Archaeologists have discovered the remains of three ancient Egyptian inhabitants a man, woman and child outfitted with tongues of gold foil, a treasure likely intended to help them speak with gods in the afterlife, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The burials were found in two neighboring tombs. One of the tombs, which had been plundered by grave robbers, held the remains of the woman and a 3-year-old child, and it had a limestone sarcophagus with a lid shaped like a woman, according to Ahram Online(opens in new tab). But the man’s grave, from the 26th dynasty (664 B.C. to 525 B.C.), also known as the Saite period, was untouched.
“This is very important, because it’s rare to find a tomb that is totally sealed,” Esther Pons Mellado, co-director of the archaeological mission of Oxyrhynchus, told The National a newspaper that covers the Middle East.
Researchers with the Archaeological Mission of Oxyrhynchus, co-run by Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the University of Barcelona, made the finding at the archaeological site of Oxyrhynchus, near the modern-day town of El Bahnasa, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Cairo. Oxyrhynchus was the capital of the 19th nome, or province, of Upper Egypt, according to the mission’s website.
It’s known for the Oxyrhynchus papyri, or ancient Greek, Latin and other languages written on hundreds of thousands of papyri that date from the third century B.C. to the seventh century A.D.
The two newfound tombs add to the ancient capital’s history. The man’s tomb contained a mummy interred within a limestone sarcophagus with a man-shaped lid, as well as four canopic jars designed to hold the deceased’s organs, amulets including a scarab, green beads and about 400 funerary figurines, known as ushabti, crafted out of faience, or glazed ceramic, The National reported.
Archaeologists found three gold-foil tongues belonging to an ancient Egyptian man, woman and child.
The identities of the man, woman and child are unknown, but archaeologists are hoping ongoing excavations will reveal more clues.
This is the second time this year that archaeologists have found gold tongues in ancient Egyptian burials.
In January, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the discovery of a 2,000-year-old mummy with a gold tongue at Taposiris Magna, an archaeological site on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. Perhaps that individual received a gold tongue to help him speak in the afterlife, especially to a deity like Osiris, the god of the underworld.
30 mummies discovered inside an ancient fire-scorched sacrificial structure
Archaeologists discovered the mummies inside a unique family tomb hidden inside a fire-scorched structure.
Hidden within a fire-scorched structure near the Nile River in Aswan, Egypt, archaeologists discovered the entrance to a 2,000-year-old family tomb.
Inside, they found 30 mummies of various ages, including several arthritis-ridden elderly people, as well as children and a newborn.
The tomb was discovered beneath a set of stairs.
Though the archaeologists have yet to date the tomb, they suspect a single family buried their dead in it over generations spanning the the Ptolemaic and Roman periods (the first century B.C. to the second or third century A.D.), according to Patrizia Piacentini, a professor of Egyptology and Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Milan, who was co-director of the excavation.
This new tomb is one of more than 300 recently discovered surrounding the Mausoleum of the Aga Khan, a pink granite structure built in the 20th century that sits on top of a slight hill along the Nile River.
But while most of the other tombs were found underground or dug into rocky hills, this particular tomb was unique in that it was found inside a larger above-ground structure, which the researchers think was likely used as a place of sacrifice.
“It seems that, due to its position along a valley of access to the necropolis, this building was used as a sacred enclosure where sacrifices were offered to the god Khnum in the form of aries, creator god and protector of the fertile floods of the Nile, particularly revered in Aswan,” Piacentini. “Who better than him could have propitiated the eternal life of those who rested in this necropolis?”
Further supporting its use as a place of sacrifice, Piacentini and the team discovered signs of fire on the structure walls possibly from offering ceremonies; but some of the fire marks may have also been made by grave robbers, she added. Either way, inside that burned structure, they discovered animal bones, plant remains and offering tables.
Also hidden inside was a mummy of a man next to a copper necklace engraved with his name “Nikostratos.”
At the bottom of a staircase leading to the tomb entrance — which had been dug out of the rock —, they found a broken offering vase that still contained small fruits.
The tomb, which was made up of four deeply-excavated chambers, contained the remains of around 30 mummies.
Some of the mummies were very well preserved, such as the remains of a child tucked inside a terracotta sarcophagus, while others had their bandages and cartonnage, a material ancient Egyptians used to wrap mummies, cut by ancient robbers.
The researchers also discovered a knife with an iron blade and wooden handle that may have been used by the plunderers. The researchers also say that Nikostratos was likely once inside the tomb with the other 30 mummies, but was taken out by the robbers.
The excavation was a joint venture between the Aswan and Nibian Antiquities Zone in Egypt and by the University of Milan in Italy; the researchers are continuing to analyze and date the finds.
“The study of the new discovered structure is just beginning,” Piacentini said.
Archaeologists discover 3000-year-old Egyptian city
Archaeologists have found a “Lost Golden City” that’s been buried under the ancient Egyptian capital of Luxor for the past 3,000 years, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on April 2021.
The city, historically known as “The Rise of Aten,” was founded by Amenhotep III (ruled 1391-1353 B.C.), the grandfather of Tutankhamun, or King Tut. People continued to use the “Golden City” during Amenhotep III’s co-regency with his son, Amenhotep IV (who later changed his name to Akhenaten), as well as during the rule of Tut and the pharaoh who followed him, known as Ay.
Despite the city’s rich history — historical documents report that it was home to King Amenhotep III’s three royal palaces and was the largest administrative and industrial settlement in Luxor at that time — its remains eluded archaeologists until now.
“Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it,” Zahi Hawass, the archaeologist who led the Golden City’s excavation and the former minister of state for antiquities affairs, said in a translated statement. His team began the search in 2020 with the hopes of finding King Tut’s mortuary temple. They chose to look in this region “because the temples of both Horemheb and Ay were found in this area,” Hawass said.
They were taken aback when they began uncovering mud bricks everywhere they dug. The team soon realized that they had unearthed a large city that was in relatively good shape. “The city’s streets are flanked by houses,” some with walls up to 10 feet (3 meters) high, Hawass said. These houses had rooms that were filled with knickknacks and tools that ancient Egyptians used in daily life.
Many of the ancient dwellings and buildings still had intact walls.
“The discovery of this lost city is the second most important archeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun,” which occurred in 1922, Betsy Brian, a professor of Egyptology at John Hopkins University, said in the statement. “The discovery of the Lost City not only will give us a rare glimpse into the life of the ancient Egyptians at the time where the empire was at [its] wealthiest, but will help us shed light on one of history’s greatest [mysteries]: Why did Akhenaten and [Queen] Nefertiti decide to move to Amarna?”
(A few years after Akhenaten started his reign in the early 1350s B.C., the Golden City was abandoned and Egypt’s capital was moved to Amarna).
Once the team realized they had discovered the Lost City, they set about dating it. To do this, they looked for ancient objects bearing the seal of Amenhotep III’s cartouche, an oval filled with his royal name in hieroglyphics. The team found this cartouche all over the place, including on wine vessels, rings, scarabs, colored pottery and mud bricks, which confirmed that the city was active during the reign of Amenhotep III, who was the ninth king of the 18th dynasty.
After seven months of excavation, the archaeologists had uncovered several neighborhoods. In the southern part of the city, the team also discovered the remains of a bakery that had a food preparation and cooking area filled with ovens and ceramic storage containers. The kitchen is large, so it likely catered to a large clientele, according to the statement.
In another, still partially covered area of the excavation, archaeologists found an administrative and residential district that had larger, neatly-arranged units. A zigzag fence — an architectural design used toward the end of the 18th Dynasty — walled off the area, allowing only one access point that led to the residential areas and internal corridors. This single entrance likely served as a security measure, giving ancient Egyptians control over who entered and left this area, according to the statement.
In another area, archaeologists found a production area for mud bricks, which were used to build temples and annexes. These bricks, the team noted, had seals with the cartouche of King Amenhotep III.
The team also found dozens of casting molds that were used to make amulets and decorative items — evidence that the city had a bustling production line that made decorations for temples and tombs. Throughout the city, the archaeologists found tools related to industrial work, including spinning and weaving. They also unearthed metal and glass-making slag, but they haven’t yet found the workshop that made these materials.
The archaeologists also found several burials: two unusual burials of a cow or bull, and a remarkable burial of a person whose arms were outstretched to the side and had a rope wrapped around the knees. The researchers are still analyzing these burials, and hope to determine the circumstances and meaning behind them.
It’s unclear why the remains of a cow or bull were buried in the Lost Golden City.
More recently, the team found a vessel holding about 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of dried or boiled meat. This vessel is inscribed with an inscription that reads: Year 37, dressed meat for the third Heb Sed festival from the slaughterhouse of the stockyard of Kha made by the butcher luwy.
“This valuable information not only gives us the names of two people that lived and worked in the city but confirmed that the city was active and the time of King Amenhotep III’s co-regency with his son Akhenaten,” the archaeologists said in the statement. Moreover, the team found a mud seal that says “gm pa Aton” — a phrase that can be translated into “the domain of the dazzling Aten” — the name of a temple at Karnak built by King Akhenaten.
According to historical documents, one year after this pot was crafted the capital was moved to Amarna. Akhenaten, who is known for mandating that his people worship just one deity — the sun god Aten — called for this move. But Egyptologists still wonder why he moved the capital and if the Golden City was truly abandoned at that time. It’s also a mystery whether the city was repopulated when King Tut returned to Thebes and reopened it as a religious center, according to the statement.
Further excavations may reveal the city’s tumultuous history. And there’s still a lot to excavate. “We can reveal that the city extends to the west, all the way to the famous Deir el-Medina” — an ancient worker’s village inhabited by the crafters and artisans who built the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, Hawass said.
Furthermore, in the north, archaeologists have found a large cemetery that has yet to be fully excavated. So far, the team has found a group of rock-cut tombs that can be reached only through stairs carved into the rock — a feature that is also seen at the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Nobles.
In the coming months, archaeologists plan to excavate these tombs to learn more about the people and treasures buried there.
195,000 Years Oldest Fossils Found Outside of Africa
New fossil finds over the past few years have been forcing anthropologists to reexamine our evolutionary path to becoming human. Now the earliest modern human fossil ever found outside the continent of Africa is pushing back the date for when our ancestors left Africa.
The fossil, an upper left jawbone with most of the teeth attached, comes from Misliya Cave in Israel and dates to 177,000-194,000 years ago. This is considerably older than any other remains from our own species, Homo sapiens, ever discovered outside of Africa, and it coincides with several other recent studies that are changing the view on our evolutionary origins and migration throughout the Old World.
African origins, then spreading from there
The earliest humans, referred to as hominins by anthropologists, lived around six to 7 million years ago in Africa. These early evolutionary ancestors are recognized as belonging to the human family mainly because their bones reveal clear signs of bipedalism: They walked on two feet. It was not until around 2 million years ago that human ancestors first migrated out of Africa and spread throughout the Old World.
Up until recently, anthropologists generally held that Homo sapiens first appeared around 200,000 years ago, in Africa. This was based on findings from genetic studies as well as fossil discoveries. Two sites in Ethiopia, Herto and Omo Kibish, have yielded early Homo sapiens fossils dated to between 160,000-195,000 years ago.
Early modern human fossils from Morocco are older than the new find from Misliya, which is similar in age to fossils from Ethiopia. Overlaid on the map are a 3-D virtual reconstruction of the Misliya-1 jawbone and several Early Middle Paleolithic stone tools also found in the cave. Image via Rolf Quam, Binghamton University, modified from “Blue Marble.”
But in June of 2017, researchers dated fossils from the site of Jebel Irhoud in Morocco to around 315,000 years ago and attributed them to an early phase of Homo sapiens evolution. This unexpectedly early date pushed back the origin of our species by over 100,000 years.
Until recently, the earliest human fossils from our own species discovered outside of Africa dated to around 90,000-120,000 years ago. Two cave sites in Israel – Qafzeh and Skhul – have yielded numerous skeletons of early modern humans.
The age of these sites would suggest that our species was restricted to Africa for as long as 200,000 years before migrating out of the continent. Other sites with Homo sapiens fossils from Asia and Europe are generally younger than the finds from the Middle East.
Now an international research team, of which I was a member, has reported finding an early modern human fossil at Misliya Cave in Israel dating as far back as 177,000-194,000 years ago. This date pushes back our species’ exodus from Africa by over 50,000 years.
Misliya Cave is part of a series of prehistoric cave sites located along the western slopes of Mount Carmel, Israel.
High-tech analysis of ancient remains
The Misliya fossil is just part of one individual’s jawbone. To understand the significance of the find, we needed to be sure about when this individual lived and also what species they belonged to.
To start with, the stone tools associated with the fossil, of a type known as the Early Middle Paleolithic, indicated a considerable antiquity for the specimen. Similar tool kits from other sites in the Middle East generally date to older than 160,000 years ago.
To establish the jawbone’s age more precisely, several independent dating techniques were applied to the fossil itself as well as the stone tools and sediments at the site. The results came back with ages that ranged between 177,000-194,000 years ago.
To diagnose which species the Misliya fossil might represent, we studied the original fossil using both traditional anthropological approaches as well as the latest technological advances.
We micro-CT scanned and made 3-D virtual models of the specimen to visualize the internal structures of the teeth and quantify their shapes more precisely. The results of these analyses demonstrated very clearly that the Misliya fossil is a member of our own species.
All of the anatomical features in the Misliya fossil are consistent with it being a modern human, just like us. There is nothing in the fossil that would rule it out as a Homo sapiens. And some features in the Misliya fossil’s anterior teeth seem only to occur in Homo sapiens.
A close-up view, showing details of the crown topography and dental features.
Our study found these teeth lack several features that are found in earlier human species, including the Neanderthals. One of these characteristics is a thickening of the tooth crown along the edges on the inside surface of the incisor and canine.
Anthropologists call this trait shoveling. We see shoveling on the teeth of previous species of hominins from before modern humans evolved. But we didn’t see it in the teeth from Misliya, supporting the idea that this jaw is from a Homo sapiens individual.
Now some modern human populations actually do have shoveling on their teeth, while others do not; but in the fossil record, the only species that does not show shoveling is Homo sapiens.
Another trait we looked for is a small cusp at the base of the tooth crown on the inside surface of the incisor and canine. This feature is commonly seen in Neanderthals, but is absent in the Misliya fossil.
It’s the absence of these two dental features in the Misliya fossil, together with information from the other teeth and the jawbone itself, that tells us it came from a Homo sapiens.
Fitting more pieces into the puzzle
The findings at Misliya coincide with a recent genetic study that offered tantalizing evidence for the influx of genetic material into the Neanderthal gene pool from Africa. The researchers relied on ancient mitochondrial DNA extracted from a Neanderthal femur (leg bone) discovered in Germany.
The African species involved was not clear, but the older dates for the earliest Homo sapiens fossils at Jebel Irhoud in Morocco make it clear that modern humans were already present in Africa at this time.
These genetic results suggest the possibility of an earlier modern human migration out of Africa – at least as far back as 220,000 years ago and probably earlier.
While the Misliya fossil is younger than this, it provides the first fossil evidence confirming that modern humans left Africa considerably earlier than previously believed.
This series of recent studies and discoveries from disparate sources are providing new insights into our own origins and dispersal around the globe.
