Part 2

"Good lord", Giles breathed at his first sight of the artifact that was found at the park. The head of the Anthropology department called him to ask for his assistance in deciphering the carvings.

"I haven't seen anything like this have you?" Dr. Renald asked Giles.

"N-no, I haven't." Giles walked around the excavation site looking at the massive circular object. They hadn't been able to find any of the symbols in their research.

Only Willow had found a vague reference to gods coming through a gate in ancient days. It was supposedly even before the demons roamed this reality.

"It almost looks like Egyptian Hieroglyphs but not quite. See this carving here." The Dean pointed out. "It kind of looks like the symbol in the Mayan glyphs but this here is different. The symbol never had this part. It's just a little off from the symbols that I recognize. I thought maybe it was the same symbols just the carver took liberties but they didn't make sense when I tried that."

Giles was thinking that it more closely resembled the demon language of Amtuth. They were the oldest known demons to have come to this reality. Unfortunately their language was lost to time. Just a few scattered examples existed. He had been lucky enough to see it because his great grandmother had one of the known examples from when she was a watcher. He'd look at his example when he got back.

"May I?" Giles asked Dr. Renald as he indicated his paper and pencil.

"Of course. The students have already done rubbings on this side. I brought copies along for you. If you'd like when they complete the other side I could give you copies of those or if you don't want to wait you are welcome to make your own rubbings."

"That would be great. I'll just make a few rubbings to research until I receive your copies." Giles smiled as we walked around the massive circle. "Do you think it stood upright originally?"

Dr. Renald bent down to show Giles scrapings. "We aren't sure but I think this would indicate that it indeed stood upright. Also I took a small scraping and sent it to a lab in LA. The results are inconclusive. It isn't made up of any known material that they compared it to. They are sending it to a larger and better equipped lab for further studies.

Giles once again wondered if this circle somehow was connected to demons.

Giles pointed to some triangular shapes that were interspersed along the outer circle. "Have you any theories as to what these are for?" Giles bent down and ran his gloved hand over it.

"I haven't really paid any attention to those. I was more interested in the carved symbols on the inner circle." Dr. Renald admitted. "Do you know what they are?"

Giles felt all around it. "It seems there is a mechanism of some kind. It probably lets the triangles move up and down. But for what purpose I don't know. Something to think about though."

"Do you think it would actually work after all this time? We can't date it of course as there is no carbon but from what I can tell it is easily eons old. Maybe older than the pyramids."

"Possibly, quite possibly. As for it working, I think it highly probable that if someone can work out how it works the mechanics look operational."

"Dean Renald! Larry found something. It looks like it has some of the same carvings. It's broken though." Shelly yelled from outside the excavation grid.

Dr. Renald indicated for Giles to follow him as he carefully made his way over to where Shelly and Larry were waiting instructions. "See this pedestal thing is broken here." Shelly leaned down to show the Dean.

It was still half buried in the earth but what was visible had symbols and they were plainly displayed. Giles pulled out one of the rubbings that he had just finished and compared it.

"It looks like the outer circle and the inner circle both have the same type carvings as the other artifact. Which means they are connected in some way. Maybe this is like the Rosetta Stone. Once you figure out one of these symbols this translates what is on the other." Dr. Renald mumbled as he ran his hands over it.

Giles watches as Dr. Renald, Shelly and Larry carefully dig around the new discovery slowly revealing the rest of it.

Dr. Renard turns to Giles, "Would you mind lending a hand? Let's see if we can stand this up."

Giles jumps down into the pit and grabs a side. Buffy and Willow arrive to see them struggling with the weight of the artifact. Buffy rolls her eyes and whispers to Willow, "Amateurs."

Buffy jumps down into the pit and stands near Giles. "Need help?"

Giles smiles over at Buffy, "Yes. Thank you, Buffy."

Before she can grab an empty side Larry hands her some rubber gloves. "So the oil from your hand won't damage it."

Shelly looked around Larry at Buffy, "Or if this thing has microscopic organisms you don't really want it getting under your skin."

"Eww." Buffy slipped on the gloves and grabbed an empty area by Giles. With her Slayer strength the device is easily set upright.

"What is it?" Willow asks as she makes her way into the pit. "Hi, Dr. Renard."

"Miss Rosenberg, did you come to see what it was that you found? I believe you've surpassed your extra credit points with this discovery."

Willow looked sheepishly over at Giles and Buffy. They had decided to have Willow let the head of the Department know about the find since she was taking an Anthropology class and knew the Dean.

"Oh sure I find it but Willow gets the extra credit." Buffy teased Willow. "You know you can make it up to me by helping me with that Psych paper." Buffy gave Willow puppy dog eyes and a pout.

"I was gonna help you any way, Buff."

"You mean I ruined a good guilt ticket on something that you were already gonna do?"

"'Fraid so."

 Buffy hooked her arm through Willow's. "So, what is it that WILLOW found?"

"We still don't know. But Larry found this which seems to connect with the other artifact that Willow found."

Willow leaned down and grabbed a pair of gloves. "May I?" She asked the Dean before touching the two circles.

Dr. Renald nodded and watched curiously as Willow traced the symbols. Willow furrowed her brow and tried to move the circles. "Huh. They don't move. I thought it might be a calendar."

"A calendar?"

"Yeah, like the Mayan calendar. These were like constellations in the sky and when you moved them to correspond with the night sky it would be your calendar."