Cats, Commerce, and Cemeteries: The Mummified Felines of Beni Hasan

Abstract

In February 1890, the remains of around 180,000 mummified cats, weighing about 19.5 tons, were sent from Alexandria to Liverpool and sold at auction to be used as agricultural fertiliser. The mummies originated from a cemetery at Beni Hasan in Egypt. Analysis of contemporary reports in the British press allows this event to be examined in some detail, from the initial discovery of the cemetery and its commercial exploitation locally and internationally, to the popular and academic responses to it. The episode can also be linked to the wider commercial exploitation of mummified remains from ancient Egypt, including as tourist souvenirs, items in private collections, and their acquisition by public museums. Press reports reflected contemporary European attitudes to ancient and modern Egypt, but also domestic concerns with agricultural productivity. [Formula: see text]