TIL the 'curse' on that tomb in Luxor was just mold after all

Ngl, I used to joke about the mummy's curse whenever we found something sketchy on a dig crew. Then a conservator from the Cairo museum told me the black marks were Aspergillus, not ancient magic, and tested it on a sample from 2019. Has anyone else had a supposedly supernatural artifact turn out to be something boring and biological?

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eva_lewis16d ago

Exactly, "boring and biological" is the bread and butter of archaeology. Rule number one: wear an N95 and gloves before touching anything with dark spots, no matter how cool the curse story is. I've had a "haunted" amulet turn out to be just metal corrosion and skin oils, which honestly takes the fun out of it but saves you the hospital trip.