Article content

After scanning hundreds of mummified animals from the catacombs of Ancient Egypt, British researchers have announced their vexing discovery: A lot of them are empty.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or A 3,000-year-old mummy-pet 'scandal': Scientists X-rayed 800 preserved animals and a third were empty Back to video

A project based at the University of Manchester used X-rays and CT scans to look inside 800 of the millions of animal mummies discovered by excavators — some of them dating back as early as 1,000 B.C.

But roughly a third did not contain animal remains — prompting the BBC, which followed the researchers’ progress, to call it a 3,000-year-old “scandal at the heart of Ancient Egypt’s animal mummy industry.”

According to the broadcaster, the going theory is that Ancient Egyptian embalmers were forced to cut corners because demand was so high.

While pets were mummified and buried with their owners and other animals were worshipped and given intricate tombs when they died, the majority of mummified animals were “votive offerings,” Lidija McKnight, an Egyptologist, told the Washington Post.