The Atlantis Keystone (11 page)

Erik was amused. He should have expected this when he had agreed to stay in a villa with an Oxford professor, a PhD student and two post-graduate students. His idea of a relaxing holiday in the sun would only be realised if he moved to a nearby hotel. Whilst staying in the villa he could expect discussions like this every day. He found it interesting though, in particular as it concerned the tablet.

As Paul came back downstairs he said mid step as he sat back down: “Obviously this probably portrays the eruption from Egypt, nearly 650 miles from it. He showed Ball the picture of the tablet and read out the first part of the text which talked about the calamity:

“…of water which swept in over the land with godly force. Smoke was clouding the sky. By day, the darkness was persisting with no [torch] being lit and by night a pillar of fire could be seen in the [west]. With his council, His Majesty descended in his boat to observe the devastation of the victors… coloured white.”

Ball was quiet in contemplation for a moment and then started a lengthy deliberation about the consequences of a volcanic eruption. Erik was only half listening but caught fragments like “Tambora eruption in 1816… a year without summer… continual rains… clouds of ash blotted out the sun… dark periods… Mount St Helens… hail… brimstone… widespread violent storms… emission of dust into the atmosphere… low temperatures… tsunami…” Erik started to pay attention at the mention again of the more recent tsunami which he had experienced, when Ball glanced at him.

“…Distant shores, further away from the event than 650 miles, were flooded by the Tsunami. Imagine the impact on the surrounding sea of a volcanic eruption of literally gigantic proportion, with much greater force than the tectonic plate shifting of the Indian Ocean. It’s not difficult to imagine that the Tsunami could easily reach the shores of Egypt and cause several subsequent waves with deadly force destroying temples and other buildings in its way. It’s obviously incomplete but I for one am almost convinced that this description is portraying the effects of a volcanic eruption. The pillar of fire and smoke is also very suggestive of this.”

Having sat quietly for a long while, Laura stirred and joined the conversation, taking off her glasses and rubbing one eye as she started to speak: “I just had a thought. From what I can recall from the Bible”, she put her glasses back on again, “there is also a mention of something like a ‘pillar of cloud’ by day and ‘a pillar of fire’ by night in connection with the Israelites’ pilgrimage through the desert in the Exodus. This is very similar to the text on the tablet. Surely, a ‘pillar of fire’ and indeed a ‘pillar of smoke’ do seem to suggest that the volcanic eruption could actually be seen from Egypt?”

“Well”, Ball said, “I would have doubted very much whether the pillar of fire or smoke could be seen all the way to Egypt. Perhaps the rumour of it though.” Laura nodded absently and they all quietly considered the significance of this.

Emma was the first to voice her thoughts: “Does this mean that it’s possible that the tablet indirectly provides evidence that both the eruption and the Exodus in the bible took place in Ahmose’s reign at the beginning of the new kingdom?”

“What’s your view on the timing of the eruption, Ball?” Paul asked abruptly with his mouth full. Laura glanced at him disapprovingly. Her eyes were nevertheless almost glittering, either from the reflection from the swimming pool next to her or more likely from excitement at the academic ponderings. Ball responded with some more technical facts:

“Well, as you know there’s no consensus on the timing but the eruption is thought to have occurred some time between 1650 BC and 1450 BC. Although the dating of pottery supports a dating in the traditional later time frame, dendro-chronology and radiocarbon dating supports the earlier. I for one would put my bet somewhere in the middle.”

“Ahmose’s reign from around 1550 BC falls right within this conventional dating range”, Paul noted excitedly. “I would say that it’s very likely that Ahmose was pharaoh of Egypt when the eruption took place. Only in his reign have documents which describe a great calamity been found. But whether the Exodus took place in his reign is difficult to say, even though the mention of a pillar of fire in both the bible and on the tablet is a strange coincidence.”

“Well, others have linked the Thera eruption with the ten plagues of Egypt,” Emma noted as she stood up to get some more orange juice from the kitchen. “I recall reading an article about a theory which proves how nearly all the ten plagues can result from a volcanic eruption.” She disappeared and came back within a few seconds with the juice.

“That’s interesting. I like the idea of finding a natural explanation to supernatural or godly events,” Paul added. “I’m a firm believer in science, not so much religion.”

“It does make sense and the tablet can prove to be the missing link,” Laura suggested. “What the tablet conveys is clearly at least three of the ten plagues of Egypt; and this is at roughly the time before the Exodus could have occurred. What if the other half gives the remaining plagues? That would prove almost beyond doubt that the ten plagues of Egypt were caused by a natural disaster; the Thera volcanic eruption!”

“I have to say, my knowledge of the Bible is a bit rusty”, Paul admitted and continued. “There was the plague of ‘hail’ and that of ‘darkness’. That’s two plagues which can most definitely be explained by the eruption. I seem to recall an increase in locusts, insects and flies and death of frogs; and the Nile turning into blood. Can these really be explained by a natural disaster?” He looked at Ball who seemed sceptical.

“I suppose, it has happened that Volcanic activity has caused pollution in lakes and other water sources. My only guess is that coupled with the ash-polluted rain and hail and due to the colour of Nile silt, pollution could have given it a reddish appearance and would have meant that they couldn’t drink the water. It’s not uncommon to see dead frogs after a volcanic eruption. Their death could have been caused by the polluted water. A lack of frogs, or their rotting carcasses and that of dying fish, may have spurred on an increase in the insect population.” The way Ball explained everything, it all sounded perfectly plausible.

“But what about the tenth plague – the killing of the first born son? Surely, that could not be explained by the Thera eruption?” Erik asked almost rhetorically.

“No”, Ball said laughing. “You would have to work that one out for yourself! I can guarantee you that there’s no natural explanation to that, other than human cruelty! I have to admit, I’m not at all religious and would never have thought to look in the Bible for a description of the Thera eruption but it would seem that at least to a certain extent it fits.”

They all fell silent for a moment. Erik almost jumped when Laura then stirred and voiced another thought in Ball’s direction: “Hm, I wonder if there’s a possibility that the story of the parting of the Red Sea could’ve been recorded in people’s memory from what was a Tsunami caused by the eruption.”

Ball who may not have known about the parting of the Red Sea in the bible responded hesitantly: “Well, I suppose the effects of a Tsunami would definitely have appeared as a parting of the sea, with the water first retreating from the shore, revealing the bottom of the sea and then rushing back in with violent force.”

“Sure. It was just a thought,” Laura said. “There’s no evidence for this theory, nor do I think it would be possible to find such evidence. After all, it’s only a story.”

“I agree”, Paul said in his most pompous professor voice. “In science we have to seek evidence in order to prove our assumptions using different sources and empirical study. On the other hand, we’re all entitled to our own opinion and a theory which sounds perfectly plausible compared to any other alternative does hold some value. Maybe it’s time for us to pay a little bit more attention to the rest of the text on the tablet. Perhaps it reveals something we’ve missed.”

As they sat there, snacking on their pizzas, they all felt that this tablet may actually be more significant than both Paul and Emma had initially expected. It was true that in this respect it didn’t say a whole lot more than the Tempest Stela but what it did was to provide a second source for the fact that the eruption would have occurred in Ahmose’s reign, something which according to Paul was not a universally accepted assumption.

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. Paul went into Heraklion. The others stayed in the villa enjoying the afternoon sun which eventually sneaked out from behind the clouds. Erik unpacked and later had a refreshing swim in the small but adequate pool. When the sun started setting he was happy to see that both Laura and Ball had left the patio area, leaving Erik alone with Emma to watch the sunset. He looked at Emma who was reading a thick book on Greek myths and when she looked back at him he simply pointed at the display of pastel colours. Her eyes lit up and they spent the next few minutes silently watching the sun go down.

E
rik felt like a seven year old on a school trip for fifteen year olds as they entered the museum in Heraklion. Just as he had all day, Paul was leading the way through the doors and into the air conditioned exhibition rooms, closely followed by Laura and Emma. Ball had decided not to join them. Erik wished he had taken the same decision but he was nevertheless excited to see the half Torpa tablet in real life. It had also been good to get to know Laura. She was wearing contact lenses and he had almost failed to recognise her at breakfast, without her thick glasses. Her hair was much more tidy and he had to admit that she looked rather nice, even in spite of the horrendous hat she had later put on to shield her face from the sun. Not even her posh accent had annoyed him all day.

They had spent the morning seeing the impressive but clumsily restored remains of the Minoan royal palace of Knossos just outside Heraklion, only a short ride in a hired car from their villa. The sheer size of the ruins was mind-boggling. Erik was surprised to find that archaeologists believed it had once had over a thousand rooms spread over several floors. This was certainly impressive for a more than three thousand five hundred years old building. He had been intrigued, or at least tried to be, to learn as well that it was generally accepted that the Minoan culture was a ‘matrilineal’ society centred on goddess worship. It was believed to be a matriarchy where succession would have been determined by a mother’s lineage rather than the father’s. Their Greek tour guide, a friend of Paul’s who normally worked as an archaeologist, had explained that the worship of goddesses was supported by the fact that no one had as yet found a depiction of a male god from before the late Minoan period on Crete. Women were shown on Cretan frescoes being saluted by people while not one depiction had been found showing women deferring to men. He had informed them that for these and other reasons it was believed that the ruling power on Crete was held mainly by women, which wasn’t unusual for Bronze Age cultures. Erik had also found out that the Cretans had fleets of ships and that they were active in trade. This had resulted in great wealth which had financed massive building projects, art and technological development.

As they walked around in the museum in Heraklion, Erik realised just how advanced the Minoans had been. Some of the items looked as if they were modern. He was particularly impressed with a bull’s head, black and gold, crafted exquisitely and with obvious great skill. It fitted in well with the remarkable remains he had seen earlier that day. The obsession with bulls was evident. They were literally everywhere in the museum. But where was the tablet? Erik had expected to be able to see the tablet on one of the shelves in the museum, perhaps equipped with mirrors to enable the viewer to see both sides at the same time but it was simply nowhere to be seen. Emma beat him to asking Paul about it.

“I believe the half tablet can be found in one of the back-rooms. Come with me”, he said and started to walk in the direction of a door bearing a sign with the word ‘Private’. They all walked after him like a flock of obedient sheep into an office covered in a jumbled mixture of papers and artefacts in boxes.

“You have to remember…” Paul said “…that as excavations are going on new artefacts will keep coming in. For example, there’s a backlog of Linear A texts to be looked at”. He turned to a typically Greek-looking man sitting behind a large mahogany desk. He appeared to be expecting them. “This is my good friend Athos, the Heraklion museum manager.” Paul introduced them, paying special attention to Emma. “Emma is going to help you with Linear A. She has an extraordinary linguistic talent, as I’m sure you’ll soon see.” Erik saw how Emma blushed, just as she had done several months ago when they had met in London. This made him admire her even more. It was certainly a well deserved comment, Erik thought.

“Well, I know why you’re here. Just a second and I will go and get the box with the tablet. On Paul’s advice, after the theft in Sweden, we have decided to keep the tablet in our office. You can never be too careful these days,” Athos added with a dry smile. Talk about being over cautious, Erik thought. Athos came back only seconds later, carrying a fairly large shallow box made of plastic. He opened it. They all leaned over, Emma looking exceedingly animated. In it lay the half tablet. It was a greyish stone, just like he had expected. It had the Linear A side up. The symbols were crafted with great care and skill, fairly deeply cut but with severe erosion caused by the elements over the millennia since the inscription. The edges at the bottom had been crudely rounded. Despite the damage, the symbols were surprisingly clear. As he had noticed from the picture of the tablet which he had seen in the British museum, each sign was a piece of art in itself, sculpted with such care that one could easily imagine that the artist or scribe had been one of the foremost and most skilled in the field, most likely one employed by royalty. But seeing it in real life, he noticed the breakage point much more clearly and he could appreciate the damage. Where the tablet had split in two, there was an uneven edge. It wasn’t hard to come to the conclusion that the tablet had been broken by accident. The stone appeared more fragile than Erik had previously imagined.