Archaeologists have discovered a dog buried alongside humans in an ancient Egyptian tomb
In an ancient Egyptian tomb near Luxor, archaeologists have examined an unusual burial: amongst the human mummies was a mummified dog, placed directly on top of the remains of a man and a woman. Scientists suggest that the animal may have been associated with these people during their lifetime or may have played a symbolic role as a guide to the afterlife. However, the main discovery turned out to be more far-reaching: the arrangement of the mummies revealed how the same tomb had changed over the course of several centuries.
Researchers have examined side chamber No. 3 of the Theban tomb TT 209 in the famous necropolis on the west bank of the Nile, opposite modern-day Luxor.
Inside, they discovered 16 mummified humans, a mummified dog, and a disturbed cluster of remains belonging to at least four more people.
The tomb itself was in use from the era of the 25th Dynasty, approximately the 8th–7th centuries BC, right up to the Ptolemaic period, which ended in the 1st century BC.
It appears that successive generations returned time and again to the same burial site over the course of hundreds of years.
Details
The most unusual find was located in the south-eastern part of the chamber.
There, four human mummies were arranged one on top of the other, whilst a mummified dog lay on top of the lower parts of the bodies of a man and a woman.
Researcher Jared Carballo-Pérez described this detail as particularly interesting. According to him, the animal’s position may indicate a close connection with the buried individuals.
However, it is impossible to prove that this was specifically their pet dog.
There is another theory. The animal may have served a ritual function as a psychopomp — a symbolic guide for the deceased into the afterlife.
The authors currently regard both interpretations as hypotheses.
Archaeologists have recorded in detail the orientation of each body, the position of the hands, and the relationships between the mummies, the coffins and the walls of the chamber.
The earliest burials appeared to be relatively isolated.
The bodies were placed in coffins, with funerary goods left beside them. The researchers found amulets, funerary nets and valuable objects, including the contents of Phoenician amphorae.
According to the authors, this may indicate that the first people buried here enjoyed a fairly high social status.
Centuries later, the mummies began to be stacked on top of one another
Later, the way the tomb was used changed.
By the end of the 25th Dynasty and during the Persian period, available space was becoming scarcer, so new bodies were placed wherever there was room left.
Gradually, vertical burials emerged — the mummies were literally stacked in layers. Such stacking has been documented in approximately two-thirds of the burials in the chamber under investigation.
The position of the bodies also changed. Whilst the arms of early mummies were more often outstretched, later examples show other variations, including arms folded across the chest — the so-called Osirian pose.
At first glance, the tightly packed bodies might be mistaken for the result of haphazard re-use of an ancient tomb.
However, the researchers have reached a different conclusion.
In their view, each subsequent burial took into account the bodies already present in the chamber. New mummies were placed around the old ones or directly above them, gradually altering the layout of the space without destroying its original significance.
The authors refer to this as a kind of ‘funerary memory’: the tomb continued to be used, whilst new generations adapted their rituals to what their predecessors had left behind.
Therefore, a large number of bodies does not necessarily indicate that the ancient Egyptians eventually ceased to observe their funerary traditions.
Rather, it was the tradition itself that changed.
Researchers acknowledge that it is difficult to establish the exact sequence of each burial.
Over the centuries, the tomb was repeatedly exposed to water, suffered fires, and people repeatedly entered it, possibly moving the remains and artefacts.
Nevertheless, the arrangement of the surviving mummies has made it possible to reconstruct a general picture of how the use of the chamber changed.
Crucially, finds that might previously have been regarded as merely a ‘random’ cluster of bodies can now be interpreted as the result of a sequence of social and ritual practices.
Why this is important
The study provides a rare opportunity to trace the evolution of Egyptian burial customs within the same tomb across several historical periods.
The tradition gradually shifted from relatively individual burials in coffins to the dense placement of mummies and their vertical stacking.
Meanwhile, the mummified dog illustrates just how complex the relationships between humans, animals and beliefs about the afterlife could be.
However, the researchers do not claim that the dog belonged to the people buried nearby or that it was definitely intended to accompany them in the afterlife. Its exact role remains a mystery.
Source
Journal: Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, 2026.