Archaeologists also discovered 402 figurines, amulets and fragments from one of the tombs, perfectly preserved as it had not been opened in 2,500 years.
The mummy with a golden tongue is considered well preserved, as the skull and most of the body’s structures are still intact. Archaeologists dug it out of the stone tomb and found the golden object still glittering inside its mouth. They speculate that the real tongue was removed by the embalmers, but the golden tongue was put in place by a funeral ritual.
An archaeological mission from Spain has now been excavating beneath the city of El-Bahnasa, Egypt for 30 years and has found many tombs from different dynasties and papyrus texts unearthed here. until now still baffled archaeologists. And recently, they unearthed two 2,500-year-old mummies with golden tongues.
According to The Times of Israel, two mummies – a man and a woman, were laid to rest in a limestone sarcophagus, at Oxyrhynchus. They died around 525 BC at the end of the Saite dynasty, which was also the last dynasty native Egyptians ruled over their kingdom before the Persian conquest in the 6th century BC.
According to Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, in antiquity, golden tongues allowed the dead to speak to Osiris, the god of the underworld, who judged visitors to the afterlife. While the 402 figurines, amulets and fragments found in the tombs are also impressive, the condition of the male mummy’s coffin is what intrigues experts the most.
“This is important because it’s rare to find a completely sealed tomb like this,” said excavation director Esther Pons Melado.
One of the ancient skulls discovered had a golden tongue placed inside its mouth.
Inside the two tombs are the remains of a man and a woman, who died about 2,500 years ago, carefully mummified. While the man’s mummy is extremely well preserved, the woman’s tomb has been breached, leaving her body badly damaged. The mummies are believed to have belonged to upper-middle-class Egyptians, as the mummification process and burial chamber appeared to be complicated.
According to Egypt Today, the Oxyrhynchus mining site is located in the Minya Governorate, about 100 miles from Cairo. The secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mustafa Waziri said the woman’s tomb appeared to have been opened before, while the man’s tomb and coffin were completely untouched.
When the team opened the intact tomb, the researchers found an exceptionally well-preserved male mummy and four vintage urns used to retain the mummy’s internal organs. It also contains hundreds of terracotta figurines called faience, as well as a scarab and various amulets.
These figurines resemble the god Horus, an Ancient Egyptian god often represented as a man with the head of a falcon who was tasked with protecting the monarchy.
Researchers have discovered 402 small Ushabti statues resembling the ancient god Horus. Ushabti is the name of a small statue buried after the dead in ancient Egyptian culture. These ushabti statues act as a servant to serve the deceased when they go to the afterlife.
Hassan Amer, a professor in the Department of Greco-Roman Archeology at Cairo University, who co-directed the excavation, said: “When we excavated the tomb of the male mummy, we discovered the mummies. The vase contains 402 Ushabti statues, a set of small amulets and green beads.
Meanwhile, the woman’s coffin had been unsealed before, presumably in antiquity, and had valuables stolen by grave robbers. Apparently, the grave thief did not dare to take the woman’s tongue even though she opened her coffin, nor did he continue to work with the grave immediately, where the man lies. Both mummies were placed in limestone coffins, with golden tongues still found inside the mummy’s mouth.
The researchers also found three other golden tongues outside tombs dating back to the Roman period of Ancient Egypt, which began in 30 BC.
Earlier, another mummy discovered at the ancient Egyptian site of Taposiris Magna was also discovered with a golden tongue.
Researchers say the golden tongue can
