The Artifact

“Professor! Come here! I think I’ve found something!”

The excited tone of Jimmy coming from the speaker overhead shook Professor Wilson from a restless slumber in his tent. This new dig began right after they arrived. It had been going on for months with little to show, other than sunburns on anyone foolish enough to go out during the heat of the day. Most of the digging happened at night, under the harsh light of massive banks of LED lights.

But some students just cannot stop themselves. Searching for clues from the distant past can be as infectious as a virus, and just as difficult to contain once it grabs hold. The possibility of finding something new, of finding something that results in a published paper, drives those students to continue even when they should be resting in the shade. Clearing his voice, he toggled his microphone and said, “Where are you, Jimmy?”

“I’m at the base level of the latest dig.”

“I’ll be right there.” Grumbling, he grabbed his polarized sun visor, checked to make sure all open skin was protected with sunscreen, and strapped a water bottle to his belt. Let’s go see what all this fuss is about, he thinks. Probably another glass vial. Jimmy and the others had found several large vials made from clear glass with almost a pale green hue. But that wouldn’t cause such intensity in Jimmy’s voice.

He walked to the latest area to be exposed and saw Jimmy kneeling on the ground, more than 10 meters below ground level, carefully brushing dirt away with a fine bristled paintbrush. The professor stepped in the lift and he slowly lowered down.

At the bottom, he realized why Jimmy with still hard at work. It was cool down here. Well, not exactly cool, but at least it was out of the glare of the overhead sun. He walked over the Jimmy and immediately saw the cause for his excitement. Poking out of the ground, was a loop of material. He knelt, and said, “Tell me what you found.”

“I don’t know. I remember seeing grips like this in your lecture, but they were always broken and degraded. This is in really good shape.” He carefully touched it. “It’s still flexible.”

“You touched it?” the professor gasped>

“Um, yes? Accidentally.”

“Well, let’s get going.” All thoughts of the hot sun and the months away from home vanished like a wisp of smoke in a breeze. They both were still carefully removing dirt when the other students arrived after sundown. With an audible snap, the LED banks were energized and now everyone could see what they had found. It was a small bag, about 25 cm long, 15 cm wide, and 10 cm deep. It was not a woven material. The top was held together with a metal pull tab, connected to a series of interlocking teeth.

“Is this animal skin, Professor?”

“It seems to be.” The original color had long since been replaced by dark oil stains. “Does anyone know what was found in this area, one level above this?”

One student looked at her portable database and read, “The previous diggers found what looked like primitive food preparation areas. Chemistry analysis of the dirt suggests that a significant quantity of animal-based oils had saturated the ground.”

The professor was excitedly nodding his head. “Yes, that’s why this is still intact. The oils prevented oxidation and breakdown of this material.” He looked around. “Does anyone have a perma-seal container?” Everyone looked at him with a blank expression. “Well, someone go get it! And bring a can of inert storage gas. This will probably be very fragile—”

Jimmy was unable to wait. He reached out for the handle, and with the confidence found only in youth, he lifted it.

It remained intact.

While the professor waited for his heart to stop racing, carefully reached for the bag. Jimmy’s stunned face showed that he never thought he would be able to remove the bag from its resting place. “P-p-p-rofessor, please take this.”

They both gently carried the find to the study table and set it down, while another student rode the lift to the surface to retrieve the perma-seal box.

Jimmy whispered, “Now what?”

Professor Wilson whispered back, “I don’t know.”

They both stared at the bag.

The professor closed his eye, silently recited a prayer from his youth, grasped the pull tab, and slid it down. The teeth let go and the bag opened.

Jimmy reached in and extracted a small black book, also bound in that same animal skin. “Should we open it, Professor?”

“We” he stared at Jimmy for emphasis, “shouldn’t have lifted it at all. But what’s done is done. Carefully open just the cover.”

Jimmy did exactly that. On the first page, he saw undecipherable writing. He was disappointed. “I can’t read it.”

“It’s a dead language, Jimmy. Most scholars do not even bother to learn it. It is not just a dead language; it was a nonsensical language. No rules for spelling or grammar. It’s devilish to learn.” His smug professor smile returned. “But I learned it in my preparation for this expedition.”

He studied it and read, “This is Jimmy’s cut. I was waiting for him, but he ain’t never showed.” What a primitive language! He continued, “I’m leaving this here. If you see Jimmy give it to him. If you don’t, you keep it.” He stopped. “It is unsigned.”

“Well, he can’t be talking about me,” Jimmy chuckled. “I wonder what he means by ‘Jimmy’s cut’. And when was this was buried?”

Another student spoke up. “That language died after the diaspora from this area. So, it has been hundreds of years, at least.”

The professor reached in and pulled out four stacks of paper. Each stack of paper was held together with strips of paper with the number 5000 on it. The top of each bundle showed an imprint on the paper of an ancient man, and the same number in each corner “100”.

The professor slid out one piece of paper, and read to the students, “One hundred dollars. The United States of America.” He pointed to the bottom, “Series 2021A”. Everyone stared at him. “This is money from the country that helped destroy this planet.” He tossed the packets to Jimmy. “Here! Take them. They are worthless. I want this bag and the black notebook.” He carefully placed those in the perma-seal container and then filled it with inert gas. “Those are priceless artifacts.”

“How much was this worth back in 2021?”

Wilson thought for a minute, and said, “Well, we don’t use anything like it anymore. But a thousand years ago, for most young people of that country, it would be more than a year’s earnings.” He turned to Jimmy. “Nice work. Let’s see what else you can find.”

He stepped onto the lift, carrying the box as he would his infant child, and slowly rode it to the surface, while the students resumed their search.