© With kind permission of the NYU-IFA mission to Abydos Houdini, a large very furry creature, was found in a large two-handled pot, and was buried without any wrappings. He was found curled up at the bottom of the jar with its nose pointing toward its hind legs. "It seems as if he were put into the pot, hind limbs first, then adjusted and the rest of the body pushed in so that he was curled around," Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology at The American University in Cairo and a leading expert on animal mummies, said.
Nicknamed Houdini and Chewie, the dog pots were discovered at Shunet ez Zebib, a large mud-brick structure located at Abydos - one of Egypt's oldest standing royal monuments. The site was built around 2750 B.C and was dedicated to Khasekhemwy, a second dynasty king.
It is also known for the the thousands of ibis burials in jars that had been recovered in the dunes nearby, and for the interments of other animals, mostly raptors and canines.
"The site provided a very secure structure, with conveniently soft, sandy fill that was easy for quick burials within a sacred space," Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology at The American University in Cairo, wrote in a recently published Festschrift in honor of Dieter Kessler, a renowned scholar in the field of animal cults and Egyptian religion.
