The Temple Mount Code Read Free Page B

smooth surface. Shaped something like a hen’s egg, it was half the size of his fist. ‘None of the other rocks down there are smooth.’
    As one, the others peered over into the grave for a moment. Then they pulled back and looked at the stone in Lourds’s palm.
    ‘That still doesn’t mean anything.’
    Lourds remained focused on his perceived prize. ‘Perhaps it doesn’t. But do you know what?’
    ‘What?’ Hu looked at Lourds over the top of his glasses.
    Lourds smiled. ‘I don’t think this is a stone at all. It’s actually not heavy enough.’ He looked around the ground beside him and found a rock that had a semiflat side. Laying the stone on the ground, he lifted the rock and prepared to bring it down.
    ‘Wait!’ Hu held up his hands. ‘We can x-ray that – ’
    Lourds brought the rock crashing down.

3
    Jiahu Dig
    Henan Province
    People’s Republic of China
    July 22, 2011
    The ‘stone’ fragmented when the rock smacked it. Pieces shot out in all directions, several of the fragments hitting Lourds’s bare leg hard enough to sting.
    ‘Oh my.’ Hu put his hands to his face in consternation. ‘Thomas, do you realize what you’ve done?’
    Lourds sorted through the pieces around him. ‘Not yet, but hopefully soon.’ He knew he was going to feel like an idiot if the ‘stone’ turned out to be nothing at all, and he was going to feel even worse if the ‘stone’ turned out to be an artifact they should have saved.
    But he had a feeling about it. He’d learned to trust his gut over the years, and it had been telling him that the stone had been an important ruse.
    ‘That “stone” was only pottery. A protective covering. You know, it’s interesting all the things researchers have learned from Neolithic Yellow River pottery. I’m sure you’ve all heard about the alcohol recipe that was reconstituted from residue that had soaked into pottery jars?’
    Hu nodded but looked decidedly anxious.
    ‘As it turns out, the recipe was for alcohol fermented from rice, honey, and hawthorn, or as it’s known in scientific circles, Rhaphiolepis. That particular species of evergreen has white or pink blossoms, and it bears a fruit, a pome, like a small apple actually, that can be made into a jam. Dogfish Head Brewery actually bottles that very recipe today. It’s featured as one of their Ancient Ales series. They call the beer Chateau Jiahu. For the most ancient beer known to man, it’s not bad, but I prefer one of the German darks.’
    With a flourish, Lourds plucked a small, pale green-gray tortoiseshell from amid the debris and plopped it onto his palm. He smiled.
    ‘Oh my.’ Hu’s exclamation this time was in a much different tone.
    Several onlookers from nearby digs had come over, attracted by the commotion surrounding Lourds. He lit up at once, enjoying the attention. He loved being in front of a classroom.
    ‘Tortoiseshells have been a mainstay of Chinese and Asian culture for thousands of years.’ Lourds held the small shell up at the ends of his fingertips, delicately flipping it over to show the underside, and pointed to the sections. ‘In ancient times, diviners used these plastrons to foresee the future. The Shang Dynasty is filled with stories about men who used them for those purposes. The process was to heat and crack the plastrons, then inscribe them.’
    Jimmy Woo had his camcorder on his shoulder and was filming away.
    Baozhai held a small wireless microphone in one hand and slid quietly into the shot. ‘So the tortoiseshells were used in magic ceremonies?’
    Lourds laughed. ‘No. Histories were kept on the tortoiseshells. Historians wrote out stories of events and people on the plastron pieces. In fact, the oracle bones, as the pieces came to be called, gave historians the knowledge of the past and the complete royal genealogy of the Shang Dynasty, from Tian Yi to Di Xin.’
    ‘Why did historians use the tortoiseshells?’
    Lourds flicked the tortoiseshell with a forefinger,