Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
Scientists find 18 old tombs in Egypt. The place is called Marina El Alamein. It is next to the sea, west of the city of Alexandria.
Now there are 44 tombs at this place in total. People first found the site in 1986.
Some tombs were cut into rock. Other tombs were built above the ground with stone. Some tombs were still closed since ancient times.
Inside some tombs, scientists find 24 small gold pieces. Long ago, people put these gold pieces in the mouths of dead people. They believed it would help them in the next life.
- tomb
- A place where a dead body is buried or kept
- ancient
- Very old, from a long time ago
- site (archaeology)
- A place where old objects or buildings are studied
- rock-cut
- Made by cutting into solid rock
- sealed
- Closed tightly so nothing can get in or out
- gold
- A shiny, valuable yellow metal
- amulet
- A small object believed to protect the person who wears or carries it
- afterlife
- A life that some people believe happens after death
Level 2 — Elementary
An Egyptian archaeological mission has uncovered 18 new tombs at Marina El Alamein, a site on Egypt's northwestern Mediterranean coast, about 100 kilometers west of Alexandria.
With this discovery, the total number of tombs found at the site since it was first identified in 1986 has risen to 44. The newly found cemetery includes 11 rock-cut chambers and seven above-ground limestone tombs.
Several of the burial chambers were found in excellent condition, with entrances still sealed since ancient times, meaning no one had disturbed them for roughly 2,000 years.
Among the most striking finds are 24 gold pieces shaped like small tongues, placed inside the mouths of some of the deceased as part of a funerary ritual connected to beliefs about the afterlife. Archaeologists also found a 2.5-meter granite sarcophagus with its original lid still in place.
- archaeological mission
- A team of scientists working to dig up and study old sites
- Mediterranean coast
- Land along the edge of the Mediterranean Sea
- cemetery
- An area of ground used for burying the dead
- burial chamber
- A room built or dug to hold a dead body
- disturbed (undisturbed)
- Moved or interfered with; here, left untouched
- funerary ritual
- A set of traditional actions performed as part of a burial
- deceased
- A person who has died
- sarcophagus
- A stone container used to hold a coffin or body
Level 3 — Intermediate
An Egyptian archaeological mission working at Marina El Alamein, a coastal site roughly 100 kilometers west of Alexandria, has uncovered 18 additional tombs, raising the total number identified there since the site's 1986 discovery to 44.
The newly excavated cemetery comprises 11 rock-cut hypogea, averaging around eight meters in depth, alongside seven above-ground limestone tombs, together illustrating a range of burial practices in use at the site over time.
Several burial chambers were recovered in exceptional condition, their entrances still sealed since antiquity, offering archaeologists a rare opportunity to study funerary contexts undisturbed for close to two millennia.
Among the standout finds are 24 gold funerary pieces, crafted in the so-called golden tongue tradition and placed inside the mouths of some of the deceased, a practice tied to beliefs about safe passage into the afterlife; one such piece was shaped as the Eye of Horus, a key symbol of protection in ancient Egyptian religion. Marina El Alamein is widely believed to be the ancient city of Leukaspis, mentioned by the Greek geographer Strabo, and flourished from the Hellenistic through Byzantine periods.
- hypogeum (pl. hypogea)
- An underground chamber or tomb cut into rock
- excavate
- To dig carefully in order to find and study buried objects or structures
- burial practice
- A traditional method or custom for handling the dead
- funerary context
- The surrounding objects, arrangement, and setting of a burial
- millennia
- Periods of one thousand years each
- tradition (cultural)
- A belief or custom passed down through generations
- safe passage
- Protection or permission to travel through a dangerous area without harm
- Hellenistic period
- The era following Alexander the Great's conquests, marked by the spread of Greek culture
Level 4 — Advanced
An Egyptian archaeological mission has expanded the known necropolis at Marina El Alamein, a Mediterranean coastal site roughly 100 kilometers west of Alexandria, uncovering 18 additional tombs and raising the cumulative total identified since the site's 1986 discovery to 44.
The newly excavated cemetery comprises 11 rock-cut hypogea, averaging some eight meters in depth, alongside seven above-ground limestone tombs, a stratified mix of burial architecture that underscores the site's long occupational continuity across successive cultural periods.
A subset of chambers was recovered with entrances sealed since antiquity, granting researchers unusually intact funerary assemblages, undisturbed for close to two millennia, that promise finer-grained insight into ritual practice than the site's previously disturbed burials have allowed.
Among the assemblage's most evocative finds are 24 gold funerary pieces executed in the golden tongue tradition, interred in the mouths of the deceased to facilitate safe passage into the afterlife, including one rendered as the Eye of Horus, alongside a 2.5-meter granite sarcophagus recovered with its original lid intact. Marina El Alamein, widely identified with the Hellenistic-to-Byzantine city of Leukaspis recorded by the geographer Strabo, continues to yield evidence of the cultural synthesis characteristic of Egypt's Greco-Roman Mediterranean fringe.
- necropolis
- A large cemetery, especially an ancient one, often with elaborate tomb structures
- cumulative
- Increasing in quantity by successive additions over time
- stratified
- Arranged in distinct layers or categories, often reflecting different periods
- occupational continuity
- Evidence that a site was used or inhabited across an extended, unbroken span of time
- assemblage (archaeology)
- A collected group of artifacts found together at a site
- ritual practice
- Customary actions performed for religious or ceremonial purposes
- interred
- Placed into a grave or tomb as part of burial
- cultural synthesis
- The blending of elements from different cultural traditions into a new, combined form
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