After a week of intensive survey I accidently found a vast area within nearly two-kilometre from the burial sites covered with pottery sherds and debris.
On that day I shifted half of the labours to the new site and started digging. Within two weeks of intensive excavations my new ‘promise settlement’ turned out to be a camp settlement — one level site consisting of perishable material such as tents and date palms fronds or woods.
While I was digging intensive trail trenches in different parts of the site, I decided to drive around hoping to find more useful area around the site. A time went by I was getting desperate to find the elusive evidence.
Once during my rounds I came to a stop at the edge of a small low lying mound. While was standing near one if its edges, I realized it is located right in the middle of the area I am at.
I moved closer to its slope and started to prod it with my trowel. After a few prods four pottery shreds decorated with raised and incised serpents motives appeared. After cleaning the raised serpent’s motive they appeared to be inlaid with grits to indicate the eyes and scales’ of the serpents.
Within a very short period of time I managed to collect over ten pottery sherds, all of them were decorated with either raised or incised serpent motives, from around the mound. Springing a surprise, I also found, in addition to the sherds, a serpent made of bronze.
After that great surprise I looked at the mound and said to myself, “everything on earth has a name so tell me what your name is?”
While I was waiting for an answer, I heard a voice coming from the depth of nowhere saying: “You fool... You don’t know my name yet?”
I looked around to make sure nobody is with me and then said: “No.”
Then I heard a whisper in the air saying: “You hold all the snakes motives on the pottery shreds and that serpent made of bronze in your own hands, all of which occurred through my ribs and heart. You fool, my name is Mound of Serpents.”
I looked around and made sure nobody is there except myself. I must be an inspired archaeologist. Then carefully drove my car till I reached the nearby Al Qusais Town, where all its houses and shops are made either of plywood or coronated sheets of tin.
When I started to ask people there about the name of that mound everybody thought I was out of my mind. When I got no answers except sharp suspicious looks, I decided to return to the mound to make sure it is still there.
I kept the secret of that holy and scared mound deep in my heart. At the dawn of the next day I took seven workers with me and started to discover what lay inside this mound.
To be continues next week
The Peninsula
