Pop culture and folklore claim that you’ll probably be cursed if you open up an ancient tomb.
While that may be the premise of Brendan Fraser’s The Mummy franchise, it’s unlikely that you’ll suffer misfortune if you disturb a burial spot.
However, that didn’t stop alarm bells ringing in the heads of archaeologists with Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities.
When they discovered a black granite sarcophagus in the Sidi Gaber district of Alexandria, they thought all hell could break loose if they opened it up.
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The superstitious among the group feared that cracking open this 2.5-meter coffin could unleash some manner of curse upon themselves.
Fortunately, though, this doesn’t appear to be the case - but what they found inside was still pretty grim.
Experts have estimated that the uncovered sarcophagus dates back to Egypt's Ptolemaic period (323-30 BCE).
History buffs will know that this is the period between the death of the famed Alexander the Great and the Roman invasion.
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The latter saw Octavian bringing both Egypt and Alexandria under Roman rule after defeating Mark Atony’s forces on July 30.
Upon seizing the coffin, archaeologists found that a layer of mortar had formed between the lid and the sarcophagus body.
This suggested that the artefact had never been opened and in 2018 the experts laid their superstitions aside and pried open it up.
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Initially there were hopes that the skeleton inside would be that of Alexander the Great.
However, experts concluded that the sarcophagus featured three bodies believed by experts to have been soldiers.
Shaaban Abdel Moneim, a specialist in the study of mummies and skeletons, said all three soldiers were male based on initial examinations.
It was also revealed that one of the skeletons had been pierced by an arrow and that all three had been found in stagnant red water.
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The stench of the water was reportedly so strong that the team had to leave the artefact to air out for an hour before further examining its contents.
While the excavators’ discovery wasn’t exactly what they were hoping for, the finding is still fascinating.
It was reported that after the initial assessments, the bodies were transferred to the Alexandria National Museum for restoration and further study.
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Unbelievable (and rather disgustingly) a petition appeared online expressing interest in drinking the stagnant water.
People had hoped that slurping on corpse-flavoured water would give them some kind of mythical powers.
Despite collecting thousands of signatures, the petition was thankfully ignored by officials.
Topics: News, World News
Ella Scott