Crocodiles have been seen as a sacred animal in ancient Egyptian culture for thousands of years as they were considered earthly vessels for the god Sobek. As one of the oldest gods mentioned in the Pyramid Texts (dating to the Old Kingdom, 2686 to 2181 BCE), Sobek was associated with fertility, chaos, and of course, crocodiles. Crocodiles were some of the most ferocious animals present in the daily lives of the ancient Egyptians and thus it comes to no surprise that people would have wished to avoid a negative encounter with these life threatening reptiles. Because of this, it was a common practice to bury whole crocodile mummies within temple catacombs along the Nile as votive offerings to Sobek in order to gain good favor with the crocodiles in the area. Archaeologists have long been uncovering these sacred mummies in various sites across Egypt but it was a recent discovery of a cache of nine crocodile heads that truly stunned Egyptian archaeologists.
Since 2013, an archaeological team has been excavating two New Kingdom tombs of high officials in the Theban necropolis (modern day Luxor) near the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. The tombs belong to a man named Cheti, a dignitary during the rule of Pharaoh Nebhepetra Mentuhotep II (2055 BCE–2002 BCE), and to a currently unknown high status individual of the royal court thought to be a vizier under the same aforementioned pharaoh.
Among the grave goods in the tombs, nine linen wrapped crocodile heads have been uncovered. Analysis of these remains have revealed that the heads belonged to the largest and most dangerous crocodile species in Africa, Crocodylus Niloticus (Nile Crocodile). These nine crocodiles were a mixture of adults and adolescents with the largest one measuring around five meters from tail to snout. Animal remains are not uncommon to find within the context of a human burial but those animals (typically dogs, felines such as cats and lions, snakes, baboons, and even horses) were traditionally mummified. These crocodile remains, however, do not show any signs of preservation and are not animals which would have been buried among people but instead within temples which makes this discovery the first of its kind.
The presence of these crocodile remains have led to various hypotheses such as either the heads may have been meant as symbols of the god Sobek in order to get magical protection for the deceased; or perhaps the remains may have been earthly possessions, such as trophies, used to denote the high status of the individuals.
Nevertheless, archaeologists are now speculating whether other mortuary crocodile deposits are a possibility, or whether this tomb is truly unique in its grave goods. As the research on this find is still ongoing, we do expect more information to come forth.
Text: Megan Kumorek. MENAM Archaeology. Copyright 2023.
Images:
Image 1: Fragments of mandibles from the crocodile remains. PCMA UW
Image 2: Tomb of Cheti. M. Jawornicki/ PCMA UW
Further Reading:
Chudzik, P., and Iwaszczuk, U. (2022). “A Crocodile Spirit, Crocodile-Faced”: Discovery of Crocodile Remains in the Early Middle Kingdom Tombs of the North Asasif Necropolis in Western Thebes (Egypt). Journal of African Archaeology 20, 1, 107-124, Available From: Brill https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10016 [Accessed 05 March 2023]
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