The Mastaba of Kagemni

Egyptologists schooled in the art of archaeology but not the finer points of basenjis insist that the dog's breed cannot be determined with certainty. Any basenji owner, however, recognizes that the erect ears, long legs, thin build, and curly tail combine to form an ancient ancestor of their own dog.

The pictures in this mastaba teach a larger lesson as well—how easily modern folk can draw wrong conclusions despite what they consider their more sophisticated learning. In this work especially, scholars have ignored important visual clues, misinterpreting what was taking place on the mastaba wall.

Observe that the men below the adult basenji have a puppy in their care. For years, the animal has been identified as a piglet, not a young dog. [See, for example, Eugen Strouhal's Life of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 117, or Rosalind and Jack Janssen's Egyptian Household Animals (Shire Egyptology), p. 34].

Notice that the man holding the puppy has his hands positioned so that they flatten the puppy's ears. The curly tail, another characteristic of a pig, further contributed to the misidentification.

To clear up the confusion, take a close look at the animal's feet.

Patrick Houlihan, author of The Animal World of the Pharaohs, makes this accurate observation: "The animal has paws, not the hoofs of a pig."

Perhaps the puppy is the offspring of the adult dog above. More importantly, the confusion of this puppy with a piglet for so many years illustrates how incorrect many modern interpretations of ancient Egyptian life might be. How many other small visual clues have scholars overlooked as they drew completely inaccurate conclusions from the highly visual artifacts the ancient Egyptians have left us?