Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities is revealing details on recently discovered animal mummies, saying they contain two lion cubs as well as several crocodiles, birds and cats.
The November 23 announcement came during an exhibition at the famed Step Pyramid in Saqqara, south of Cairo. That’s near where the mummies and other objects were found in a vast necropolis.
Archaeologists frequently find mummified cats, but the recovery of a lion is rare. The ministry says the animal mummies are all from the Late Period (664-332 B.C.).
The ministry had announced last week it was running scans to determine that the mummies were indeed lions.
Egypt has stepped up promotion of its archaeological treasures in hopes of reviving a tourism sector slow to recover from the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
