Hortons Bend

deflect light. They glanced nervously in all directions and felt confident that the light was being sufficiently blocked. Ronnie pointed to his shovel tip next to his brothers’. They had discussed many times not to clank their shovels as it would alert the hound that Horton had on the farm. They quietly dug. A slight clank took place from Ronnie’s shovel causing his brother to look alarmed. Ronnie stopped and took a trowel and began to move the soil away from their excavation. He ran his hand over some flat river rock that looked to line the edge of the pit. He knew right then that they had found a burial.
    Shovels were put to the side and J.W. brought out a small dust pan and bucket. Ronnie began moving dirt towards J.W. who quietly sifted the dirt. He moved fairly rapidly as his brother would let him know when he needed to take more care when they came into contact with the burial itself. Ronnie continued to rake until he motioned for J.W. to pause. This burial was different. The flat stones also had some brittle wooden beams. Ronnie could see some copper staining in a woven bamboo cane panel covering that was fitted between the beams and the flat rock. Ronnie had never wished so much that he could see this in daylight. He reached down and moved the cane panel a few inches so that he could see the ancient inhumation. His removal revealed a burial unlike anything he had ever seen. Nothing in his nocturnal diggings or in any of his archaeological books had ever come close to what he was staring at tonight. The body was in a slightly flexed position with the chest upraised. Both men stared at the prehistoric wonderment as it was covered in thousands of tiny shell beads. Some retained a reddish pigment while others were the faintest of blue. Two large shell gorgets adorned the deceased. Ronnie reached out to touch the discs. These were no ordinary expressions of hierarchy as he instantly knew that their type contained design elements that were of a rare variety. The incising on the shell disks were that of both animal representations which included anthropomorphic figures. The designs were foreign to him and he found it difficult to understand their patterns. He began to explore the burial once again. The burial’s skull glared a grimaced face. Copper ear spools lay decaying on each side of the brittle skull. Two perfectly formed clay water bottle vessels were sitting next to each ear spool. The two brothers were on their knees when they looked up at each other. Ronnie simply exhaled but held his hands up when his brother started to say something.
    Ronnie looked around the site and felt a twinge of outright fear. The mist had more of a glowing quality than when they had arrived. He gazed off into the distance towards the Horton farm house and then returned his eyes to the burial to further study its contents. J.W. had gotten from his knees instinctively awaiting Ronnie’s instructions. Ronnie retrieved a small wooden probe from his vest and gingerly moved the cane panel further down the torso. Now he could see the copper motif plate. With a careful hand he slowly slid the cane mat further down the torso and out of the way. His eyes widened as he pulled the corner of the bamboo construct up and looked beneath the panel to find a thin rectangular object that appeared to be covered in gauze like material. He was almost short of breath when the saw the dull green patina covering the cuprous plate. The gauze fell away as it was as thin as fine cobwebs. J.W. held the light for Ronnie who was now transfixed by their find. Ronnie knew about the armor used by the Spanish explorers but this was no European breastplate. This was a highly regarded ceremonial item of which no one had seen in centuries. He could make out intricate design elements that were both embossed and engraved into the metal. The designs seemed to be comprised of prehistoric designs alongside Old World figures. Ronnie gingerly removed the copper plate which looked to measure about one foot square. There appeared to be a religious significance to the figures on the plate. The design, while difficult to make out, seemed to represent an offering ceremony in the complete with animals and a friar. Ronnie became a little dizzy trying to comprehend what he had discovered.
    He slowly looked up at J.W. whose eyes were darting out in the distance and back at him. Ronnie realized what his brother was so fixated on. The mist they had encountered earlier had