There are more than a dozen. A team of Egyptian and Spanish archaeologists found them. They are ancient Egyptian mummies with gold tongues and nails in 2,000-year-old tombs. Scientists discovered them while excavating at the Al Bahnasa archaeological site in the Egyptian province of Menia. Mummies with golden tongues are a real rarity.
The excavations were carried out by the University of Barcelona and the Institute of the Ancient Near East. They discovered about 300 mummies dating back to the Ptolemaic era. It is the last and longest dynasty of Ancient Egypt. He ruled from 305 BC to 30 AD
Tomb with paintings
The 13 mummies had golden tongues in their mouths and funerary paraphernalia for the afterlife. Other objects of great value were also discovered, such as a scarab heart, amulets representing the Egyptian deities Horajti, Thoth and Isis, and a terracotta statue of the god Harpocrates. The findings will allow us to better understand the religious beliefs of the Ptolemaic era.
One of the tombs belonged to a man named Ven Nefer. It was decorated with wall paintings that represented him. They also observed a rectangular tunnel leading to the tomb. It had three rooms where dozens of mummies lay side by side. It is evidence of an ancient massive cemetery. Drawings and inscriptions were preserved on the walls of one of the chambers. They belong to the owner of the cemetery and his family. There are the figures of Anubis, Osiris, and other gods.
More golden tongues
The golden-tongued mummies are not the first. Similar ones had already been found in Oxyrhynchus. For example, in February two remains of this type were discovered. In 2021, remains of three people who also had the golden tongue were analyzed.
The ancient Egyptians considered gold a sacred metal. It was believed that golden tongues would help the deceased speak with Osiris. Nails of this metal are rarely found in ancient Egyptian burials. Probably, they were also endowed with magical properties.
Oxyrhynchus was an important settlement from the Greco-Roman era of the country’s history. In the first centuries AD an important Christian community emerged there. More than a third of the earliest known fragments of the New Testament come from this city.
