Morning all. The snows are finally starting to melt and there is no longer an icy bump to get out of my driveway. Woo hoo! I always appreciate being able to leave my house while not being impeded by nature. For now though we are sitting still with a timer ready to go. That’s right, the morning prompt. So stretch those brains and lets get them warmed up. Timers set to fifteen minutes.
Oh I need to think of a really strange archaeological find for this one.
Wednesday, January 15th: It was the most complete sample found.
It was the most complete sample found. Still it was tiny and when Greg sent it off to be tested he fairly held his breath. The testing would take six weeks and while he continued working for those six weeks, always hoping for a second, better sample to send for testing, each day he began with a morning prayer sent skyward, hoping the sample would yield the information he needed.
Work continued on the dig site and more items were found. The pottery was exquisite and unlike anything else found in the region. Most of it was in small fragments that had to be assembled. There was a tent where several people spent their days doing just that, shifting through the fragments, cleaning them and attempting to assemble them.
Several of the pots were coming together quite nicely. The intricate details of the design were helpful as they could follow the patterns fairly easily and know that they were assembling the right pieces. Their oddity was exciting. No one had ever seen anything like this before. It was also a hinderance as no one had seen anything like it before. There were no items for comparison. There was no evolution of design or pottery making technique. They matched nothing and could not be put on the spectrum, at least not yet. Those assembling pottery were waiting with just as much anticipation on his small bone shard as he was.
Greg stepped from his tent and looked to the sky. ‘Please let it be enough for an identification,’ he asked, sending his morning prayer skyward. He was leaving his tent later than usual but a good thirty minutes. He had in fact been up for hours using the satellite link to converse with those funding the project. They were in different time zones and even though it was part of his job, he felt like he was behind as the others were already at work when he first emerged. He thought of the breakfast tent and was certain there was something that could be scraped together for him to eat. However he was more interested in the work than in his belly. He decided on a larger lunch and let his steps take him towards the dig site. They had found an interesting depression in the landscape just before they lost the light and he knew the others would have started there first.
As his steps took him over the hill Anna straightened looked around and seeing him waved excitedly. He smiled. It wasn’t usual for people to be that happy to see him. Everyone was friendly but over the course of the dig they had been constantly together unless they were sleeping. Greg let his steps take him forward. He thought about looking at the finds but Anna had taken off her hat and was waving it in the air to get his attention.
‘She found something,’ he realized. He hurried forward trying not to trip over his own feet. He stopped at the edge of the site, cautious now as he placed his steps, keeping his weight on the boards suspended over the site. He reached Anna. Her hat was back on her head and her cheeks were aglow with excitement.
“Look,” she said. She gestured forward and he looked. He felt his eyes widen and his jaw go slack at the sight before him.
Ten til Midnight 