A selection from Chapter 1...
By the time Aaron placed the find on the large work table inside the expansive tent, he was drenched in sweat. One of the crew handed him a canteen and he sat down for a moment, not speaking. As other members of the team who had not been in the tunnel began to gather, waiting for an unveiling, Aaron stalled for time, unsure how he should proceed. At the very least, it was an anomalous find. If he got careless with the way it was handled, something like this could cast doubt on the credibility of the entire expedition. More likely, he thought, it would turn the world of archaeology upside down.
Finally, he asked everybody to leave the tent except Marty and Raymond. When he turned to make sure they were alone, he saw Ejan standing beside the entrance.
“We won’t be going back in today, Ejan." Aaron said, nodding his head toward to canvas-flap door. "Please tell the diggers they can go for the day, too. See you in the morning?"
“Yes, sadiqi. As you say.” The old man nodded and bowed, slowly backing out of the tent.
Aaron stood and untied the strap holding the canvas in place, watching Marty and Raymond as he did. When the canvas crumpled to the table, both of their heads jerked back simultaneously. Then both men turned to Koppernick with the same slack-jawed, stunned expression.
"My reaction, exactly," Aaron said.
The other two men took a step backward to get a better view of the astonishing object, still unable to speak. It was a spherical urn, or karura, supported by the raised trunks and tusks of three ebony black elephants, rearing up on their hind legs. The sphere had an elongated nec
k, covered with a bas relief of white, cumulus clouds. Among the clouds were patches of dark blue, inlaid with tiny white gems. The sphere itself had an unrecognizable landscape carved on its glazed ceramic surface, with aquamarine oceans, snow-capped mountain ranges and verdant green forests.
The elephants were carved in remarkable detail, right down to the fine wrinkles in the hide, and what looked like sapphires for eyes and large pearls on the end of each tusk. The entire piece was nearly three feet tall and barely a square inch did not have some kind of precious gem embedded in it.
On the top of the urn was a circular golden lid about six inches across. Engraved into its surface was a strip of characters running just inside the lid's circumference. At the center sat a small, crown-like handle, with dozens of faceted white stones set into it. Aaron wondered if they were diamonds. No, they couldn’t be, he thought. Precise cutting of gems had not been developed until the fifteenth century AD. The lid’s handle seemed too delicate for the otherwise robust looking Karura. It was the most beautiful thing any of them had seen, and they were unable to take their eyes off it.
"Looks like it should still have the damn price tag on
it," Marty whispered to himself.
"This is not Sumerian," Raymond said, transfixed. "It's globular. Early Sumerians saw the world as a flat disk." His remark carried some weight, since he specialized in ancient Middle Eastern mythology and iconography.
Aaron agreed. "Look at the land masses. See how the continents are contiguous?"
"Pangea?" Raymond muttered.
