{"id":329322,"date":"2026-07-13T11:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/329322\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T11:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:42:15","slug":"ancient-egyptian-tombs-with-two-dozen-gold-tongues-found-along-mediterranean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/329322\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Egyptian tombs with two dozen \u2018gold tongues\u2019 found along Mediterranean"},"content":{"rendered":"

Archaeologists have discovered 18 Egyptian cemeteries along the Mediterranean, containing several coffins and artefacts, including two dozen “golden tongues”.<\/p>\n

The discovery sheds more light on the coastal region<\/a>‘s ancient cultural diversity.<\/p>\n

So far, nearly 45 cemeteries have been found along this coastal part of Egypt, enhancing the importance of the area as one of the most prominent coastal cities<\/a> of the ancient world.<\/p>\n

Of the 18 newly discovered tombs, 11 were found carved entirely onto rocks up to an average depth of eight meters, according to a statement by the Egyptian ministry of tourism and antiquities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Seven others were surface tombs built of limestone<\/a>, the ministry said.<\/p>\n

Among the most prominent discoveries here was 24 gold pieces<\/a> placed inside the mouths of some of the deceased, dubbed “golden tongues”.<\/p>\n

\"Human<\/p>\n

Human skeletons unearthed at cemetery along Mediterranean coast of Egypy (Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)<\/p>\n

The tongues were thought to help the deceased communicate in the afterlife.<\/p>\n

Most of the tombs found along this coast were in an “exceptional state of preservation” with stone slabs keeping the burials closed since the time they were built.<\/p>\n

These were found on the northwestern coast of Egypt, about 100km west of Alexandria, and were likely part of the city of Leukaspis, mentioned by the Greek geographer Strapon.<\/p>\n

The ancient city flourished from the Hellenistic era until the Byzantine era, and reached the height of its urban and economic activity during the first three centuries AD.<\/p>\n

There were also surface burials in the vicinity of the newly discovered tombs, reflecting the social diversity of the city’s residents, researchers say.<\/p>\n

A water well was also found reused for burial purposes during a later period.<\/p>\n

These finds point to the continuation of the ancient Egyptian funeral ritual and architectural influences during the later Ptolemaic and Roman eras, researchers say.<\/p>\n

Some of the key artefacts found at the tomb sites include complete and semi-complete pottery, camphors, dishes, limestone altars and basins, along with several architectural elements associated with the tombs.<\/p>\n

One limestone altar likely used to provide offerings had a “distinctive architecture”, according to researchers.<\/p>\n

The altar had an incomplete marble statue likely representing the goddess Aphrodite, and what archaeologists thought mimicked the “imaginary door” known in the ancient Egyptian funeral doctrine.<\/p>\n

\"'Golden<\/p>\n

‘Golden tongues’ discovered inside the tombs (Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)<\/p>\n

One of the cemeteries also had a 2.5m-long granite coffin with its original cover still in place and containing the remains of a plaster sphinx.<\/p>\n

The remains of the individual buried here are currently being studied.<\/p>\n

Two dozen “golden tongue” artefacts were also found in the cemeteries, which are gold pieces placed inside the mouths of some of the deceased.<\/p>\n

These were associated with funeral beliefs in that period as an important protective symbol, researchers say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Archaeologists have discovered 18 Egyptian cemeteries along the Mediterranean, containing several coffins and artefacts, including two dozen “golden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[21],"tags":[160501,1982,156656,160500],"class_list":["post-329322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-egypt","tag-cemeteries","tag-egypt","tag-hellenistic-era","tag-tongues"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116912491828946930","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}