Mysterious sheep with deformed horns were discovered in an Egyptian cemetery from around 3,700 BC. They are, until you see, the oldest physical proof that humans modified animal horns.
Sheep with deformed horns were discovered in an Egyptian cemetery dating back to around 3700 BC, constituting the oldest evidence of modification of animal horns by humans.
The discovery is detailed in a study due in December at Journal of Archaeological Science by researchers from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.
“The sheep were deliberately made ‘special’ by castration. Furthermore, their horns were directed upwards and, in one case, the horns were removed”, explained the investigation leader, Wim Van Neer.
Despite these conclusions, the researchers admitted that failed to understand the exact purpose of these practices. It is unclear whether the sheep were intended as oddities for display or whether they were modified to look like another animal, such as an antelope.
Analysis of six skulls revealed notable modifications: three with parallel horns pointing upwards and one with horns approaching at the base. A fifth skull was hornless and a sixth had natural horizontal horns.
Horns to Asterix
The technique involved intentional fracture of the base of the hornsfollowed by the use of ropes to shape your growth.
The holes in the skulls also show that the animal handlers intentionally fractured the base of the horns before attaching the tethers to guide the animal. vertical antler growth – reminiscent of the famous helmet Asterix.
Sheep skulls modified by ancient Egyptians so that their horns grew upward instead of outward
As the team concluded, the sheep were kept until a relatively old age before being sacrificed to be buried in graves surrounding the tombs of elite people at Hierakonpolis – along with other domesticated animals and even wild animals, such as baboons and elephants.
The discovery in this Egyptian cemetery – which dates back to around 3,700 BC – precedes by about 1,000 years other evidence of modified horns found in present-day Sudan.
