Mitogenomic diversity in Sacred Ibis Mummies sheds light on early Egyptian practices

Sally Wasef; Sankar Subramanian; Richard O'Rorke; Leon Huynen; Samia El-Marghani; Caitlin Curtis; Alex Popinga; Barbara Holland; Salima Ikram; Craig Millar; Eske Willerslev; David Lambert

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0223964

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Mitogenomic diversity in Sacred Ibis Mummies sheds light on early Egyptian practices

Journal article

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Mitogenomic diversity in Sacred Ibis Mummies sheds light on early Egyptian practices

Sally Wasef, Sankar Subramanian, Richard O'Rorke, Leon Huynen, Samia El-Marghani, Caitlin Curtis, Alex Popinga, Barbara Holland, Salima Ikram, Craig Millar, …

PLoS One, Vol.14(11), e0223964

2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223964

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Abstract

The ancient catacombs of Egypt harbor millions of well-preserved mummified Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) dating from ~600BC. Although it is known that a very large number of these 'votive' mummies were sacrificed to the Egyptian God Thoth, how the ancient Egyptians obtained millions of these birds for mummification remains unresolved. Ancient Egyptian textual evidences suggest they may have been raised in dedicated large-scale farms. To investigate the most likely method used by the priests to secure birds for mummification, we report the first study of complete mitochondrial genomes of 14 Sacred Ibis mummies interred ~2500 years ago. We analysed and compared the mitogenomic diversity among Sacred Ibis mummies to that found in modern Sacred Ibis populations from throughout Africa. The ancient birds show a high level of genetic variation comparable to that identified in modern African populations, contrary to the suggestion in ancient hieroglyphics (or ancient writings) of centralized industrial scale farming of sacrificial birds. This suggests a sustained short-term taming of the wild migratory Sacred Ibis for the ritual yearly demand.

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Title: Mitogenomic diversity in Sacred Ibis Mummies sheds light on early Egyptian practices
Authors: Sally Wasef (Author) - Griffith University
Sankar Subramanian (Author) - Griffith University
Richard O'Rorke (Author) - Griffith University
Leon Huynen (Author) - Griffith University
Samia El-Marghani (Author) - Ministry of Antiquities, Egypt
Caitlin Curtis (Author) - Griffith University
Alex Popinga (Author) - University of Auckland, New Zealand
Barbara Holland (Author) - University of Tasmania
Salima Ikram (Author) - American University in Cairo, Egypt
Craig Millar (Author) - University of Auckland, New Zealand
Eske Willerslev (Author) - University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
David Lambert (Author) - Griffith University
Publication details: PLoS One, Vol.14(11), e0223964; 15
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Date published: 2019
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223964
ISSN: 1932-6203
Copyright note: Copyright © 2019 Wasef et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Organisation Unit: School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450739902621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Evolutionary Biology