Egyptian Timewave

Chapter 9

Abayomi hides her yawn behind her hand, squinting at the small container of artifacts sitting on her desk. There is a smaller box on the other side for those she has identified, but it is woefully bare of more than a few small pieces, a ring and some fragments of a necklace. Actually, she should move the fragments out of that container, she can work on piecing them together once everything else is identified.

After a moment of decision, she plucks the two pieces of the necklace out of the box and set them off to the side after grabbing a small plastic dish from the bin at her feet. She snags another fragment from her container of currently unsorted artifacts and places it with the other two pieces in the dish.

A ring comes from the container next, set with a vibrant oval stone of lapis lazuli set into it. The carvings etched into it tell her what it is, a scarab beetle ring. That would be an important piece of a tomb, integral for approaching Osiris for the trial to enter the afterlife. She sets it aside and lifts the next jewelry piece that had been sitting beneath it.

Abayomi frowns. Were all these artifacts among the filler stones because of a grave robber? One with a penchant for jewelry, in particular. With a shake of her head, she looks back to the pendant. It's a falcon, like one of the pendants from Tutankhamen's tomb. Actually . . . Abayomi frowns. It's almost identical to one of the examples she remembers.

She pulls her laptop toward her and flips it open. It doesn't take her long to pull up a catalog of the contents of King Tut's tomb, and then another few heartbeats to find a picture of the necklace she's thinking of. She's right, they look the same. Except, jewelry in ancient Egypt tends to be unique.

For these to look the same, they would have to be made by the same artisan, using the same materials. Either that or an artifact was planted in this tomb recently. But Tut's necklace is in a museum, and it's on display. It's highly unlikely that this piece was planted. She turns it over, pausing at the sight of a worn inscription in hieroglyphs, so tiny that she can't believe she even saw it.

Abayomi snatches a brush from the mug on the desk. She swipes it across the inscription and peers closer at the hieroglyphs, trying to read them. They're incredibly worn, but easy enough for her to read. Almost as easy as if it was something she read over and over again, memorized by rote.

Like a beloved trinket, one that you would have in a place of honor, or often use. Which fits with what the inscription says: 'For my beloved sister, Nebetah.' Abayomi copies the writing onto a piece of paper so that others can read it and check as well. Then she pushes back in her chair.

"Yasmine?"

"Hmm?"

"Come look at this."

Yasmine scoots over to her, looking down at the pendant. "Oh, that's lovely."

"Does it look familiar to you?"

Yasmine frowns. "It- It does." Abayomi points to the image on the screen of her laptop, and Yasmine gasps. "Are they the same?"

"Likely the same maker and materials, but no. This one seems to have been made for Nebetah, commissioned by her sibling."

"How can you tell that?"

Abayomi taps the transferred hieroglyphs with one finger, pointing to the inscription on the necklace with the other. "She's named here, the writing translates to 'For my beloved sister, Nebetah'. This may just be my own deduction, but the name, combined with the approximate age of hte tomb and the fact that Tutankhamen, son of Akhenaten, is the owner of an almost identical necklace leads me to believe that this belonged to Tutankhamen's aunt, believed to be the younger sister of Akhenaten. So maybe this is her tomb."

"How certain are you of this?"

"Not at all, really. One of the tomb robbers that got in previously could have dropped it, this could have been left with another member of the family as well. Or I could be entirely wrong about this."

"Perhaps, but that's something we likely won't be able to determine until we get into the tomb proper. Let's just set it aside for now, and keep all that research as well."

Abayomi nods and shuts the laptop, pushing the necklace and the paper out of the space immediately in front of her. She moves to take the next item from the dish before she pauses and sits back in her chair, rubbing her eyes. She flips open her laptop again and squints at it before groaning.

"Oh it's late."

Yasmine laughs. "You haven't been keeping track of the clock, have you?"

Abayomi shakes her head. "How is it already nine?"

Before Yasmine can answer, Abayomi's father pokes his head into the tent. "Aya? We should probably go. It's pretty late."

"Yeah, I just figured that out." Abayomi pushes up from her chair and picks up her laptop, sliding it into the case. "See you tomorrow, Yasmine?"

The woman grins. "Sounds good! Tell him about the necklace though!"

Her father's eyes light up, as tired as he is. "What's this about a necklace?"

Abayomi motions to it. "I think it might have belonged to Nebetah, the daughter of Amenhotep III. It has her name on it."

"Interesting. But I think we can look at that in the morning. For now, we need to get back to our hotel. You need food and sleep in you, or you're going to be grumpy in the morning."

Abayomi nods, yawning, and follows him from the tent.

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Hmmm what do y'all think about the necklace? Does this tomb belong to Nebetah or is someone else inside and it was just left here? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out