Egypt was beautiful, in Isabelle Jackson's eyes. She'd fallen in love with the country years ago, when she'd been invited to spend her first practical field experience in the Valley of the Kings. For a place that could seem so desolate, it was vibrant, rich in history and culture, wrapped about with time's threads that took an expert to unravel. In her years as an archaeologist, she'd earned the title of expert, but this time around, she was visiting Egypt as a freelancer, unattached to any particular dig, any particular organization. Her only company was her husband, himself something of a treasure-seeker, and they had wandered far from the beaten path, following hints that might turn out to be a real find, and a small team of trusted workers.
Finds from the time of Arsinoe IV were not as prolific as might be expected, but given the amount of attention that was focused on her contemporaries - the most infamous Ptolemy and Cleopatra - they were often overlooked. And following those hints, Izzy and Jax had found an abandoned tomb; not the pharoah's, but utterly untouched. Jax was no doubt bored out of his mind, but Izzy was fascinated, cross-legged on the sand floor of the tomb as she deciphered the hieroglyphs on the side of the stone sarcophagus.
"So, what?s it say, Izz?" he asked, as he crouched down beside her. He was capable of making out some of the hieroglyphs, more or less, but he was the brawn, not the brains of the pair. "Some warning about a curse or some other mumbo jumbo?" he guessed, feeling more than a little restless. He appreciated her sense of reverence for the place and her thirst for knowledge, but there didn't seem much point in being there, in his opinion, without a find of some small worth.
"It's just the basics so far," she said thoughtfully. "Cursed be he and all that ....Seems to be a pretty high ranking priest in here, though. There should be a few shiny things under the stone you can play with." She glanced up at her husband with a teasing smile. "Let me find this person's name, and then we can get the lid off. The mummy isn't likely to be in great shape, this place wasn't sealed too well."
The warning of a curse didn't worry him too much, as those things usually turned out to be nothing. What interested him was the fact that the tomb appeared to have never been broken into or looted prior to them discovering it. "There better be more than a few shiny things in there for all the trouble we've gone to to find it," he grumbled. He wasn't overly interested in the mummy itself as what he'd been buried with.
She chuckled at him impatience, heaving herself up onto her feet to bend over the lid of the stone sarcophagus. "Worst thing about non-royals is having to find their bloody names," she muttered to herself. The cartouche was reserved for royal names, unfortunately; without one, it could take hours to discover who they were looking at. "Oh! ....hmm. Mer ....mere ....ankh ....Meresankh." She frowned down at the sarcophagus. "First priestess of Isis. Wow."
"So not a dude, after all," Jax remarked with a grin, as he leaned over her shoulder to take a look. "Too pretty to be a dude," he mused aloud, though the face painted on the sarcophagus was likely to be stylized and more flattering of the person it was supposed to depict than realistic.
"King Tut was kind of pretty," she pointed out in amusement, gently touching her temple to his. "But then, his face mask was probably made for Nefertiti first, so that kind of punctures my argument." She straightened, tucking her brush back into her belt. "So how do you want to do this" Get the team in to do the heavy lifting?"
"King Tut was a kid," Jax reminded her, smiling in amusement at the affectionate way she leaned her head against his. He lifted his head to touch a kiss to her cheek. "Unless I changed my name to Superman recently, I'd say that's a plan," he quipped back at her, anxious to get a look at the shiny stuff.
"All right. You get a crew together, I'll finish up with the photographs and measurements, and we can crack this open and get a look at her." Izzy was never going to be a treasure hunter; the habits of an archaeologist were ingrained in her bones. Besides, she wanted them to get the credit for this find, and that meant meticulous records.
"Yes, ma'am!" he replied, moving to his feet to go gather a few extra hands to help with the heavy labor of removing the lid. They'd hired only men they'd worked with in the past and trusted, rather than risking being robbed.
About an hour later, the props were in place for the task of levering up the ancient stone lid with as much care as they could possibly manage. This excavation was only preliminary, but Izzy and Jax were determined to take the credit for it. Jax was probably going to be disappointed in his wife's insistence on giving the artifacts they found to the Cairo Museum, but at least they would get paid for it. The hiss of air rushing into a long dead vacuum brought with it the nauseating smell of stale air and long rotten flesh as the lid was finally lifted.
"Oh, good gods ..." Izzy murmured, going slightly pale at the fetid stink. "Not quite as well respected as we'd thought, then."
"Yeah, but look at that amulet!" Jax replied, tugging a scarf over his mouth and nose to block the stench as he leaned over to admire the piece of jewelry that adorned the mummy's neck, careful to look but not touch for now.
She laughed, busy helping to guide the priceless stone lid down onto the carefully prepared padding. That done, she took one look at the nauseated faces around her, and let their team go back into the outer chamber, to continue cataloguing the artifacts away from the stench of the badly embalmed mummy. "Now then ....let's see what we have here," she mused, covering her own mouth and nose with her scarf as she leaned over the mummy with Jax.
Jax had caught a glint of gold as the lid was slowly being moved away from the sarcophagus and could hardly wait to see more. While Izzy was examining the mummy for clues as to her identity and age, Jax was busy admiring the far more valuable additions to her tomb. "Are you sure this tomb hasn't already been looted?" he asked, noting the poor condition of the mummy - and yet, no one seemed to have touched that necklace. Or maybe the curse had scared them away. He shuddered involuntarily at that thought, but refused to acknowledge his fear.
Finds from the time of Arsinoe IV were not as prolific as might be expected, but given the amount of attention that was focused on her contemporaries - the most infamous Ptolemy and Cleopatra - they were often overlooked. And following those hints, Izzy and Jax had found an abandoned tomb; not the pharoah's, but utterly untouched. Jax was no doubt bored out of his mind, but Izzy was fascinated, cross-legged on the sand floor of the tomb as she deciphered the hieroglyphs on the side of the stone sarcophagus.
"So, what?s it say, Izz?" he asked, as he crouched down beside her. He was capable of making out some of the hieroglyphs, more or less, but he was the brawn, not the brains of the pair. "Some warning about a curse or some other mumbo jumbo?" he guessed, feeling more than a little restless. He appreciated her sense of reverence for the place and her thirst for knowledge, but there didn't seem much point in being there, in his opinion, without a find of some small worth.
"It's just the basics so far," she said thoughtfully. "Cursed be he and all that ....Seems to be a pretty high ranking priest in here, though. There should be a few shiny things under the stone you can play with." She glanced up at her husband with a teasing smile. "Let me find this person's name, and then we can get the lid off. The mummy isn't likely to be in great shape, this place wasn't sealed too well."
The warning of a curse didn't worry him too much, as those things usually turned out to be nothing. What interested him was the fact that the tomb appeared to have never been broken into or looted prior to them discovering it. "There better be more than a few shiny things in there for all the trouble we've gone to to find it," he grumbled. He wasn't overly interested in the mummy itself as what he'd been buried with.
She chuckled at him impatience, heaving herself up onto her feet to bend over the lid of the stone sarcophagus. "Worst thing about non-royals is having to find their bloody names," she muttered to herself. The cartouche was reserved for royal names, unfortunately; without one, it could take hours to discover who they were looking at. "Oh! ....hmm. Mer ....mere ....ankh ....Meresankh." She frowned down at the sarcophagus. "First priestess of Isis. Wow."
"So not a dude, after all," Jax remarked with a grin, as he leaned over her shoulder to take a look. "Too pretty to be a dude," he mused aloud, though the face painted on the sarcophagus was likely to be stylized and more flattering of the person it was supposed to depict than realistic.
"King Tut was kind of pretty," she pointed out in amusement, gently touching her temple to his. "But then, his face mask was probably made for Nefertiti first, so that kind of punctures my argument." She straightened, tucking her brush back into her belt. "So how do you want to do this" Get the team in to do the heavy lifting?"
"King Tut was a kid," Jax reminded her, smiling in amusement at the affectionate way she leaned her head against his. He lifted his head to touch a kiss to her cheek. "Unless I changed my name to Superman recently, I'd say that's a plan," he quipped back at her, anxious to get a look at the shiny stuff.
"All right. You get a crew together, I'll finish up with the photographs and measurements, and we can crack this open and get a look at her." Izzy was never going to be a treasure hunter; the habits of an archaeologist were ingrained in her bones. Besides, she wanted them to get the credit for this find, and that meant meticulous records.
"Yes, ma'am!" he replied, moving to his feet to go gather a few extra hands to help with the heavy labor of removing the lid. They'd hired only men they'd worked with in the past and trusted, rather than risking being robbed.
About an hour later, the props were in place for the task of levering up the ancient stone lid with as much care as they could possibly manage. This excavation was only preliminary, but Izzy and Jax were determined to take the credit for it. Jax was probably going to be disappointed in his wife's insistence on giving the artifacts they found to the Cairo Museum, but at least they would get paid for it. The hiss of air rushing into a long dead vacuum brought with it the nauseating smell of stale air and long rotten flesh as the lid was finally lifted.
"Oh, good gods ..." Izzy murmured, going slightly pale at the fetid stink. "Not quite as well respected as we'd thought, then."
"Yeah, but look at that amulet!" Jax replied, tugging a scarf over his mouth and nose to block the stench as he leaned over to admire the piece of jewelry that adorned the mummy's neck, careful to look but not touch for now.
She laughed, busy helping to guide the priceless stone lid down onto the carefully prepared padding. That done, she took one look at the nauseated faces around her, and let their team go back into the outer chamber, to continue cataloguing the artifacts away from the stench of the badly embalmed mummy. "Now then ....let's see what we have here," she mused, covering her own mouth and nose with her scarf as she leaned over the mummy with Jax.
Jax had caught a glint of gold as the lid was slowly being moved away from the sarcophagus and could hardly wait to see more. While Izzy was examining the mummy for clues as to her identity and age, Jax was busy admiring the far more valuable additions to her tomb. "Are you sure this tomb hasn't already been looted?" he asked, noting the poor condition of the mummy - and yet, no one seemed to have touched that necklace. Or maybe the curse had scared them away. He shuddered involuntarily at that thought, but refused to acknowledge his fear.