning larger than life 3D simulation of the Giza Plateau, the pyramid, and a detailed explanation of Jean-Pierre’s theory. But if you were unable to attend the premier, Dassault Systèmes has brought it to you, right to your desktop.

Now you can log on to the Project Khufu section of the Dassault Systèmes website, download a small plugin, and see the presentation in its entirety, but with an advantage those of us in attendance did not have—at any point during the presentation you can take control and travel to anyplace in the Khufu Reborn universe to look at things in as much detail as you wish. Here is the link to the site:

Click Here to Go Back 4,500 Years to Khufu’s Egypt!

The Khufu Reborn online interactive simulation is rendered in such detail that it really has to be seen to be believed. And despite having all of the eye-popping graphics and navigational freedom of a cutting edge first-person video game, this universe is not by any stretch make-believe. The environment is based on accurate surveys of the Giza Plateau and the pyramid itself, with the clock turned back 4,500 years. Ancient details, based on up-to-date archaeological evidence, have been recreated in a way that lets you move through the Giza Plateau of Khufu and his Master Builder, Hemienu.

                       
Khufu Reborn... The 2011 interactive conference by Dassault Systèmes from Mehdi Tayoubi on Vimeo.

Revisit history, and watch the original discovery by JP Houdin - Khufu Revealed

Rare new head of Queen Nefertiti discovered

Editor`s note: The new head bust of Nefertiti discovered (below left) has the slender facial features of my cousin sister Nusrat Akhter - most notably the high arched cheek bones, slender yet graceful facial lines and contour with a prominent chin. The lips also are also uncanny in capturing the sense of pouting and with an outward philtrum along the upper lip. Not bad for being synonymous with the 'most beautiful woman in the world.' This is to my readers who are associated with my family in knowing my cousin sister - RA [Rubaiat`s Blog]

by Judith Weingarten
June 2, 2012
Just breaking news: a new head of Nefertiti has been identified (left).

This, we now must acknowledge, is a head of the famous Queen Nefertiti, wife of the pharaoh Akhenaten (1353-1336 BCE). After some serious detective work, Dr Christian E. Loeben, Egyptologist at the August Kestner Museum in Hanover, Germany, has established its true and fascinating identity. It had been thought, wrongly as it now turns out, that this fragment of a face depicted the unisex pharaoh himself.

Dr Loeben has been able to demonstrate convincingly that it is in fact the illustrious queen, whose most famous portrait is the polychrome bust kept in the Berlin Museum (below left).

It measures barely 5.5 cm (2.2") in height, but the red-brown quartzite* head is a tiny masterpiece of Egyptian art.

"Until now, no Egyptologist had noticed that at the time of Pharaoh Akhenaten, only women's portraits were done in quartzite. Nefertiti is the only possible option for this remarkably fine miniature portrait," says Loeben.

"This is a truly sensational discovery," chimes in Dr Christian Bayer, Egyptologist at the University of Munster and specialist in Nefertiti: "It is very exciting to be able to add this extraordinary piece to the relatively limited collection of statues of Nefertiti."

The fact that this discovery has taken place this year is all the more remarkable given that it is exactly one hundred years since the German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt found the world-famous bust of Nefertiti (left) in 1912, during his excavations at Tell el-Amarna, the new capital city founded by Akhenaten:

Suddenly we had the most alive Egyptian artwork in our hands, Ludwig Borchardt wrote in his diary for 1912. You cannot describe it with words. You can only see it.

That "most beautiful woman in the world" now reigns over the Neues Museum in Berlin, enthroned alone in a domed room that overlooks the length of the Museum.

The small quartzite head, on the contrary, is secluded in a private collection in Europe and is therefore not normally accessible to the public.

Illustrations:

• Upper left: photograph from the EEF BBS website (submitted by Raymond Betz). Photo credit: Alain Speltdoorn.

• Below left: Welt Online.

(click here to read the full article and updates to the discovery on Zenobia)

Rare new head of Nefertiti discovered

Editor`s note: The new head bust of Nefertiti discovered (below left) has the slender facial features of my cousin sister Nusrat Akhter - most notably the high arched cheek bones, slender yet graceful facial lines and contour with a prominent chin. The lips also are also uncanny in capturing the sense of pouting and with an outward philtrum along the upper lip. Not bad for being synonymous with the 'most beautiful woman in the world.' This is to my readers who are associated with my family in knowing my cousin sister - RA [Rubaiat`s Blog]

by Judith Weingarten
June 2, 2012
Just breaking news: a new head of Nefertiti has been identified (left).

This, we now must acknowledge, is a head of the famous Queen Nefertiti, wife of the pharaoh Akhenaten (1353-1336 BCE). After some serious detective work, Dr Christian E. Loeben, Egyptologist at the August Kestner Museum in Hanover, Germany, has established its true and fascinating identity. It had been thought, wrongly as it now turns out, that this fragment of a face depicted the unisex pharaoh himself.

Dr Loeben has been able to demonstrate convincingly that it is in fact the illustrious queen, whose most famous portrait is the polychrome bust kept in the Berlin Museum (below left).

It measures barely 5.5 cm (2.2") in height, but the red-brown quartzite* head is a tiny masterpiece of Egyptian art.

"Until now, no Egyptologist had noticed that at the time of Pharaoh Akhenaten, only women's portraits were done in quartzite. Nefertiti is the only possible option for this remarkably fine miniature portrait," says Loeben.

"This is a truly sensational discovery," chimes in Dr Christian Bayer, Egyptologist at the University of Munster and specialist in Nefertiti: "It is very exciting to be able to add this extraordinary piece to the relatively limited collection of statues of Nefertiti."

The fact that this discovery has taken place this year is all the more remarkable given that it is exactly one hundred years since the German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt found the world-famous bust of Nefertiti (left) in 1912, during his excavations at Tell el-Amarna, the new capital city founded by Akhenaten:

Suddenly we had the most alive Egyptian artwork in our hands, Ludwig Borchardt wrote in his diary for 1912. You cannot describe it with words. You can only see it.

That "most beautiful woman in the world" now reigns over the Neues Museum in Berlin, enthroned alone in a domed room that overlooks the length of the Museum.

The small quartzite head, on the contrary, is secluded in a private collection in Europe and is therefore not normally accessible to the public.

Illustrations:

• Upper left: photograph from the EEF BBS website (submitted by Raymond Betz). Photo credit: Alain Speltdoorn.

• Below left: Welt Online.

(click here to read the full article and updates to the discovery on Zenobia)