Egypt: Archaeologists discover mummies with ‘solid-gold tongues’ [PICS]
In a strange discovery, archaeologists in Egypt claimed to have found human mummies with solid-gold tongues. According to the New York Post, the archaeologists found out about the ‘gold tongues’ after mummies from 300 and 640 BCE were discovered at the Quweisna necropolis in the central Nile Delta. The site is roughly 40 miles north of Cairo.
Archaeological experts examining the tombs found several preserved corpses with gold chips in their mouths that exactly resembled human tongues, said Dr Mustafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council for Archeology, in a press release, as quoted by New York Post.
According to experts, during the embalming process (the process of preserving the body), the real tongue of the deceased was removed and replaced with a ‘gold tongue’. It was believed that the deceased can talk to Osiris - the ancient Egyptian ‘Lord of the Underworld’- with the ‘gold tongue’.
Waziri revealed that numerous mummies were discovered with gold on the bone beneath the linen wraps used during the process of mummification. However, the mummies were in bad condition
At the ancient cemetery, archaeologists also discovered gold chips fashioned into scarab beetles and lotus flowers, earthenware, funerary amulets, glues, and tar used in the embalming process. Not only that, experts also found the remains of human-shaped wooden coffins, and several copper nails at the cemetery.
Notably, the Quweisna necropolis was discovered in 1989. The place has witnessed several rounds of excavations over the last three decades.
The gold-tongued mummies were discovered in a freshly discovered extension of the cemetery, that housed cadavers from three separate historical periods.
According to Dr Ayman Ashmawi, chairman of the Egyptian archaeology sector at the Supreme Council of Archeology, each burial level revealed evidence of different rites and methods of burying the mummies.
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However, this is not the first time that archaeologists have uncovered expensive metal-encrusted mummies in Egypt.
According to a New York Post report, in 2021, archaeologists discovered a 2,000-year-old skull with a tongue-shaped gold chip in its gaping mouth at Taposiris Magna, a site near Alexandria known as the ‘Great Tomb of Osiris.’
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First published: 5 December 2022, 17:56 IST