In 2012 Thomas Newton Torrance attended a party at the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side in New York City. His date for the evening was a beautiful thirty-year-old who was a morning talk show host on NBC. The affair was a tribute to Sussex University’s archaeology department and the contribution its teams of people had made. Over the past few decades it seemed people from Sussex were participating in practically every major dig in the world. The results had been very positive – the university and its professors were recognized regularly for their accomplishments and discoveries. It didn’t hurt that the Indiana Jones and National Treasure movies had caused everyone to have a heightened interest in archaeology. Most digs were boring – they weren’t looking for the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail but more often finding out details about a civilization like the Inca or the Hittites. But the average guy on the street didn’t know that. He thought Indy was fighting off tarantulas in the jungle to get the statue of solid gold. Archaeology had become exciting.
Archaeological programs take money and lots of it. Officials from Sussex threw the Natural History Museum party to educate wealthy potential donors about their programs and encourage them to invest. Senior professors from the archaeology and anthropology departments mingled with the guests, offering up interesting stories of hidden things in the jungles and under the desert sands of places far, far away. Thomas Torrance listened to one of those stories and became enthralled at what he heard.
At the end of the evening TNT looked up Dr. Martin Harvey, the vice president of the university and the senior person present at the event, and handed him a business card. “This is my mobile number,” Torrance said. “Do you have time for a quick breakfast in the morning? I know you’re busy – if you need to get back to the university early that’s fine. I had a few questions and some thoughts for you.”
Dr. Harvey had planned to catch the first train to Philadelphia, where he had left his car the previous morning. But the chance to meet with an interested party and potential donor whose net worth was in the hundreds of millions was too great an opportunity to pass up. He moved his Amtrak reservation to noon and at 7:30 a.m. was seated across from Thomas Torrance having breakfast at the Peninsula Hotel on Fifth Avenue. What he expected to be a quick meal turned into a lengthy question and answer session for both parties as they became acquainted. As the vice president listened he began to understand the particular interest Thomas Newton Torrance had and the one very specific, highly unusual project he wanted to fund.
The vice president of Sussex University could hardly contain his excitement on the trip home. He had received a commitment from Torrance for $10 million to fund a project in Palenque, Mexico that had languished for years. This particular dig had proven more difficult than most for attracting donors – it had a very unusual purpose.
In 1952 the tomb of King Pakal was discovered far beneath the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque. This discovery rekindled ancient stories – tales of strange things hidden even deeper in the ground. Present day Mayans recalled accounts passed down by the ancients. Speaking in whispers and only among themselves – never with the Spanish conquerors or other white men – the elders kept alive a fascinating tale of an ancient chamber discovered during Pakal’s reign. The room was said to be far, far older than the Mayan civilization and to contain a puzzling object. The king’s advisors couldn’t explain the artifact and considered it sacred. According to the legend, Pakal ordered it left alone where it lay on a stone altar. Then he ordered his own tomb to be built atop the ancient chamber. Finally, Pakal constructed the massive Temple of the Inscriptions above his tomb – an edifice that today rose above the trees in the jungle and was considered one of the most beautiful ancient Mayan structures.
Sussex archaeologists had wanted to send a team to Palenque to explore the chamber housing Pakal’s sarcophagus. Was there a far older secret than the Maya themselves? No one knew what was supposed to be there – only that the rumors had persisted for hundreds of years and that many Mayans even today believed something was there – something unbelievably ancient.
It would be a difficult project because of the historic significance of Pakal’s tomb and sarcophagus. Obtaining a permit to move the King’s body or his coffin would be impossible. Even with the prestigious Sussex University leading the project it was unlikely the Mexican authorities would be convinced of the value of any intrusion into this important site. So the dig went unfunded for several years, relegated to the back burner while the university continued its work at major sites around the globe.
Now however the university vice president had a funding commitment. The breakfast with the man they called TNT had been an interesting one. Dr. Harvey had handed Torrance a substantial packet of information about Sussex and its extensive archaeological department and programs, but TNT hadn’t even given it a glance. In fact, the vice president noted, Torrance left it sitting on the table when they departed the hotel. From the very beginning of the conversation TNT had wanted to know only about the Palenque project, the one that had sat for years with no permits and no funding. This was the sole endeavor he was interested in.
As the train sped west through Pennsylvania Dr. Harvey made notes. There was a lot of work ahead before this project could begin. Torrance had insisted it start with the summer digging season – only a few months away. But the academician had cautioned him that the permit process would be long and difficult. His expectations for a summer dig were unrealistic.
Thomas Newton Torrance’s response had surprised Dr. Harvey. He had laughed. “I’ve found that greasing the wheels makes the machine move faster. I’d be pleased to be involved in the initial discussions Sussex has with the archaeological authorities in Mexico City. I’m certain I can be of assistance in getting things moving.”
From experience Dr. Harvey felt TNT was overly optimistic. He’s like most of the wealthy patrons I’ve seen, the man thought to himself. He thinks throwing money at a problem will solve it. I don’t think that’s going to work this time.
But he was certainly willing to give it a try. Ten million dollars didn’t come along every day and this project would give the university major publicity if it came to fruition. And if there really were secrets under the temple…well, that could be exponentially more valuable for Sussex.
As things turned out Thomas Newton Torrance was both right and wrong. Things happened, but not because of his ability to grease wheels in the Mexican government. In fact Torrance had no involvement at all in getting the permits Sussex needed. The wheels were greased all right, but in an entirely different way and by a totally different person than TNT – a man with even more power and influence than the outgoing, slightly shady near-billionaire Englishman.
When Dr. Martin Harvey arrived back on the campus of Sussex University he went straight to the office of the college president and broke the news of a $10 million commitment to begin the long-delayed exploration at Palenque. He told his boss he thought the permit process would be a lengthy and difficult one – impossible, perhaps.
“The body of King Pakal still lies in its sarcophagus eighty feet down inside the temple,” he said. “I can’t imagine the Mexican archaeological authorities allowing us to dig right next to it, but we would have to because the room is so small. I’m excited about Mr. Torrance’s commitment to the project but I have to confess I doubt we will see it happen for years, if at all.”
The university president seemed both thrilled at the news and unconcerned at Dr. Harvey’s pessimism about how long things might take.
“I have a secret weapon. I don’t know if it’ll work or not but I think Sussex has a better chance to make this happen than any other institution.”
Dr. Martin Harvey didn’t know what his boss meant by that. But he soon found out as things began to happen incredibly quickly.
The first call the university president made was to his old Sussex fraternity brother and current United States Ambassador to Mexico. After the Ambassador h
eard the news, the two old friends talked about John Chapman, the President of the United States. Archaeology was Chapman’s passion. Since he took office the President had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money funding projects he found interesting. Both men thought the President would love this one. It had mystery and adventure written all over it.
The Ambassador made just one call, President Chapman just one more, and the deal was done. It was just that simple. Sussex University got its permits. A team would be digging at the Temple of the Inscriptions in the summer to see if there was anything to the Mayan legend of an ancient artifact hidden deep within the earth.
Dr. Harvey had called Thomas Newton Torrance the moment the permits were approved. After offering congratulations TNT said, “I’d like to request that one of your graduate students be the supervisor of the dig at Palenque. Although I don’t know him personally I’ve followed the work of Cory Spencer. I’d consider it a personal favor if he oversaw the project, reporting of course to the university but keeping me informed as well.”
And as easily as that the wealthy entrepreneur got the man he wanted installed as supervisor. Cory Spencer would lead the search for an artifact TNT believed would shake the world’s foundations.
Chapter Five
A national security briefing document was slipped under the President’s bedroom door early every morning along with the Washington Post. When he awoke, Chapman retrieved them both and returned to bed, where he liked to watch TV and have his first cup of coffee. Chapman had one additional document delivered each day – privately he considered this one far more interesting than the top-secret daily briefing. The night staff used Google to search for keywords and generated a paper, sometimes only a couple of pages long but sometimes more than twenty and often filled with pictures. This document kept President Chapman on top of things happening in the adventure and intrigue of archaeological excavations around the world.
In one recent document President Chapman had seen Thomas Newton Torrance’s name. He had heard of Torrance before – the financier’s escapades made the financial press regularly – but his dealings weren’t significant or interesting enough to capture the President’s attention. This time Chapman saw Torrance’s name in an article about the new dig at Palenque. The archaeological publication chose to paint a very flattering picture of the entrepreneur, ignoring the activities that others termed corporate raiding or outright banditry. It called Torrance an entrepreneur and a generous man, eager to fund his passionate interest in archaeology – an interesting comment given that no one had ever linked TNT with the field prior to this one large donation. For a fleeting moment as he read the article, the President wondered what the real motive was for this British entrepreneur’s decision to spend a huge sum on what could be a complete wild goose chase.
The President breezed through today’s two briefing papers as the Gulfstream flew toward the Gulf of Mexico on the twenty-five hundred mile, four hour trip. Chapman had brought along an old dog-eared guidebook to the Mayan ruins at Palenque. It had accompanied his first two trips to the site years ago and he wanted to refresh himself about the Temple of the Inscriptions before seeing it again this morning.
In his call two days ago the Ambassador to Mexico had told President Chapman some details of the discovery. The permit to excavate which the Mexican government had issued to Sussex University’s team had contained very strong restrictions. These were designed to ensure there would be no danger to the tomb of King Pakal, especially to the sarcophagus and its lid, which contained priceless carvings including some of the most detailed and exquisite Mayan glyphs ever discovered.
Deep inside the Temple of the Inscriptions the university’s dig supervisor, Cory Spencer, and a team of students had worked while a motor droned far above, pumping fresh air into the claustrophobic chamber. The room was hot and stuffy and so crowded that only two or three team members could work at a time. They were not allowed to place any of their equipment on the sarcophagus itself. That meant even less room to work was available between the stone coffin and the walls of its crypt – only a few feet on each side of the sarcophagus.
A representative of the National Institute of Archaeology and History was assigned to monitor the dig site while excavations were underway. The team tried non-invasive ways to discover openings or rooms around or below the tomb chamber including sonar that couldn’t penetrate the massive stones. Spencer, the team leader, secured the representative’s approval for a minimally invasive plan. The diggers ran long narrow steel rods through the seams between the rocks in the floor and walls of Pakal’s tomb chamber. If a cavity were behind the rocks they hoped the rods would slide through the dirt, allowing the crew to snake a camera inside to see what was there.
The diggers performed this exercise almost fifty times, inching their way along the walls and floor, and found nothing but solid dirt. After hours one of the female students was still trying, pushing the rod slowly through a crack between two floor stones. She felt the rod move through unyielding dirt but suddenly become easy to push. She had reached open space under the stone!
She scampered up the ancient stairway seventy-five feet to the top of the temple and told the dig’s leader what she had found. Cory grabbed a flexible hose with a camera mounted to its tip and went back down into the tomb with her. They bent down to the floor and inserted the hose through the hole where the steel rod had penetrated. The rock was about two feet in height so it took only a moment for the camera hose to clear the rock and hang freely in midair. Cory turned on the camera and looked at a handheld TV screen to which the hose was connected. It was difficult to discern what the camera showed because the area below was dim and the light from the tiny camera faint.
He was encouraged. “This indicates there’s likely a room beneath this floor. The camera’s so small that it can’t see very far and I detect nothing solid like walls – hopefully that means there’s a considerable open space below us.”
The team went to their bunks that night excited at the possibilities. Spencer and the governmental archaeology representative on site discussed plans and the latter made a call to Mexico City. He spoke with Dr. Armando Ortiz, the director – el jefe – of the National Institute of Archaeology and History. He was the person in charge of all archaeological digs in the country – the nation’s lead archaeologist. Ortiz personally arrived at Palenque the next afternoon, a clear sign of how significant he considered this news.
It took a week for the university team and the archaeology representatives to reach an agreement. It was decided that the diggers would remove a two-foot square stone – the one the girl had worked on when she found the hole. They would feed hooks on lines down all four sides of the stone then winch it up, all without touching the sarcophagus of King Pakal only inches away. The slightest error could damage one of the most important relics of the Maya period – the lid of Pakal’s tomb.
After they removed that single stone a larger light could be lowered into the cavity to see how much area they were working with and what the room, if that’s what it was, contained. With that information they could decide what to do next.
The team fashioned a pulley system that would be hung from a platform over the stone they were removing. The platform would stand above and to the right of Pakal’s sarcophagus on wooden legs and it would be braced with struts to keep it away from the stone coffin and lid. They submitted their plans to the governmental representative who sent them on to Dr. Ortiz in Mexico City. Approval came surprisingly quickly and nearly three weeks after the discovery they were at last ready to lift the stone.
On the appointed day three people stood in the cramped space around Pakal’s crypt – Ortiz, Cory Spencer and the girl who had found the space. Three others were on the stone stairway, their hands on the apparatus that would allow the pulley to raise the rock from the floor. The sarcophagus, next to which the pulley system had been constructed, was wrapped in blankets and foam more than a foot thick to protect the
ornate lid from any accidents.
Given the signal from the leader the men began to turn a wheel and tighten the wires that ran from the pulley down below the rock on four sides. The wooden structure groaned and creaked as the wires grew more and more taut. Everyone could hear the strain being put on the wires as they tightened around several hundred pounds of rock. Cory Spencer cast a worried glance at the archaeology representative. If this whole thing collapsed it could be disaster for the sarcophagus lid.
Everyone in the room held a collective breath as the rock moved upwards about a half inch. “Easy, easy,” Cory said in a whisper as he watched the progress.
The men who operated the winch moved the rock very, very slowly. It took nearly two hours before it was completely out of its resting place. As Cory and the girl carefully moved the rock to the right the winch operators lowered it to the floor. Now there was a twenty-four inch hole in the ground with only blackness inside the opening. Spencer picked up a powerful light, switched it on and directed it into the chamber they had unearthed. The others heard him gasp. “Oh my God,” he whispered. “Oh my God.”
Dr. Ortiz stood next to Cory Spencer. He leaned forward and caught a glimpse just as Spencer shut off the light and stood up.
“What is it?” he asked Cory.
“You know what’s next, sir. Let’s go to the top. I have to make a call.”
Immediately the others spoke up. The girl who found the hole said, “Can’t we show the rest of the team what’s down there? It’s only fair…”
Talking over her, Dr. Ortiz yelled, “I want to see it!”
Spencer responded with an attitude they hadn’t heard from him before. It was abrupt, harsh, and curt. His face was serious. He looked at Ortiz. “You know about this. You know what has to happen next. I don’t think you want to override my instructions.”
Brian Sadler Archaeology 03 - The Strangest Thing Page 3
