The Qurnawis have taken flack from the archeological community for decades (for centuries, they describe) for being thieves; the majority of residents find this accusation unthinkable, though during times of great strife and literal famine, like WW2, some residents admitted to looting the tombs and selling what they found, just to be able to eat. Generally, this accusation is hideously hypocritical, though, since the Europeans that scold them were buying up all their trinkets in the first place, and surely it was more appropriate for the people of Egypt to decide what to do with the items [...] The mountainous area that Qurnawis used to live in is now empty, described as barren, ‘dead,’ and ‘sad.’
This makes me both angry and sad. It's so unfair.
But I ask the question that Zaid hints at: what would the Qurwanis lives have been like if, instead of relying on Europeans and Americans, Egypt had educated the Qurnawis in ancient art and language and preservation techniques, had endowed them with the right to the dig sites resting within their own homes, and had charged them to become shepherds of their own history and preservation thereof?
Unfortunately, there are so many things that should have been different...
The egrets fish in the river, but I wanted to include them specifically because that buff/peach/orange/gold plume on the top of their heads is only colored that way during mating season, when it turns that color from its usual white. I like that little detail because it feels like Lois and Clark are headed into their own season of wooing.
What an adorable detail.
Congratulations on the story and the meticulous research! By the way, if you ever want to write about Lois and Clark solving a mystery in Machu Picchu, I would super support that. After all, we all had our Inca phase, right? (And Aztec and Mayan too, for that matter?) But no pressure, of course, it's just an idea
