Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered two mummies with golden tongues in the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus, bringing the total number of golden tongues found at the site to 16, archaeologists say.

During the Roman period (29 BC – AD 641), Egyptians placed golden tongues in the mouths of some mummies so that the mummies could use their tongues in the afterlife, and ancient Egyptians believed that gold was “human flesh”. ” Esther Pons Mellado and Maite Maskort, co-directors of the Oxyrhynchus Archaeological Mission, told Live Science in an email. It was believed that there were mummies with golden tongues had the ability to speak Osiris in the underworld of the afterlife.

The same team discovered in 2021 that: Three golden tongues at Oxyrhynchus were added to the total number of golden tongues found in previous years at the ancient city, located near modern El Bahnas.

Pons Mellado and Maskort said the gold-tongued mummies were found in two Roman-era tombs containing additional mummies, as well as papyri with Greek writing and mud seals with Egyptian iconography.

Additionally, in 2023, the team found three large underground tombs called hypogea, dating back to the Ptolemaic period (304-30 BC). When the team explored the hypogea, they found a total of nine stone sarcophagi with anthropomorphic (a mix of human and animal) designs. Pons Mellado and Mascort say two of these are still sealed and have not been looted for thousands of years.

In all, they found more than 30 mummies covered in colored cardboard (layers of plastered papyrus or fiber) and several terracotta figurines depicting Isis Aphrodite, a deity combining Isis, the Egyptian goddess of healing and magic, with the Greek goddess Aphrodite. is associated with beauty.

“This is the first time we have found terracotta with the image of Isis-Aphrodite at Oxyrhynchus, and it is the first [такі] “Objects appear in this region of Middle Egypt,” Pons Mellado told LiveScience in an email.

Although we do not know the details of the deceased, they must have been important people at Oxyrhynchus, given that they could afford to be mummified and in some cases even buried with golden tongues.