Archaeologists in Egypt discover a mummy with a golden tongue
The tongue might've been meant to help the dead speak in the afterlife, officials say.
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The tongue placed in the mummy's mouth is an amulet made of gold foil.
Egyptian archaeologists discovered 16 human burial chambers outside of Alexandria -- and at least one of them contained a human skull with a startling golden tongue. The tongue is an amulet made of gold foil, and might've been made to help the dead speak in the afterlife, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a Facebook post dated Friday,
The archaeologists were working at the temple of Taposiris Magna in western Alexandria. One mummy wore a crown decorated with horns, a cobra at its forehead, and a "gilded decoration depicting a necklace, from which hangs the head of a falcon, the symbol of the god Horus."
Some golden tongue amulets found previously in Egypt are housed at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, The New York Times reports.
The newly discovered mummies are more than 2,000 years old.
The archaeologists are on a mission to find the tomb of the famous Egyptian queen Cleopatra but have yet to discover that burial place.