https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kzv8qx/dozens-of-cat-mummies-found-in-4500-year-old-egyptian-tombs

Over the weekend, archeologists unveiled dozens of cat mummies and 100 feline sculptures found in 4,500-year-old tombs at Saqqara, an ancient Egyptian necropolis south of Cairo. The exciting find reiterates that the human compulsion to worship our kitty companions predates the likes of Maro and Lil BUB by several millennia.

The ritual sacrifice, mummification, and burial of cats was extremely common for thousands of years in ancient Egypt, and the animals were bred for this specific purpose. These sacrificed kitties were likely a mass offering to the cat goddess Bastet. A bronze statue dedicated to Bastet was recovered with the mummified cats, along with a multitude of wooden gilded feline figurines.