Today I reexamined a set of skeletal remains originally found in an abandoned storage enclosure at Horizon House on November 28. At that time they were mistakenly identified as being those of an archaeological specimen from the institution’s collection, an error in which I concurred in an examination on November 29.
However, a later examination leads me to conclude that these remains are modern, belonging to an individual dead between two and five years.
2. BONES PRESENT
The partial skeleton consists of four ribs, one thoracic and two lumbar vertebrae, the skull (minus the mandible), the right scapula and humerus, the right second and third metacarpals, the first phalanx of the right index finger, the sacrum, both innominates, both femurs, both tibias, and the left fibula. No other bones were recovered.
Gabra yawned and lit up a Cleopatra King. This would be tough going even if his English were up to it.
3. CONDITION
No soft tissue was present. There is moderate environmental erosion and considerable evidence of rodent and canine gnawing, particularly at the long bone ends.
4. TRAUMA AND PROBABLE CAUSE OF DEATH
There is a ten-centimeter antemortem fracture of the right parietal running diagonally back from the coronal suture. This type of injury is commonly associated with falls. Total absence of healing indicates that death followed shortly after. It is therefore highly probable that cranial damage resulting from a fall was the cause of death. Naturally, other causes of death that might not show in the existing bones cannot be ruled out.
In my opinion, it is highly likely that foul play was involved. (See “Conclusions and Implications.”)
5. RACE
The admixture of racial strains in these remains makes positive racial identification difficult. However, given the circumstances, the admixture of Caucasian, Mediterranean, and African attributes suggests strongly that the individual was Egyptian.
6. SEX
The subpubic angle and the angles of the sciatic notch indicate that the bones are those of a male.
7. STATURE AND BODY BUILD
Estimated stature, based on combined long bone lengths and using the regression formula of Trotter and Gleser, ranges from 169 cm to 176.5 cm (66.5“ to 69.5”), with a likely height of about 173 cm (68“).
8. AGE
All epiphyses are fused, indicating that the skeletal system had reached maturity. The pubic symphyses, although damaged by carnivore activity, appear to be at about phase five of the Suchey-Brooks age determination system. This, combined with other indicators such as cranial suture closure and “lipping” of long bones, vertebrae, and scapula, suggest an age of about forty to fifty years, with forty-five to fifty being likely.
9. PATHOLOGIES AND ANOMALIES
The right malar was fractured sometime before death, possibly in childhood. Although completely healed, the bone did not set properly, and it is likely that the right cheek of this individual had a caved-in or “dropped” appearance.
Other than this, there is no evidence of anomalies or of pathological conditions beyond the normal bone deterioration and degeneration to be expected with an age in the late forties.
Gabra scowled and read the last section again. At fifty-four, he was all too aware that his teeth weren’t what they had been, or his digestive system either. But was he supposed to believe that his very bones were going too? Of this he had never heard before. His wife’s grandfather was still alive at ninety, and though the old man grumbled freely enough about his numerous ailments, Gabra could not remember him complaining about deteriorating bones.
He began to see some merit in Saleh’s assessment of Gideon Oliver. Gabra himself had had dealings with a pair of forensic scientists once before and had failed to be impressed when they quarreled over the age and race of a decomposing corpse that had turned up along the river south of Qena. The only thing they had agreed on was the sex, but Gabra had hardly needed an expert for that.
And look at the mess the physical anthropologists had made with their famous examinations of Tutankhamun’s mummy.
No, these experts had to be taken with a grain of salt. If Gabra’s bones were “degenerating,” no one was going to have to tell him about it; he would be the first to know.
The broken swivel in his chair clacked (or was that his hip joint?) as he shifted and went on reading.
10. POSSIBLE INDICATIONS OF OCCUPATION
There are a number of skeletal indicators that appear to offer clues as to the occupation of this individual, and may thus be helpful in his identification. a. Bilateral osteitis of the ischial tuberosities; that is, an unusually craggy appearance of those portions of the hip bones on which most of one’s weight rests when seated. b. A laterally bowed fibula; that is, a slight side-to-side “bending” of the fibula, which is the thinner of the two bones in the lower leg. c. Enlarged ligament-attachment areas on the phalanx (finger bone) and on one of the metacarpals (the bones in the body of the hand), along with evidence of osteo arthritis of the metacarpals. d. An unusually advanced state of wear on the upper and lower incisors, or front teeth.
Gabra huffed. He knew what an incisor was. He’d known what a fibula was too, or close enough to make no difference. Who did this Oliver think he was dealing with?
This unusual combination of traits resulted in some misinterpretation during my first examination of the skeleton…
Gabra hooted quietly. Leave it to one of these puffed-up scientists to describe a monumental blunder as a ‘misinterpretation’.“
… but further analysis of the individual characteristics has suggested a more plausible explanation.
The roughened areas of the hip bone, as determined earlier, are very probably the result of sitting for long periods on a hard surface. Similarly, the bowed fibula would appear to be a reaction to pressure on the lower leg exerted by years of sitting cross-legged. The roughened areas on the finger bones have been associated in the past with the firm grasping of a relatively thin object in the fingers.
What this object may have been is suggested by a close examination of the worn incisors, which reveals many small front-to-back serrations or indentations in the eroded biting surfaces of the teeth. These have been found to occur in other cases with long-term use of the incisors to hold and snap thread.
Add to this the fact that metacarpals like the one described here have been reliably associated with habitual forceful opposition of the thumb and index finger, and have in fact been referred to in the literature as “seamstress’s fingers”-and a probable conclusion as to occupation seems justified.
In my opinion, the deceased was probably a tailor in life, practicing his trade in the old-fashioned manner, seated on a wide bench or on the ground in the cross-legged “sartorial” posture. I understand that this is a position still used by many Egyptian village tailors.
Gabra’s mind had begun to drift. His eyes continued to move steadily down the lines like a donkey that keeps on trudging along after it has fallen asleep in its traces. But now he blinked, skidded to a halt, and went back to the top of the page. His mouth hung open as he read it for the second time. The burnt-down cigarette, pasted to his lower lip, dangled for a few seconds before he plucked it off and impatiently ground it out in the ashtray.
“A tailor!” he said aloud. Maybe Saleh had given him something interesting after all.
“What?” Asila said without stopping her unsteady, two-fingered typing.
“Asila,” he called over the partition, “do you remember that archaeological theft in the Western Valley a few years ago? At the Horizon House excavation?”
“Where the watchman was killed?” Click. Clack. Click.
“Yes, it’s never been closed, has it?”
“No, it’s still open, but no longer active. Don’t you remember? We were fairly certain that the el-Hamids were in it up to their eyelids, but when it came to proving-”
“Get me the file, will you?”
The typing finally stopped, or he thought it did. It wasn’t an easy thing to tell. “What, now?”
“No, a week from next Thursday.”
She sighed mightily. Her chair creaked. Her copper-dyed hair appeared over the top of the partition, her penciled eyebrows, her mascaraed eyes. “What’s all this excitement, a new lead?”
