
Ancient Pets Got Proper Burials - chesterfield
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2018/09/17/pet-cemetery-animal-burials/
======
JoeAltmaier
Contrast this with the ancient Egyptian practice of dog sacrifice as part of
an early afterlife-message system. Dogs (or parts of dogs) were buried with
messages from the living to the dead. Plaster/cloth cylinders with a cap
roughly shaped like a dog's head had the message slipped inside, a pup was
killed and stuffed inside, and the cap quickly spackled in place. An acolyte
would run it down to an underground tunnel that had burial rooms cut into the
rock every few feet, and toss the capsule onto the heap.

Each temple had a puppy farm nearby for a ready supply. The cages didn't allow
the breeding animals to stand. We know this from the scars on the leg bones of
the females, who were also used for message sacrifice when they were no longer
useful.

There were 8 major temples that did this, many messages a day, for a small
fee. For about 500 years. A total of some 200 million dogs killed.

So it wasn't historically all pets and concern for man's best friend.

~~~
___matthias
source?

~~~
NeedMoreTea
A search for Cynopolis (City of the dog, the Greek name for the city devoted
to Anubis) should get you plenty.

------
arethuza
I buried one of our cats yesterday - spent quite a long time doing it -
spending some time placing stones and flowers he liked round his body.

I did find myself wondering if some archaeologist in some distant time would
try and work out what I was thinking....

~~~
stinos
_spent quite a long time doing it_

Seems to help with the grieving process for me. Meticulously digging the
perfect hole, gently putting down the cat, last look, fill the hole, plant a
tree on top.

 _Way_ better than for the bigger animals which aren't allowed to be burried:
those have to be put near the street covered in a blanket and if you're
unfortunate you look out of the window while the animal gets picked up. Don't
feel like describing what it looks like, but it's a memory which unfortunately
lasts.

~~~
agumonkey
I think this is a very important part of our soul/system. It represents the
meaning of others, life, or important emotions. And expressing it with time,
care, subjectivity is the most we can do.

------
jihadjihad
Tangentially related: one of the oddest, most touching, most fascinating
documentaries I've seen is _Gates of Heaven_ by Errol Morris [0], a film about
pet burial practices. Certainly worth a watch if you find this interesting!

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of_Heaven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of_Heaven)

