Fact check: True, archeologists excavated mummy with a golden tongue in Egypt
Users claim that it was buried with a 'Golden Tongue' and archeologists in Egypt have recently excavated this mummy....
By Satya Priya BN Published on 9 Feb 2021 6:51 AM GMT
An image of a freshly excavated mummy is going viral on social media. Users claim that it was buried with a 'Golden Tongue' and archeologists in Egypt have recently excavated this mummy.
"Golden tongue mummy found in Egypt," reads the caption.
Some users also shared the viral image with a caption: "Archeologists uncovered a 2,000-year-old mummy with a golden tongue at the Taposiris Magna Temple in Alexandria, Egypt. It is believed priests and embalmers placed these gold amulets into mummies' mouths so that they could speak with gods like Osiris in the afterlife."
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Fact check:
The claim that archeologists excavated Mummy with Golden Tongue recently is TRUE.
When searched with the keywords 'Mummy with Golden Tongue', we found several articles affirming this news. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on its Facebook post that the Egyptian-Dominican mission of the University of Santo Domingo headed by Dr. Kathleen Martinez, working at the Taposiris Magna Temple in western Alexandria, succeeded in discovering 16 burials in the rock-cut tombs (burial shafts) that were popular in the Greek and Roman eras.
Within these shafts were a number of mummies in a poor state of preservation. It was found remnants of gilded cartonnage in addition to amulets of gold foil in the form of a tongue that were placed in the mouth of the mummy in a special ritual to ensure their ability to speak in the afterlife before the Osirian court.
Archaeologists found other golden artifacts including a funeral mask with golden flakes arranged in the shape of a wreath and some gilded decorations depicting Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god of the dead.
During the time of the pharaohs, gold was often used to decorate the funereal masks of rulers like King Tutankhamen. It had also been molded to encase the fingers and toes of the dead.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/
Similar kind of golden tongues were excavated previously in Egypt. Some of these tongues are on display at Penn Museum in Philadelphia.
Ancient Egyptians believed Osiris ruled the underworld and judged the souls of spirits who entered it. That's why they thought having the ability to speak to this god and ask for mercy would help people successfully enter the afterlife.
Here are some other links for more information about the excavation.
https://edition.cnn.com/
https://www.bbc.com/news/
Hence, the claim that archeologists excavated mummy with a golden tongue is TRUE.
