WARNING: This story contains graphic images
The cracking open of an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus did not lead to the discovery of Alexander the Great’s remains, nor did it unleash an ancient curse.
Those were two of the outcomes cited by online observers as possibilities in the run-up to Thursday’s opening of the black granite coffin.The sarcophagus is believed to have sat undisturbed for more than 2,000 years.
Instead, Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities said, the sarcophagus contained what mummification experts believe to be the remains of three military soldiers or officers.
The skeletons will be studied further at a restoration museum, while the sarcophagus itself will preserved for historical purposes.
Also found inside the 50-tonne coffin was a significant amount of sewage which had leaked its way inside over two millennia.
The sarcophagus was found earlier this year, five metres beneath the city of Alexandria, by construction workers. It is three metres long and nearly two metres high.
A sculpture of a head, believed to represent one of the coffin’s occupants, was found nearby. This was one of several indications that had some people suspecting that the sarcophagus could contain the long-lost remains of Alexander the Great, who founded Alexandria.
Other people voiced concern that exhuming the remains could invoke the so-called “curse of the pharaohs,” which is said to impact anyone who disturbs an ancient Egyptian mummy. Ten visitors to Tutankhamun’s tomb died within 10 years of its opening, including several members of the research team working at the site.
