All language subtitles for Strangest.Things.S02E01.The.Towie.Ball.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_eng

NARRATOR: Could this
5,000-year-old ball

be a stone cold killer?

SOMARA: Catapulted, thrown.

It could do some damage.

NARRATOR: Is this literally
shocking invention

the Victorian Viagra?

AUERBACH: Order one of
Pulvermacher's electrified belts

and turn yourself into
a paradigm of masculinity.

NARRATOR: And what is
so wrong about this ancient

Egyptian mummified cat.

This mummy is empty.
There's no cat in it.

NARRATOR: These are the most
remarkable and mysterious

objects on Earth.

Hidden away in museums,

laboratories,
and storage rooms.

Now, new research
and technology can

get under their skin like
never before.

We can rebuild them,

pull them apart,

and zoom in

to reveal the unbelievable,

the ancient,

and the truly bizarre.

These are the world's
strangest things.

Locked in a cabinet at
the National Museum of Scotland

sits a strange stone object.

It was carved from
a solid black rock

thousands of years ago.

It's beautiful,
and it's aesthetic,

and it's almost like
a piece of art.

NARRATOR: It is
one of archaeology's

greatest mysteries.

It must have a function.

Archaeologists have been
speculating about it for over

a century, but we still
don't know what it is.

NARRATOR: Now, using
the latest technology,

we can re-examine this
incredible object

in minute detail.

This is the Towie ball.

For over 160 years,

the function of
this intricately

decorated rock has
eluded archaeologists.

The Towie ball
is made of stone.

It weighs about a pound.

It's the shape and dimension
of a baseball.

It features
four stone lobes,

three of which are decorated
with concentric circles

and spirals.

It's a remarkable object.

NARRATOR: The ball might be
considered a one-off curiosity,

but it isn't,

BELLINGER: We've now found
over 500 of these objects.

They range in exact size
and in the type of stone used,

but they're all similar enough
to be grouped, reasonably, as

a single category.

NARRATOR:
But it is the Towie ball that

stands out as the most complex,

detailed,
and finest of them all.

Who made it?

What is it for?

How old is it?

The Towie ball is discovered
around 1860 by workmen digging

a drainage ditch in the small
Scottish hamlet of Towie,

hence the name.

In fact,
nearly all the carved

balls have turned up
in Scotland.

They've been found in various
places, about 20 in the Orkneys,

two in England and Ireland,
and one from Norway.

But the majority have been
found in Northeast Scotland,

and that suggests that this is
almost certainly

a Scottish artifact.

They form broadly two groups,

one with these sort of
nodular protuberances,

like the Towie ball,

others which can have
many tens of bumps

or pustules or nubbins

upon them,
looking very much

like very spiky versions
of the Towie ball.

NARRATOR:
But it is the Towie ball,

the most intricate of them all,
that really

intrigues archaeologists.

MacDONALD:
In archaeology,

we often date things
by association,

but here, we have an object on
its own and dateless.

NARRATOR:
It isn't until 2013,

over 150 years after
the ball was found,

that archaeologists
finally uncover

a definitive way of dating it.

New excavations at
the Ness of Brodgar

in the Orkneys
discover a stone ball

beneath a wooden buttress.

NARRATOR: Archaeologists
can use carbon dating

of the wood buttress
to get a definitive age

for the ball, as they are
confident it had been

intentionally buried beneath
the buttress.

It was radiocarbon dated

to 2900 BC.

NARRATOR: So the stone carved
balls, including the Towie ball,

are around 5,000 years old,
from the Neolithic period.

BELLINGER:
The Neolithic first appeared

over 10,000 years ago
in the Middle East and China,

where they developed
new technologies

for growing food crops,
rather than having to go

out and hunt and gather
their food.

NARRATOR:
It is the beginning of farming

and a settled way of life.

It was also a revolution

technologically speaking,
especially in terms of

the creation of polished
stone artifacts

and also the increased
complex decoration

of objects.

NARRATOR: The Neolithic period
is a dramatic

and permanent transformation
of human existence.

BELLINGER: Neolithic literally
means "new stone age,"

and stone was the calling card
and the core tool

and material
that the individuals living in

this time worked with.

Stone endures in just about
every environment,

and so that is what we have
for the most part to make

our understandings
of the Neolithic people.

NARRATOR: The level of
expertise and man hours

needed to create
these stone balls

suggest they must play

a very significant role in
Neolithic life.

But what is it?

What are these carved
stone balls for?

One theory that's been
suggested for the Towie ball

is that it is
a demonstration

of the skill of the stonemason
who made it.

Some have speculated
that these stones

were actually, in effect,

portable portfolios that

craftspeople could carry around
with them and present

as evidence of the quality
and the variety of work

that they could produce,

and that could
explain the level of detail.

It's a bit of
showing off, really.

NARRATOR: The idea
that these carved balls

are a sort of
stonemason CV would

help explain some of
the differences between

the 500 or so balls discovered.

Or does it?

Only maybe a dozen
are as intricate

or as well finished
as the Towie ball.

So that does not
fully convince

to explain
why they were made.

NARRATOR: Unless they aren't
all finished pieces.

SOMARA: It took a huge amount
of work to create these things.

So maybe the ones that were
less finessed were

the result of people just
giving up, getting frustrated.

Maybe the stonemason
just ran out of steam.

NARRATOR: But some
archaeologists think this idea

is just too hard to reconcile
with the evidence.

It's not a theory that's
entirely without

any merit, but it's not
the strongest explanation.

NARRATOR: There is a very
different and rather

surprising theory to explain
the Towie ball.

Maybe it was some kind of
Stone-Age storybook.

BELLINGER:
Storytelling has always

been hugely important
to humanity,

but 5,000 years ago
in Neolithic Britain,

there wasn't any way of
writing it down.

It was all oral.

MacDONALD: The notion is that
the Towie ball might

have served as a sort of
trigger for memory, using

the undulations on its surface
as a kind of

means of counting
or stringing together

a narrative by playing
your fingers across it.

NARRATOR: Mnemonic storytelling
aids do exist in other cultures.

MacDONALD: For the Luba people
of Central Africa,

there's a tangible vehicle of
memory, which is known as

a lukasa,
or a memory board.

And these,
made out of wood,

with some iconographic
carving added to them,

but mainly with beads of
different colors strung to them,

are used as a system of
cues for recounting epic tales.

NARRATOR: But there's a snag
with this theory.

Only a handful of balls
are carved with

any real detail,
and even they throw up problems.

Even if we look at the very
best objects

for this sort of thing,
like the Towie ball,

the patterns are simply
too repetitive and too simple

to be extremely useful
as a mnemonic device.

NARRATOR: Perhaps
the Towie ball is something

less artistic
and altogether more violent.

NARRATOR: There are multiple
competing explanations for

the 5,000-year-old
Towie ball's purpose.

One popular theory
is that it is a weapon.

BELLINGER: Looking
at these balls

and actually handling them,

it sort of brings
to mind a weapon, potentially.

Those things weighing
about a pound each,

if you hit someone with it,
it's gonna hurt.

It's gonna leave a mark.

NARRATOR: The idea that
the Towie ball might be

a Neolithic killing machine

fits well
with increasing evidence

that this is not
a peaceful time.

Neolithic burials have been
excavated for,

you know, over 100 years.

But it's only recently, with
the development of very

sophisticated osteoarchaeology,
that we can begin to understand

how people died in
the Neolithic.

MacDONALD: Increasing evidence
shows that warfare

was more common
than we have thought.

This wasn't a shiny, happy
community all the time.

NARRATOR: Head injuries
inflicted by weapons often

leave a very recognizable
pattern of fractures.

MacDONALD: A recent
research project examining

350 Neolithic crania
from Britain

found that up to 7 percent had
instances of traumatic injury.

I mean, if you think about it,
with the positive aspects of

reliance on agriculture,

which allows you to settle in
one place,

you've got a lot of people
settled in one place,

and human nature being what it
is, that inevitably leads to

stratification
and ultimately, to conflict.

NARRATOR: So what kind of weapon
could the Towie ball be?

MacDONALD: They could have been
used as a kind of macehead,

with the lobes giving
a means to wrap

sinew or cord around them and
attach them to a stout stick,

and therefore be a kind of
war club.

NARRATOR: But if it is just
a glorified Stone Age club,

why decorate it so carefully?

There are precedents for this,

particularly
the mouth macehead,

which is another Neolithic
object, which is quite

extensively decorated.

NARRATOR: But there may be
a problem with this theory.

We know that the Towie ball
is made

out of a metamorphic stone
known as hornfels.

If this hits a solid object,

it is going to suffer
a conchoidal fracture,

much in the way
that glass would.

NARRATOR: Expanding
the state-of-the-art

3D graphic, we can examine
every part of

the Towie ball for the tiniest
evidence of this

distinct fracture.

We don't see these sort
of fractures on

the Towie ball or any other of
these stone balls.

NARRATOR:
We also know Neolithic peoples

often bury their weapons
in their graves,

but the Towie ball is not
found in a grave, and neither

are many of the other
carved balls.

It all suggests the Towie ball
isn't a weapon.

But is there
another explanation,

one that would justify
the effort that

has gone into making
the Towie ball?

Is it a message
to their gods?

One thing that's really
striking about these objects,

when you look closely at
the designs themselves,

is that they really resemble
those found on some

religious structures created
during the same time.

So particularly thinking about
Newgrange,

a passage grave in Ireland.

You know, it suggests
that there could

be a religious purpose
to these balls.

NARRATOR: Archaeologists
believe religion

and these intricate symbols

are intimately connected to
life in the Neolithic.

It brings us back to
the ideology of the people of

the Neolithic period
in Europe --

the winter solstice,
the equinox, bodies of water,

offerings to other worlds.

We can see traces of
the ritual, but it's hard for

us to connect the dots
and reconstruct the full

spiritual system.

But it was there.

NARRATOR: So what is
the truth about the Towie ball?

Stonemasons' advert, weapon,
Stone Age storybook?

With so many possibilities,

there is no single answer

and ultimately, we may find
that there are two

or three different
viable interpretations

for the use of these objects.

NARRATOR: The Towie ball
remains an enduring

and beautiful mystery
and a window

into the lives of
our ancestors 5,000 years ago.

In an antique collector's
cabinet in Virginia sits

a strange metal contraption
from the 19th century.

It was, quite literally, one of

the most shocking medical
devices ever created.

NARRATOR: Now, using
the latest technology,

we're bringing this bizarre
contraption out into the light.

Pulvermacher's
electro galvanic chain.

It was claimed to be
a revolution in medical science.

NARRATOR: It's made from
120 perforated metal links

connected together into
a chain.

Each link consists of
a copper casing, housing

a zinc rod wrapped
in vinegar-soaked cloth.

Handles made of metal and wood
attach to either end.

It looks well made and has

the feel of a professional
piece of kit.

MARKS:
People went crazy for them.

Thousands of people
were strapping

these strange things
across their bodies.

NARRATOR: Which is surprising,
given that its sole function was

to deliver 132 volts of
electricity directly into

the body,

more or less equivalent to
plugging yourself

into a U.S. power outlet.

This is basically a device for
electrocuting yourself.

NARRATOR: Why would someone
do something so bizarre?

Does it actually
produce electricity?

And were people really
electrocuting themselves

for their health?

NARRATOR: In the mid-19th
century, Britain's empire is

expanding rapidly.

The country is
embracing change,

led by an explosion
of innovation

and game-changing invention.

And then there's
the Pulvermacher belt.

Its inventor,
Isaac Pulvermacher,

is a mysterious figure.

We don't have any photographs
of him, but we know

he was a Prussian
traveling inventor.

NARRATOR:
In the 1850s,

Pulvermacher is
traveling around Europe,

gathering support
and testimonies that will help

him sell what he claims is
the portable cure for almost

every ailment known to man.

The self applicable electro
galvanic chain belt,

for the cure of nervous
and chronic diseases

without medicine.

What a title.

MARKS:
It's a panacea.

It can treat rheumatism,
liver problems,

tiredness, headaches,

dizziness, fatigue,
even sexual problems.

So you name it,
the belt can fix it

through the magic
of electricity.

Or so says
the mysterious Pulvermacher.

NARRATOR: Pulling the belt apart
reveals that it

can definitely give you
a nasty shock.

So the belt consists of
a series of

interconnected links.

Each one has a copper casing,
and inside that is a zinc rod,

which is wrapped
in a little cloth

soaked in vinegar.

NARRATOR:
Two different metals,

with a conducting
liquid between,

like vinegar,
will produce electricity.

It's high school science.

This makes every link in
the belt

an individual battery cell.

SELLA: The beauty
of these things is

that the more of
these you link up,

the bigger
the voltage you get.

STEELE: Pulvermacher had a range
of different models,

but the 120-cell version

could deliver
a whopping 132 volts.

NARRATOR: There are
several recommended ways

to use the device.

These include
the simple shock method,

where you hold the metal tubes
with damp hands and bang

the linked chains together.

Each time they connect,
you get a shock.

There is the conductor
brush, specifically

for electrocuting
the mouth and ears.

And then there is the
interrupting clockwork system,

which, when connected to
the electric chain

and wound up, sends shocks to
that part of the body

that most needs a regular jolt.

But where does Pulvermacher
get the idea that

electricity really can be some
kind of miracle cure?

And why do the Victorians
buy into it?

The idea of medical
electricity really takes hold

in the 18th century with
the quest for something called

the vital force

and an accidental experiment

with a frog.
-[frog croaks]

Vital force is an idea
that goes all the way back

to the ancient Egyptians.

What is it that animates
living beings?

What is this mysterious
force that

makes things alive
rather than dead?

NARRATOR: The man
who believes he has

found it is Italian scientist
Luigi Galvani.

His experiment is...unusual.

STEELE:
He was playing around

with static
electricity machines,

and, at the same time,
dissecting frogs,

and what we think
might have happened

is that one of
his assistants touched

a scalpel on a nerve in
the frog's leg.

Perhaps that scalp had been
charged up with some

static electricity from
somewhere, and the frog's

leg kicked, and what
this showed us was there was

a fundamental relationship
between electricity

and whatever
makes muscles move.

NARRATOR: Galvani is convinced
that he has discovered

this vital force,

and he renames it
animal electricity,

a life force that comes
from the tissue itself.

When Galvani publishes
his first report

on this experiment,
it really, no pun intended,

shocks the world.

NARRATOR: Galvani believes
his new theory

of animal electricity
has huge medical potential.

STEELE: But it was gonna take
more than the kicking leg

of a dead frog to convince
the world of this.

This all changed in 1798,
when Galvani died and passed

on the baton on to his nephew
and assistant, Giovanni Aldini.

NARRATOR: Aldini takes his
uncle's theories on the road.

The inspiration for
the Pulvermacher belt

comes partly from his work,

one of literally the most
shocking experiments of

the entire 19th century.

NARRATOR: Pulvermacher's
electrical belt

is a medical invention
that takes

the 19th century
by storm.

It relies on the idea that

electricity is
the vital force of life.

One man more than any
other becomes

famous for spreading
that idea around Europe --

Italian scientist
Giovanni Aldini.

He tours Europe with a voltaic
pile, and he uses it to conduct

electricity through
the cadavers of various animals,

like dogs and sheep,
making them kick and twitch.

But he decides to up the ante
a bit and uses not an animal...

[woman screaming]

...but a person.

NARRATOR: His most famous
experiment takes place in

1803 at the Royal College
of Surgeons.

In front of a large audience,

Aldini hooks his device up to
recently hanged murderer,

George Foster.

He sends 132 volts
of electricity

surging through
the dead convict's corpse,

and it immediately begins
to move.

The audience is terrified --
they think Aldini is trying to

bring back to life
a dead murderer,

but he reassures them
saying, no,

this is a device that might be
able to revive others

and save their lives,

perhaps someone
who had recently drowned.

NARRATOR:
Aldini's demonstration

changes the way 19th century
people view electricity.

Even Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein is directly

influenced by George Foster's
electrifying return.

Of course, Aldini isn't
actually re-animating the dead.

He is demonstrating that
the nervous system uses

electricity to control
a living body.

STEELE: Our muscles move in
response to electrical signals

that flow through our nerves
to the muscles.

Electricity is a vital force,

but in a dead body, there's
no source of electricity.

NARRATOR: Maybe the fabled vital
force hasn't been discovered,

but here is proof
that electricity

is an essential part of life.

Aldini's experiment
kickstarts further

experimentation in using

electrotherapy to treat
all kinds of ailments.

It's thought that
the application

of direct current
to the human body

might be able
to cure all kinds of issues,

a true panacea.

NARRATOR: The world is ready
to embrace electricity

in medicine --
they call it electrotherapy.

And leading the charge is
Pulvermacher's belt.

So does this strange device
really work?

By the middle
of the 19th century,

electrotherapy
is all the rage.

You have clinics opening up in
major cities like London

and Paris,
all promising cures

for whatever ails you through

the application of
direct current.

NARRATOR: But the miracle
electrotherapy cures rapidly

get out of hand.

As is often the case
with new inventions,

especially those that tout to
cure common ailments,

it quickly moves out of
the control of scientists

and medical professionals,

and electrotherapy
becomes something that

people are interested in
as a household item.

NARRATOR: This huge expansion in
electrotherapy is possible

because of a very different
type of invention --

mail order catalogs.

AUERBACH: Mail order catalogs
are the predecessors

of things like Amazon.

You have a huge catalog.

You see the item you like,
you put in an order, and presto,

a few days or weeks later,
it shows up on your doorstep.

NARRATOR: In this brave
new world of mail order

miracle cures, Pulvermacher's
belt is a smash hit.

WEST: People want
to be convinced that

what you have will work.

They want you to cure their
baldness or their impotence

or whatever else it is,
and it makes them feel

better to think that there's
something out there that works.

NARRATOR: And you can tell them
pretty much anything you want.

Unlike now, there are no rules
around advertising.

There's no licensing,
and there's no regulation of

the market.
-The moment you allow

someone to lie and make money
and face no consequences,

the obvious result
is that people will

lie and make money
and face no consequences.

NARRATOR: And it isn't just
Pulvermacher's electrotherapy

cures taking advantage of
this medical free-for-all.

In parts of America,

there are three times as many
quack doctors as real ones,

and the mail order
cure business is driving them.

You can find adverts for face
soap containing

small amounts of arsenic.

You can find cigarettes that
are supposed to cure asthma

and cholera,
and you can even find

adverts with images
of toddlers

advertising cocaine
toothache drops.

NARRATOR: Pulvermacher's belt
rides this wave of miracle cures

because it is supported by
some eye-catching advertising.

One always successful strategy
is to appeal to either

femininity or to masculinity,
and this is exactly what's done

with the electrified belt, and
there's advertisements of these

rather buff Victorian men in
kind of scant clothing with

this belt strapped on,
and it asks the viewer,

"Men, why are you weak?"

The solution is obvious --
order one of Pulvermacher's

electrified belts,
and turn yourself into

a paradigm of masculinity.

And it isn't just Pulvermacher

trying to corner
the electrotherapy market.

So you start to see ads
for electric socks,

you've got electric corsets,

advertisements for all kinds of
home electrotherapy devices,

claiming to cure
everything and anything that

ails the human body.

In this brave new world
of DIY

electrotherapy treatments,
Pulvermacher's belt

is making a killing, and he
moves his main production

center from London
to Cincinnati,

allowing him to sell belts
across Europe and America.

NARRATOR: But there is one
very big issue with lots

of these electrotherapy cures,
including Pulvermacher's belt.

AUERBACH: The real problem
with all these electrotherapy

gadgets is that the claims
were completely overblown.

The idea that you can cure
constipation and headaches

and impotence all simply by
mildly electrocuting yourself

is ridiculous.

NARRATOR: So ridiculous,
in fact, that it

eventually attracts
the attention of

the U.S. government.

How will they respond
to these outlandish claims?

NARRATOR:
By the early 20th century,

the writing is on the wall for
the Wild West world of

electrotherapy miracle cures,
like the Pulvermacher belt.

The government clamps down on

the false promises made by
electrotherapy devices.

You also have the postal
office stepping in and more

carefully regulating
what you can buy

and sell and deliver
over the postal service.

NARRATOR:
The government has spotted

a major stumbling block
with the belt.

There's no proof that it makes
anyone better.

The market in home
electrotherapy devices

really crashes out,
and Pulvermacher's

electro galvanic medical chain
goes down with it.

NARRATOR: Pretty soon,
it's impossible to sell

an electrical miracle cure

without actually proving
that it works.

It's the end of the line
for Pulvermacher's belt.

The company goes bust,
which really

shouldn't come as much of
a shock.

At the Penn Museum
in Philadelphia

is a curious ancient
Egyptian relic,

a tiny mummy --
but not of a human.

This strange bundle of
linen strips

has the unmistakable head of
a cat.

Cats were really important for
the ancient Egyptians.

So, you know, it makes sense
that they would

have wanted to mummify cats
just as they did humans.

NARRATOR: But something about
this mummy shocked researchers.

Now, using cutting-edge imaging
technology, we can show in

astonishing detail
what is so strange

about this bizarre object.

It is 19 inches long,
with a small, round head,

tiny ears, eyes,
and a nose, attached to

an elongated body
without legs.

But that's not what makes this
artifact so strange.

NARRATOR: Because for a cat
mummy, it's got one very

big shortcoming,

There's no cat inside,
not even any random bones.

NARRATOR: Where is the cat?
Was it removed?

Was the cat even there in
the first place?

Could this weird relic be
a modern fake,

or an ancient one?

Egyptian mummies have
fascinated people for hundreds

of years, but it reaches
a peak in the 19th century.

Egyptomania
was an international craze

around the world at the time.

NARRATOR:
People just can't get enough

of Egypt and its mummies.

BELLINGER:
People believed that they had

magical powers and properties,
mystical properties.

NARRATOR: But mummies
were never meant to be

a Victorian sideshow.

Mummification in ancient Egypt
was a way of

preserving the body so that
after the death, this individual

could have an afterlife.
-NARRATOR: In the 19th century,

the problem archaeologists
have is that it is impossible

to see inside the wrappings
without destroying the mummy.

In order to learn
about mummies,

they had to be unwrapped,

and this was a very
destructive technique.

NARRATOR:
But that doesn't stop

the Victorians holding
bizarre unwrapping parties.

People would pay
a lot of money to

be present at one of
these mummy unwrapping events.

NARRATOR: So late 19th century
Egyptologists leap on the newly

discovered technique of x-rays
to end this mummy destruction.

Today, x-rays continue
to reveal

hidden wonders beneath
the linen wrappings.

ESCOLANO-POVEDA: It is basically
like a virtual autopsy.

It gives us lots of new
opportunities to learn

about the mummies without
destroying them in the process.

NARRATOR: So, when a team
from Penn Museum

examines the cat mummy
in detail,

they turn to the x-ray machine
to reveal its secrets.

They are expecting to
virtually unwrap

the mummy and examine
the cat inside.

But they are in for a shock.

When they image this mummy,

there's nothing to see.

NARRATOR: Using
cutting-edge graphics,

we can reveal the interior
in detail.

There's no cat,
not even any random bones.

NARRATOR:
Where is the cat?

Is this just
an elaborate fake?

The idea that this is

a modern forgery is
certainly plausible.

Fake Egyptian artifacts have
a long and infamous history.

BENECKE: Artifacts from Egypt
became very fashionable.

The sites where the diggings
took place were robbed all

the time, and they could not be
protected very well.

And that opened up
the market for forgeries,

because it was much,
much easier

to forge everything
and to sell it for

very high prices.

NARRATOR: And forgers were
definitely faking mummies.

The Vatican Museum in Rome had
two mummies in its collection,

and in 2015,
researchers ran

them through
the full battery of tests,

x-ray, CT scan, DNA analysis,
you name it,

and what they discovered is that
the mummies were -- were fakes.

They were full of a jumble of

medieval bones
and a 19th century nail.

NARRATOR: So it's credible
that the cat mummy might be

a modern forgery...

except for one thing.

In close up, the wrappings
reveal a telltale pattern.

The way it is wrapped has this
sort of crisscross pattern

that creates
these diamond shapes

that was very common in
the late period and especially

in the Greco-Roman period.

This is then a good
indication that

it is actually an ancient
Egyptian mummy.

NARRATOR: This strange
cat mummy is authentic.

So was the cat removed
in antiquity?

Or was it never there in
the first place?

Is it simply an ancient fake
rather than a modern one?

NARRATOR: Researchers are
certain this ancient cat mummy

is authentic,

even though it does not
contain the body of a cat.

So why would the ancient
Egyptians go to so

much effort to make it appear
like it does?

The answer might have
something to do with the reason

the Egyptians made animal
mummies in the first place.

Animals were associated with
individual gods and goddesses.

And so, by creating
an animal mummy,

people believed
that they were actually

capturing some of
the spiritual power of the god

associated with the animal.

So, for example, the falcon was
associated with the god Horus,

the baboon with the god
Thoth, and the cat with

the goddess Bastet,
who happened to be

among the most popular
of the gods

in the Egyptian pantheon.

NARRATOR: Egyptologists believe
most animal mummies like this

are gifts to the gods.

ESCOLANO-POVEDA: They were
mummified in order to

be presented as offerings to
different gods.

The idea was not to offer them
an afterlife

but to make them work as
an offering to a god.

NARRATOR:
Before the late period,

when the cat mummy is made,

bronze statues were the go-to
method for offerings to

the gods,

but as the demand for
offerings grew,

the cost and complexity of
bronze leads to an increase in

the use of mummified animals,

and archaeological evidence
suggests that

Egyptians get very
enthusiastic about them.

During the so-called Late
Period of ancient Egypt,

tens of millions of
animal mummies were produced.

NARRATOR: The number of animal
mummies consumed is startling.

In 2011, a team of
archaeologists found a set

of catacombs in Saqqara
dedicated to the god Anubis,

and they have estimated
that there are

around eight million animal
remains within the catacombs.

NARRATOR: There simply
weren't enough wild animals

to meet this kind of demand.

Egyptologists believe
this gap is filled by

farming sacrificial animals
on an industrial scale.

If so many mummies are
being made,

could an empty mummy be
slipped in to make money from

gullible pilgrims?

Or is this practice more
common than

Egyptologists believed?

In 2000,
researchers start

a 13-year project to answer
this question.

The results are astonishing.

BELLINGER: They ran over 800
mummies through a CT scanner

and were astonished to find

that only one-third of
them actually contained

full animal remains inside.

Another third had
partial animal remains,

and the rest had
no animal remains at all.

NARRATOR: So what is
the explanation

for this empty cat mummy?

BELLINGER: Some scholars have
proposed the idea that

this sort of empty mummy
was part of

a generalized scam culture,
and you know, honestly,

who's gonna unwrap it to
check, right?

NARRATOR: There is one problem
with the scam theory.

It may not contain
an actual cat,

but this object has still been
through the same laborious

and expensive process
as a real mummy.

It was wrapped according to
the style that would be used

in -- in real cat mummies,
and also, the face and the head

of the cat was modeled so that
it looked like a cat in

the same way as was done
with -- with real mummies.

So, uh, the ears will be
modeled, the face, the snout,

the eyes, and details will be
painted so that it looks like

a real cat.

NARRATOR: This amount of care
and effort doesn't fit with

the idea that the cat mummy is
just a cheap knockoff.

The true explanation for this
strange thing may lie within

some of the other animal mummies
the UK researchers examined.

BELLINGER: They found some
extraordinary things.

I mean, one, for example,
a crocodile mummy,

which, inside,
revealed to contain

four adult croc skulls
surrounded by

four baby crocodile skulls.

Just a very strange thing.

NARRATOR:
What purpose could mummifying

multiple animals serve?

One explanation is that this
was a premium style

that those who were wealthy
enough to purchase

such things would do in
the hopes that it would get them

even more favor with the gods.

NARRATOR: Egyptologists
have suggested this could

explain the empty cat mummy.

Perhaps it's simply at
the other end of the scale

from the lavish versions,

a ritual offering on a budget.

This is a classic case
of you get what you pay for.

If you only had
a little bit of money,

well, you would splash that out,
and you'd get

an empty cat mummy that
still looked okay,

was a little rough,
but it served your purpose.

NARRATOR:
Because in ancient Egypt

the absence of an actual cat
might not be the problem

it seems to a modern eye.

ESCOLANO-POVEDA: According
to ancient Egyptian thought,

if you had something
that looked like the mummy,

it would do the job.

It would magically work
in the same way as

a real mummy would do when
you offered it to the deity.

So for an ancient Egyptian,
it would actually not be

a huge problem to have one of
these fake mummies.

NARRATOR: It seems
this cat mummy never contained

an actual cat, but that
doesn't make it a fake.

The people who bought
it probably

knew there was nothing
inside it.

It is still a gift for
the gods,

just one for believers
on a budget.