Mummified baboons: the mystery of ancient Egypt finally unravelled

Mummified baboons were likely imported to ancient Egypt from distant regions and held in captivity, a new study reports as it looked into the long-standing mystery of how they were found so far from their natural habitat.

Previous findings of baboons mummified in Egypt have confused researchers as the primate is not native to Egypt, and there is no evidence the animal inhabited the region in the past. It was presumed that the primates were offerings from the people, as the animal representing Thoth, the god of learning and wisdom, among the various deities portrayed as animals in ancient Egypt.

But new research from eLife suggests that baboons were likely imported from distant regions and kept in captivity in ancient Egypt before they were mummified. Their findings reveal the primates had their dangerous canine teeth removed, and traced the region the baboons originated by analysing the genome in the mitochondria of the animal mummies.

They also revealed the extent to which ancient Egyptians had contact with exotic animals, even though it still remains unclear what made these primates special to people in ancient Egypt.

One of the mummies analysed in the new study was excavated in 1905 in the “Valley of the Monkeys” and now lives in the Musée des Confluences in Lyon. The mummy was dated between 800 and 500 BCE in the Late Period of ancient Egypt.

Its genome was compared with those across the continent. Study co-author Gisela Kopp.“We have comparative samples from almost all regions where baboons live today."

The word "Punt" is an ancient region from which Egypt imported luxury goods for centuries and is listed as the baboons’ place of origin but the exact location of this place remains unknown. “Egyptologists have long puzzled over Punt, since some scholars have seen it as a location in early global maritime trade networks, and thus the starting point for economic globalization,” Dr Kopp said.

New genetic analysis pointed to the of the mummy specimen to a region in the northeast African country Eritrea. This country was also known as Adulis and served as a trading hub for luxury goods and animals. However, recent findings suggest Punt and Adulis are two different names for the same place used at different points in time.

“It was only after we put our biological findings in the context of historical research that the story really came together,” Dr Kopp said.