Animals had a special place in Ancient Egyptian society: Ancient Egyptians not only kept animals as beloved pets but also revered them, burying mns of mummified creatures at the temples where they honored their deities. A 2004 study conducted by researchers at the University of Bristol found that the same embalming materials were used to preserve the mummified animals as were used on people. In 2016, a 2000-year old pet cemetery was discovered by archaeologists. Scientists have said that the find was notable because “the animals were clearly loved,” with people having no choice in such a remote area but to import food for them from hundreds of miles away.

Ancient Egyptians might even be responsible for the evolution of the modern-day cat: Scientists are suggesting that there were two ‘waves’ of cat to emerge since we became codependent 8,000 years ago: the type A (‘Cyprus’) cat that first turned up some 9500 years ago, and a type C (‘Egyptian’) cat that had a slightly different genetic makeup and first appeared around 800 B.C.E. Type C cats quickly came to outnumber type A cats, before the two interbred, and it seems plausible that it was the Ancient Egyptians, the only civilization at the time with the resources to breed cats, who were responsible for this popularity.