18 tombs dating back 2,000 years revealed 24 golden tongues inside the mouths of the dead — In 2026, archaeologists uncovered the bizarre purpose behind the ancient Egyptian ritual

In 2026, archaeologists excavating an ancient coastal city in Egypt uncovered 18 tombs containing an unusual collection of 24 thin gold pieces shaped like human tongues. The objects were not jewelry or decorations. They had been placed inside the mouths of the dead, apparently as part of a funerary ritual intended to give the deceased the ability to speak in the afterlife. The discovery offers a rare glimpse into how ancient Egyptians and their Mediterranean neighbors imagined communication after death — and how religious traditions continued to evolve more than 2,000 years ago.

The tombs were discovered at Marina El Alamein, an ancient settlement on Egypt's northwestern Mediterranean coast, during excavations by an Egyptian archaeological mission. Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the discoveries in July 2026. According to the ministry, the latest excavation brings the number of tombs uncovered at the site since its discovery in 1986 to 44.

18 tombs reveal a city where cultures met

Marina El Alamein is believed to correspond to the ancient city of Leukaspis, a settlement that flourished along the Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman periods.


The newly uncovered cemetery contained 11 underground tomb complexes carved into the bedrock and seven above-ground limestone tombs. Some burial chambers were found with their original coverings still intact, according to Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities as reported by Ahram Online.

The excavation also produced a 2.5-meter-long granite sarcophagus containing human remains, along with ceramic vessels, oil lamps, amphorae and other funerary objects. Archaeologists also found remnants of a plaster sphinx and an unfinished statue of the Greek goddess Aphrodite.


Those objects provide an important clue to the world these people inhabited.

Rather than representing a purely Egyptian religious culture, Marina El Alamein was a Mediterranean crossroads where Egyptian, Greek and Roman traditions existed alongside one another.

The golden tongues were meant for the dead

The most unusual discovery was found inside the mouths of some of the deceased: 24 thin gold sheets fashioned into the shape of human tongues.

According to Live Science, archaeologists believe these objects were funerary amulets associated with the ancient Egyptian belief that the dead needed to be able to communicate in the next world. Gold held particular religious importance in ancient Egypt and was associated with the divine and with permanence because it does not corrode like many other metals.

The idea was not simply that the dead would physically need a tongue.

Instead, the gold tongue appears to have had a ritual purpose. It was intended to ensure that the deceased could speak when encountering gods and other supernatural beings in the afterlife.

That belief connects the objects to a much older Egyptian concern: the preservation of the dead was not enough. The deceased also needed to retain the ability to function in the next world.

Why would the dead need to speak?

For ancient Egyptians, the afterlife was not imagined as a silent existence.

Religious texts describe the deceased encountering gods, making declarations and navigating supernatural dangers. Speech could therefore be essential to the dead person's successful passage into the afterlife.

The gold tongue ritual appears to have provided a symbolic solution.

As Live Science reported, ancient Egyptians believed gold represented the flesh of the gods. Placing a gold tongue in the mouth could therefore symbolically provide the deceased with a divine-quality means of speech.

The practice became particularly associated with the Hellenistic and Roman periods, when Egyptian religious traditions continued even as the country came increasingly under Greek and later Roman influence.

The Marina El Alamein discovery is therefore important because it shows that this belief was still being expressed in funerary practices along Egypt's Mediterranean coast.

The unexpected twist is what else was buried there

The golden tongues may be the most attention-grabbing objects, but they were not the only unusual finds.

Archaeologists discovered a large granite sarcophagus, surface burials and a collection of objects reflecting different cultural influences. Among them was an unfinished statue of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess associated with love and beauty. Researchers also recovered a limestone funerary marker depicting a seated man holding a bird.

This mixture of Egyptian and Greco-Roman objects is significant because Marina El Alamein was not an isolated Egyptian settlement.

The ancient city was positioned on a major Mediterranean route and served as a commercial and cultural center. Its inhabitants lived during a period when Egyptian traditions were interacting with Greek and Roman customs.

The golden tongues therefore provide more than a strange archaeological image. They show how ancient religious ideas could survive and adapt even as the cultural landscape around them changed.

A ritual that survived for centuries

The tombs date to the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, broadly spanning the period from 322 B.C. through A.D. 395, according to reporting on the excavation.

That means the people buried at Marina El Alamein lived during a period of enormous political and cultural change.

Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt in 332 B.C. was followed by the Ptolemaic dynasty, and Egypt eventually became part of the Roman Empire in 30 B.C. Yet Egyptian funerary beliefs did not simply disappear.

Instead, traditions continued, sometimes alongside Greek and Roman religious practices. The golden tongues offer a tangible example of that cultural continuity.

Why the discovery matters now

The excavation is helping archaeologists reconstruct not only how people died, but how they imagined what happened afterward. Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said the discoveries provide new information about Marina El Alamein's historical role as a major Mediterranean center where Egyptian and Greco-Roman traditions coexisted.

The site itself has been under archaeological investigation since 1986. With the latest excavation, researchers have now identified 44 tombs there, illustrating how much remains to be learned about the ancient city's population and burial customs.

For archaeologists, the golden tongues are valuable precisely because they are so specific. A tiny sheet of gold placed inside a person's mouth can reveal an entire belief system, one in which the ability to speak was considered important enough in the afterlife to require its own funerary safeguard.

More than 2,000 years later, those small objects are effectively giving archaeologists a voice from the ancient world.

FAQs

What are the golden tongues found in Egypt?

They are thin gold funerary pieces shaped like human tongues and placed inside the mouths of deceased individuals. Archaeologists believe they were ritual objects intended to help the dead speak in the afterlife.

Where were the 18 tombs discovered?

The tombs were found at Marina El Alamein on Egypt's northwestern Mediterranean coast. The ancient settlement is generally identified with Leukaspis, a city that was an important Mediterranean commercial and cultural center.