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TOMB SEVEN
By: Gene Snyder
Charter Books: New York
1985 (pb)
This is the second in a series of “oldies but goodies”
archaeology novels, published in 1985 by an author who quickly slipped into
anonymity. Tomb Seven is one of those thrillers that start out like
gangbusters, presenting an intriguing plotline, but after a couple of
hundred pages (sometimes earlier!), things begin to unravel and then devolve
into sheer literary chaos.
The intriguing plotline first: An apparently healthy
young American archaeologist named George Rodgers is found dead in a shaft
below Tomb 7 at the ancient site of Monte Alban just outside of an high on a
mountaintop overlooking Oaxaca, Mexico. There are no signs of the reason
for his death, although the look of horror on his face would suggest he died
of fright. Almost simultaneously, Welsh archaeologist Jason Farewey is
arriving in New York to attend a conference on “psychic archaeology” at the
famed Moreland Research Institute. While skeptical of such outré
approaches to archaeology, he allows himself to reserve judgment after
witnessing a demonstration of psychic powers applied to archaeological
research by archaeologist Lupe Munoz. The fact that Lupe is very much a
babe might have something to do with Jason’s open-mindedness, but it’s not
long before Jason and Lupe are winging their way to Oaxaca to experimentally
apply Lupe’s talent –psychic talent, that is—to the Tomb 7 dig at Monte
Alban, which is a Moreland expedition.
The situation at Monte Alban is beginning to grow grim
as they arrive. Xacha, a very old Zapotec shaman, appears at the
Guelaguetza celebration to warn of more disaster to come if Tomb 7 continues
to be violated. Screaming out her dire warnings in the teeth of a vicious,
and highly unusual electrical storm, she drops dead for no apparent
reason—just like the young American archaeologist, George Rodgers. Did the
“Old Ones,” who have protected Monte Alban long before the coming of the
ancient Olmec conquerors according to Xacha, do in both the archaeologist
and the old shaman?
The scene is set for an epochal battle between Jason
the skeptical scientist and Lupe the psychic on one hand and the ancient
powers that may protect the sanctity of Monte Alban and Tomb 7. This would
not be a bad plot device—not a particularly novel one to be sure, but it
could be interesting in the hands of a clever writer.
Unfortunately the plotline begins to develop fault
lines, just as there are fault lines at Monte Alban that lead to several
cave-ins at the site. We are introduced to an irritating group of wealthy
and powerful Mexican conspirators who are plotting to steal vast amounts of
gold from Tomb 7 and other Mexican archaeological sites. They identify each
other as Seniors “Dos,” “Tres,” “Cinco,” “Ocho,” etc. While this approach
may help the reader practice his Spanish numbers, it’s never very clear why
they use such a pedestrian approach to hiding their identities. Equally
irritating is an extended lecture/discussion by Lupe about the theory of “Catastrophism,”
as heralded by such great thinkers as Edgar Cayce and Immanuel Velikovsky.
Thrown into the mix is a near-by excavation run by A Russian archaeologist
and his KGB handlers (it’s still Cold War days, after all), and an
eight-foot humanoid skeleton found deep below Tomb 7 after a cave-in rescue
is successfully directed by Lupe and her psychic powers. The skeleton is
spirited out of Mexico to the Moreland Institute for analysis and is found
to be over 200,000 years old and has had a root canal drilled by laser
surgery and implanting a titanium peg!
Back at Tomb 7 another cave-in occurs—apparently the
work of the “Old Ones,” still intent upon protecting the secrets of Monte
Alban from the archaeologists, the Russians, and the secret cabal intent
upon stealing the gold. Lupe psychically discovers another sealed
chamber—this one filled with tons of gold and silver artifacts that seem to
be prototypes of the ancient wealth and art of all the great civilizations
of history. Is it possible that Egypt and Crete and Mesopotamia – and yes,
even Atlantis—can trace their beginnings to the Monte Alban of the “Old
Ones?” Read Tomb 7 and find out. And if you do, please let me
know!
I’m afraid one trowel is the best I can do. I think it
was the laser root canal that did me in!
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