Chapter 1
“Archaeology is the peeping Tom of the sciences. It is the
sandbox of men who care not where they are going; they merely want to know
where everyone else has been.” ~ Jim Bishop
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Megyer Mountain, Hungary
The archaeological site near an abandoned stone mill quarry in
the mountains on the Northeast side of Hungary had been buzzing with activity
for days. Archaeologists found 16th-century artifacts the year before, but when
they restarted the site in the spring and dug deeper, they’d unearthed an
ancient burial site in the eight-foot-deep layer. As the initial assessment
estimated, this layer had been untouched since the 5th century.
The large space near the top of the mountain had been
cleared from vegetation and two more pits started in the spring. The excited
murmurs of the group of four archeology students working at the bottom of the
largest, nine feet deep hole, sounded muffled by the mound of dirt piled neatly
around the mouth of the pits.
The smaller hole was occupied by two students kneeling in
the dirt, brushes, and fine chisels in their hands. They carefully scraped away
the dirt layer by layer. Next to them laid out on a weathered tarp were
weapons, jewelry, and everyday items from around the beginning of the 5th
century.
Jayden, a young American archeologist worked in the third
pit, alone. Although Helen, the lead archeologist, wanted everyone to
concentrate on the two new holes they’d found the artifacts in, Jayden
convinced her to let him try the abandoned pit again.
Helen, a plump, middle-aged woman in white cotton overall,
stood by a table carefully labeling and documenting the artifacts. She pulled a
handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the sweat from her forehead. A strand of
salt and pepper hair hung loosely tickling her nose, so she took off her
hairband and pulled her hair into a tight bun.
Next to a large tent that housed the boxed artifacts ready
to be transported to the museum, sat two men in foldup chairs wearing security
guard uniforms. Bored out of their minds, they played cards keeping an eye on
Helen. Standing with her back toward them, as soon as she moved, the guards hid
the cards. If they’d be caught by the stern woman, they would say goodbye to
their well-paying, cushy jobs.
The group had been working since dawn, knowing that it would
be too hot to work after midday when they would be forced to take a break until
around mid-afternoon.
The sound of the soft murmurs of the students and the
relaxing chatter of animals coming from the bushes and trees had been broken by
a lanky young student in a dusty overall. He ascended the stepladder from the
largest hole and yelled out to the lead archeologist, his voice roaring,
“Helen, you have to see this!”
Helen froze for a second, and then dropping her notepad and pen,
she started running toward the pit. When she was near the mouth of the deep
hole, her chest tightening by the sudden excitement and anticipation, asked,
“What did you find?”
“Come down and see!” The student’s head disappeared as he
hurried down the stepladder giving space for Helen to descend.
“Darn!” Helen exclaimed when her shaky leg missed the last
step, but the young man broke her fall and steadied her on her feet. “Thanks,”
she mumbled.
“Look!” One of the female students pointed at the horse's
skull and shoulder poking halfway out of the soil. “Look at that beautiful
headgear!” She looked up at Helen, beaming with joy.
“It’s magnificent!” Helen whispered. “The finest
craftsmanship I’ve ever seen.” Crouching by the skull, she carefully ran her
fingers through the dry, hardened leather. “The usage of gold and alloy of
copper and zinc proves that this warrior had a funeral fit for a noble leader.”
She quickly stood up as a realization hit her, and with a sweeping move of her
arm, she barked out an order. “Everyone back away! There might be a human
skeleton here as well. This is either the grave of a warrior’s favorite horse or
a clan’s revered medicine woman who had been buried here with her horse. We
must start clearing the dirt in a circle, from outward to inward.”
The four students complied and slowly moved away from the
skeleton. They stood in a circle, their backs touching the wall of the pit.
“How do you know?” one of them asked.
Helen stared at her confused students for a few seconds and
then lowered her eyes back to the skull and began explaining, “According to Hun
funerary customs of the 5th century, a male warrior had to be buried with his
horse in an upright position, and the warrior sitting on his horse, upright.
But because this horse was laid to rest on its side, it means that either
buried alone or with a female medicine woman, who was also a warrior, sitting
on its back, also laid on her side.” She stood by the horse skull calculating
where the human skeleton should be, and grabbing a digging stick, she started
scratching a wide circle into the packed dirt around the skeleton. “Okay, we’ll
start removing the earth toward the middle of the circle, but very carefully!”
she warned the students. “Let’s get to work!”
The group kneeled around the circle and carefully started
the tedious work of scraping and brushing the packed dirt inch by inch and collecting
the soil into small baskets. One of the students emptied the baskets into a
large one with leather straps. He put the basket on his back and started
climbing up on the stepladder. While pouring the dirt on top of the growing
mound near the mouth of the pit, he waved and smiled at the guards.
Peter, the gangly, middle-aged guard waved back and stood
up, shaking the numbness from his legs. “They must’ve found something,” he said
to his stocky partner. “I’m gonna check it out. Helen seemed to be very excited
when the student called her.”
“You go check it out, I’ll stay here to watch the tent,”
Rowan said and pocketed the deck of cards.
Peter walked to the
largest pit and craning his neck, he peeked while planting his feet firmly on
the ground. Some old bones. He thought. Good! I hope they’ll keep
finding stuff for a long time to keep my job secure. Not interested in
looking at bones, he straightened up with a grunt and started walking around
the clearing. He peeked into the other pits and initiated small talk with the
students. They weren’t interested in talking, so Peter continued his round.
On his way back to the tent, anger rose in his chest when he
spotted his partner still sitting on the chair, but his head tilted to the
side. “That fool fell asleep!” He mumbled and hurried over. Rowan was softly
snoring. “Hey, wake up, man!” Peter said, keeping his voice down, he punched
his partner’s shoulder.
“Uh, what? Nah! I ain’t sleeping. Just restin’ me eyes,” the
balding man grunted with a heavy Irish accent, which he still couldn’t lose
after twenty years of living in Hungary. He sat up straight and wiped spittle
from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
Peter scolded him in a hushed voice, “If they catch you
snoozing, you can say goodbye to this easy job.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rowan mumbled. “They’re in the holes busy
brushing dirt off of old stuff. And who would come up to this place to steal
anything, anyway?” He stretched his hands over his head and let out a loud yawn
before reclining once more on the fold-up chair with obvious intent to resume
his slumber.
“Just keep your eyes open! I’m gonna drive down to the
coffee shop to pick up the breakfast.”
“Okay, hurry up. I’m starving.”
Peter walked down the path between the thick bushes to the
clearing where the archeology team parked their cars. Despite his promise, his
porky partner’s chin dropped to his chest as soon as he was out of sight. I’ll
just close me eyes for a moment, he thought. His breathing slowed as he
fell asleep.
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