Family Times column
Judy Gibson
March 23, 2002
I’ve been thinking, lately, about curiosity.
Two things inspired this — first was the privilege of meeting Kent Weeks and his wife Susan in Egypt. Weeks found the tomb known as KV5 in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor in 1989 — called the greatest find since the discovery of the unraided tomb of Tutankhamun. His book “The Lost Tomb” reads like a novel.
The second inspiration was an essay in Time magazine about Daniel Pearl, the journalist who was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan by terrorists. Lance Morrow wrote that Pearl was the sort of journalist who had curiosity, “the noblest form of intellectual energy.” He also mentioned what novelist John Hersey said about Henry Luce, “He was amazed and delighted to learn whatever he had not known before.”
Kent Weeks, a beaming and happy person, told me he had been interested in Egypt since he was a child, that he’s been an archeologist for decades and “never wanted to do anything else.” He takes obvious pleasure in his lifework, appreciating his wife and her contribution as project artist. His love of Egypt and the Egyptian people — ancient and present — is evident. At the risk of waxing too eloquent, they seemed like a couple of angels there — always dressed in white (due to the heat, I’m guessing).
He and his wife rise early and drive their dated Toyota Land Cruiser out to the site for another day of discovery and hard work. Their home is in Cairo but when they are on site in Thebes (the ancient name for Luxor) they stay at the same modest family hotel where I stayed. When they introduced themselves to my friends and me on the roof of the hotel where we had gone to watch the sunset, my mouth dropped and I said, “The well known person.” He smiled and kidded modestly, “I don’t know – my wife knows me well.”
The story of the extensive Theban mapping project and discovery of KV5 — the agony and the ecstacy of it — is too lengthy for this column. For anyone interested I would recommend his book that was excerpted in a wonderful National Geographic article in 1998. They also have an interesting and well done website where one can take a virtual “fly through” tour of the tomb, the largest of all tombs discovered so far in the valley.
It was inspiring to meet someone face to face, so dedicated and committed to what he was doing — and a kind and positive person at that. I bought a copy of his book and asked him to sign it for my friend which he did graciously. I apologized for being a “groupie.” He said, “That’s O.K., groupies are my life.” I know what he meant since the work he is doing is costly and they need financial support from people who also believe in what they are doing.
Another interesting thing — I had no desire to join his group or go back to school to study archaeology. What I took away from that exciting encounter was a renewed dedication to my own curiosity. I, too, love finding out things.
This is a gift we can give our children — the love of pure learning and discovery. As parents we can model interest in the world around us and share exciting discoveries of our own. Nurture curiosity.
“The Lost Tomb: This is his incredible story of KV5 and its excavation” by Kent R. Weeks, Ph.D., Harper Collins, 1999.
This is a view of the Valley of the Kings in Thebes this February. The large opening into the hillside is an entrance to a tomb. People who have visited the area in the past will note the small number of tourists due to the aftermath of 9/11.
“Dr. Kent” Weeks as he is fondly called,
Susan Weeks, project artist, gluing together pot sherds. She works at the tomb entrance under the scrutiny of hordes of tourists. She was patient with them all including me. She talked a little to us while she worked and recommended a good tomb to visit.
(photos of Kent Weeks and Susan Weeks courtesy of the Theban Mapping website)