Reevaluando la evidencia acerca de la cacería del hipopótamo en Egipto predinástico

Abstract

The theme of hunting the hippopotamus was often depicted in Predynastic iconography, but due to some of its particularities it has been suggested that hippopotami were, in fact, not killed but rather captured alive (Mond and Myers, 1937; Behrmann, 1996: 134-136). Twenty years have passed, and evidence both archaeological and archaeozoological has since grown significantly. We now have enough sources to reassess the corpus of evidence in order to debunk or ratify their theses. Particularly relevant to supporting her hypothesis was the finding in Hierakonpolis of a young hippopotamus’ remains that show signs of having been held captive in the village. Moreover, it is helpful to examine evidence not taken into account by the author such as ethnohistorical research and the latest archaeozoological findings. The outcome of this research seems to suggest that the killing of hippopotami did in fact take place during the hunting expedition, due to the dangerous nature of transporting the living beast.  Furthermore, the idea of iconographic evidence as a narration of true events should be challenged and understood instead as being of symbolic nature.