Golden ‘tongues’ found on mummies buried in 2,000-year-old tomb in Egypt, photos show
Peering into an underground cavern in central Egypt, archaeologists came face-to-face with dozens of dusty ancient mummies and knew they’d uncovered something significant. Photos show some of the tomb’s treasures.
A joint team of Egyptian and Spanish archaeologists returned to Al Bahnasa as part of a decadeslong project to systematically study the site, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a Dec. 14 Facebook post. This year, their work focused on the details of an underground tomb complex, a mass grave situated at the bottom of a well-like shaft with a main hall and three burial chambers.
The ancient tomb contains about 300 mummies, the University of Barcelona said in a Dec. 16 news release.
So far, archaeologists have studied 52 of these mummies dating from the Ptolemaic period, an ancient Egyptian dynasty which ruled from 305 to 30 B.C., according to Britannica.
Thirteen of these mummies had golden “tongues” placed in their mouths, archaeologists said. A photo shows the flat artifacts that vary in size and shape. Most have an indented line running down their centers.
Such gold tongues were intended to help the dead speak with the Egyptian god of the underworld, Osiris, Smithsonian Magazine and BBC reported when similar artifacts were found in 2021.
Excavations at Al Bahnasa also uncovered amulets depicting several ancient Egyptian deities and a scarab beetle carving placed over one mummy’s heart. A photo shows these finds.
Many of these artifacts were first-of-their-kind finds for Al Bahnasa, officials said. Similar finds are known from other archaeological sites.
The 2,000-year-old tomb also has colorful wall paintings depicting burial rituals or afterlife journeys. A photo shows one of these scenes.
Egyptian officials shared a photo of the underground tomb complex in a January Facebook post.
Al Bahnasa, also known by its ancient Greek name Oxyrhynchus, is a city along the Nile River in central Egypt, a roughly 130-mile drive southwest from Cairo.
Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the University of Barcelona and Facebook posts from Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
This story was originally published December 16, 2024 at 11:54 AM with the headline "Golden ‘tongues’ found on mummies buried in 2,000-year-old tomb in Egypt, photos show."
