Every once in a while, archaeologists come across a find that casts the ancient Egyptians in a particularly humble, human light. Such discoveries often fly under the radar, overshadowed by showier finds of mummies and newly discovered tombs. But I delight in these discoveries; they are antidotes to the almost paralyzing sense of awe I experience when roaming a land tottering with massive sphinxes, pyramids and temples. All that splendor, all that artistry, all that craning of the neck, all that looking up, up, up into majesty. I feel like an ant.
So I was delighted to read an announcement that Zawi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, made yesterday about a mysterious tunnel that went nowhere in the Valley of the Kings. Egyptologists long suspected that the tunnel linked the royal tomb of Seti I to a secret burial place. But it just ended suddenly, and Hawass now believes that work crews simply picked up their tools and walked out after Seti I died suddenly around 1279 B.C. The new pharoah had other work for them.
Now here’s the part that I really like.
Egyptologists studying this half-finished tunnel found some inscriptions in the passageway. These were written in the informal, cursive, everyday script known as hieratic, much simpler than the hieroglyphs that adorn formal temple walls. The best of these messages read: “Move the door jamb up and make the passage wider.” In another spot, Egyptologists found rough sketches of planned decorative art.
In these sketches and texts, we can actually see the hand of the architect, both literally and figuratively. Behind all the wonder and majesty in this corner of the Valley of the Kings, there’s a Wizard of Oz busily at work. And thanks to these mundane inscriptions, we can actually glimpse him at his console, so to speak, pulling levels and making things happen, issuing direct instructions to the workmen.
For me, that’s the real magic. The human beings behind all this majesty.
Upper Photo: Rows of monumental pylons in Karnak temple complex near Luxor, Egypt, take in April 2010. Photo courtesy of Karelj.
Lower Photo: The original 1908 cover to The Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum. Designed by artist John R. Neill.
The tunnel was unfinished and these incredible finds were made possible because Seti’s son and heir, Ramses II, was busy with other things – building a new capital in his own honour, conquering neighouring states, being named a god and reigning for 66 years!
Yes, Ramses II was certainly a great builder and a very busy fellow. Intriguingly, Zawi Hawass now believes Ramses had a secret tunnel in his own tomb: Egyptian archaeologists are now searching for such a passageway in Valley of the Kings.