OREANDA-NEWS. An Egyptian-Dominican group of archaeologists discovered an unusual burial, which is at least 2,000 years old.

According to the report of Ministry of Antiquities of Egypt, in the Alexandria Temple, 16 ancient burial cites were found in tombs which were carved in the rock. It must be noted that this type of burial was wide-spread in the Greek and Roman epochs.

All the found mummies have been seen by the scientists not in their best condition, except the main part of one of them which was excellently preserved. The archeologists were most interested in a thin slice of gold metal in the shape of a tongue, that was found in the mouth of one of the mummies.

Scientists believe that the embalmers used to place this piece of metal in the mummy as a kind of talisman.

The ancient Egyptians sincerely trusted that charms made of gold foil in the shape of tongues were needed by the dead so that they could worthily come to the judgment in the next, better world and have a talk with the emperor of the underworld Osiris.

As the director general of the Antiquities Authority in Alexandria said, the same group of archeologists also found a female funerary mask, eight golden scales from a wreath and eight masks made of marble dating back to Greek and Roman times.

Earlier, some coins with the name and portrait of ancient Queen Cleopatra VII were found in the same temple, writes the BBC.