Chapter 7: Measure for measure

“How much do you think the lake recedes over a year?” Wilkinson said after perusing Rollo’s map of the area.
“Any estimate will depend on the age of the Arab custom post, which Professor Crudwright believes was constructed sometime between seven hundred and fifty and nine hundred and fifteen Anno Domini,” Rollo said.
“And what is the distance of the building from the present edge of the lake?”
“Colonel Greenaway and I both measured the distance from the western end of the paved courtyard to the eastern edge of the lake to be three hundred and twenty two yards.”
“Of course the lake has probably not receded at a regular rate, so any figure we come up with has to be viewed with a degree of uncertainty,” I said.
Wilkinson bellowed with laughter. “My dear Sir Elijah, the whole art and craft of archeology is underwritten with uncertainty.” He wrote some figures onto a sheet of paper. “For simplicity’s sake let us assume this building was constructed in eight hundred and thirty-two, Anno Domini. That gives us a thousand years for the lake to recede three hundred and twenty two yards. Mathematics is not my strong suit; I was thrashed regularly at school for producing incorrect calculations, so I propose to divide three hundred yards into nine hundred years, which gives a rate of receding of one foot per year.”
Rollo and I worked out the calculation and arrived at the same answer.

“Now we need to determine when the House of Fools was built. It would have been sometime after Akhenaten came to embrace Monotheism and before his death. We know Akhenaten reigned between thirteen fifty three and thirteen thirty six BC. Four years into his reign he changed his name from Amenhotep the Fourth to Akhenaten, and then began the building of a new capital at Amarna and abolished the polytheistic Egyptian religion, instigating the worship of one god, Aten. The construction of Amarna took two years, and it is unlikely he would have had the manpower to build the House of Fools at the same time. So let us assume the House of Fools was built after Amarna was completed. That will bring us to thirteen forty seven BC. Do we all agree on that date?”
I was about to shake my head when I realised I had been adding on the years rather than subtracting them.
“Good,” Wilkinson said. “If Captain Guest will get his surveying chain, marker poles, and theodolite ready we can mark where the edge of Lake Timsah stood in thirteen forty seven BC.” He squinted at the setting sun. “It will have to wait until the morning as I am about to turn in for the night.”

He rose to his feet and took a whistle from his jacket pocket. He gave a shrill blast that brought two Egyptians running. In rapid Arabic he issued them orders. One man folded up the canvas chair while the other ran off, to return in minutes leading a donkey. Wilkinson climbed on the diminutive beast, his feet almost touching the ground.
“I am camped a half furlong north of your tents, but will join you here at breakfast to see where the House of Fools may be situated. Tell the Chief Fool to keep a civil tongue in his head when we meet tomorrow or he will get my boot up his fundament.”

I felt a warm glow of kinship towards John Gardiner Wilkinson.

At sunrise next morning I reluctantly left Mimi in bed and joined Rollo at the foundations of the Arab custom post. He had already set up the first of the sighting poles, and Amal and Omar were busy laying out the surveyor’s chain.
“I calculate that when the House of Fools was built the edge of the lake was seven hundred and seven yards east of the custom post,” Rollo said.
I agreed with his calculation. “I think we can forget the seven yards and stick to round numbers,” I said.
Rollo raised a hand in acknowledgment, and for the next two hours we mapped, measured, and took bearings. Rollo was taking his line of sight along the trackway he had discovered at the rear of the custom post.
Of course we could not be sure that the track continued all the way to the hills on the eastern horizon, but where the line of sight bisected the measurement of seven hundred yards we would plant a marker pole and then use that position as our prime datum point.

We were called to breakfast before reaching that point, and returned to my tent. Crudwright and Wilkinson were also there, pointedly ignoring each other, while Mimi was trying to maintain a conversation with a monosyllabic Chastity and a rude Georgina.
I glared around at the assembled group. “If you cannot behave with a modicum of politeness and affability to each other I will send you all back to Damietta, and continue the excavation with my wife and Captain Guest as the only members of the expedition.”
My ferocious scowl stopped any rumbles of discontent in their tracks, and by the end of the breakfast meal some shade of normality had returned to the assembly.

I explained what Rollo and I had been doing earlier that morning, and Crudwright and Wilkinson’s eyes lit up. I could see that Chastity was bursting to ask questions but thought any more interventions by her would set Crudwright off again. Georgina did not bother to stifle a yawn, demonstrating her complete disinterest in all and every one about her, that is until Omar, or it might have been Amal, appeared at the tent entrance. The two had been planting marker poles every hundred feet and required more.
I explained that the object of the measuring and mapping was to obtain an estimate of where Lake Timsah’s eastern edge had been in 1347 BC, after which we would begin trenching the area.

Chastity Crudwright could contain herself no longer and raised her hand.
“Mister Wilkinson, I spoke out of turn yesterday and I am deeply ashamed. Please accept my humble and most contrite apology.”
Wilkinson gave her a great beam of a smile. “You are passionate about what you care about, and I value that in a person, especially in females, who are sometimes flighty and rather butterfly-like in their opinions. I accept your gracious apology Missus Crudwright.” He gave Chastity a sly look. “As your husband and I have been acquainted since our school days I know he will permit me to call you Chastity, and you in turn may call me John.” He turned to Crudwright. “That is if you have no objections, of course, Valentine?”
Crudwright gave a grunt, which could have meant anything, and Wilkinson continued. “I sense that you have more questions to ask, Chastity?”
“I have indeed, John,” she said with a simpering smile. “How can you be so certain of the date of the ancient structure my husband is searching for although you say there are no events in the Holy Bible that can be accurately dated?”
“That is a valid, and perceptive, question Chastity, and one that needs addressing.”

Wilkinson paused in contemplation a while before continuing.
“It is one of life’s supreme ironies that Christianity is founded on Jewish history. There are no dates in the Pentateuch -- the Torah as it known to the Jews -- which forms the first five books of the Old Testament, and comprises of accounts of events and people. Thus we do not know when Noah’s flood occurred, nor when Joseph of the Multi-coloured Coat was sold as a slave, or which pharaoh ruled in Egypt during the seven fat years and the seven lean years. The date of the exodus led by Moses is unknown to us, as is the date David slew Goliath. There are no dates because when these accounts were being passed on, by word of mouth from generation to generation of Hebrews, calendars did not exist, and neither did writing. Even when the first civilizations developed writing there were no calendars to date the events, and when calendars were introduced each civilization had a different start of their own particular calendar. The Jews date their calendar from the beginning of the world, which their wise men and astrologers calculate to be have been some five thousand five hundred years ago. The Romans are thought to have dated their calendar from the foundation of Rome. Christians date their calendar from the birth of Christ. By a quirk of fate – or was it – the year of His birth was verified by the Romans.” Wilkinson took out a Bible from his jacket pocket and opened it.