“There is a name!” Shawn said. “And a date.” He rotated the ossuary so that the script that had been facing him was now turned toward Sana. She studied it, recognizing only the Roman numerals of a date: DCCCXV, which she figured out was 815. She slowly raised her eyes to Shawn’s. It seemed all their effort had been for naught.

“Oh, no!” she cried. “The damn thing is from the Dark Ages!”

Shawn smiled slyly. “Are you sure?” he asked teasingly.

Confused, she looked back at the Roman numerals and again translated them into numbers. It still came out to 815. She was going to have to convince Shawn that they had failed. As she’d said the artifact was obviously from the Dark Ages.

Then Shawn pointed at the Roman numerals and asked, “Can you see the Latin letters that follow the Roman numerals?”

Sana looked back at the date. After peering at the maze of scratches, three letters emerged. “Yes, I see them. It looks like AUC.”

“It is exactly AUC,” Shawn said triumphantly. “It stands for ab urbe condita, referring to the supposed founding of Rome in 753 BC, according to the Gregorian calendar, which wasn’t introduced until AD 1582.”

“I’m confused,” Sana said.

“Don’t be. Romans didn’t use BC or AD. They used AUC. To convert from the ancient Roman calendar to our Gregorian, you have to subtract seven hundred fifty-three years.”

Sana did the subtraction in her head. “Then the date is AD 62.”

“Correct. What I’m guessing is Simon Magus believed the Virgin Mary died in AD 62.”

“I suppose that’s a reasonable possibility,” Sana said, nodding her head while thinking back to her catechism.

“I would say so,” Shawn said. “Assuming Mary had her first child, Jesus, in 4 BC, and that she was about fifteen years old, then she would have been eighty-four at her death. That’s certainly long-lived for the first century, but it is possible. Look, there’s also a name.”

“I don’t see one,” Sana said, returning her gaze to the tangle of scratches around the date.

“Here. It’s in Aramaic, just above the Roman numerals.”

“I truly cannot see any letters.”

“I’ll draw them for you when we get back to the hotel.”

“Great! But what is the name?”

“It’s Maryam.”

“Good Lord!” Sana whispered. Something she never thought might come to pass was seemingly happening.

“Good choice of words,” Shawn said happily. “Let’s get this thing back to the hotel so we can celebrate.” He gradually worked the box out to the area beneath the glass deck. It was difficult because he couldn’t stand upright.

“What about the tools and the buckets?” Sana asked. “If I carry them, I’m not going to be able to help you carry the ossuary.”