( Scroll No 1 )
From behind the harsh desert plateau, the sparkling blood red rays of morning light cascaded into the Nile Valley. With the light came a gusty desert wind, that picked up the sand of centuries old and blew them mercilessly across the site of Helwan. A rabid dog yawned, welcoming another day, yet was startled by the formidable sound of a shadowy figure walking across the ancient egyptian necropolis. As the first few rays of sunshine struck the chiselled features of his face, the figure stopped, took a large deep breath, and exhaled a sigh of comfort. Indiana Az was back. He had arrived home to his beloved burial site of the ancient egyptians. He bent down, and scraped a handful of dirt into his hand. The ground began to talk to him, whispering secrets long forgotten. It was going to be another good season in the mystery laden sands of Helwan.
As Indiana Az stood up and scanned the site, a revered look of anger and disbelief shot across is face. There, on the eastern side of the site, were at least 20 new (illegal!!) houses creaking on their poorly built foundations. This could not be happening. Those dirty bastards he thought. More to the point, they were at least double that number of plots marked out ready for more houses. Indiana Az shook his head, from side to side, before he walked over to the area. But his strides soon came to a halt, as Indiana Az fell to the ground banging his fist, screaming "why, why, why?". They had bulldozed a number of previously excavated tombs, thereby destroying the memory of people buried long ago. Like i said, it was going to be another good season - dealing with the egyptian mentality.
Problems aside, Indiana Az opened up the dust coated doors of his teams' dig house and magazine that stored the artefacts from the previous seasons. He must act quickly, in order to set up the grid squares for excavation on the site. The engineers he had organised the day prior had set new grid points every twenty metres, allowing more precise recording techniques. For it was from these the seasoned archaeologist can measure the exact position of the artefacts in situ, and are therefore a necessity in any archaeological excavation. Grabbing the level and equipment, Indiana Az stepped up onto the site. As he knelt down to remove the stones placed on the points, he felt that sense of anger and disbelief sweep across his face again. Having set the new points (nails) in cement, it had seemed that some dirty bastard/s had deliberately pulled it out. No worries, he thought. There should be all the others still in place. So as Indiana Az moved from one grid point to the next, all that could be heard over the desert wind were a number of ear piercing expletives. Out of 26 points in cement, some monkey had used his grubby fat fingers to take out all save 3. There were forces at work.....evil forces. Never the one to complain, Indiana Az set up his grid squares, and marked out the areas to excavate. Having found a splendid, and rather large, underground burial chamber with an 8m long staircase last year, Indiana Az wanted to once more seduce the sands of time and get her unveil her secrets......but it was 4pm. And it was time to go back to the hotel and murder a frosty cold Stella beer.
The following day Indiana Az arrived back on site (after murdering quite a few frosty cold Stella beers the night before...... regrettably) to begin his reconnaissance and survey work on the legendary missing stone tombs of Helwan. The due purpose of which provides two valuable insights into this early period of ancient egyptian history 1) a highly organised class of workmen who were able to not only quarry and transport with great logistic skill limestone slabs (which has natural fissures and is quite easy to break) weighing up to 4 tonnes to the burial site, but were also able to architecturally fit and encase a burial chamber down to the most intricate precision. 2) An insight into the social system of a wealthy upper class who were not only able to afford such expenditure on their burial, but utilised stone as a form of tomb security to prevent robbery of their burial. However, there is the immediate danger that theae valuable tombs may be covered up my modern building. So Indiana Az grabbed his GPS (Global positioning satellite system) module, tucked a trowel and brush into his tool belt, and headed over the hills.
Trudging up the hill, his ears began to quiver as he approached the possible first tomb. Checking the GPS, he was astonished to be standing right over it apparently. Descending down into the very large pit, he looked around to find anything that may give off a clue. Bending down, Indiana Az pulled out his trusty trowel and scraped away at the soil. Then he caught the reflective glint of an object out of the corner of his eye. There........sticking out of the dirt.......was....... Adios Amigos, Till next time.......