Archaeologists have discovered two ancient tombs in Egypt containing the mummies of a man and a woman with several golden tongues and nails.
This is one of the rarer cases in Egyptian archaeology in which one of the tombs had never even been opened before. The sealed tomb belonged to the male with the golden tongue still in his mouth, and it contained his sarcophagus, a scarab amulet, four canopic jars that ancient Egyptians used to hold embalmed organs, and four hundred pieces of funerary pottery. Gold-foiled tongues were believed to have enabled the deceased to talk to Osiris, the god of the afterlife.
Mummies and golden tongues in Egypt
“This is very important because it’s rare to find a tomb that is totally sealed,” said Esther Pons Mellado, co-director of the the University of Barcelona archaeological study.
The discovery of sealed tombs presents a unique opportunity for archaeologists. They are able to observe the area exactly as left by ancient Egyptians. This provides insights into rituals and the significance of artifacts in the ancient culture.
“We are still studying the inscriptions on the vessels that, we assume, will reveal the identity of the buried person,” said Maite Mascort, co-director of the study.
This is not the first time archaeologists have discovered mummies with gold-foiled tongues. Earlier this year, researchers found one such specimen in Alexandria’s Taposiris Magna Temple dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The burial chambers of the temple date back to the Saite Dynasty, which lasted from about 664 to 332 BC.
While the tomb of the male mummy had been in perfect condition and sealed by outsiders, the tomb of the female had already been plundered by grave robbers. The sepulcher was disturbed shortly after the time of burial. At the female burial site, they found beads, a headrest amulet made of stone, a figure of the ancient Egyptian god Horus, and two additional golden tongues.
The golden-tongued mummies were discovered in the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus in what is now Al-Bahnasa. However, according to the University of Barcelona, during the time these mummies were entombed, the city was known as Per-Medjed. This town was one of the most important during the Saite Dynasty before Alexander the Great’s conquest of Egypt.
The University of Barcelona has been working on this project in conjunction with the Egyptian Antiquities Organization since 1992. Jamal Samastawi, the director general of Antiquities in Central Egypt, applauded the university’s work over the past three decades. During this time, they uncovered plenty of ancient tombs from various eras of ancient Egyptian history.