I like making sand castles, sand cities, and sand ziggurats, but I know when I’m out of my league. This set of sand pyramids that looks like the great Giza plain in miniature is far beyond my capabilities. I look at it and wonder: how did the sculptors do it so neatly, without a handprint or footprint?
Egypt is the latest Middle Eastern country teetering on the brink of chaos. Each day brings fresh reports of battles between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood and dozens of new deaths on the streets of Cairo.
I can’t fully appreciate the religious, political, and social issues that are playing out in Egypt. I can understand, however, what a loss it is for the world that Egypt has become a place that is not safe to visit. It means that many people will never see the Great Pyramid, the Sphinx, or the other relics of the ancient Egyptian civilization along the Nile.
That loss is a terrible tragedy. The Sphinx, the pyramids, and the temples of the pharaonic era are the greatest surviving sites of our ancient past. They are not merely historical sites, but a tangible link to the early development of human culture. Their very existence shows what our forebears were capable of, even if we don’t quite understand how they were built thousands of years ago. Their immense age, and their equally immense significance, are the reasons why standing in their presence on the Giza plain is such an awesome experience, and why so many people, myself included, have long dreamed of making the journey to Egypt to have that experience some day.
But not now. Although the pull of the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings is enormous, it is not irresistible — not when a visit puts you at risk of finding yourself in a mob of angry, screaming men or confronting soldiers ready to fire at any moment. That means, for me at least, that the pyramids and Sphinx are lost for now, and I don’t know when, or even if, they will ever be safe to visit in my lifetime. That reality makes me very sad.
Modern technology is allowing for amazing advances in, of all things, the discovery of sites and artifacts of ancient civilizations. The most recent example is found in Egypt, where the new field of “space archaeology” — which seems oxymoronic — has produced the discovery of 17 lost pyramids and thousands of previously undiscovered tombs and settlements.
The space archaeologists use space telescopes, powerful cameras, and infra-red imaging to identify materials buried beneath the surface. Ancient Egyptians built using mud brick, which has a different density than the surrounding soil and allows the outlines of buried structures to be detected. One use of the technology was applied to make discoveries at the ancient Egyptian city of Tanis, which will forever be recalled by fans of Indiana Jones and Raiders Of The Lost Ark as the home of the Well of Souls and the Ark of the Covenant.
You don’t need a bullwhip, a well-worn hat, and the ability to take a punch to be an archaeologist — a satellite, a camera, and a creative approach to using new technology will do just fine. And what is really exciting about this development is the potential uses of this technology in Babylon, and Persia, and other sites in the Fertile Crescent and elsewhere. Who knows what other evidence of ancient civilizations will be found buried beneath the sands?
Webner House 