Egypt’s Mummified Baboons : Discovery
Origin of Egypt’s mummified baboons has been finally cracked recently.
- The scientists have recently retrieved ancient mitochondrial DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) from a mummified baboon found at the Gabbanat el-Qurud site in Egypt, which will help discover its origin.
- The Egyptian god Thoth was represented by a baboon which is odd because baboons aren’t native to Egypt.
- In 1905, Egyptologists Louis Lortet and Claude Gaillard discovered mummified baboons in Gabbanat el-Qurud.
- Gabbanat el-Qurud is also known as the ‘Valley of the Monkeys’.
- The baboons belonged to the ancient city of Adulis in present-day coastal Eritrea, a trade centre between the 1st and 7th centuries AD.
- The lost city of Punt can be one of the potential locations of its origin.
- The city of Punt was mentioned in accounts of Greco-Roman historians and was associated with the trade of leopard skin, gold, and live exotic animals.
- The study aligns with historical accounts, drawing attention to the significance of the Red Sea in trade relationships between India, Egypt, and Europe.
