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Golden Tongue Found in Mummy’s Mouth in Egypt

A golden tongue was found inside the mouth of an Egyptian mummy. (Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
A golden tongue was found inside the mouth of an Egyptian mummy. (Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
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Golden Tongue Found in Mummy’s Mouth in Egypt

A golden tongue was found inside the mouth of an Egyptian mummy. (Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
A golden tongue was found inside the mouth of an Egyptian mummy. (Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)

Egypt announced on Sunday the discovery of two adjacent tombs dating back to the Saite Period (also known as the Sawy Period) by a University of Barcelona archaeological mission working on an excavation in Al-Bahnasa archaeological site in the Minya Governorate in Upper Egypt.

In a statement, Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary-General Dr. Mustapha Waziri said: “The mission from the University of Barcelona in Spain found a golden tongue inside the mouth of an unidentified mummy, as well as a limestone coffin with a cover that has the form of a woman, next to which were the remains of another unknown person.”

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Jamal al-Samastawi, the director-general of Middle Egypt Antiquities, said: “The person in the tomb has not been identified. The mummy that was found is in poor condition, and studies to determine whom it was are currently underway.”

Director of the Antiquities Museum at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Dr. Hussein Abdel Basser, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Placing a golden tongue inside a mummy’s mouth has religious and funerary implications for ancient Egyptians. It is put there so that the mummy can speak when addressed in the other world.”

He also pointed out that choice of gold is linked to the god Amun-Ra, (the god of the sun), noting that “the most famous example of a gold tongue being found were those of tombs of Taposiris Magna in Alexandria, which date back to the Greco-Roman era.”

Sunday's discovery was preceded by another announced by the Spanish mission in May 2020, when it found a tomb dating back to the Saite Period, as well as eight tombs dating back to the Roman Period.

The discovery adds to those made since the mission began working in the area over 30 years ago, Samastawi said, adding that “the two tombs date back to the Saite Period, the 26th Dynasty. We expect that other antiquities from other periods will be found there.”

The mission also found a well-preserved limestone tomb, as well as two niches, inside each of which were Canopic equipment, as well as 402 Ushabti figurines made of faience, a set of small amulets and green beads.

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$344 for a Coffee? Scottish Farm is Selling UK's Most Expensive Cup

This undated handout photo shows farmer and owner of Mossgiel Organic Farm Bryce Cunningham, right, giving a bottle of milk to barista Jacob Smith, as they pose outside The Good Coffee Cartel in Glasgow, Scotland. (Mossgiel Organic Dairy via AP)
This undated handout photo shows farmer and owner of Mossgiel Organic Farm Bryce Cunningham, right, giving a bottle of milk to barista Jacob Smith, as they pose outside The Good Coffee Cartel in Glasgow, Scotland. (Mossgiel Organic Dairy via AP)
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$344 for a Coffee? Scottish Farm is Selling UK's Most Expensive Cup

This undated handout photo shows farmer and owner of Mossgiel Organic Farm Bryce Cunningham, right, giving a bottle of milk to barista Jacob Smith, as they pose outside The Good Coffee Cartel in Glasgow, Scotland. (Mossgiel Organic Dairy via AP)
This undated handout photo shows farmer and owner of Mossgiel Organic Farm Bryce Cunningham, right, giving a bottle of milk to barista Jacob Smith, as they pose outside The Good Coffee Cartel in Glasgow, Scotland. (Mossgiel Organic Dairy via AP)

It's an enormous price to pay for a little cup of coffee, but the man behind the pitch promises it won't leave a bitter taste behind as it comes with the sweetner of a share of a dairy farm.
A Scottish dairy is offering what it bills as the UK's most expensive cup o' joe: 272 British pounds ($344) for a flat white — a double shot of espresso topped with a layer of steamed milk and a fleeting work of foam art, The Associated Press reported.
The costly cup is actually a perk for purchasing shares in Mossgiel Organic Dairy's crowdfunding campaign to enlarge its sustainable operation and produce more milk. Investors who buy 34 shares in the farm get a certificate for a flat white that can be redeemed starting this weekend at one of 13 coffee shops in Scotland that use the dairy's milk.
“This coffee costs nearly 80 times the price of an average flat white in the UK — but it’s much more than just a lovely drink,” said owner Bryce Cunningham. "We know it sounds crazy, but when you break it down, it’s a pretty good deal. How much is the future of farming worth?”
The price tops the eye-watering 265 pounds that Shot London, a coffee bar in the posh Mayfair and Marylebone neighborhoods, charged for a flat white made with rare beans from Okinawa, Japan. The Telegraph reported in April that it was the most expensive coffee in Britain.
Before launching the coffee promotion, Cunningham had already raised more than a third of the 300,000 pounds he is seeking from small investors as he tries to get a 900,000 pound loan that will help him double operations and expand out of Scotland and as far as coffee shops in London.
Shareholders receive other rewards, too, such farm tours, milk delivery discounts and invites to special events. But investors are also given a standard warning that they could lose some or all of the money they invest — except for the coffee.
The tenant farm in Mauchline, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Glasgow, was worked in the 18th century by poet Robert Burns, who penned “Auld Lang Syne" and many other well-known works. Burns, who is considered the national poet of Scotland, wrote while working in the fields there for two years and his face graces each glass bottle of Mossgiel milk.
Cunningham, a former service manager for Mercedes-Benz, took over the operation in 2014 after his father and grandfather died in 2014 from terminal illnesses.
The collapse of milk prices that year and other problems forced him to sell off most of the herd and reinvent the business as an organic farm. He uses a process to “brew” the milk, instead of pasteurize it, that he said gives it the creamer taste and texture of raw milk without the health risks.
Todd Whiteford, one of the owners of The Good Coffee Cartel in Glasgow that is serving the costly cups, said they’ve been using Mossgiel's milk for several years. Despite “outrageous offers" from competitors to switch, he said other milk producers can't match the quality and consistency that makes for “rounder, smoother and sweeter” cappuccinos, lattes and flat whites — and better coffee art.
“Theirs is the best. I’ll argue with anyone about that,” Whiteford said.
Anyone who splashes out to buy a Mossgiel coffee, though, will be getting the same cup other Coffee Cartel customers can purchase for 3.10 pounds. But Cunningham says there will be a taste of virtue with every posh cup.