The Bible of Clay Read Online Free PDF Page A

the spirit is willing, but the funds are weak, you might say.
    "And so, I want to ask you to help us. Our dream is to put together an international archaeological mission. If we were to find those tablets . . . For years I have asked myself at what point Abraham abandoned the polytheism of his contemporaries and began to believe in a single God. These tablets could hold the answer."
    Professor Guilles raised his hand again. The old Sorbonne professor, one of the world's most renowned specialists in Mesopotamian culture, seemed determined to stop her in her tracks.
    "Dr. Tannenberg, I insist that you show us the tablets you continue to rattle on about. Otherwise, please allow those of us who are here with something real to contribute to proceed with the conference."
    It was the last straw. Clara's blue eyes flashed with fury "Professor Guilles, can you not bear for anyone but yourself to herald the glory of Mesopotamia, even to make a discovery? Is your ego so fragile?"
    Guilles stood up slowly and deliberately and turned to the audience.
    "I will return to the conference when we resume serious discussion."
    As Guilles strode from the hall, Ralph Barry stepped forward and took the microphone. He cleared his throat and addressed the remaining archaeologists who, with varying degrees of amusement or disgust, had witnessed the scene between the archaeological legend and the unknown woman.
    "I truly regret all this," Barry said. "I don't understand why we can't all be a bit less inflexible in our positions and listen to what Dr. Tannenberg has to say. She is an archaeologist like us—why such prejudice? She is presenting a theory; I say let's hear her out and then we can express our opinions. Discarding it a priori seems to me not very scientific."
    Professor Renh, a middle-aged woman from Oxford University with a face tanned leathery by the sun, held up her hand to speak.
    "Ralph, all of us know one another here. Dr. Tannenberg has come to us with a story about some mysterious tablets that she hasn't shown us, even in photos. She has presented no supporting evidence whatsoever. She has made statements about the political situation in Iraq, as has her husband, that I personally am sorry she's made, and she has presented us with a theory about Abraham that frankly seems more the result of an overactive imagination, as Professor Guilles so diplomatically put it, than of scientific fieldwork.
    "Let me remind you, we are attending an archaeological conference, not sitting around a campfire. And while our colleagues in other specialties are presenting papers and drawing conclusions in the conference halls next door, we . . . we, I have the impression, are wasting our time. I'm sorry; I agree with Professor Guilles. I'd like to get down to work now."
    "But that's what we're doing!" Clara shouted indignantly.
    Ahmed stood, and as he straightened his tie he addressed the audience without looking at anyone in particular.
    "I would like to remind you all that several of the world's greatest archaeological discoveries have been made by men who paid attention to and followed up on legends. Yet you refuse to even consider what we're saying here today. But you wait—yes, you wait and see what happens the moment Bush attacks Iraq. You are all illustrious professors and archaeologists from the civilized nations, which means that you're not going to stick your necks out to defend an archaeological project that entails actually going to defenseless Iraq. I can understand that, but what I can't understand is the reason for this close-minded attitude that prevents you from even listening and trying to find out whether some part of what we're saying is, or might be, true." Professor Renh raised her hand again.
    "Dr. Husseini, I insist that you show us some proof of what you say. Stop judging us, and above all, stop bringing politics into it. We're all adults here, and we're here to discuss archaeology, not politics. Stop portraying yourself as a