Ancient Pets. The health, diet and diversity of cats, dogs and monkeys from the Red Sea port of Berenice (Egypt) in the 1st-2nd centuries AD

Abstract

ABSTRACT Exploration of the ancient transcontinental port of Berenice has enabled us to reveal some of the cultural roots of today’s societal bond with ‘commensals’; this bond included emotional ties with domesticated animals. The ‘pet cemetery’ at the port functioned from the mid-1st to mid-2nd century AD. The 585 unearthed burials were dominated by cats, dogs and two species of macaques. At least some of these animals came from outside the African continent. The sex and age profiles of the cats corresponded to those recorded in contemporary urban populations. Among the animals buried at Berenice there featured numerous pathological lesions and diseases that would have prevented unaccompanied survival. Although dogs were mainly of a light, Spitz-type, there was also a taller variant, as well as toy-dogs. The type of burial and furnishings point to the transposition of funerary customs also to pets.