Unearthed Treasures: Golden-Tongued Mummies of Qewaisna Delve into the enigmatic world of these ancient relics and their connection to the afterlife.

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered several ancient mummies with golden tongues, which were thought to help transform the deceased into divine beings.

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the remains of several mummies with gold tongues in an ancient cemetery near Quesna, a town located about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of Cairo, according to Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Some of the mummies were buried in wooden coffins with grave goods including necklaces, pottery and gold artifacts in the shape of lotus flowers and scarab beetles, the ministry said in a statement posted on Facebook on Nov. 24.

Mummies with golden tongues were popular during the Greco-Roman period, Salima Ikram, a distinguished professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, told Live Science in an email. The Greco-Roman period lasted from roughly 332 B.C., when Alexander the Great took over Egypt, to A.D. 395, when the Roman Empire split in two for the final time. The ministry statement noted that the mummies likely date to different eras within the Greco-Roman period.