Archaeologists have unearthed a group of ancient Egyptian cemeteries along the Mediterranean coast, revealing golden tongues and coffins that provide new insights into ancient culture. The excavations at Marina el-Alamein, 60 miles west of Alexandria, uncovered about two dozen golden tongues, which were customarily placed in the mouths of some deceased individuals to help them communicate in the afterlife, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. One object found is shaped like the Eye of Horus, a symbol associated with healing.
Golden Tongues and Their Significance
Hesham Hussein, undersecretary for Lower Egypt and Sinai archaeology, told Live Science that gold tongues are a well-documented feature of some burials from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods in Egypt. They are interpreted as symbolic funerary amulets intended to enable the deceased to communicate and recite sacred formulas in the next world. Similar discoveries have been made in recent years at the Taposiris Magna temple near Alexandria and the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus, about 200 miles southeast of the current find.
According to Smithsonian magazine, the practice originates from spell 158 in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which instructs that a golden collar be set on the throat of the deceased on the day of interment.
Exceptional Preservation and Historical Context
Most of the tombs were in an exceptional state of preservation, having been sealed by stone slabs since their construction. Experts believe they were part of the ancient city of Leukaspis, mentioned by the Greek geographer Strabo. Leukaspis, founded by the Greeks in the second century, was a thriving commercial hub known for its wine, wheat, and olive trade. However, it was destroyed in July 365 AD by a massive underwater earthquake near Crete, estimated at magnitude 8.5, which triggered a tsunami that devastated the southern Mediterranean coast, severely damaging Alexandria and the Nile Delta.
Other Artifacts and Social Insights
Other notable finds include a water well and surface burials near the tombs, reflecting the social diversity of the city's occupants—wealthy elites typically had deeper burials. The discoveries point to Egyptian funeral rituals and architectural influences persisting into the Ptolemaic and Roman eras. A limestone altar featuring an incomplete marble statue thought to represent Aphrodite had distinctive architecture suggesting an 'imaginary door'—a gateway between the living and the dead in Egyptian funeral doctrine. Another cemetery contained a 2.5-metre granite coffin with the remains of a plaster sphinx, along with pottery, dishes, camphor, and basins.
