The beaver Castor fiber Linnaeus, 1758 in France. Archaeozoological study

This contribution draws up a first inventory of the discoveries of remains of beaver in archaeological contexts and characterizes the place as well as the role of this animal in societies, since the end of the Prehistory until the medieval period. This work establishes a first synthesis on the subject in the French metropolitan territory and rests on an analysis of the representation of the species and its anatomical parts as well as of the anthropical marks observed on bones. It also draws on a study of textual sources for the relevant periods.

The cult of the lion in Egypt after Aelian

The cult of the lion is well known in Egypt because of its importance. Indeed the animal gave its characteristics to several essential deities from the Egyptian pantheon. But this devotion reached its peak from the Ptolemaic period onwards, we know it not only thanks to direct sources, but also thanks to indirect sources. Among these ones, the classical authors passed precious information on to us. Aelian who was an author from the second century after Jesus Christ, handed a work down upon the life and behaviour of the animals called which is often translated by About the personality of the animak. In this book, he speaks at length upon the cult of the feline. Thanks to this author, associated with other sources, we can try to understand better why the lion was worshipped.

The Onocentaur: A comparative study in mythology

The following analysis is meant to study and compare two myths belonging to different cultural backgrounds, namely Pelops and Hippodomeia in Ancient Greece and Sichem and Dina in Genesis, book 34. Initially, the narrative patterns of these myths seem to have very little in common.

The hypotheses, based on research in anthropology and zootechnics, will be supported by paradigms associating both narrative pattern and knowledge of ethology and lexicology. The subtle anthropomorphization of the Equidae in those two versions allows an interpretation liable to reveal, in the imaginative world of myths, the fertile links between the animal world and that of Man.

Thus, we will tackle zoological problems in connection with the regeneration of domestic species (crossbreeding) and hybridization, in order to apply them to human beings, whose marriages (exogamy) and legitimate offspring in an agonistic and commercial environment, were considered as necessary evils to what we commonly refer to as “cultural development”.

The lion of Bubasteion to Saqqara (Egypt).An uncommon mummy among mummies of cats If a publication revealed the discovery of a lion's skeleton at Saqqara (Callou et al. 2004), it was not possible to publish all the information. This article aims at filling this gap and discusses the results in the light of new evidence.

The skeleton discovered at the second level of the Maia's tomb, Princess Meritaten, sister of the king Tutankhamun (Zivie 2009), belongs to a male adult who is at least 9 years old. Several indications support the idea that the body had been mummified. In the absence of radiometric dating, the stratigraphic position assigns the deposit of this large mummy (approx. 1.50 m) to the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.

The animal lived many years in captivity, in poor conditions, particularly in terms of food. Indeed, there are no teeth in good preservation on the jaws; teeth are fractured and present signs of chronic and old inflammation. Fractures on the right ribs and on some thoracic vertebrae show also that the animal has suffered at least one fall.

This skeleton of a lion, animal whose geographic origin is unknown, is the first to be whole discovered in Egypt.