700 tombs and a concussion later
By Warner M.Warner@TheColumMboinatSgtaorm.coemry

Dr. Peter Piccione, Egyptologist at the College of Charleston, and Nena Powell Rice, chair of the Greater Piedmont Chapter of The Explorers Club

Dr. Peter A. Piccione took the members of the Explorers Club to the dark, dank, and dangerous tombs of ancient Egypt via a slide presentation last Friday. Piccione, an Egyptologist who speaks Arabic and reads five forms of ancient hieroglyphics, has performed research in Egypt since

1990. He is the managing editor of Serapis: The American

Journal of Egyptology Society of Ancient Medaicninde e Rdeitvoier wfor Ancient Egypt for the . His book, The Game of

Senet in Ancient Egyptian History and Religion, is soon to be published.

Piccione's presentation focused on his Theban Tombs Publication Project, which is documenting the history, architecture, decorations, and contents of 4,000- year- old noblemen's tombs cut into a hill above Thebes, Egypt. His research has been sponsored by the Serapis Research Institute, and the American Research Center in Egypt, and the University of Charleston.

This real- life Indiana Jones spent 100 days in 2006 walking 300 kilometers, losing 20 pounds, doing the groundwork for a satellite survey of 700 tombs. Over the centuries these tombs had been racked by nature and built over by settlers. He found them under homes where they had been used as closets, showers, toilets, and garbage dumps.

He encountered no mummy monsters, Cleopatra ghosts, or flesh- eating scarabs, but his maps and notebooks were eaten by hungry goats. As Piccione crawled in and out of these cave- like tombs, he scraped his knees and bumped his head. He had to cut his time short because of headaches and nosebleeds. Back at home, he discovered he had a cranial infection and was leaking brain fluid. Was it the Curse of the Pharoah?

Dr. Piccione's website is www.cofc.edu/~piccione/t2p2/.

Information on the monthly meetings of the Explorers Club is available from Nena Powell Rice 803-777-8170, nrice@sc.edu.