( Scroll No 4 )
The early rays of sunrise bounced off the multitude of fluffy white clouds onto the ancient necropolis of Helwan. Prohibiting this beautiful sight was a slight choking mist that enveloped the small mounds of sand and previously explored tombs. The wild gebel dogs lay curled and huddled with one another, oblivious to the crunching sound of one mans' stride across the sand. It was only 6:30am, but this man liked to start the day early. Coming up to the site of Operation 4, the mist seemed to part for the man like Moses parting the Red Sea. It was a buzz, an energy, a calling. Coming to a halt, the man put down his archaeological equipment and Hewlett-Packard Laptop and scanned the site. Indiana Az was back to begin a new season, through which he was to tell the stories of the early ancient Egyptians.
As archaeology is ultimately destruction, it is imperative to record each fundamental step in the process of archaeology. Thus, the first step Indiana Az undertook was the recording of the natural surface heights of where he was going to dig. After doing so, Az then grabbed a hoe (not some local streetwalker) and began to shave (the dirt, not the streetwalker) off the top 5cm of topsoil in order to let the areas of human activity present themselves. As the chilly morning passed, Indiana Az heard the whisperings of ancient tales, of lives lived. A large muddy feature appeared in the centre of his 10m x 10m square, the remains of a mud brick wall running in an L-shape began to show also, while three separate dark oval patches popped up after 5000 years living beneath wind blown sand. Already, this grid square looked promising. Indiana Az took heights of these features, then plotted their co-ordinates into his Hewlett-Packard laptop for later three dimensional imaging. For it was important to record the exact stratigraphy of his excavation. Then, after numbering each of these features, or locii, Indiana Az began to dig in the most interesting of these - within the mud brick wall.
With the morning well and truly broken, and the resonating call to prayer bouncing across the site, Indiana Az worked himself down into the already deepening pit. The dirt, or strata, had only changed twice. Using the pick head of his axe, he carefully loosened the well packed sand, when all of a sudden he felt he hit something hard. Indiana Az brushed away the soil beneath him, to reveal a gebel bench that ran the entirety of the pit. Hmmmmm, he thought. What ever this belongs to must be in the next grid square - L10. Nonetheless, Indiana Az brushed down the section of the next square, in order to see the layering of the strata or soil, and prepare himself for what he will encounter in the next square. For it owned the mud brick wall. Not to mention, by recording the layering and soil description of the strata on his Hewlett-Packard laptop (nudge nudge wink wink) he was thereby recording the past. This out of the way, Indiana Az moved onto his next revealed feature - the large circular mud feature.
After snacking on a quick bite (breakfast), Az picked up his trusty trowel and began to excavate the mud grey feature. Within seconds, he had come across some bread mould pottery fragments, and knew straight away that here was an area of human activity. A rush of adrenalin ran up his spine, and provided the drive to keep on truckin'. Down and down he excavated, until Indiana Az began bringing to light a number of objects sticking out of the next strata. Using the soft tip of his brush, he flurried away the soft greyish soil to find 4 worked stone pieces that resembled fragmented portcullis (stone doors). One of these in particular possessed a large drill hole through the 11cm thick limestone. Well, well, well, Indiana Az thought. "I do believe that the ancient egyptians would have drilled this hole through the portcullis in order to loop rope through it, and then lower the stone door down the shaft." But if the theory was true, and Indiana Az was digging down into a shaft, then he needed more proof. As he bent back down and began to dig carefully, Indiana Az found his proof - a large femur (leg bone). "Well, well, well," Az said surprisingly. "Bend me over and spank me senseless." Using a piece of alfoil carefully modelled into a tray, Indiana Az gently released the bone from the clutches of mother earth and placed it into the tray for later analysis. Putting two and two together - with a bone in the fill, and portcullis fragments - Indiana Az had a god hunch whatever he was going to find would be robbed. At that moment, Indiana Az heard a gentle whispering howl coming from behind him Was that the wind playing tricks on him? Or was the past calling to him? It seemed to have come from the small grey oval feature located behind him. With much more work to be done, Indiana Az called over one of his Gufti's (foremen) to take over the labour wile he investigated the cause of this calling.
Grabbing his trusty trowel, Indiana Az knelt down and carefully excavated within the outline of the oval feature. A little less than ten minutes passed before a faint brown rectangular feature appeared within the small pit. Aha! Gadzooks! We got ourselves a coffin. As Indiana Az meticulously scraped with the sharp end of the trowel, he brought t light a large pottery vessel within the coffin. Immediately Az took heights of the coffin and the pottery vessel, before removing the pot and continuing down into the 'burial'. But before he did, he called out to his Gufti to see how he was going. A head poked up out of the shaft. "Still going down Sir, ask me again later." "Ok," Indiana Az said back, "No worries mate."
With the afternoon sun on his back, Az excavated within the coffin. With each gentle stroke he kept his eyes peeled for the faintest indication of the burial. Just then, he heard an unusual sound made from his trowel hitting something. Pulling the brush from his pocket, he flicked the sand away to find what looked like a tibia. But this was no ordinary tibia. It seemed oddly shaped. Following the outline of the bone, he brought to light an articulated skeleton. Indiana Az stood up and examined the body with a critical eye. Hmmmmm, he thought. The ribs seemed to be unusually thin and elongated, and there seems to be claws. What was going on? This wasn't human. Az bent back down and concentrated on what would be the head area. As he brushed away the soil, he called out again to his Gufti. A head poked up out of the shaft. "Still going down sir, ask me again later." "No worries mate," Az called back. "I'll do that." Indiana Az glanced back at his fingertips, to see quite large teeth appearing, that were definitely not human. Even more so, there appeared fangs, and a smallish head. "Well, well, well," Indiana Az said in surprise. "Bend me over and smack me silly. I think we have our first animal burial." Sure enough, Indiana Az had found a perfectly preserved dog burial. This was obviously someone's close pet and dear friend, because they had gone all out to bury this little doggy in a coffin with a pottery jar (Filled with Chum, Pal, or Schmacko's) In fact, it was so well preserved, because as Indiana Az examined the claws on the hindlegs, he noticed the flesh and fur still in place binding the bones together in place. A that moment, a head poked up out of the shaft next to him. It was his foreman. "Nearly done Sir, but you need to have a look at this."
Calling for the ladder, Az put on his hard hat and glanced down the hole. A large number of boulders were care fully stacked in the corner of the shaft, and they seemed to be lying on something. While the ladder made its way up to the area, Az took heights and measurements of the stones before ordering his workmen to remove them and bring to light what was underneath. Chucking up each one, Az carefully watched as his Gufti dug deeper and deeper. Then he heard the familiar sound resonate from his foreman's trowel. He had found the entrance blocked by the stone portcullis. Aha! Gadzooks! Indiana Az asked his Gufti to find the bottom of the shaft. But before he could finish the sentence, a small mud brick wall emerged from the soil, running east west in the shaft. How most unusual, Indiana Az thought. However the placement of the mud brick wall presented a problem. There was no way into the tomb. Thus it had to be removed. Climbing down the ladder, Indiana Az mapped the small mud brick wall in situ. Then he photographed the wall and the portcullis stone blocking the entrance.
Ordering the workmen to remove the ladder, Indiana Az felt at peace by himself down in the shaft. He glanced at his watch. Jeeez! He had to finish in 5 minutes, at 4pm. What was he to do? He couldn't leave the tomb like this! Not when there were evil forces at work. He looked at the tomb entrance, then he looked at his watch. Indiana Az wiped his brow, and then scratched his backside. Those damn sandmites bite you where you least expect it. The only thing he could do was to have a small peek inside and photograph the interior before leaving the tomb overnight before excavating it tomorrow. Indiana Az looked at the doorway, and noticed that the ancient robbers had carefully replaced the stone after they had robbed it. Interesting detail nonetheless. Az carefully removed the smaller stone then peered inside. A shout came down from the foreman. "What do you see?" Indiana Az replied, "I see wonderful things." (Howard Carters response upon peering into the tomb of Tutankhamun) No, all Indiana Az saw was the ceiling of the tomb, which was littered with wasps nests. This confirmed his theory that the tomb was robbed. For the tomb must have been open for quite some time in order for the wasps to build so many nests. Upon checking out the tomb, Indiana Az noticed that it was quite a small chamber with a small western niche. Within this niche were the exposed skeletal remains in the fill reaching the ceiling. They were concentrated in a small area, and he duly noted that down. There were a few mud bricks in the back of the chamber and some large stones. Indiana Az, never too careful, took a number of photographs of the tomb's interior. He then lay a number of security devices (much like security guards leave a card in the doors of shops) to make sure, if removed, he would know someone had been in there. Indiana Az then packed up his gear and headed home. Today had been an eventful day, and there still lay a number of interesting features to investigate for the coming days. As he walked out of the site, he made sure that he spoke to the site guard and ordered him to keep a close eye on his area of the newly discovered tomb. This the guard understood (especially when he has a finger pointing in his face) and bid Indiana Az farewell. Tomorrow was another day, and he had to seduce the mistress of the past to give up her secrets. Az licked his lips. He felt like a beer. A well earned one at that. So as the sun set on Helwan, Indiana Az made his way home..........dreaming.........dreaming of all the wonderful things he may find in the underground tomb.
Adios amigos,
Till next time....
Indiana Az.