【1】
2025.02.13 — Night
“They’re always like this.
“They dangle the funding in front of us and tell us to come back with only the results that suit them.
“There could be another layer right next to TB-2, but they tell us not to touch it because it isn’t in the survey plan.
“What’s the point of fieldwork like that?”
The moment the meeting ended, Mercer spoke as though she had been waiting for the chance.
During the meeting, she had almost objected several times.
Each time, she had stopped herself.
Ronald had been watching her from the seat beside hers.
“Nothing we can do about it.
“That’s how organizations work.”
He did not seem particularly bothered by her frustration.
He understood how she felt.
But unnecessary conflict would only make the job harder.
Ronald pulled the papers toward him.
For now, he let her keep talking.
Mercer closed the video-call window.
She enlarged an image of the sherd recovered earlier that day.
“They’re going to keep dismissing this sherd as an ‘exception.’
“They’re telling us not to pursue anything that falls outside the ‘known Neolithic network.’
“They say they want new discoveries.
“But they don’t want discoveries that are inconvenient for them—ones that could overturn theories they’ve spent decades building.
“They’re telling us not to come back with anything they weren’t expecting and complicate things for them.
“That’s what it comes down to.”
Mercer’s tone was firm.
--
Earlier that day, a single pottery sherd had been found at the edge of TB-2.
It was clearly different from the main finds recovered from TB-2 up to that point.
It was a small fragment.
Its walls were thinner than those of the other sherds recovered there.
Its rim treatment was also different.
Taken on their own, however, the thinner walls and different rim treatment could simply have reflected variation within the same manufacturing tradition.
What particularly caught Mercer’s attention was the sherd’s fracture surface.
Tiny greenish-gray particles were scattered throughout the reddish-brown clay body.
The particles were not dirt adhering to the surface.
The same particles were visible in the ceramic fabric along the fracture surface.
She couldn’t tell just by looking whether they were sand, minerals, or something else.
Mercer had examined more pottery sherds than she could count at archaeological sites across Southeast Asia.
She could not remember ever seeing one with greenish-gray particles like these in the clay body.
Ronald leaned in to look at the image on the computer screen.
Trying to lighten the mood, he said,
“Maybe the Ebu Gogo made it.”
In Flores folklore, the Ebu Gogo are described as small humanoid beings, sometimes compared to goblins.
“Ronald, I’m being serious.”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
Mercer did not react.
But she thought about what he had said for a moment.
Then she said,
“We can check that too.”
How Ronald chose to think about the Ebu Gogo was his business, not hers.
--
Mercer turned her attention back to the site plan on the desk.
As if nothing had happened, she continued.
“Starting tomorrow, we’ll split the team in two.
“Ronald, check with the local heritage authorities about additional test excavation at TB-3.
“And let the university know that we’re changing the survey plan.”
“You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
She looked down at the TB-3 area marked on the site plan.
She was already thinking about who to assign there the next day.