Researchers Find Gold Tongued Mummies In Egypt

Ancient Egyptians believed that placing gold eyes and gold tongues on their dead would allow the deceased to speak, see, and taste in the afterlife. Images | Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, enhanced by Donald Standeford.

By Matt Pepple, SJ Correspondent
December 13, 2022 05:45 pm UTC
Modified: 2022-12-13 05:45 pm

EGYPT – Researchers in Egypt have unearthed the bodies of several mummies that have tongues fashioned from gold. Egyptians believed that gold eyes, and tongues would allow the dead to see, speak and taste in the afterlife. 

The mummies were found in a primitive burial ground close to the city of Quesna which is 35 miles northwards of Cairo, as reported by Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

A few of the mummified corpses were entombed in wooden caskets with funerary materials such as pottery, gold relics shaped like lotus flowers, necklaces, and scarab beetles, according to a ministry report that was posted on Facebook on November 24th.

Fitting the dead with golden tongues was prevalent throughout the Greco-Roman period. A professor of Egyptology at The American University in Cairo, Salima Ikram said to Live Science in an email.

Gold Tongues found at burial site. Image | Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, enhanced by Donald Standeford.

Archaeologists theorize the Greco-Roman era spanned from 332 bc during the time when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, to 395 AD, during the time when the Roman Empire was cleaved in 2 for the last time. 

The ministry report made note that the mummies presumably date to a varying time inside of the Greco-Roman period.

Dr. Ikram said in reference to the gold tongues, that they were a “hallmark of the later Graeco-Roman period funerary preparations, when golden tongues, and sometimes even 'eyes' were placed on embalmed bodies,” as reported by Live Science. It should be noted that Dr. Ikram was not associated with this find.

Dr. Ikram went on to explain about gold eyes and gold tongues as being seen as “manifestations of the transformation of the deceased into divine beings,” making the observation that the prehistoric Egyptians regarded the skin of their deities as being made of gold, Live Science reported.

In the course of the Greco-Roman time, ancient Egyptians considered gold eyes and tongues would, “allow the deceased to speak, see, and taste in the afterlife,” Dr. Ikram said, According to Live Science.

These ancient mummies with golden tongues have been located in other places within Egypt, such as Taposiris Magna, an archaeological dig site on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and at Oxyrhynchus, another archaeological dig site situated 108 miles south of Cairo. Dr. Ikram said, “It is delightful to have more golden-tongued mummies”.

Unearthing and investigation of the mummies located at Quesna are in process, It is not yet known how many remains with golden tongues have been located and if the names of the dead are acknowledged.