A dazzling discovery has emerged from ancient Egypt: archaeologists have unearthed 13 mummies adorned with golden tongues and fingernails in 2,000-year-old tombs in middle Egypt.
Found in the Behnese region, these mummies were accompanied by never-before-seen ritual scenes of deities, according to Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Experts believe the gilded tongue prosthetics were placed so the deceased could speak with Osiris, the god of the underworld, as reported by the New York Post.
While golden tongues have been previously discovered at Oxyrhynchus, the golden fingernails are unique to this finding, according to the agency.
Archaeologists have uncovered dozens of mummies dating back to the Ptolemaic period (304 BC to 30 BC) at the bottom of a burial shaft in a cemetery at Oxyrhynchus, about 100 miles southwest of Cairo, reports Live Science.
“The number of gold tongues here is high, which is interesting,” Salima Ikram, Egyptology professor at American University in Cairo told Live Science.
“Possibly the bodies belong to higher elites that were associated with the temple and animal cults that proliferated in the area,” the professor conjectured to the outlet.
Archaeologists also discovered 29 golden amulets, some shaped like scarabs, alongside a stunning wall painting in the burial chamber.
The artwork features several Egyptian deities, including Nut, the sky-goddess, depicted surrounded by stars.
