E1: We were inserted into the industrial center of Thebes, during the reign of Rameses III.
Smithies were at work, producing bronze tools and weapons. We observed as they mixed copper and tin ingots in a furnace, and casting the rough shapes of a spearhead, scales, and swords. The objects were cooled and refined by smiths and tossed into baskets to be fitted.
We exited the industrial center into a palace complex under construction.
Several architects were at a table, surveying the site and consulting a rough schematic. There appeared to be some semblance of mathematic calculations involved.
Masons hewed at rock with bronze chisels and adzes and drilling holes with copper drills.
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| Bronze and iron daggers from the New Kingdom |
Laborers moved masoned stones up earthen ramps and slid them into place with logs. They were constructing a corbel arch, a piece of design innovated during the Old Kingdom, and one that the workers of Rameses II were applying in copious amounts.
Workers finishing a meal would rub their teeth with a cleaning paste made of bones, while those with ailments would seek out a practitioner of Egyptian medicine for a quick cure.
We left and returned to normal reality at approximately 1800 hours.
E2: We were inserted into the banks of the Nile, downriver from Thebes, during the same time period as the preceding insertions.
We observed the farming projects currently underway.
Farmers appeared to be using two ox-drawn plows at the same time: one to cut up the furrows, and another to stir up the earth. Workers with stone and copper hoes followed the plows, scattering seed and breaking up soil/. Little canals fed water to the fields, as more workers operated a shaduf (a construct used to transport water over very short distances) to bring water in. Irrigation was brought to Egypt by the Hyskos, and also supplied water to villages and farms.
We returned to normal reality at approximately 1600 hours.
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| Fresco depicting a farm worker plowing a field |
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