bit stealing game

Chapter 2 I slapped open an ancient Egyptian temple

By the time the excavation permit from Egypt was obtained, the streets would already be filled with the aroma of roasted chestnuts.

Due to the historical reasons of 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 plundered ancient Egyptian cultural relics, so as a member of the Chinese archaeological team, my excavation permits were successfully obtained in the first two years.

, but it’s much later this year.

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

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

Last archaeological season, I accidentally discovered an ancient Egyptian temple under the China-Egypt cooperative excavation site. That accident can be regarded as an archaeological accident. But although I was the initiator, I was just an unlucky victim.

.

This matter has to be discussed since the end of last year.

The archaeological season in Egypt is basically from October to March. After all, it is an African country, and the summer heat can be extremely hot. In the past two years, I have followed it every time during the Christmas holidays from December to January.

A Chinese archaeological team went to Egypt for internship.

I have always been interested in some of the contradictions in ancient Egyptian mythology, and I want to know how many secrets there are that have not been discovered by people in the place that was once protected by the gods.

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

For the first archaeological site, every time an object is excavated, we must record the time of excavation, coordinate points, material and name of the cultural relic.

For example, this bronze statue of the god Osiris was unearthed in the second phase of the China-Egypt joint archeology - referred to as the second phase of the China-Egypt archeology. The material is bronze, and the name is the statue of Osiris. As for the coordinate points of the excavated cultural relics, this must use the full

The station instrument was tested.

We use a classic total station at our construction site. It is accurate, but we have to build a website every day before starting work.

Our China-Egypt archaeological site uses geodetic coordinates. This follows the reference point left by the French team at that time. In the first half of the last century, an archaeological team from France once conducted excavations here.

I found the bronze statue of Osiris, and the total station hadn't had time to set up the station. I volunteered to run the reference point with the prism.

Building a website is a basic operation. Except for Teacher Liu who cooperates with me, everyone is busy doing their own thing.

The archaeological site to the north of the Karnak temple complex where the China-Egypt archaeological team is located is collectively known as the Mentu Temple Area. Mentu God is the God of War in ancient Egypt. The earliest records of Mentu God can be traced back to the Old Kingdom. Mentu God

The ruins of the temple are generally divided into two parts. The west side is mainly the ruins of small temples from the 22nd to 26th dynasties of ancient Egypt; the east side is the ruins of Mentu Temple and Ma'at Temple.

Ma'at is the ancient Egyptian goddess of truth and justice. The ancient Egyptian funerary text The Book of the Dead describes that the deceased needs to go through a trial, at which time the deceased's heart and a feather will be placed at both ends of the scale. If the heart is heavier than the feather,

That proves that the deceased did not pass the trial. On the contrary, the deceased can pass the trial and be reborn with Osiris, the god of the underworld. The feather in this trial is the one on the head of the goddess Maat.

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

There has been no large-scale excavation here, and there are overgrown weeds outside the wall. I climbed up from the west wall and walked to the southeast corner. When I found the point left by the French, I was about to set up a prism when I heard the Maat Temple behind me.

There were dogs barking there. A female dog gave birth to puppies there two days ago, and a whole family was recruited by us to become team dogs. It just so happened that the focus of our archaeological team's excavation at this stage was not within the temple, so we did not disturb them.

But who would have thought that after I set up the prism, I heard the barking of dogs suddenly become fierce. Then a dog suddenly jumped out of the temple and hit me right on the knee. The recklessness of the dog that didn't choose the way was directly passed on to me.

It was taken off the wall.

I really never expected to encounter this.

Fortunately, there were wild weeds growing all around the temple. Those young Arab workers had not had time to eradicate them conscientiously, so there was a buffer. However, the fall from a height of more than two meters did not kill him.

Let me lie down for a while.

As soon as I fell down, I heard Teacher Liu calling me over there. Regardless of the darkness in front of me, I luckily shouted "I'm fine!" As a result, my ribs hurt. When I calmed down, I tried to think about Liu.

I got up from the ground before the teacher came. After all, being knocked off the wall by a dog and lying on the ground unable to move really damaged my image. Who would have thought that as soon as I put my hand on the ground, I felt a heartbreaking pain. This weed is better than

The ground was soft, but the edges were very sharp, which cut my palms. I hissed a few times, and couldn't breathe for a long time. Looking at the blood in front of me, I thought that this work-related injury was not caused by running away.

The dog that just knocked me down knew that it had offended someone it shouldn't have, and was wandering around not far away with its tail between its legs. I also recognize this dog, and it should be the father of that litter of puppies. But don't even think about the grandson today.

I got food from my meal and gave it all to the dog mother. While I was mumbling, I endured the pain and tried to get up with my hands on the ground. But it didn’t matter if I didn’t move. As soon as I changed my position, I felt the pressure under my hands.

The ground is sinking.

This is incredible.

I hurriedly leaned back, maintaining the carp posture and putting my weight on my lower body. This is also thanks to my recent diligent exercise, otherwise I would not be able to hold this position with my belly. It’s just that

The untimely elation did not last long. The collapse continued, and had a tendency to move closer to me.

At this time, Teacher Liu arrived. He shouted to me, "Go to the left quickly!" I didn't care why and immediately did it. The problem is that now my legs don't work and I have no place to put my hands. I have no choice but to

With this posture, he rolled to the side as hard as he could. Not caring that his face was scratched by grass, he rolled three or four times before he dared to stop.

I lay on the ground dizzy.

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

I said feebly: "It should be possible. But please let me slow down first."

Teacher Liu didn't give me a chance to slow down. He said in a deep voice: "You'd better get up now."

At this time, Teacher Liu had already walked around to my left front. I raised my head, and he motioned for me to extend my hand to him first. I used his strength to stand up. Teacher Liu carefully avoided the wound on my arm and helped me to the left.

After walking for a while, I looked back.

This sight scared me into a cold sweat.

No wonder Teacher Liu just asked me to hold on tighter. The collapse had spread to the place where I was lying just now. I couldn't help but gasped at this shock, and my vision went dark again. Teacher Liu supported me,

He said softly: "Don't move. I'll call the team leader. They are all at Tanfang in the west now."

After thanking me, I said I didn’t need to bother with the tour leader as I could still leave.

Teacher Liu insisted: "If you walk hastily now, you will probably injure your legs again. Besides, if the ground suddenly collapses, you have to call the team leader to come over and take a look."

When I heard that it was true, I didn't shirk it any more. Besides, regardless of whether I lost face or not, my face really hurt.

After notifying the team leader to carry me, we studied the cave-in from a distance.

As I watched, I felt something was wrong. No matter how big and heavy I am, I can't make a hole in the ground out of thin air, right? Could it be that this is a dregs project from thousands of years ago? My curiosity was aroused. Now

Regardless of the pain, he turned to Teacher Liu and said, "Teacher Liu, can we look over to the edge of the pit?"

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

I chuckled and said, "Thank you, otherwise I would have made such a big mistake for nothing. When the team leaders come over, they will definitely carry me away." Teacher Liu had no choice but to help me move over against the south wall of the temple.

look.

I didn't care about it when I was nervous, but now that I take a closer look, it's actually a false alarm. The real collapse was only the small area where I pressed my hand at the beginning, and later on, only the surface soil cracked on the edge.

I was leaning my head to look when the team leader came with his people. In addition to the team leader and our team members, we also followed Ahmed, the Egyptian archaeological team member who was exploring the east side, and Saad, the person in charge of the Karnak area.

A group of people carefully surrounded Teacher Liu and 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 what was wrong. I spread my hands and said, "I'm not sure. Maybe my hand was scratched?" Everyone's expressions were a little confused for a moment.

Teacher Liu said for me: "I just fell off the wall of Ma'at Temple. I guess I hurt my leg. I don't know if my internal organs are injured yet."

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

"Just wait patiently, the ambulance will be here soon."

I was shocked, I didn’t expect such a big battle was needed, so I hurriedly said: “Team leader, I’m really fine, I just cut my hand.”

The team leader did not accept my explanation: "This matter is not negotiable. This is a safety issue and cannot be taken lightly."

I responded bitterly. Fortunately, this is not the United States, otherwise the cost of an ambulance would have saved me half my life.

Ahmed, an Egyptian archaeologist who was also excavating the same site, said with concern: "This is no small matter. You have to take care of yourself." I thanked him repeatedly.

Then everyone expressed their condolences to me. Saad, the person in charge of the construction site, said: "Don't worry, the medical care in Luxor is great." I sincerely expressed my gratitude, thinking that it would be better if I didn't have to experience it personally.

Someone suggested that I move to the house to wait for the ambulance, as I was afraid that standing there for a long time would make my injury worse. I really wanted to stay and watch, but now that the matter has become a big deal, I was too embarrassed to bring it up. Teacher Liu knew what I was thinking.

, he said: "We don't know where Xiao Wang's injury is now, and moving rashly may cause secondary damage." Everyone was convinced. I secretly grinned at Teacher Liu, and he nodded slightly.

Curiosity is a major characteristic of archaeologists, and everyone consciously joined the team to study the pit. There was no way around the outside, so the team leader cautiously moved closer, and Thad followed behind him.

"Tell us how you fell?" the team leader found a solid ground beside the pit and squatted down, asking me without raising his head. I roughly repeated the story and raised my eyes to look for the trace of the dog that caused the accident.

, to enhance the credibility. I found it after a while. This time, it may have seen the crowd, so it hid further away, put its head on its front paws and looked towards us with drooping eyebrows.

look.

"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 he brought with him and scraped the soil around the pit. I couldn't help but say in my heart, professional people are different, they accidentally pressed out

The pits can also be studied using archaeological techniques.

The team leader stood up after a while, pointed at the depression and said something to Sade. Sade went over to look at it and started laughing. We didn’t know why. He stepped aside and the other archaeologists also moved closer.

Look. At the same time, he explained: "Wang, you may have found the treasure." Several of our team members who were not surrounded exchanged glances suspiciously.

The team leader didn't hold back anymore and told him what he had discovered.

In fact, the cracked ground around the pit is backfilled ground. Backfilling means that this place was dug before, but for some reason, the soil was filled back and the hole was sealed again. Now this backfilled hole is probably a dog

They dug a hole in the surface soil where the children hid their bones. Every time they ran around it was fine, but if a big living person pressed me down, wouldn't it collapse the entrance?

"Leader, what's going on with that pit?" I asked next. Besides, bones can't be considered treasures, unless they are the backbone of Osiris?

Everyone was silent. I felt that there must be something going on here. Just as I was waiting for the experts to speak, I heard someone shouting, "The ambulance is coming."

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 gave me some instructions.

Someone took me away. Teacher Liu said he would accompany me, but neither of us spoke Arabic, so Ahmed followed us into the ambulance.

When I was being carried out of the Karnak Temple, I looked at the mottled intaglio carvings in the multi-column hall and thought to myself, besides the Sun God and the Pharaoh, I must be the only person being carried through here.

Ahmed and Teacher Liu kept chatting with me along the way. They also wanted to know what was in the pit I dug. Ahmed said mysteriously: "There has been a rumor here that Karnak hid something.

The secret of the Sun God, maybe you will discover the hidden temple."

"Hahaha, that would be great if it were true!" I said this, but in my heart I was thinking that if this was really the temple of the Sun God, would it count as destroying cultural relics? Then I thought again, our construction site lasted a century

Having been dug out enough by the French, what can be left for us?

Luxor was not big, so he arrived at the hospital in a short while. After various examinations, he didn’t know whether it was the thick grass or my thick flesh. Apart from skin trauma, there was basically nothing serious. Teacher Liu and Ahmed felt relieved and informed

I was in the team, and it was a near miss. I also experienced a bit of Egyptian hospitals, and at the same time, a question of mine was answered: Egyptian hospitals also use alcohol for disinfection.

The team leader did not return to the station at noon that day, and went directly to the Ministry of Cultural Relics with the Egyptian responsible person. It turned out that there was an old technician on our construction site who had excavated there with the French team when he was young. He vaguely remembered being slapped by me.

Where I patted it away, there was indeed something underneath the ground.

At that time, the French team withdrew from the site that our Chinese team was excavating during World War II. They probably discovered something at that time, and they were thinking about backfilling it first and then looking for opportunities to dig out. Unexpectedly, the letter from this construction site was 70

For many years, the French never found a chance to come back. The things they hid underground were accidentally discovered by us.

However, the problem is that this site has indeed been signed to our Chinese archaeological team, but when it was signed, the Egyptians probably did not know that there was something underneath. Then this next one has not been recorded in history, nor has it appeared in the French

For buildings in public archives, it is difficult to decide whether to excavate them and who will excavate them.

This temple site was originally excavated with Egypt in a cooperative research attitude. It was an exchange and collision of ancient civilizations between China and Egypt. At the beginning, we just wanted to study the stratigraphy in a down-to-earth manner. After all, this place was built in the last century.

The French dug deep into the ground.

But who would have thought that unexpected sparks would collide.

In any case, excavation of unplanned places requires long-term planning. And no matter what the structure under the Maat Temple is, it is blank in the existing records. I don’t know how the team leader talked with the Egyptian side later.

Maybe someone at a higher level should make the decision on this matter.

In short, until I left Egypt last year, I never came into contact with the nearby underground structure again. By the time I recovered from my injuries and started working again, the place had been backfilled and fenced. I also asked Ahmed and

Teacher Liu, they don’t seem to know the inside story either.

I have been paying attention to the news since then. However, neither the local media in Egypt nor other countries have reported on the possible existence of underground structures.

I think there must be some reason why the excavation permit was obtained so late this year, and it may be related to the unrecorded building.

There is an unknown relic in our regular construction site. There is no historical record, no archaeological record, and it is located around an ancient Egyptian religious holy site as important as the Karnak Temple. According to the stratigraphic relationships of the several exploration areas excavated at our construction site

It seems that no matter what the ruins are underground, they should predate the Ma'at Temple. Maybe the Ma'at Temple was even built to hide it.

In the past, what building would have made the Pharaohs not destroy it, but go to great lengths to cover it up? And it was so important that the French archaeological team knew that they were about to evacuate Egypt, but they could not resist digging it out.

.That’s the Frenchman who stole countless ancient Egyptian artifacts!

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

At this time, I still don’t know what the connection is between this temple that was unexpectedly brought to light in my hands and a secret that can change the fate of mankind.

Building a website is a necessary operation during archaeological surveying and mapping. Only by first matching the location of the total station with the coordinates of known points on the construction site can we then measure the distance, angle and height difference of the unearthed cultural relics. Our website building is relatively simple, but it is 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 that day through the two known reference coordinate points. No matter what is excavated next, just take the prism

, that is, a total station signal receiver, which is placed on the unearthed object and allowed to be captured by the total station, so that the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the unearthed location can be measured.

(End of chapter)