A bronze and porphyry casket

Anna generally tried to maintain a stoic demeanor -- it was hard enough to earn respect as a woman in classical archaeology even if you didn't have a reputation for giggling -- but she wanted to cackle, dance, and turn cartwheels as her flashlight played over a bronze chest inlaid with bits of poryphyry, the pinkish-purple stone forming a pattern of triangles on the lid. Low relief figures of nude women dancing before a seated woman in a long robe decorated the front panel.

Anna moved forward and lifted the lid, glad that she'd kept her gloves on and wouldn't contaminate the precious find with dirt and body oil (though there was dirt aplenty in the cave already). In her excitement she didn't notice that the thorns from the bushes hiding the cavern entrance had torn a small hole in the left palm.

That's "DOCTOR Jones to you," Anna gloated as harsh electric light caused a cache of gold coins to glitter more brightly than they never had when newly minted. Better still, a small statue of a woman in long flowing robes, carved in the sinuous Hellenistic style, sat next to the coins, or rather among them -- some of the coins had spilled over and covered the base of the statue, as if they were votive offerings at a goddess's feet. Best of all, two scrolls sat atop the money. Could this be a lost work of literature? A secret history? A guide to the rituals of what appeared to be a forbidden and forgotten cult?

Anna carefully moved the scrolls into a hard leather case at her waist, held on by a strap slung over her shoulder. She turned to leave, then turned back to close the chest. and after a moment's hesitation swept up several of the coins, her left hand brushing the statue. She closed the lid and moved back to the cave entrance. Taking a last look around before heading back to the village where she'd rented a room, she felt a sense of awe that she'd made such an amazing discovery on her very first independent expedition.

This place must be protected.

Anna decided it was best to keep quiet about the cave for now. Tomb robbers, whether they called themselves archaeologists or did their pillaging in a less pretentious way, would ruin the site. She made sure the bushes hiding the cavern entrance looked undisturbed when she left, and did her best to obscure any sign that she'd been through this part of the woods. She positively tingled with anticipation at the thought of reading those scrolls. Better than sex... not that she was supposed to have a frame of reference, but really, this WAS the 20th century, after all.