BFF (Best Friends Forever) gains a whole new meaning when you take a look at the archeological record: did you know that our ancient ancestors in many cultures buried their dogs and cats, often alongside themselves and often with great pomp and ceremony? Certainly the best known example of this dates to ancient Egypt with the mummification and burial of cats (as well as parrots and other animals). Egyptologists theorize these were meant as offerings to the gods as well as companions for the humans buried alongside them.
Hundreds of dogs were carefully entombed 2,500 years ago by Native Americans in what is today’s southwestern United States along with jewelry and the families who had cared for them. According to the curator of Santa Fe’s Museum of Indian Arts and Culture: “I’m suggesting that the dogs in the New World in the Southwest were used to escort people into the next world,” further describing the area as “full of doggy people.” The grave of a person and a cat covered in decorative and perhaps spiritual polished stones was recently unearthed on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus dating back 9,500 years (predating the Egyptian mummy cats by 4,000 years). Furthermore, since cats are not native to Cyprus, this animal or her ancestors had to have been brought to the island, proof of early and intentional domestication of cats.
I’m grossly over-simplifying here, of course. Such ancient burials also often followed grisly sacrifices: during the Shang Dynasty (2,000-1,000 B.C.), dogs were killed and buried as the last stage of construction of new palaces and temples. But even in such examples, the animals’ significance is worth noting. The dogs buried in ancient China were there to protect the inhabitants of those royal buildings. While the religious connotations of the animals have lessened over the millennia, clearly then as well as now we think of our animal friends as both our companions and our protectors — in other words, as important.