Caine put on gloves, chose a pick and tweezers to examine the seal and pull some of it off. He looked at it under a magnifier on a stand. “It seems to be a glue made from some kind of plant resin.” He switched to an X-Acto knife and methodically cut away the translucent substance from around the lid.

“What’s in there can’t be food. It’s glued shut,” said Remi.

“I don’t dare guess,” said Caine. “Archaeology is full of high hopes and pots that turn out to be full of mud.” He gripped the lid and twisted. “Interesting. I can turn the lid a little but not raise it. What it looks like is that he heated the pot a little, sealed it, and let it cool. That would produce a partial vacuum in it to keep the seal tight.”

“Just like canning,” said Remi. “Maybe it is food.”

“Now, I wonder how to get it open without breaking it.”

Sam said, “We could heat it a bit again to get the air inside to expand. Or we could take it up to a high altitude, where the air pressure is lower.”

“How could we warm it a bit without harming it?”

“If we do it evenly, the pot shouldn’t break,” said Sam.

“I agree,” Caine said.

“Another modification to the house: We put in a sauna,” said Remi.

They climbed the stairs to the second floor, and Sam entered the sauna, placed the pot on the wooden bench, then turned on the heat, slowly raising the temperature. At the end of ten minutes, he entered the sauna, wrapped the pot in a towel, and brought it out. He held the pot while Caine tried the lid. It came up and the pressure was equalized. Sam put the lid back on, and they all went back downstairs to the climate-controlled room.

“The big moment is coming,” said Remi.

“Don’t be disappointed if it’s just a mess of organic matter that used to be food,” said Caine. “Sometimes the best bits of information don’t look like much at first.”

Sam set the pot on the table. Caine, still wearing surgical gloves, took a deep breath and reached in. He pulled out a mass of what looked like dried weeds. “Packing material?”

He picked up a small flashlight and looked inside the pot. “Oh . . .” He stood up and peered down into the vessel. “Is it possible?”

“What is it?”

“It looks like a book,” he said. “A Mayan book.”

“Can you get it out?”