Among the animals given the mummification treatment were birds, cats, cobras, and crocodiles.

Archaeologists found the mummified animals near the 204-foot-tall Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, a necropolis that was used in the earliest times of royal burials in Ancient Egypt. Saqqara, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was associated with the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis and was a buried ground for a few thousand years. Other pharaohs are buried there, some in pyramids.

Finding mummified cats is not an uncommon thing, the archaeologists said; the find of a mummified lion, on the other hand, is rare. An earlier team digging at Saqqara in 2004 found the first known lion skeleton. Scientists are now testing two of the mummified animals to see if they are indeed lion cubs.

Also among the animals in mummy form were statues of cats, made of bronze and of wood, representing the goddess Bastet. One human form find was a statue representing the warriors goddess Sekhmet with the head of a lioness, again suggesting the importance of the lion to the people who buried those things there.