Chapter 1163 Temple Archeology

In fact, when Wei Kang mentioned that he needed to cooperate with local archaeologists during his trip to Egypt, Zhang Zian thought that the archaeologists discovered murals or reliefs with traces of primitive Egyptian cats, and then took pictures and sent them to Wei Kang. But if you think about it carefully, if it is a picture, it seems that there is no need to wait to share it after arriving in Egypt, and it can be shared in advance.

So he didn't quite understand what kind of cooperation Hans and Wei Kang were referring to.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the appearance and working status of archaeologists can probably refer to Indiana Jones or Laura Crawford, who are doing bloody work all day long, maintaining a high level of adrenaline at all times, and being shocked at every turn Great discoveries of the world.

But in fact, archaeological work is extremely boring, and it is a work of patience, and what is discovered is not to mention shocking the world, and even street gossip tabloids are not necessarily willing to publish it.

As for a girl with a hot figure like Laura... emmmmm.

Take a look at these rough guys who got off the off-road vehicles. It is estimated that even the parasites in their bodies are male.

They set up a tent, set up a table, spread a white cloth on the table, and took out containers and utensils with various uses, as if they were going to do a big job.

Hans introduced: "Actually, because the summer in Egypt is coming, and Ramadan is coming soon, we planned to suspend work for two months to survive the intense heat, but in order to cooperate with you, we decided to work for a few more days."

"...Thank you." Zhang Zian looked at the time, "Are you...starting work now?"

"Well, it gets dark late in Egypt, and it's too hot during the day. We work from the afternoon until dark, and sometimes we have to work a little longer after dark, mainly to adapt to the working hours of the locals." Hans signaled the team Egyptians.

The roles of local people in the team are coolies and handymen, mainly doing some rough work, responsible for excavation work, and simple processing of excavated cultural relics. After all, as an archaeological site, excavators cannot be used directly.

"Come on, come with me."

Hans gestured to him to follow.

Zhang Zian was worried that they would disturb Fina, but then he found that their workplace was not between the ruins, but the side of the ruins.

The Best Temple covers a fairly large area. Except for the area where the ruins are piled up, a large area around it belongs to the Best Temple.

Hans walked in front, and Zhang Zian followed behind, walking in the wasteland with one deep foot and one shallow foot, heading east, and finally stopped beside a large pit that had been dug.

When Zhang Zian and the others came here just now, they didn't even notice that there was a big pit on the side. There were a few local people working in the pit, half squatting and half kneeling on the ground, using a small brush to clean up a few pieces of cultural relics exposed on the ground, but The surface of the cultural relics is covered with a large amount of floating soil, and nothing can be seen. While cleaning up the topsoil, they continued to dig down carefully, very, very gently. At this speed, they might not be able to dig an inch of soil in an hour. It was a slow and delicate work.

Hans said: "Since you came here for sightseeing, you must like cats very much, right? In fact, the Best Temple is a relatively important archaeological excavation site. Ramesses II carved out of red granite was unearthed here." Statues of cats, as well as other valuable cultural relics, including more than 600 cat stone statues carved from limestone, most of which were sacrifices to the goddess Best."

Zhang Zian suddenly remembered that it was rare to meet an authentic and seemingly experienced archaeologist, so he should ask him if he knew anything about the statue of the cat god.

"Hans, what do you know about the gayer-andersoncat? Has a similar statue been unearthed here?"

Hans chuckled, "Are you interested in that statue? No, no similar statue has been unearthed here. It is said that there was a huge statue of Best in the former Temple of Best, but it may have been destroyed by war or man-made. destroying...you know, the early 19th century,

In order to save trouble when building houses, the Egyptians directly turned the nearby temples into quarries, removed the stone materials in the temples and moved them home. It is known that a total of 13 temples were destroyed in this way. "

"It's a pity." Zhang Zian tutted.

"However, the Bast statue enshrined here should be different from the gayer-andersoncat." Hans's expression suddenly showed doubts and uncertainties, "gayer-andersoncat is really a very strange statue, and it is the only one that has been unearthed so far A statue of a cat god wearing a nose ring. This statue was donated to the British Museum by Major Anderson in 1939. Before that, this statue left a photo in Cairo. The earrings it wears in the photo are the same as we see now The earrings are very different.”

According to Hans, in 2007, the British Museum held a grand exhibition on the theme of "Sacred Cats: Dialogue with the Gods of Ancient Egypt", and Hans also participated in this exhibition when he was young.

Scientists re-examined and analyzed the gayer-anderson cat with new techniques ahead of the exhibition, and they discovered surprising facts.

After identification by scientists, the statue itself was restored in 1930. The gold nose ring and earrings did not exist at the beginning of the casting, but were added later for unknown purposes. The casting of the nose ring and earrings The age is uncertain, but certainly very old.

Zhang Zian heard what he meant. The statue of a god is very solemn. There are rules for how to carve it. After the sculpture is finished, it should not be increased or decreased at will. For example, there was a statue of the Supreme Lord before. It would be disrespectful and blasphemy to add earrings and nose rings to Taishang Laojun.

If this kind of thing is put in today's China, everyone can laugh, and maybe it will be made into an emoticon package and spread on the Internet, but the consequences in ancient times must be very serious. Not to mention ancient times, even in Western countries, if someone spoofs the statue of Jesus, it will arouse the disgust of many people.

Apparently, the statue of the cat god is shrouded in a cloud of suspicion that even scientists and archaeologists can't understand.

Zhang Zian can guess that the people who put nose rings and earrings on the cat god statues are probably those who worship evil and darkness. Through the blasphemy of adding nose rings and earrings, they turn the real cat god statues into their own beliefs the god of evil.

It was inconvenient for him to tell Hans the inside story, even if he did, Hans probably wouldn't believe it. Maybe one day in the future, archaeologists will finally find new artifacts to solve this mystery.

While speaking, a local man who was working in the pit called out, carefully picked up a long stick-shaped object, and shouted: "Come here! Another one!"

What the man was holding in his hand was a cat mummy.