Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
Archaeologists in Egypt found 18 old tombs. The tombs are near the sea, not far from the city of Alexandria.
Inside the tombs, they found 24 small pieces of gold shaped like tongues. Long ago, Egyptians put these gold tongues in the mouths of dead people.
Ancient Egyptians believed the gold tongue would help a dead person speak in the afterlife. They thought the dead needed to talk to a god named Osiris.
The tombs also had a large stone coffin, statues, and small glass bottles. The tombs are more than 2,000 years old.
- archaeologist
- a scientist who studies old objects and places from the past
- tomb
- a place where a dead body is buried
- ancient
- very old, from a long time ago
- amulet
- a small object believed to protect or help the person who wears or carries it
- afterlife
- life that some people believe continues after death
- coffin
- a box in which a dead body is placed
- statue
- a carved or shaped figure of a person or animal
- discover
- to find something for the first time
Level 2 — Elementary
Archaeologists have uncovered 18 sealed ancient tombs along Egypt's Mediterranean coast, at a site called Marina El Alamein, about 100 kilometers west of Alexandria. The tombs had remained untouched since antiquity.
Among the most striking finds were 24 thin gold foil amulets shaped like human tongues, placed inside the mouths of the dead. Ancient Egyptians believed gold never decayed and that these tongues would let the dead speak before the god Osiris in the afterlife.
Eleven of the tombs were carved deep into bedrock, nearly eight meters underground, while seven others were built above ground using limestone. One tomb held a sealed granite coffin more than 2.5 meters long.
Other artifacts included an unfinished marble statue believed to show the goddess Aphrodite, a carved image of a seated man holding a bird, and glass bottles once used to hold tears or perfume. The tombs date to the Greco-Roman period, when the site was part of a thriving port city.
- sealed
- closed tightly so nothing can get in or out
- bedrock
- the solid rock beneath loose soil or sand
- granite
- a very hard type of rock often used for monuments
- artifact
- an object made or used by people in the past, of historical interest
- goddess
- a female god
- port city
- a city located on water where ships can dock and trade goods
- Greco-Roman
- relating to the combined culture of ancient Greece and Rome
- thriving
- growing and developing successfully
Level 3 — Intermediate
An Egyptian archaeological mission has unsealed 18 tombs along the Mediterranean coast at Marina El Alamein, roughly 100 kilometers west of Alexandria, revealing burial chambers that had remained closed since antiquity. The site is believed to be part of the ancient city of Leukaspis, a once-thriving Greco-Roman port that flourished from the Hellenistic through the Byzantine periods.
The most striking discovery was a collection of 24 gold foil amulets, shaped to fit the human tongue and placed inside the mouths of the deceased. Ancient Egyptians regarded gold as the flesh of the gods, a substance immune to decay, and believed these tongues would let the dead speak before Osiris during the judgment described in the Book of the Dead.
Of the 18 tombs, eleven were carved directly into bedrock nearly eight meters below the surface, while seven were constructed above ground from limestone. One tomb yielded a sealed granite sarcophagus measuring roughly 2.5 meters, its lid still in place, alongside an unfinished marble statue thought to depict Aphrodite and a limestone funerary carving of a seated man holding a bird.
Researchers say the tradition of the gold tongue endured well into the Roman period, centuries after Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt, suggesting that people who dressed in Roman fashion and spoke Greek in the marketplace still held firmly to older beliefs about judgment and the necessity of speech in the afterlife.
- burial chamber
- an enclosed space where a body is placed after death
- flourished
- grew or developed successfully over a period of time
- judgment
- a religious belief in which a person's soul is evaluated after death
- sarcophagus
- a stone coffin, often decorated, used in ancient burials
- conquest
- the act of taking control of a place by force
- endured
- continued to exist over a long period of time
- marketplace
- a public place where goods are bought and sold
- necessity
- something that is essential or required
Level 4 — Advanced
An Egyptian archaeological mission has unsealed 18 tombs along the Mediterranean coast at Marina El Alamein, some 100 kilometers west of Alexandria, exposing burial chambers untouched since antiquity at a site identified with Leukaspis, a once-flourishing Greco-Roman port city that thrived from the Hellenistic through the Byzantine eras before its abrupt abandonment.
Chief among the discoveries were 24 gold foil amulets fashioned to the contour of the human tongue and inserted into the mouths of the deceased, a practice rooted in the belief that gold, regarded as the incorruptible flesh of the gods, would grant the dead the capacity for speech before Osiris during the judgment scenes described in the Book of the Dead, wherein the deceased was required to make a formal declaration of innocence before divine assessors.
Of the eighteen burials, eleven were hewn directly into bedrock nearly eight meters below grade, while seven were erected above ground in limestone; one yielded a sealed granite sarcophagus some 2.5 meters in length, its lid undisturbed, alongside an unfinished marble statue attributed to Aphrodite and a limestone funerary relief depicting a seated man clutching a bird.
Excavators note that the gold tongue tradition persisted well into the Roman period, centuries after Alexander the Great's conquest reshaped Egypt's political and cultural landscape, an endurance suggesting that inhabitants outwardly assimilated to a cosmopolitan, Greek-speaking Mediterranean world while privately retaining ancestral convictions about judgment, the weighing of the heart, and the imperative of giving the dead a voice.
- contour
- the outline or shape of something
- incorruptible
- not subject to decay or corruption
- divine assessors
- beings or judges of a religious nature who evaluate a person's worth
- hewn
- cut or shaped, typically from stone, using tools
- relief
- a type of sculpture in which figures project from a flat background
- assimilated
- adapted or blended into a different culture or society
- cosmopolitan
- containing people or influences from many different countries; worldly
- imperative
- something of vital or urgent importance
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