bit stealing game

Chapter 2 I slapped open an ancient Egyptian temple

When the excavation permit from Egypt is obtained, the streets are already filled with the aroma of roasted chestnuts.

Due to the historical reasons for the loss of cultural relics, teams from all over the world going to Egypt for archaeological excavations need to go through strict approval.China has never looted ancient Egyptian cultural relics, so as a member of the Chinese archaeological team, I got the excavation permit smoothly in the first two years, but this year it was much later.

However, a project of the British Museum in Egypt notified me some time ago that the application I submitted a long time ago was approved.They looked forward to collaborating with me on research and promised a large research grant.

Now that both China and Britain have sent invitations, I have become a favorite.

In the last archaeological season, I accidentally discovered an ancient Egyptian temple under the construction site of China-Egypt cooperation excavation.That accident could be regarded as an archaeological accident.But although I was the instigator, I was also just an unlucky victim.

This has to start at the end of last year.

The archaeological season in Egypt is basically from October to March of the following year.After all, it is an African country, and it can be extremely hot in summer.In the past two years, I have followed the Chinese archaeological team to Egypt for internship every time during the Christmas holiday from December to January.

I have always been interested in some contradictory places in ancient Egyptian mythology, wondering how many secrets that people have not yet discovered exist in the land that was once blessed by the gods.

Around the winter solstice last year, our archaeological team discovered a bronze statue of Osiris at the ruins of the temple.The bronze statue of the ancient Egyptian god of the underworld is about 40 centimeters high, which is a breakthrough discovery for our construction site, which arouses everyone's excitement.

For the first site of archaeology, every time an object is excavated, we have to record the unearthed time, coordinate points, material and name of cultural relics.

Like this bronze statue of the god Osiris.It was unearthed in the second phase of China-Egypt joint archaeology - referred to as the second phase of Sino-Egyptian archaeology. The material is bronze and the name is the statue of Osiris.As for the coordinate points of the excavated cultural relics, this has to be measured with a total station.

Our construction site uses a classic total station.Accuracy is precision, but every day when you go to work, you have to build a website first.

Our China-Egypt archaeological site uses geodetic coordinates.This is the reference point left by the French team at that time.In the first half of the last century, an archaeological team from France conducted excavations here.Since the bronze statue of Osiris was unearthed early this morning, the total station has not had time to build a station.I volunteered and took the prism to run benchmarks.

Building a website is a basic operation.Except for Teacher Liu who cooperated with me, everyone went to their own business.

The archaeological site to the north of the Karnak temple complex where the Sino-Egyptian archaeological team is located is collectively referred to as the Mengtu temple area.The God of Mentu is the god of war in ancient Egypt. The earliest records about the God of Mentu can be traced back to the period of the Old Kingdom.The ruins of the Mengtu Temple are roughly divided into two parts.The west is mainly the ruins of the small temples of the No.20 second to No.20 six dynasties of ancient Egypt; the east is the ruins of the Temple of Mentu and the Temple of Maat.

Ma'at was the ancient Egyptian goddess of truth and justice.The ancient Egyptian funerary text, the Necronomicon, depicts the dead needing to pass a trial in which their heart and a feather are placed on opposite ends of a scale.If the heart is heavier than a feather, it proves that the dead has not passed the trial, otherwise the dead can pass the trial and be reborn with Osiris, the god of the underworld.The feather in this judgment is the one on the head of the goddess Maat.

One of the reference points needed to build the site is on the wall at the southeast corner of the Maat Temple.

Large-scale excavation has not yet been carried out here, and weeds are overgrown outside the wall.I climbed up the west wall and walked to the southeast corner.After finding the point left by the French, when I was about to erect the prism, I heard a dog barking in the Maat Temple behind.Two days ago, a bitch gave birth to puppies there, and the whole family was recruited by us to become team dogs.It just so happens that the focus of our archaeological team's excavations at this stage is not in the temple, so we didn't bother them.

But who would have thought that after the prism was set up, the sound of dog barking suddenly became intense.Immediately afterwards a dog suddenly sprang out from the temple and landed right on the hollow of my knee.The recklessness of panic and recklessness was directly brought down from the wall by me.

I really never expected to encounter this.

Fortunately, there are weeds growing wantonly around the temple, and those young Arab workers have not had time to eradicate them dutifully, which can be regarded as a buffer.But this somersault fell from a height of more than two meters, and I fell on my stomach for a while.

As soon as I fell down, I heard Teacher Liu calling me over there.Regardless of the darkness in front of my eyes, I luckily shouted "I'm fine!" As a result, my ribs hurt.After I calmed down, I tried my best to get up from the ground before Teacher Liu came.After all, being knocked off the wall by a dog and lying on the ground unable to move is really detrimental to the image.Who would have thought that as soon as he put his hand on the ground, he felt a piercing pain.The weeds are softer than the land, but the edges are so sharp that they cut my palms.I hissed a few times and didn't catch my breath for a long time.Looking at the blood stains in front of my eyes, I thought that the work-related injury was gone.

The dog that knocked me down just now knew that he had offended someone he shouldn't, so he wandered around with his tail between his legs.I also recognize this dog, it should be the father of that litter of puppies.But today, the grandson doesn't want to get any food from my meal, it's all given to that dog mother.While I was nagging, I tried to get up by enduring the pain and supporting myself with my hands.But it doesn't matter if you don't move, as soon as you change your posture, you will feel that the ground under your hands is sinking.

This is incredible.

I hurriedly leaned back, keeping the posture of the carp upright, and put my center of gravity on the lower half of my body.It's also thanks to my hard work recently, otherwise I wouldn't be able to hold up this posture with my big unity.It's just that the untimely elation didn't last long.The collapse is still going on, and it has a tendency to move closer to me.

At this time, Teacher Liu arrived.He yelled at me, "Go to the left!" I didn't care about why, so I did it immediately.The problem is that now my legs don't work and there's nowhere to put my hands.I had no choice but to roll to the side vigorously in this position.I didn't care about my face and was scratched, and I dared to stop after rolling three or four times.

I lay dizzy on the ground.

Teacher Liu walked over to the wall of the temple and stopped beside me. "Xiao Wang, do you think you can stand up?"

I said weakly: "It should be possible. But please let me take it easy."

Teacher Liu didn't give me a chance, he said in a deep voice, "You'd better get up now."

At this moment, Teacher Liu has already circled to my left front.I looked up, and he motioned for me to give him my hand first.I used my strength to stand up.Teacher Liu carefully avoided the wound on my arm, helped me to walk to the left, and then let me look back.

This look scared me into a cold sweat.

No wonder Teacher Liu told me to hurry up just now.That collapse has spread to the place where I just lay on my stomach.Under this surprise, I couldn't hold back my breath, and once again my eyes went dark.Teacher Liu supported me, and said softly, "Don't move around. I'll call the team leader. They're all at Tanfang on the west side now."

After thanking me, I said that I don't need to bother the leader, and I can go by myself.

Teacher Liu insisted: "Walking rashly now is likely to hurt my leg again. Besides, the ground suddenly collapsed, so I have to ask the team leader to come and take a look."

As soon as I heard it, I didn't shirk it.And let's not talk about whether to lose face or not, it really hurts here.

After notifying the team leader to carry me, we studied the collapse from a distance.

I looked at it and thought it was wrong.No matter how big and heavy I am, I won't be able to press the ground out of thin air, right?Could it be that this is a bean curd dregs project thousands of years ago?My curiosity was aroused.This time I didn't care about the pain, so I turned to Teacher Liu and said, "Mr. Liu, can we go over to the edge of the pit to have a look?"

Teacher Liu was quite helpless: "You can't stand up here and you still want to see the pit."

I smiled and said, "Thanks for your hard work, otherwise I would have made this big somersault in vain. When the team leader comes over, they will definitely carry it away for me." Teacher Liu did not hesitate, and helped me move over to the south wall of the temple. Look.

I didn't care about it when I was nervous just now, but now that I look closely, it's actually a false alarm.The real subsidence was only the small piece that I pressed with my hand at the beginning, and what cracked on the edge was only the surface soil.

I was poking my head to see, and the team leader came with people.In addition to the team leader and our team members, we also followed Ahmed, the Egyptian archaeological team member in the East Exploration Square, and Saad, the head of the Karnak area.

A group of people carefully surrounded Teacher Liu, me and the pit.

The team leader asked me: "Where is the injury? Is it serious?"

I thought about it for a while, but couldn't tell where I felt uncomfortable for a while, so I spread my hands and said, "I don't know, maybe my hand was cut?" Everyone's expressions were a little hard to describe.

Teacher Liu said for me: "Didn't it just fall off the wall of the Ma'at Temple. It probably hurt the leg. I don't know if the internal organs are injured yet."

I shook my head quickly: "It shouldn't be a big deal!" As a result, I was dizzy for a while and almost couldn't stop.They were immediately stopped by the team leader in unison.

"Just be honest, the ambulance will come right away."

I was startled, I didn't expect such a big fight, so I hurriedly said: "I'm really fine, the leader, I just scratched my hand."

The team leader did not accept my argument: "This matter is not negotiable. This is to discover safety issues, and we cannot be careless."

I responded resentfully.Fortunately, this is not the United States, otherwise the money for an ambulance would have cost me half my life.

Ahmed, an Egyptian archaeologist who also dug a cave, said with concern: "This is not a small matter, you have to take care of yourself." I thank you again and again.

Then everyone offered their condolences to me.Saad, the person in charge of the construction site, said: "Don't worry, Luxor's medical care is excellent."I sincerely thank you, and say that it would be better if I didn't have to experience it myself.

Someone suggested that I move to the house and wait for the ambulance, fearing that standing for a long time would make the injury worse.In fact, I really want to stay and watch, but now that this matter has become a big deal, I am too embarrassed to bring it up.Teacher Liu knew what I was thinking, and he said: "We don't know where Xiao Wang is injured now, and moving rashly may cause secondary injuries." Everyone was convinced.I quietly grinned at Mr. Liu, and he nodded slightly.

Curiosity is a major characteristic of archaeologists, and everyone has consciously joined the team of research pits.There was no doorway to be seen on the outside, the team leader approached cautiously, and Sade followed behind him.

"Can you tell us how you fell?" the team leader squatted down on a solid ground beside the pit and asked me without raising his head.I roughly repeated the story, looking up for the dog to increase the credibility.After a while, I found it.This time, it may have seen a lot of people, so it hid further away, resting its head on its front paws and looking towards us with drooping eyebrows.

"That dog is hiding behind our tent." I reported it to everyone.

The team leader turned his head and glanced there, then looked down at the pit, took out the hand shovel that he carried with him, and scraped the soil around the pit.I couldn't help but say in my heart that the professional ones are different, and the pits that are accidentally pressed can still be studied with archaeological methods.

The team leader stood up after a while, pointed to the dent and said something to Sade, who leaned over to look at it and laughed.We don't know why.He stepped aside, and the rest of the archaeologists also leaned over to look.At the same time, he explained: "Wang, you may have found the treasure." Several of our team members who did not surround us exchanged glances suspiciously.

The team leader didn't hold back any more, and told about his discovery.

In fact, what is cracked around the pit is the backfilled ground.Backfilling means that this place has been dug before, but for some reason, the soil is filled back and the hole is sealed again.Now this backfill pit is probably where the dogs hid their bones, and they dug a hole in the surface soil.It's no big deal every time they run around, but if I'm a big living person and press it up, won't it collapse the entrance.

"Leader, what happened to that pit?" I continued to ask.And how can bones not be regarded as treasures, unless it is the backbone of Osiris?

Everyone was silent.I wondered if there must be something wrong here, and just as the experts spoke, I heard someone yelling, "The ambulance is here."

I thought to myself that this car came at the wrong time.Since the ambulance could not enter the temple, they put me on a stretcher and carried me into the ambulance.Sure enough, after putting me on the stretcher, the team leader ordered some people to carry me away.Teacher Liu said he would accompany me, but neither of us could speak Arabic, so Ahmed followed us into the ambulance.

As I was carried out of the temple of Karnak, I looked at the mottled intaglios of the hypostyle hall and thought, I'm not the only one being carried through here besides the sun god and the pharaoh.

Ahmed and Teacher Liu kept chatting with me along the way, and they also wanted to know what was in the pit I dug out.Ahmed said mysteriously: "We have been spreading the secret that Karnak hides the sun god here. Maybe you have discovered the hidden temple."

"Hahaha, it would be great if it's true!" I replied, but I thought to myself, if this is really the Temple of the Sun God, will I be counted as destroying cultural relics?After thinking about it, I wonder if our construction site has been dug up enough by the French in the last century, what can be left for us.

Luxor is not big, so we arrived at the hospital in a short while.After doing various checks, I don't know whether it is the thick grass or my thick flesh. Except for skin trauma, there is basically no serious problem.Teacher Liu and Ahmed felt relieved and notified the team, and there was no danger.I also experienced an Egyptian hospital, and at the same time answered one of my doubts: in Egyptian hospitals, alcohol is also used for disinfection.

The leader of the team did not return to the station at noon that day, and went directly to the Ministry of Cultural Relics with the responsible personnel from the Egyptian side.It turned out that an old mechanic on our construction site had excavated there with the French team when he was young.He vaguely remembered the place where I slapped it away, there was indeed something under the ground.

At that time, when the French team withdrew from the site that our Chinese team was excavating, World War II happened.They probably discovered something at that time, thinking about backfilling it first and then finding an opportunity to dig it later.As a result, I didn't expect that this construction site has been written for more than 70 years, and the French have never found a chance to come back.What they hid underground back then was discovered by us by mistake.

However, the problem is that this site has indeed been signed to our Chinese archaeological team, but when it was signed, the Egyptians probably didn't know that there was something under it.Then, for this building that has not been recorded in history and has not appeared in the French public archives, whether to excavate it and who will excavate it will be difficult to handle.

The temple site was originally excavated with the Egyptian side in a cooperative research attitude, which is the exchange and collision of the ancient civilizations of China and Egypt.In the beginning, we just wanted to understand the stratigraphic research in a down-to-earth manner.After all, this place was dug three feet by the French in the last century.

But who would have thought that they could collide with unexpected sparks.

In any case, unearthing unplanned places requires a long-term plan.And no matter what the building under the Maat Temple is, it is blank in the existing records.I don't know how the team leader discussed with Efon. Maybe someone at a higher level has to make a decision on this matter.

In short, until I left Egypt last year, I didn't come into contact with the underground building that was close at hand.By the time I recovered from my injury and went back to work, it would have been backfilled and fenced off.I also asked Ahmed and Mr. Liu, and they didn't seem to know the inside story.

I have been following the news since then.However, neither local Egyptian media nor other national media reported on the possible underground structure.

I think there must be some reason for the excavation permit to arrive so late this year, and it is probably related to that unrecorded building.

There is an unknown relic in our modest construction site.There is no historical record, no archaeological record, and it is still around an ancient Egyptian religious shrine as important as the Temple of Karnak.Judging from the stratigraphic relationship of the several probes excavated at our construction site, no matter what the underground remains are, they should be earlier than the Maat Temple.It is even possible that the temple of Maat was built to hide it.

In the past, what building would the pharaoh not destroy it, but take great pains to cover it up?And it's so important that the French archaeological team knew they were going to evacuate Egypt, but they couldn't resist not digging it out.That's the French who stole countless ancient Egyptian artifacts!

The more I think about it, the more excited I get.Although these are just my conjectures, but that is ancient Egypt, what can't happen.What if the truth is even more unbelievable than I imagined?

At this time, I still don't know how the temple that was accidentally rediscovered in my hands is related to a secret that can change the fate of mankind.

　Building a station is a necessary operation during archaeological surveying and mapping.Only by matching the position of the total station with the coordinates of known points on the construction site can the distance, angle and height difference of the unearthed cultural relics be measured.Our website building is relatively simple, but also boring.Basically, after setting up the total station every day, measure the height of the total station.Then determine the three-dimensional coordinates of the total station on that day through the known two reference coordinate points.No matter what is unearthed next, just take a prism, that is, a receiver of a total station signal, and place it on the unearthed object for the total station to capture, and the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the unearthed position can be measured.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)