Forbidden Ground (Cold Creek #2)(70)
“I have,” Kaitlyn chimed in from the other ladder. “It was built for Ohio’s Governor Worthington and is the site of early Adena remains, one of the first mounds excavated. The mansion was named Adena because that was the Hebrew word for delightful place. So that site gave the name to the ancient civilization, not the other way around. And you know what, Professor Lockwood?” the young woman asked, looking down the ladder at her. “Governor Worthington wouldn’t let anyone excavate his mound, either. It took someone else to own the property before they could dig.”
“I’d forgotten that,” Kate said, thinking she wasn’t going to share that tidbit with Grant.
“Read about that,” Sean said. “When the Ohio Historical Society finally got permission to dig, they found a bunch of bodies in that mound as well as precious artifacts.”
Kaitlyn, as if not to be outdone, continued the conversation. “What I think is way cool is the Adena Mansion was designed by Latrobe, the same man who designed the U.S. Capitol in Washington. If I hadn’t fallen in love with archaeology, I think I would have been an architect.”
“Maybe we should go to the Adena Mansion and you can give me a tour,” Sean said.
Kate could see Sean really had eyes for Kaitlyn, which reminded her of her graduate-school days. More than one student on early digs had wanted to date her, but she’d been enamored of Carson. And, sadly, Kaitlyn seemed to want to dominate others with her knowledge. Had she been like that when she was so young and naive? And had she mellowed and learned better? She’d better if she hoped to fit in here in Cold Creek.
“How’s it going up there, Bill?” Kate called to their watchman on the ledge above. “We’ll change around every hour. Sean’s turn next.”
“Fine. Great view. Believe me, I’ll yell if I see anybody. I really don’t think that rock fall could have been accidental—not the bigger rocks, anyway.”
Kate used a short-handled, soft brush to clear the lower face of the seam after the upper part was cleared. Then with a powerful headlight on her safety helmet—she’d made everyone wear one today—she scanned the face of the mica seam. Yes! She was certain this spot could have provided small pieces of mica to decorate garments or masks.
But she also discovered evidence that larger pieces had been removed. She thought she saw large shapes that could be ax heads and spear points, and historic tribes would not have used spears after bows and arrows were adapted in the area around 300 to 400 AD. Of course, the weather over the centuries could have made the pieces of chipped mica erode and widen. But artifacts in the mound would hold all the answers to her questions.
Eternally frustrated at not being able to excavate Mason Mound, she tried to rein in her excitement. She’d been taught not to jump to conclusions, and she should take that to heart in the bigger mysteries she needed to solve. Who was hurting—even killing—Grant’s friends? Who had shot at them, thrown rocks at them? Bright Star and his lackeys, like Lee? Or worse, because it would devastate Grant—Brad, maybe with Lacey’s help?
“I think there’s something up here,” Kaitlyn called down. “It was protected from the elements by the overhang of the ledge. That ax head you sketched for us earlier—I swear there’s the shape of one here. You know, it’s a lot like the Toltecs and Aztecs used, too. Dr. Cantrell has been lecturing about how many smashed skulls are being unearthed near Mexico City and how that could be a link to the Adena mortuary practices.”
“A link in what way?” Kate demanded, appalled Carson could be teaching a Toltec-Aztec-Adena link theory, which would make all her Celtic-Adena work seem pointless. “The Aztec civilization came after the Adena rose and fell.”
“But the Aztecs are descended from the Toltecs, so they had a lot in common, and the Toltecs and their ancestors could be forebearers of the Adena. Dr. Cantrell says the Toltecs started out as hunter-wanderers, so they or their ancestors could have wandered clear up into this area in prehistoric times.”
Kate was stunned. Carson had never once suggested that to her.
“Fascinating and creepy,” Sean said. “Skulls from human sacrifices, thirty-four of them found so far in Mexico City, possibly dedicated to their sun god that required human blood. Dr. Cantrell says that there have to be stronger laws everywhere to prosecute and punish tomb robbers.”
“Well, he’s right about that,” Kate admitted, trying to compose herself and not wanting to berate these students for just passing on what they’d heard from Carson-on-high. Perhaps he had been promoting the Toltec idea just to make them think broadly. “Kaitlyn, let me take a look at what you found.”
Kate steadied the ladder, and Kaitlyn climbed down. The young woman heaved a huge sigh. “The professor’s right about most everything. But I think he’s still undecided about whether this mysterious come-and-go advanced Adena civilization was really the Celts of Europe or a Toltec-type migration from the area of modern-day Mexico.”
As excited as Kate was to get up the ladder, she almost missed the first rung. Had Kaitlyn read her thoughts and was trying to comfort her? Or had Carson told her not to get Kate too upset so that she’d quit her work here?
Sean jumped in. “It’s just that he theorizes a long trek from there is more probable than a Celtic sea voyage from Europe and then a trek inland from the East Coast—until someone—maybe you, Dr. Lockwood—can prove different.”