Bird mummy (sparrowhawk) | Photographer: Oleg Kuchar | Rights management: Museum Ulm
Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 InternationalBird mummy (sparrowhawk) | Photographer: Oleg Kuchar | Rights management: Museum Ulm
Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 InternationalBird mummy (sparrowhawk) | Photographer: Oleg Kuchar | Rights management: Museum Ulm
Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International
Mummified bird, presumably a sparrowhawk, wrapped in linen bandages. Animals played an important role in the culture of Ancient Egypt. They were therefore mummified for various reasons. Research assumes that animal mummies were either beloved pets that were buried with their owners or that they were intended as food for the deceased in the afterlife. Two other categories of animal mummies are sacred animals that represented a deity or votive offerings that served as sacrifices to a deity. The latter are the most common form. From the Late Period to the Greco-Roman period of Ancient Egypt, animal mummies were mass-produced or sacrificed and buried. The function of bird mummies is not clearly understood, but they probably belong to the largest group of votive gifts and offerings. In the case of sparrowhawks, it is also possible that they were mummified, like falcons, because of their significance as the embodiment of the god Horus. General Richard Erlenbusch (1863 - 1937) donated the object to the Gewerbemuseum Ulm in 1920 as part of a larger collection. Erlenbusch donated or loaned various collections to the Gewerbemuseum over a number of years. In particular, these were military objects, which he presumably acquired during his combat missions in France and Italy during the First World War. It is not clear where he obtained the non-European objects from. However, they came to the museum after the end of Erlenbusch's military career (1920 and 1923).
