🤯 Did You Know (click to read)
Some tomb robbers confessed that they divided stolen gold 'like portions of meat,' weighing it carefully to avoid disputes.
Around 1100 BCE, during the reign of Ramesses IX, officials in ancient Egypt launched what may be history’s first recorded criminal investigation into tomb robbery. Papyrus records describe detailed interrogations, confessions, and even reenactments of how thieves broke into royal burial sites. These events unfolded near the famed necropolis of . Workers admitted under questioning that they stripped mummies of gold amulets and melted down funerary treasures. Some even described cutting open coffins with copper tools. The investigation revealed that corruption among local officials enabled the thefts. Trials were conducted, and punishments included mutilation and execution. In other words, grave robbery was already so common that it required a bureaucratic task force.
💥 Impact (click to read)
This discovery flips the romantic image of untouched ancient tombs on its head. Even in antiquity, these sacred spaces were treated like high-security vaults under constant threat. The Egyptians had guards, sealed doorways, curses, and still it wasn’t enough. Economic hardship during the late New Kingdom likely drove many laborers to risk divine wrath for quick profit. Ironically, some of the very workers who built royal tombs later looted them. The papyri read almost like a courtroom drama, complete with testimony and forensic detail. It proves that organized crime is not a modern invention.
The scandal also changed how Egyptians built tombs afterward. Burial sites became more hidden and architecturally complex. Secret corridors and disguised entrances grew increasingly elaborate. Yet despite these measures, looting never truly stopped. The historical record reveals a sobering truth: when wealth is buried, someone will try to dig it up. Modern archaeologists rely heavily on these ancient trial documents to reconstruct lost burial inventories. Without the thieves’ confessions, we might never know what many royal tombs originally contained.
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