Tutankhamun’s 22-carat gold coffin was worth £5,680,600 at today’s gold prices (Image: Shutterstock)

In her new book, American author Maria Goria traces the history of treasure hunting and tomb robbing in Egypt.

A Brief History of Tomb Raiding tells the story of how poor Egyptians paid magicians and astrologers to tell them where to dig for treasures that could change their lives.

Goliath, the longtime Cairene, shows how Egyptian cities have always been attractive to poor and desperate grave robbers, as they are awash with 3,000 years of buried treasure.

Golia points out that grave robbing redressed the imbalance between rich and poor, but it was a display of disdain for social hierarchies.

This sarcophagus belongs to us, to our nobility. In a court in 1100 a. C., the accused assailant said.

Tutankhamun's tomb

American author Maria Goria traces the history of treasure hunting and tomb robberies in Egypt in a new book (Image: CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/GettyImages)

The Book of Goliath also reveals that the 22-carat gold coffin of the young Egyptian ruler Tutankhamun was worth £5,680,600 at current gold prices.

Punishments for grave robbers were also dire, including “five cuts,” cutting off their noses, ears, and lips, and hanging them from wooden stakes on a public gallows.

Cairo Egypt appears at the opening ceremony of Cairo, Egypt.  (Photo: Mostafa Elshemy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

The famous mask of Tutankhamun (Credit: Getty Images)

The ancient Egyptians firmly believed that verbal possessions could be retrieved, so they were buried along with furniture and tools, food and drink, jewelry and board games, and even “mummified pets.” Wife of a high priest around BC.

As time passed and the supply of treasures dwindled, people began to sell the mummies.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, executive director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, looks at Tutankhamun's sarcophagus in August 2005 (Photo by Mark Deville/Getty Images)

Dr. Zahi Hawass, executive director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, looks at Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus in August 2005 (Photo by Mark Deville/Getty Images)

The “mummies” were scraped from the black, greasy entrails of the mummies, a drug “used like aspirin.” King Francis I of France [who ruled from 1515-1547] They said you shouldn’t leave home without it.

Tutankhamun's tomb

The ancient Egyptians firmly believed that verbal possessions could be taken home (Image: AFP/Getty Images)

Lure villagers into town. .. “I bought three heads for half a dirham,” explained an Arab writer.

Artifacts are still being dug up and sold, often on Facebook, Golia said.

A man was recently killed in a tunnel “36 feet below his bedroom” in Giza. The tunnel is said to have been dug after paying a “wizard” £240 to figure it out.

Today, the Pyramids of the Old Kingdom of Giza are surrounded by a 4 meter high concrete barrier, topped by a 3 meter fence with a 1.5 meter pier to “stop the tunnel”.