some of these enigmatic artifacts are still on display, or mysteriously missing from public view. The Osirion At Abydos The Osirion or Osireon is an ancient Egyptian temple located at Abydos, to the rear of the temple of Seti I. It is an integral part of Seti I's funeral complex and is built to resemble an 18th Dynasty Valley of the Kings tomb. It was discovered by archaeologists Flinders Petrie and Margaret Murray who were excavating the site in 1902 and 1903. View of the core of the Osirion The Osirion was originally built at a considerably lower level than the foundations of the temple of Seti, who ruled from 1294 to 1279 BC. While there is disagreement as to its true age, Peter Brand says it "can be dated confidently to Seti's reign", despite the fact that it is situated at a lower depth than the structures nearby, that it features a very different architectural approach, and that it is frequently flooded with water which would have made carving it impossible had the water level been the same at the time of construction. Another view of the core of the Osirion Strabo, who visited the Osireion in the first century BC, said that it was constructed by Ismandes, or Mandes (Amenemhet III), the same builder as the Labyrinth at Hawara. ‘Above this city [Ptolemaïs] lies Abydus, where is the Memnonium, a royal building, which is a remarkable structure built of solid stone, and of the same workmanship as that which I ascribed to the Labyrinth, though not multiplex; and also a fountain which lies at a great depth, so that one descends to it down vaulted galleries made of monoliths of surprising size and workmanship.’ Massive quartzite lintel with horizontal saw cut Whether the Labyrinth in fact exists at Hawara is unknown; as any subterranean structures there are now flooded with silty water, and the authorities have prohibited any exploration, it will take a very enlightened government official to allow investigation. In recent months another “off limits” site, namely the Osiris Shaft on the Giza Plateau has been opened to visitors if they pay a special and quite costly fee. This will be examined later in the book thanks to our access in March 2018. Some sort of storage tank to the left of the main complex The main question about the Osirion, like any megalithic and clearly pre-dynastic structure is what was the function? Some of the clues come from looking at the whole site, and not just what is open to the public. On the left side of the main complex there is a limestone chamber, with very tight fitting blocks and a large entryway that leads to the main part of the Osirion. As well, from this chamber there are 2 tunnels that gently slope upward with beveled roofs. My initial thought was that the tunnels were the secret entryways into the Osirion for initiates. As the main complex was built underground on purpose with a beveled roof of massive blocks, it could have been a secret temple of some kind. One of the 2 sloping tunnels However, it becomes clear in places like Egypt and Peru that the most ancient constructions were first for pragmatic use, and then later cultures would use them for more spiritual purposes. As the Osirion usually has water in it, percolating up from the ground, I started to think that it was originally a water reservoir, as the area it is found in is usually quite dry. Note the arched tunnel connecting the pool with the main complex The fact that water wells up was clearly part of the design, and while I was pondering this Jason, one of our tour guests and a very practical “hands on” thinker came up with a brilliant idea. The Osirion was a sealed unit, and as the water rose to fill it up, the excess water would move into the tunnel and into the pool. From there it would further rise up the two slanting tunnels and could be used at the upper entrance areas. This is the theory I am going with at present. The question of why such huge granite uprights were used in the main area is puzzling, but with yearly visits to the location I am hoping for more insights. Huge vertical posts inside the Osirion Thanks to geologists like Suzan Moore, we have been able to figure out that the large vertical and horizontal monoliths were brought from the Aswan quarry some 320 kilometers to the south, and that the perimeter wall, with pillowed surfaces is quartzite, likely from the Red Mountain quarry near Cairo, some 550 kilometers to the north. Why the need for 2 different types of stone from such distant quarries is puzzling; was there some kind of energetic aspect of these two types of rock that were required? Did they in fact energize the water in some way to make it more beneficial for agriculture? Standard academics insist that the Osirion was either the tomb for the deity Osiris, or even a “symbolic” tomb. Who would go through so much effort to make something that was simply symbolic? View of the horizontal and vertical monoliths Attempts to quarry one of the vertical columns