Salima Ikram lecture about animal mummies

The Daily Texan

The animal mummy room in Cairo's Egyptian Museum fascinated Salima Ikram the first time she traveled to Egypt. Unfortunately, it had been shut down.

"I felt it needed rescuing," Ikram said with a laugh.

Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo and co-director of the Animal Mummy Project at the museum resurrected the room six years later.

The study of animal mummies can shed light on ancient Egyptian religious and cultural practices, Ikram said Wednesday to a packed audience in the E. William Doty Fine Arts Building.
While animals were an important part of Egyptian life, they were "not just lunch on hoof," Ikram said. The mummified remains can give information on veterinary science, changes in the environment, village beliefs and technology, she said.

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