Tierra-Mala excavation – day 1, early afternoon
Hello, this is Lester Neusmann, reporting from the Tierra-Mala base camp, together with my cameraman James Pictsford. The two of us are on an exclusive assignment, deep into the wilderness to report on what some have promised will be the archaeological find of the century. Behind us, you can see excavations underway to uncover the lost temple of Tierra-Mala. These excavations are in their final phases, with dozens of workers toiling for the past several months to unearth the rock and stone face of the fabled Tierra-Mala temple.
At the head of the excavation is Professor Graves Robiere, who first identified the site of the lost temple two years ago. Professor, can you tell us how it feels to be standing here now, as you are mere days away from unearthing the entrance to the lost temple?
“Thank you, Lester. It’s been a long time coming. As you may know, these jungles were once home to a sprawling empire, with the city and temple of Tierra-Mala at the center of it all. That empire collapsed centuries ago, for reasons we can only guess at. The city, the temple, the land, were reclaimed by the jungle and lost to memory. To be standing here now is truly the culmination of a lifetime of exploration and research.”
I understand that you have been responsible for making similar, significant finds throughout your career. The treasured tomb of Thinis in Egypt, for example?
“Yes, much of that now on display at the National History Museum, in London.”
And the palace complex of Angkor Thom?
“On loan to the Smithsonian. A splendid find.”
Do you expect to find similar artifacts at this site?
“Undoubtedly, Lester. Anything we unearth here is bound to be priceless.”
Now behind us you can see one of the outside walls of the temple, which your team has recently unearthed, carved in raised relief with a variety of figures – most of them resembling these dog-faced figures, depicted here dragging what appear to be hapless humans towards this larger figure at the center. What can you tell us about these carvings Professor, and what they say about the Tierra-Mala complex?
“We know very little about the religious practices once performed here. As near as we can tell, these raised reliefs depict their version of the afterlife and underworld, and their vision of the god of death passing judgement over the lives of men. Think of it as their version of the Egyptian Anubis, weighing the hearts of the dead and deciding who will pass on to immortality.”
They certainly look like they were meant to be intimidating.
“Much like the religious stories from your own childhood, no doubt, intended to impress everyone with importance of virtue and upholding local law and custom. One of our student volunteers has nicknamed the dog-men as ‘knockers’, after the folktales from Welsh tin mines. He joked that he could hear them knocking from inside the temple – shortly before returning to the university. We all had a good laugh over that. Hopefully we’ll know more about these carvings once we unearth the entrance and can appraise the contents inside.”
Now on our way here professor, our vehicle passed through a string of protesters, who have been trying to block the progress of this excavation. Some say that this temple site is holy to the local, native tribes and that your excavations are a desecration of ancient burial grounds. How do you respond to these critics?
“There have always been those who have opposed the advancement of science and commerce. We really have no reason to believe that anyone would build a temple over a grave site - that was not Mesoamerican practice. More than likely, these grounds were once the center for pilgrimages and political power before the empire that built it – predating the local population – collapsed.”
Thank you, Professor. We look forward to being there when you finally unseal the entrance.
Tierra-Mala base camp – day 1, evening
Hello, this is Lester Neusman, here again, inside of the cramped quarters where I and my cameraman will be staying. As you can see, there’s really only a single room, that doubles as a study, kitchen and sleeping area – with a small loo through that door. As our viewers may well imagine, Tierra-Mala is pretty remote. There aren’t any hotels in these parts, and electricity is supplied by a mobile generator just outside. But this particular quarters has its own story behind it. Would you like to share that with us, Professor Robiere?
“Yes Lester. As you may have noticed on your drive up here, there are a lot of locals that have been opposed to these excavations. When I first set about exploring this site, I had this structure built as a discrete outpost for my initial investigations. You may have noticed that the entrance to these quarters is in the back of a man-made cave, hollowed out of the local rock and soil, with the door disguised to appear as if it were part of the natural, rocky outcropping. There were many nights that I spent holed up in here, I can assure you, while equipment was being vandalized outside.
“The wiring and generator were run outside only some time later – once I had paid for all the permits and full police protection for our expanded excavations. And of course now, I live in the large trailer that you see outside. But at one time, this little room was all that there was to the Tierra-Mala excavation site.”
Thank you, Professor. As our viewers may have imagined, it’s pretty remote here. We had our porter unload a trunk of supplies with all of the provisions that we brought with us – including essentials such as canned food, fuel for the stove, soap, and other items. My cameraman and I will be settling in here for the night, ready to report just as soon as the temple entrance is unearthed.
Reporting live from Tierra-Mala, this is Lester Neusman.
Tierra-Mala excavation – day 2, morning
This is Lester Neusmann here, reporting from the excavations at Tierra-Mala. The excavation crew is really excited this morning. They’ve excavated to the base of the round, stone entryway, which they believe seals the entry to the temple. They’re all very excited and expect to have the entry clear by this afternoon, or tomorrow morning at the latest.
In other news, our viewers may be amused to know that Bob Joksonu, our colleague at the office who was responsible for packing our supplies and provisions for this journey, decided to replace our canned and dried food rations with cans of baked beans. Can upon can of baked beans. Very funny Bob. I’m looking forward to making my way down the slope tomorrow, to the local village we passed on our way up here, for a nice, fresh-cooked meal at the news station’s expense.
This is Lester Neusmann, reporting from the Tierra-Mala excavations.
Tierra-Mala excavation – day 3, morning
This is Lester Neusmann reporting exclusively from the Tierra-Mala temple excavations, where they are about to roll back the entryway to the long-lost temple. Everyone here is excited to be a witness of this today. Professor Robiere, what are your thoughts at this historic moment?
“I can’t wait to see what’s inside, Lester. After years of painstaking research, I can finally collect my just reward.”
There you have it folks. Behind us, you can see they have the crow-bars in place, chains at the ready, rolling back the stone that has sealed the entry to this temple for countless centuries. Professor Robiere is walking down the slope to the excavation, to be the first person to peer inside the chambers since the temple complex was abandoned long ago. There it goes, starting to move. It’s rolling away. Look there! A cloud of dust obscuring our view – pouring out of the temple opening like a vapor. The Professor and the crew members are covering their mouths with their handkerchiefs, trying not to breathe any of it in. Doubtless the air of the chamber, sealed away for so long, will be full of dust and debris.
Wait! What’s that?! There appears to be something moving at the temple entrance. Is it an animal? No wait, it almost looks – almost like one of the dog-faced figures depicted on the stone relief on the side of the temple. There it goes! And another! Could anything possibly have been living in there?
There’s a panic in the crowd. The dog-faced figures are attacking. More like rabid baboons! The snarls! The teeth! There goes the Professor! Struck down! Being dragged into the temple!
My cameraman and I are making our way to higher ground. We’ll report back when we can.
No James! Drop it! Just, just run!
Tierra-Mala base camp – day 3, evening
This is Lester Neusmann reporting from my quarters at the Tierra-Mala base camp. My cameraman, James Pictsford didn’t make it this far. I saw him stumble as we raced over the slope. I’m here alone now with one of our porters who has been digging at the excavation. Roberto, I believe your name is?
“Si. Roberto. Very bad. Very, very bad.”
The two of us were the only ones that made it this far. I’m recording on the spare camera. It’s been quiet outside for some time now. No more of the shouts or screams like before. But we’re waiting for someone to tell us that it’s all clear, maybe bring back help from the police guarding the road up to this site.
Tierra-Mala base camp – day 4, evening
This is Lester Neusmann. It’s been more than a day since the temple entrance was opened. Power from the generator was cut off yesterday evening. I’m continuing to record until the battery dies.
You may remember that one of our porters made it to the relative safety of these hidden quarters together with me. Roberto decided to venture out this morning. To try and find help. I haven’t seen or heard from him or anyone else since.
Nothing to do but sit here and wait, wait for the scratching of those little dog-faced demons to find the hidden entrance to this hole – or die of starvation while hiding. But oh, I still have plenty of these canned beans to eat from. Did I tell you I have plenty of beans?
Wait, what’s that? I think I hear scratching at the entrance. This could be it folks. If I don’t make it back, if anyone finds this, tell the world what happened. Tell them not to come back, not to dig in Tierra-Mala. And Bob, if I ever do make it back from here – I’m going to cram this can of beans right up your –
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