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Amazing discovery: Unearthed Egyptian mummies had golden tongues

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — Archeologists digging in Egypt have made an amazing discovery — a cache of mummies that were buried with gold tongues.

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The team was excavating in Alexandria’s Taposiris Magna temple when they found 16 burials in rock-cut tombs, BBC News reported.

The tomb style was popular in Greek and Roman eras of Egyptian history.

It is believed that the tongues were used on the mummies to allow the spirit of the departed to speak to Osiris in the afterlife as he judged the dead, CNN reported.

Osiris was also depicted on the cartonnage that partially encased the remains of one of the mummies.

Another mummy had illustrations of a falcon, which symbolizes Horus.

The team also found a funeral mask of a woman, parts of a golden wreath and eight marble masks that date back to the Greek and Roman periods.

The mummies uncovered were in a “poor state of preservation,” CNN reported.

- كشف أثري جديد بالإسكندرية نجحت البعثة المصرية الدومينيكانية التابعة لجامعة سانتو دومنيجو برئاسة الدكتورة/ كاثلين...

Posted by ‎Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities وزارة السياحة والآثار‎ on Friday, January 29, 2021

In the past, scientists found coins that had the image of Queen Cleopatra VII, the final queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt from 51-30 BC. After her death, Egypt was ruled by the Romans. She is considered the most famous Egyptian queen, despite scholars saying she technically was Greek. She was the queen who had an affair with both Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony.

Over the past decade, teams have also found statutes at the temple that indicate that it was built by King Ptolemy IV, CNN reported.