The background of Taxidermy is a combination of northern animal skin tanning and Egyptian mummification techniques.
As early as 2,200 BC, the Egyptians embalmed the bodies of dogs, cats, monkeys, hawks, etc as companions to the afterlife. Around 500 BC, the Carthaginians were reported to have preserved the skins of Gorillas killed by Hanno the Navigator. The skins were hung in the temple of Astarte, where they remained for several hundred years, until the conquest and destruction of Carthage in 146 BC by the Romans.
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| Hanno the Navigator and the 'hirsute and savage people'. |
As early as 2,200 BC, the Egyptians embalmed the bodies of dogs, cats, monkeys, hawks, etc as companions to the afterlife. Around 500 BC, the Carthaginians were reported to have preserved the skins of Gorillas killed by Hanno the Navigator. The skins were hung in the temple of Astarte, where they remained for several hundred years, until the conquest and destruction of Carthage in 146 BC by the Romans.
