Editing Journal Archives (section)

===A Tomb Cast in Amber===

'''Abstract'''

A wild desert storm in the Ottoman province of Mesopotamia unearths an ancient ziggurat of Babylonian design, remarkably well-preserved given its mud-brick construction.  Unlike the Egyptians, the Babylonians regarded their ziggurats as dwelling places of the gods, holy temples where none but priests could walk unharmed.  The field team on hand to investigate delves into the somnolent tunnels.  They find a series of puzzles barring their way, but no true traps.  In the center of the temple, they find a huge sarcophagus made all of amber and covered in a script that superficially resembles cuneiform but does not yield sense when put through the Hincks/ Rawlinson/Oppert/Talbot transliteration system.  The sarcophagus is removed to Cairo, pending further study.  Though the Trust’s experts believe there is a mummy inside, none have yet been able to open the sarcophagus to say for certain.

'''About the Explorers'''

Daniel Garrett is an English Egyptologist of private training.  Mason Blackwell is a former soldier-for-hire.  Both have traveled extensively through the Middle East and Northern Africa on private research before joining the Lazarus Trust as field agents.  This is their first published work.