Archaeology: Discovered nine mysterious crocodile heads hidden in Egyptian tombs

Nine crocodile heads buried for millennia in ancient Egyptian tombs have come to light. The discovery was made by a team of Polish researchers from the Center for Mediterranean Archeology of the University of Warsaw during excavations in the necropolis of Thebes, an ancient burial site in Upper Egypt located along the Nile, near the cities of Karnak and Luxor . The animal remains were hidden inside two tombs belonging to high-ranking officials who lived during Egypt’s New Kingdom, which spanned between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC. The archaeologists, who worked under the supervision of professor Patryk Chudzik, illustrated this “one of a kind” find in an article in the “Journal of African Archaeology”. Since 2013 Chudzik’s team has been examining two graves in the necropolis. One belonged to Cheti, a dignitary during the rule of Pharaoh Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II (2055 BC-2002 BC), the other to an unnamed royal court servant of relatively high status. Together the graves contained nine crocodile skulls, of the large variant native to the freshwater habitats of Egypt, wrapped in linen and, crucially, devoid of any form of preservation.

“This is a completely unusual find and the first of its kind in the history of research in Egypt,” Chudzik told Arkeonews. “We know of many crocodile mummies that have been found along the Nile. They are all whole crocodile mummies that have been deposited in specially prepared catacombs for sacred animals, in this case crocodiles or sacred animals of the god Sobek. Chudzik added that it is unprecedented that only the heads, and not the entire crocodile, were deposited in the tomb, and without first being mummified. Also, it is unusual to find crocodiles buried with humans, rather than in the catacombs of sacred animals. Crocodiles were sacred in ancient Egypt as favorite pets of the god Sobek, a deity whose associations included the Nile, fertility and military might. Sobek had a great cult during the three periods of Pharaonic Egypt, but reached the height of his prestige during the Middle Kingdom (2055 BC-1650 BC). The twelfth dynasty pharaoh Amenemhat III commissioned the construction of places of worship dedicated to Sobek and his image is clearly visible in the reliefs of the necropolis. According to Chudzik, more research is needed to unravel the mystery of the buried crocodile heads.