Ancient Egyptians Didn’t Farm Ibises, They Just Mummified Them

The Egyptians mummified millions of ibises as offerings to the god Thoth. Now, scientists look at where all those birds came from.

By Leslie Nemo
Nov 13, 2019 8:30 PMNov 19, 2019 3:39 PM
Mummy-Ibis
Scene from the Books of the Dead (The Egyptian museum) showing the ibis-headed God Thoth recording the result of the final judgment. (Credit: Wasef et al, 2019)

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Ancient Egyptian catacombs stretch for kilometers underground. Branching off of the tunnels are rooms, and those rooms are stacked to the ceilings with jars holding more than 1 million mummified African sacred ibises.

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