Holding the lantern out in front of him, Eli strained to peer inside as the flickering light reflected the swirling dust surrounding the entrance, disturbed by their recent digging.
“Here, Dr. Turner, use my flashlight,” the captain said as he offered his light to Eli. “It has a lot more power to it.”
“Thank you, Captain,” he said, taking the light and pointing it at the opening. “Let’s see what we have inside.” He smiled at Maria, then launched out on all fours and crawled head first through the tiny orifice.
Making his way through the entrance, he was immediately struck by the peculiar, muffled silence of the tomb’s interior. His eyes now adjusting to the darkness, he focused the beam of light starting from his left, and then slowly scanned along the perimeter of the tomb. The light’s beam danced off the glittering crystals embedded in the black basalt rock, then came to rest on a mummified corpse near the rear of the burial chamber.
“Come on in, Maria. We have human remains in here,” Eli yelled as he continued his visual sweep of the crypt’s interior.
On the far right, he focused the light’s beam on an ancient amphora still intact. It was standing upright, surrounded by the scattered potsherds of other broken amphorae that littered the tomb's sandy floor. “Be careful of your hand and foot placements, Maria. There may be other fragments of papyrus lying about.”
Maria slowly came up behind him carrying the lantern, which bathed the once darkened room with a soft, yellow ambiance.
“There’s not much in here, Dr. Turner,” Maria noted, coming to his side.
“I’d never grow tired of this, Maria. Even if the tomb was empty,” he said in an awed whisper. “Knowing this crypt was last visited almost twenty centuries ago is quite a humbling experience.”
“These mummified remains are well preserved,” Maria said as the two made their way over to the ancient, dust-covered corpse. She began taking photographs of the remains lying in the thickened dust of what was once bedding. “I’d say this was an adult male, but definitely not a Guanche based on his short stature.”
“Maybe this was our friend Simon, whose name was found written on the parchment,” Eli offered. “I guess there's no way we'll ever know for sure.”
“Look at the condition of that amphora,” she said excitedly as she carefully crawled over to the earthen vessel on the other side of the crypt. It was surrounded by the bones of an animal. “Early Mediterranean, and, based on the design, I’d date it around 30 to 60 A.D. Most likely Roman from the design of the two handles at the top and its broad middle. We found others similar to this off the coast of Lanzarote. The animal remains look to be that of a goat.”
“Maybe that was this guy’s last meal,” Eli said with a laugh, pointing back at the human remains.
“Always the pure scientist,” she said to him with mock disapproval.
Eli noted that the amphora was slightly faded from its centuries of entombment, but its artwork was clearly visible through the film of dust on its exterior. The six-inch opening at the apex was covered by a material that folded down about five inches from the opening, and was wrapped by some type of cord that effectively sealed its contents.
After she finished taking photos, Maria put the camera in her vest pocket and carefully placed her hand on the amphora’s cover, gently feeling the material.
“This is most likely goat skin,” she noted, lightly brushing the centuries of dust from the cover.
“It probably belonged to that poor fellow over there,” Eli said, pointing to the animal remains lying about. “Let’s see if we can get this out to the brighter lights of the cave where we can study it better.” Moving around to the back of the amphora, he said, “You take the top end and I’ll support the base.”
“Okay, Dr. Turner,” Maria said as she gently pulled the top toward her. Eli grabbed the base with both hands and gently lifted it. With their prize in tow, the two slowly backed their way out of the crypt and into the main tunnel.
After setting the amphora down on one of the backpacks, Eli gazed at the ancient relic that once used to hold items such as wine, salt fish, and olive oil. In the brighter light of the cave, he could see the intricate dark red pattern painted around the amphora at its center, with smaller curved pattern lines painted toward the opening.
“Hand me my tool kit, Maria. I want to remove the cover skin and see what we have inside before we crate it up and send it to the university,” Eli said, kneeling down beside the ancient artifact.
Maria dug out the small tool kit from Eli’s backpack and handed it to him as the two soldiers, now intrigued by the find, silently moved closer to get a better view.
“Okay, here goes,” he announced as he grabbed the long nose pliers from his kit, then gently started to untwist the ancient twine from the amphora that kept its contents secure for centuries.
“Are you sure you want to do this here, Dr. Turner?” Maria asked, questioning Eli’s decision as he continued working on the vessel.
“It’s not holding up too well,” Eli said. He ignored her question as the two thousand year old twine, mummified by centuries of arid conditions, fell apart in small pieces. “Here we go,” he whispered as he gently grasped the petrified goatskin covering. Lifting upward, it slowly came off in one piece as Maria took some more photographs. “So far so good,” he said, setting the skin on the ground, then taking a deep breath. He took the light, leaned over the amphora, and directed its beam into the interior.
“What do you see, Dr. Turner?” Maria whispered in an anxious voice.
“It looks like a small papyrus, Maria.”
“There’s nothing else?” Maria asked expectantly.
“If you mean, is there a grail in there? No,” Eli said flatly. “Such is the way of our profession…one mystery reveals another. We still may have an important find here. It looks well preserved and—” his observations were cut short by the startling sound of gunfire reverberating from outside the cave.
Eli watched as Captain Saune sprang instinctively into defense mode. He motioned Eli and Maria to get down as he drew his side arm. Using the wireless transmitter, he tried to contact his men outside.
“They're not responding. You two stay here, out of sight,” he said as he and the private sprinted off toward the entrance and faded away into the darkness.
“Do you think we’re being raided by looters?” Maria asked nervously as she knelt down beside the amphora.
“Either that, or our new friend Alton Burr,” Eli replied as he stared off into the darkness where Captain Saune and his man had been a moment before. “I have a bad feeling about that guy.”
“I’m sure the guards outside will take care of the situation,” Maria said hopefully.
“The papyrus!” Eli exclaimed as he stood up and reached his hand into the amphora. Ever so gently, he grasped the ancient parchment by its end. When he slowly slid the papyrus out of its ancient sanctuary and into the light of the cave, a lightly rolled parchment was revealed.
“Dr. Turner, what are you doing?” Maria gasped, startled by his actions. “That should be done at the university.”
“No time for that now, Maria. If the worst should happen, I don’t want this to fall into the hands of looters or the likes of Burr,” Eli said as he deftly opened the flap on his backpack and carefully slid the document into the pack between two peanut butter sandwiches. Setting the backpack down, Eli knelt, scooped up some dry sediment of the cave floor, and proceeded to pour handfuls into the amphora.
“If they are looters, all they’ll find is an amphora and what looks to be a document crumbled to dust after many centuries.”