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12 - The Nonhuman Primate Remains from the Baboon Catacomb at Saqqara in Egypt

from Part III - Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2022

By
Douglas Brandon-Jones  and
Jaap Goudsmit
Edited by
Bernardo Urbani ,
Dionisios Youlatos  and
Andrzej T. Antczak
Bernardo Urbani
Affiliation:
Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research
Dionisios Youlatos
Affiliation:
Aristotle University, Thessaloniki
Andrzej T. Antczak
Affiliation:
Universiteit Leiden
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Summary

After a rapid survey of the contents of the Baboon Catacomb at Saqqara in Egypt, most of the remains of an estimated 180 monkey individuals (the surviving 40%) were temporarily removed for further study. The predominant species is Papio anubis, but 21 Macaca sylvanus and 2 Chlorocebus aethiops were present. Late Dynastic Egyptians employed a unique method of encasing linen-wrapped baboon mummies in plaster at the catacomb, but most of the monkey corpses were probably macerated before interment. Most of the skulls show symptoms of dietary deficiency or sunlight deprivation; some show signs of violence. The disproportionate male representation indicates that little breeding occurred. Males were probably preferred because of human reverence for the characteristic sitting posture, often with penis erect, that monkeys adopt when advertising land occupancy. Humans once displayed in a similar manner, later using effigies as stand-ins, but as civilization developed, this territorial behavior was suppressed.

Keywords:

Cage paralysis, Herodotus, Imhotep, Osteomalacia, Sun worship, Thoth

Type
Chapter
Information
World Archaeoprimatology
Interconnections of Humans and Nonhuman Primates in the Past
 , pp. 310 - 353
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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