Gold-tongued mummy found at 2,000-year-old burial site in Egypt
International
Updated: Tuesday, February 2, 2021, 16:20 [IST]
Cairo, Feb 02: A 2,000-year-old mummy bearing a tongue made of gold has been unearthed by Archaeologists at the ancient Egyptian site Taposiris Magna.
Image Courtesy @Twitter
Embalmers perhaps placed the golden tongue on the mummy to ensure that the deceased would be able to speak in the afterlife, Egypt s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement.
The skeleton with the gold tongue was found to be well-preserved, as its skull and most of its structure is still intact.
Archaeologists dug it out of the rock-cut tomb and were met with the still shining gold object inside of the skeleton s mouth.
A Stunning Bounty Of Alexandrian Artifacts
The mummy with the golden tongue was highly unusual, but it is only one of the fascinating relics that have been found in the 16 new burial shafts recently discovered by Kathleen Martinez and her Dominican-Egyptian team.
One of the more remarkable finds was a female mummy that was enclosed in a full body death mask .
A female mummy that was enclosed in a full body death mask. (
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The archaeologists also found the remains of two other entombed mummies, one of which was covered in plaster layers decorated with golden images of Osiris. Partially intact scrolls were found next to these mummies, and the archaeologists have now begun the long laborious process of decoding the scrolls to see what secrets they might reveal.
The golden tongue of one of the mummies
Credit: MINISTRY OF TOURISM AND ANTIQUTIES HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed more than a dozen 2,000-year-old mummies, including some with gold tongues in their mouths, according to the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The Egyptian-Dominican team from the University of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic was working at the Taposiris Magna Temple in western Alexandria when it discovered the remains of 16 ancient Egyptians buried in rock tombs.
The mummies were poorly preserved and in a state of significant decomposition, but photographs released by the ministry showed a human skeleton with a clearly visible, tongue-shaped piece of gold placed in its jaw.
Charlotte Edwards, Digital Technology and Science Reporter
2 Feb 2021, 11:24
Updated: 2 Feb 2021, 12:26
AN ANCIENT mummy with a golden tongue has been unearthed in Egypt.
The expensive-tongued man was buried at a 2,000 year old site associated with rulers who thought jewellery enabled the dead to talk in the afterlife.
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This ancient Egyptian man was buried with a golden tongueCredit: Egypt Ministry of Tourism and Antiques
Experts believe the gold tongue was given to the ancient Egyptian man after death in an attempt to help him speak to Osiris, the Egyptian god of death.
His real tongue was likely removed during the embalming process.
BBC News
Published
image copyrightEgyptian Ministry of Antiquities
image captionIt is thought the dead were given the golden tongues so they could speak in the afterlife
Archaeologists have unearthed 2,000-year-old mummies with golden tongues placed inside their mouths in northern Egypt, the antiquities ministry says.
An Egyptian-Dominican team working at Alexandria s Taposiris Magna temple discovered 16 burials in rock-cut tombs popular in the Greek and Roman eras.
Inside were poorly-preserved mummies.
It is thought the dead were given gold foil amulets shaped like tongues so that they could speak before the court of the god Osiris in the afterlife.
Ancient Egyptians believed that Osiris was lord of the underworld and judge of the dead.