SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—Live Science reports that 4,000-year-old tombs excavated more than 100 years ago in the Beni Hassan cemetery have been cleaned and conserved by a team from Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities. A team led by Linda Evans of Macquarie University’s Australian Centre for Egyptology then surveyed the tombs using modern techniques. The effort has revealed scenes on the walls that were not recorded during the initial investigation, and clarified other images, including one of an Egyptian mongoose wearing a collar and walking on a leash on the wall of a tomb occupied by Baqet I, a governor during the 11th Dynasty. Evans noted that the person walking the mongoose also holds the leash of a spotted hunting dog. Although mongooses were not fully domesticated, Evans suggests they may have been kept as pets to control pests such as snakes, rats, and mice. Or, they may have been employed by hunters to flush birds from cover. For more, go to “Recovering Hidden Texts.”
