All posts by Archaeology World Team

WORLD

Massive graveyard of fossilized shark teeth found deep in the Indian Ocean

Massive graveyard of fossilized shark teeth found deep in the Indian Ocean

Massive graveyard of fossilized shark teeth found deep in the Indian Ocean
Researches collected more than 750 shark teeth at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

A graveyard studded with thousands of shark teeth is lurking nearly 3.5 miles (5.400 kilometers) beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean.

Researchers made the shocking discovery in October during a month-long expedition along the southern tip of Indonesia aboard the RV Investigator, a 308-foot-long (94 meters) research vessel operated by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency.

On the final day of the voyage, and after 26 previous attempts, the researchers sank a trawling net into the deep water hoping to catch fish as part of an ongoing biodiversity survey. Instead, they pulled up a net’s worth of hundreds of shark teeth, according to a statemen.

“It was our very last sample of the trip before heading back to Australia,” Dianne Bray, senior collections manager at the Museums Victoria Research Institute, told Live Science.

“I was a little disappointed at first when we hauled up the net because it was filled with mud and I knew that there wasn’t going to be many fish specimens. And even if there were, they would be rumbled and damaged from all the mud.”

But as the researchers sifted through the mud-caked material, they realized the catch was than just a colossal mud pie.

“We tipped the contents out on the deck of the boat and as we went through everything, we found shark tooth after shark tooth,” Bray said. “We were finding teeth from [modern] mako and [great] white sharks, but also fossilized teeth from ancient sharks like the immediate ancestor of the giant megalodon shark.” 

In total, researchers collected more than 750 teeth ranging in size from 0.39 inch (1 centimeter) to a single tooth from the megalodon ancestor measuring 4 inches (10 cm).

The researchers noticed deposits of black manganese nodules growing on many of the teeth, which were the result of the teeth sitting on the ocean floor for so long. Otherwise, the teeth were all in good condition.

“It’s quite remarkable,” Bray said. “The teeth weren’t weathered, rumbled or tumbled. Bacteria consumed all of the organic matter from the teeth and the roots were gone, but otherwise, the enamel was left.”

Researchers aren’t entirely sure why so many teeth accumulated in this swath of the ocean but they don’t think that hundreds of sharks died there, Bray said.

Unlike humans, who are born with one set of baby teeth and replace them with one set of adult teeth during their lifetimes, sharks have an endless supply of teeth that are replaced “like a conveyor belt,” Gareth J. Fraser, lecturer in Evolutionary Developmental Biology at University of Sheffield in the U.K., wrote in The Conversation.

The area where the teeth were found likely hosted a community of ancient sharks. 

“The teeth were found on an abyssal plain and not out in the open ocean,” Bray said. “This area was part of an ancient reef covered with seamounts and we think a community of sharks swam around this area long ago.”

As they swam, they likely dropped their used-up teeth.

Bray said that the shark tooth haul barely “scraped the surface” of what was buried there.

AFRICA, CHINA, WORLD

Skeletons of 5,000-year-old Chinese ‘giants’ discovered by archaeologists

Skeletons of 5,000-year-old Chinese ‘giants’ discovered by archaeologists

Skeletons of 5,000-year-old Chinese ‘giants’ discovered by archaeologists
The tallest of the skeletons uncovered measured at 1.9m (YouTube)

Archaeologists in eastern China have found 5,000-year-old skeletons of people experts say would have been unusually tall and strong.

According to the measurements of bones in the graves at the site in Shandong province, a number of the people would have measured at 1.8m or taller, with one man estimated to have been 1.9m, Xinhua news agency reported.

Although not particularly unusual by 21st-century Western standards, it is thought their height would have seen them tower over many of their contemporaries.

“This is just based on bone structure. If he was a living person, his height would certainly exceed 1.9m,” Fang Hui, head of Shandong University’s school of history and culture, told the agency.

Locals in Shandong see their height as a defining characteristic. A study conducted in 2015 found the average height of 18 men to be 1.753m, compared to the country’s national average of 1.72m.

Confucius, who was born in what is now the Shandong province, was reportedly 1.9m tall.

The excavation site in the village of Jiaojia, near Jinan City, has been found to hold 104 houses, 205 graves and 20 sacrificial pits. A number of colourful pots and jade articles were also recovered.

Archaeologists have been uncovering artefacts and bones from the late Neolithic people since last year, who are understood to have lived mostly off pigs and millet.

The people living in the region 5,000 years ago are believed to have had relatively comfortable lives; the rows of houses that have been excavated suggested their living quarters had separate bedrooms and kitchens, according to China Daily.

Colourful pots were also found in the graves (YouTube)

The area is also believed to have been the political, cultural and economic centre of the Chinese region.

Taller men were found buried in larger graves, which could be due to them having a higher status and having access to better food.

Archaeologists have been uncovering artefacts and bones from the late Neolithic people since last 2016 (YouTube)
PERU, SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

Ancient Peruvians gave themselves elongated skulls as a mark of status

Ancient Peruvians gave themselves elongated skulls as a mark of status

Ancient Peruvians gave themselves elongated skulls as a mark of status
The Collagua people would bind pieces of wood to children’s heads to modify the shape of the developing skull (Creative Commons)

Members of the ruling elite in parts of South America would have been very easy to spot 700 years ago – due to their tall, elongated skulls. Their artificially extended heads were apparently status symbols, and could have helped foster a sense of community and collective identity, according to a study.

Over 300 years before the Inca empire swept the south western Americas, members of a small ethnic community known as the Collagua practised intentional head shaping which developed to focus on creating a tall thin skull shape.

According to bioarchaeologist Matthew Velasco of Cornell University the cranial modifications may have bound the powerful elite together, but it may also have polarised other groups, resulting in social inequality.

The Collagua people lived in the Colca Valley in south-eastern Peru, where they raised Alpacas and llamas for wool.

Early Spanish accounts also detail another ethnic group – the Cavanas, who also populated the region. Spanish records say that in contrast to the tall narrow heads of the Collagua, the Cavanas also modified their skulls, widening and flattening them.

The Collagua would use pieces of wood, which were tightly bound to the heads of infants to modify how their heads grew. The practice was banned by the invading Spanish in the 16th Century.

Mr Velasco’s research, published in the journal Current Anthropology is the first time skull shape has been studied as a class differentiator within the Collagua.

By looking at skull shapes from over 200 individuals from a 300-year period, the research team saw that tall thin skulls became increasingly linked to high social status.

Chemical analysis of the bones revealed that Collagua women with purposefully distended heads were more likely to eat a broader diet than those without cranial modifications. The team also observed that these women typically had fewer injuries from physical attacks than women with unaltered skulls, Science News reports.

The study suggests the changes to head shape among those with power may have helped pave the way for a peaceful incorporation for the Collagua into the Incan empire.

“Greater standardisation of head-shaping practices echoes broader patterns of identity formation across the south-central highlands and may have provided a symbolic basis for the cooperation of elite groups during an era of intensive conflict,” says Mr Velasco.

The intensive conflict was due to the encroaching Incas, who originated from the highlands of Peru and through armed takeovers and assimilation, ultimately controlled most of Peru, as well as large parts of what are now Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile, in addition to a small part of southwest Colombia.

The civilisation was one of the largest empires in the world when it reached its peak in the 16th century before the Spanish conquistadors arrived.

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

Archaeologists uncover oldest known projectile points in the Americas

Archaeologists uncover oldest known projectile points in the Americas

Archaeologists uncover oldest known projectile points in the Americas
Stone projectile points discovered buried inside and outside of pit features at the Cooper’s Ferry site, Area B.

Oregon State University archaeologists have uncovered projectile points in Idaho that are thousands of years older than any previously found in the Americas, helping to fill in the history of how early humans crafted and used stone weapons.

The 13 full and fragmentary projectile points, razor sharp and ranging from about half an inch to 2 inches long, are from roughly 15,700 years ago, according to carbon-14 dating. That’s about 3,000 years older than the Clovis fluted points found throughout North America, and 2,300 years older than the points previously found at the same Cooper’s Ferry site along the Salmon River in present-day Idaho.

The findings were published today in the journal Science Advances.

“From a scientific point of view, these discoveries add very important details about what the archaeological record of the earliest peoples of the Americas looks like,” said Loren Davis, an anthropology professor at OSU and head of the group that found the points. “It’s one thing to say, ‘We think that people were here in the Americas 16,000 years ago’; it’s another thing to measure it by finding well-made artifacts they left behind.”

Previously, Davis and other researchers working the Cooper’s Ferry site had found simple flakes and pieces of bone that indicated human presence about 16,000 years ago. But the discovery of projectile points reveals new insights into the way the first Americans expressed complex thoughts through technology at that time, Davis said.

The Salmon River site where the points were found is on traditional Nez Perce land, known to the tribe as the ancient village of Nipéhe. The land is currently held in public ownership by the federal Bureau of Land Management.

The points are revelatory not just in their age, but in their similarity to projectile points found in Hokkaido, Japan, dating to 16,000–20,000 years ago, Davis said. Their presence in Idaho adds more detail to the hypothesis that there are early genetic and cultural connections between the ice age peoples of Northeast Asia and North America.

“The earliest peoples of North America possessed cultural knowledge that they used to survive and thrive over time. Some of this knowledge can be seen in the way people made stone tools, such as the projectile points found at the Cooper’s Ferry site,” Davis said. “By comparing these points with other sites of the same age and older, we can infer the spatial extents of social networks where this technological knowledge was shared between peoples.”

Overview of the Area B excavations at the Cooper’s Ferry site in 2017.
Excavator at work recording artifacts excavated from a pit feature at the Cooper’s Ferry site.

These slender projectile points are characterized by two distinct ends, one sharpened and one stemmed, as well as a symmetrical beveled shape if looked at head-on. They were likely attached to darts, rather than arrows or spears, and despite the small size, they were deadly weapons, Davis said.

“There’s an assumption that early projectile points had to be big to kill large game; however, smaller projectile points mounted on darts will penetrate deeply and cause tremendous internal damage,” he said. “You can hunt any animal we know about with weapons like these.”

These discoveries add to the emerging picture of early human life in the Pacific Northwest, Davis said. “Finding a site where people made pits and stored complete and broken projectile points nearly 16,000 years ago gives us valuable details about the lives of our region’s earliest inhabitants.”

Overview of the Cooper’s Ferry site in the lower Salmon River canyon of western Idaho, USA.
Overview of pit feature 78 during the process of excavation.
(A) map showing the location of the Cooper’s Ferry site in the context of Pacific Northwest environments at 16,000 years ago; (B) aerial image (from Google Earth) showing the Cooper’s Ferry excavations; (C) site map showing the locations of excavation Area A and Area B.

The newly discovered pits are part of the larger Cooper’s Ferry record, where Davis and colleagues have previously reported a 14,200-year-old fire pit and a food-processing area containing the remains of an extinct horse. All told, they found and mapped more than 65,000 items, recording their locations to the millimeter for precise documentation.

The projectile points were uncovered over multiple summers between 2012 and 2017, with work supported by a partnership held between OSU and the BLM. All excavation work has been completed and the site is now covered. The BLM installed interpretive panels and a kiosk at the site to describe the work.

Stratigraphic model of the Cooper’s Ferry site, showing the distribution of cultural features (e.g., fire hearths, pits), radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence ages, sediment layers and buried soils as exposed by excavations in Area A and Area B.

Davis has been studying the Cooper’s Ferry site since the 1990s when he was an archaeologist with the BLM. Now, he partners with the BLM to bring undergraduate and graduate students from OSU to work the site in the summer.

The team also works closely with the Nez Perce tribe to provide field opportunities for tribal youth and to communicate all findings.

PERU, SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

Characterizing red pigment in ancient bone samples in Peru to reveal their sources

Characterizing red pigment in ancient bone samples in Peru to reveal their sources

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the U.S. and one in Canada has characterized a large number of red pigment samples found on the bones of ancient people who once lived in what is now southern Peru.

In their paper published in Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, the group describes their study of the pigments.

Prior studies of the use of red pigments in funeral rites by people who lived in ancient Peru suggest the practice is related to prolonging the existence of the dead.

In this new effort, the researchers used various techniques to analyze red pigments found on bones left behind by members of the Chincha, people who lived around Peru over the years 1000 AD to 1825 AD.

The pigments were found on bones excavated from over 100 chullpas, or mass burial graves. The aim of the research was to determine why the bones were painted and how it was done.

To find their answers, the researchers subjected the 35 bones (25 of which were skulls) to laser ablation, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and X-ray powder diffraction in order to identify all of the components in the pigments.

They found that the bulk of them were made using iron-based ochres such as hematite. Another major material they found was cinnabar, which had a mercury base.

They also found that cinnabar was not native to the local area—it would have been imported. This suggested its use was likely meant for important or rich people.

The researchers also noted that while there were some women and children’s bones in their collection, most were from adult males.

The researchers concluded that the arrangement of the pigments on the bones indicates it had been applied using either leaves or bare fingers.

The researchers also noted that the arrangement of the bones in the chullpas suggested that the pigments may have been applied long after the people had been skeletonized.

This, they suggest, indicates that the people of the time may have exhumed loved ones and applied the paints to their bones to protect them from European invaders.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Egypt reveals 59 ancient coffins found near Saqqara pyramids

Egypt reveals 59 ancient coffins found near Saqqara pyramids

Khalid el-Anany, Egypt’s tourism and antiquities minister, right, and Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the country’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, left, stand over a sarcophagus at the Saqqara archaeological site, 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020. El-Anany says at least 59 sealed sarcophagi with mummies inside were found in three wells at the vast necropolis, believed to have been buried there more than 2,600 years ago.

Egypt’s tourism and antiquities minister said on Saturday archaeologists have unearthed dozens of ancient coffins in a vast necropolis south of Cairo. Khalid el-Anany said at least 59 sealed sarcophagi, with mummies inside most of them, were found that had been buried in three wells more than 2,600 years ago.

“I consider this is the beginning of a big discovery,” el-Anany said, adding that there is an unknown number of coffins that have yet to be unearthed in the same area.

He spoke at a news conference at the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara where the coffins were found. The sarcophagi have been displayed and one of them was opened before reporters to show the mummy inside. Several foreign diplomats attended the announcement ceremony.

The Saqqara plateau hosts at least 11 pyramids, including the Step Pyramid, along with hundreds of tombs of ancient officials and other sites that range from the 1st Dynasty (2920 B.C.-2770 B.C.) to the Coptic period (395-642).

Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said initial studies show that the decorated coffins were made for priests, top officials and elites from the Pharaonic Late Period (664-525 B.C.).

A sarcophagus is shown at the Saqqara archaeological site, 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020, one of dozens that the government says archaeologists have unearthed from a vast necropolis there. Egypt’s ministry of antiquities and tourism says at least 59 sealed sarcophagi with mummies inside were found that had been buried in three wells more than 2,600 years ago.
Relief sculptures from a tomb at the Saqqara archaeological site is shown, 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020. Egypt’s ministry of antiquities and tourism says at least 59 sealed sarcophagi with mummies inside were found that had been buried in three wells more than 2,600 years ago at the vast necropolis.
An Egyptian archaeological team opens a sarcophagus at the Saqqara archaeological site, 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, on Oct. 3, 2020. Egypt’s ministry of antiquities and tourism says at least 59 sealed sarcophagi with mummies inside were found in three wells, and are believed to have been buried there more than 2,600 years ago.
Several sarcophagi are displayed inside a tomb at the Saqqara archaeological site, 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020. Egypt’s ministry of antiquities and tourism says at least 59 sealed sarcophagi with mummies inside were found in three wells, and are believed to have been buried there more than 2,600 years ago.
A sarcophagus is shown at the Saqqara archaeological site, 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020, one of dozens that the government says archaeologists have unearthed from a vast necropolis there. Egypt’s ministry of antiquities and tourism says at least 59 sealed sarcophagi with mummies inside were found that had been buried in three wells more than 2,600 years ago.
Egypt reveals 59 ancient coffins found near Saqqara pyramids
An archaeology worker opens a sarcophagus at the Saqqara archaeological site, 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020, in the presence of journalists and officials. Egypt’s ministry of antiquities and tourism says at least 59 sealed sarcophagi with mummies inside were found that had been buried in three wells more than 2,600 years ago.
Ancient coffins are displayed at the Saqqara archaeological site, 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020. Egypt’s ministry of antiquities and tourism says at least 59 sealed sarcophagi with mummies inside were found that had been buried in three wells more than 2,600 years ago.

He said archaeologists also found a total of 28 statuettes of Ptah-Soker the main god of the Saqqara necropolis, and a beautifully carved 35 cm tall bronze statuette of god Nefertum, inlaid with precious stones. The name of its owner, Priest Badi-Amun, is written on its base, he said.

Egyptian antiquities officials had announced the discovery of the first batch coffins last month, when archaeologists found 13 of the containers in a newly discovered 11 meter-deep (36 feet) well.

The Saqqara site is part of the necropolis of Egypt’s ancient capital of Memphis that includes the famed Giza Pyramids, as well as smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh. The ruins of Memphis were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1970s.

El-Anany said the Saqqara coffins would join 30 ancient wooden coffins that were discovered in October in the southern city of Luxor, and will be showcased at the new Grand Egyptian Museum, which Egypt is building near the Giza Pyramids.

The Saqqara discovery is the latest in a series of archeological finds that Egypt has sought to publicize in an effort to revive its key tourism sector, which was badly hit by the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising.

The sector was also dealt a further blow this year by the global coronavirus pandemic.

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

Burial cave dedicated to Jesus midwife Salome reveals treasures; will open to public

Burial cave dedicated to Jesus midwife Salome reveals treasures; will open to public

Burial cave dedicated to Jesus midwife Salome reveals treasures; will open to public
Modern-day religious artifacts from people who enter the cave to pray, even though it is not currently open to the public. The burial cave is a pilgrimage sight honoring Salome, Jesus’ midwife, in the Lachish region of Israel on December 20, 2022.

Ahead of opening a burial cave dedicated to Salome, the midwife of Jesus, to the public, archaeologists have recently uncovered a number of priceless artifacts from its courtyard, the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday.

The tomb is a centuries-old Christian pilgrimage site, located in the Lachish region in central Israel.

“According to a Christian tradition, Salome was the midwife from Bethlehem, who was called to participate in the birth of Jesus,” said IAA archaeologist Zvi Firer. “She could not believe that she was asked to deliver a virgin’s baby, and her hand became dry and was only healed when she held the baby’s cradle.”

The burial cave was discovered in 1982 by antiquities looters and subsequently excavated in 1984 by Prof. Amos Kloner of the IAA. But, despite ample proof of its use as a sacred Christian site, it was never opened to the public.

For the past two months, archaeologists have excavated an elaborate courtyard of 350 square meters (almost 4,000 square feet) at the entrance to the cave, filled with intricate stone carvings, soaring arches, a mosaic floor, and the remains of a shop where pilgrims may have rented oil lamps to light their way inside the cave for their prayers.

“We found dozens of these lamps covered with carvings of pomegranates and intricate geometric designs,” said Firer.

The lamps, including more than two dozen found intact, were found together in an area that archaeologists identified as a small marketplace in the courtyard.

Israel Antiquities Authority’s Zvi Firer holds carved oil lamps found in the courtyard to the burial cave, which were believed to have been rented to visiting pilgrims, in Lachish, Israel, on December 20, 2022.

“We believe that pilgrims would come here, rent an oil lamp, perform their prayers inside, and go on their way. It’s like today when you go to the grave of a revered rabbi and light a candle there,” Firer said.

The cave was likely a Jewish burial cave for a wealthy family prior to its adaption as a Christian holy site. The first room of the burial cave dates to the Second Temple period, which stretches from the 6th century BCE to 70 CE. It has several chambers with multiple rock-hewn kokhim (burial niches) and broken ossuaries (stone boxes), which reflect a Jewish burial custom.

Local Christians first identified the site as the burial place of Salome in the Byzantine era and turned the spot into a pilgrimage site, explained Firer. Inner rooms of the burial cave are from the Byzantine era, from around 300 CE to 600 CE. The newly recovered oil lamps are from the 8th or 9th century CE in the early Islamic period.

Firer added that the name “Salome” or “Shlomit” was a common Jewish name in the Second Temple period in Hasmonean and Herodian families.

“The name Salome may possibly have appeared in antiquity on one of the ossuaries in the tomb, and the tradition identifying the site with Salome the midwife developed, with the cave becoming venerated by Christianity,” he said.

Salome (right) with the midwife “Emea” (left), bathing the infant Jesus, is a common figure in Orthodox icons of the Nativity of Jesus; here in a 12th-century fresco from Cappadocia.

A trail built for kings

The work is being undertaken to open the cave to the public for the first time as part of the Judean Kings Trail, a 100-kilometer (60-mile) trail from Beersheba to Beit Guvrin featuring dozens of significant archaeological sites.

The burial cave is covered in ancient graffiti, including the words “Salome,” “Jesus,” the names of pilgrims, and crosses etched into the wall. The most impressive is an inscription in Greek that reads “Zacharia Ben Kerelis, dedicated to the Holy Salome.” Archaeologists believe that Zacharia Ben Kerelis was a wealthy Jewish patron who funded the construction of parts of the burial cave and the courtyard.

Saar Ganon, director of the Judean Kings Trail project, points out the inscription, ‘Zacharia Ben Kerelis, dedicated to the Holy Salome,’ in the burial cave in Lachish, Israel, on December 20, 2022.

“We’re now working on ways to preserve all of these ancient carvings while opening the site to the public,” said Saar Ganor, the IAA director of the Judean Kings’ Trail Project. The current excavations are also being carried out in cooperation with the Ministry for Jerusalem and Heritage and the Jewish National Fund.

A few pilgrims still illegally enter the tomb, as evidenced by modern-day icons and candles in the altars in inner rooms, but Ganor hopes the cave’s official opening will allow greater numbers of people to safely experience the site.

Inscription to ‘Zacharia Ben Kerelis, dedicated to the Holy Salome’ in the burial cave in Lachish, Israel, on December 20, 2022.

“This trail, which crosses the Judean Shefelah [flatlands], is the backbone of the Jewish people’s cultural heritage, and it encompasses dozens of sites from the time of the Bible, the Second Temple, the Mishnah and the Talmud,” said Ganor. “This is a really important trail that combines tourism, history, and development.”

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Crocodile heads — buried 4,000 years ago — uncovered in tombs in Egypt, photos show

Crocodile heads — buried 4,000 years ago — uncovered in tombs in Egypt, photos show

Photo from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, M. Jawornicki, P. Chudzik, and U. Iwaszczcuk via Science in Poland

A pair of ancient nobles died thousands of years ago and were buried in nearby tombs in Egypt. Excavations of these graves revealed the first-of-its-kind discovery.

Archaeologists in Luxor excavated two tombs near the temple of Hatshepsut, Science in Poland said in a news release Tuesday, Dec. 20.

One grave belonged to Chancellor Cheti, an important official to the Pharaoh Mentuhotep II, and the other belonged to an anonymous vizier, comparable to the Pharaoh’s Prime Minister.

Inside the 4,000-year-old burial, researchers found nine crocodile heads, the release said. The heads were found wrapped in fabric and discarded in heaps left by earlier researchers.

Remains of the crocodile skin and fabric. Photo from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, M. Jawornicki, P. Chudzik, and U. Iwaszczcuk via Science in Poland

The skulls came from young and adult crocodiles, archaeologists said. While alive, the crocodiles were anywhere from 6 feet long to 13 feet long.

Crocodile heads — buried 4,000 years ago — uncovered in tombs in Egypt, photos show
Crocodile jaw fragments found at the tombs. Photo from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, M. Jawornicki, P. Chudzik, and U. Iwaszczcuk via Science in Poland

Although mummified crocodiles have been found in temples, no such crocodiles had been found in ancient Egyptian graves — until now, Patryk Chudzik, head of research at the Center of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw told Science in Poland.

These crocodile heads were likely buried to help the deceased on their journey to the afterlife, researchers said.

In tombs with crocodile heads, the soul of the deceased would be protected by the ancient Egyptian god Sobek, a figure commonly depicted as either a crocodile or a man with a crocodile head, Chudzik explained.

Crocodile heads may have been more common in the richest ancient tombs and simply discarded by previous researchers who focused on burial goods such as jewelry, gold, or pottery, experts said.

The temple of Hatshepsut is located in Luxor, about 400 miles south of Cairo.