What Was Found Inside the 18 Sealed Tombs at Marina El Alamein?

The Discovery at Marina El Alamein

Archaeologists unsealed eighteen ancient Egyptian tombs at Marina El Alamein, west of Alexandria, recovering twenty-four gold tongue-shaped foils, a gold Eye of Horus amulet, and a 2.5-meter granite sarcophagus with its original lid still intact — all untouched since antiquity.

Where Is Marina El Alamein and Why Does It Matter?

Marina El Alamein sits on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, roughly 100 kilometers west of Alexandria. Beneath the modern resort town lies the buried remains of Leukaspis, a lost Greco-Roman port city that flourished roughly between the third century BCE and the fourth century CE. Unlike many ancient Egyptian sites, Leukaspis was never systematically looted, which is precisely why what was found here is so remarkable. The tombs had remained sealed since antiquity — a rare condition that preserves not just objects but context, ritual, and meaning.

What Are the Gold Tongue Foils and Why Were They Used?

Twenty-four thin, tongue-shaped foils of gold were recovered from the mouths of the interred. This was not decoration. In ancient Egyptian funerary practice — carried forward into the Greco-Roman period — gold tongues were placed in a mummy’s mouth so the deceased could speak in the afterlife. Specifically, they were believed to give the dead a voice before the god Osiris during the judgment of the soul. Gold was chosen because it was incorruptible, eternal, and divine. Finding twenty-four such foils across eighteen tombs suggests this ritual was practiced consistently at this site across multiple burials.

What Is the Gold Eye of Horus Amulet?

Also recovered from the tombs was a gold Eye of Horus amulet — one of the most significant protective symbols in ancient Egyptian religion. Known as the Wedjat, the Eye of Horus represented healing, protection, and royal power. It was one of the most commonly placed amulets with the dead throughout ancient Egyptian history, believed to shield the deceased on their journey through the underworld. A gold example is especially significant, as the material elevated its protective power and indicated the status or spiritual investment of whoever was buried with it.

The Granite Sarcophagus: Sealed Since the Greco-Roman Era

Perhaps the most dramatic find was a granite sarcophagus measuring two and a half meters in length — with its original lid still in place. Granite sarcophagi were expensive, labor-intensive, and reserved for individuals of considerable status. The fact that its lid had never been removed since it was sealed during the Greco-Roman era makes it extraordinarily rare. Archaeologists carefully opened it, revealing a burial preserved across more than two thousand years of silence. The combination of the sarcophagus’s scale, material, and intact condition makes it one of the most significant individual finds from this excavation.

Why Has Leukaspis Remained So Well Preserved?

Leukaspis was a functioning port city during the Greco-Roman period but eventually fell into obscurity, was covered by sand and sediment, and — critically — was never heavily plundered. Many Egyptian archaeological sites suffered looting both in antiquity and in modern times. Leukaspis, partly due to its remote coastal position and its burial under what became a modern resort development, escaped large-scale disturbance. Each excavation season at Marina El Alamein has continued to yield new finds, suggesting that a significant portion of the ancient city remains unexcavated beneath the surface.