New music from beneath the sands of Egypt
In an attempt to make the moment even more special, I felt that some quiet music might add to the occasion. Unfortunately modern archaeologists from Egypt, America, Europe, and elsewhere are unable to reliably reconstruct the long-lost melodic funeral dirges that accompanied the rites of the pharaonic dead. This being the case, I chose to foster a somewhat calming and dignified atmosphere and selected to accompany our work three Beethoven sonatas softly broadcast from a portable tape player. The melodies of the Moonlight , Pathetique , and Apposionata sonatas served as a kind of tribute, although clearly European, to a tomb from a mostly extinct culture. That description of the opening of tomb KV60 in King's Valley, near Luxor, Egypt in 1989 is taken from Beneath the Sands of Egypt: Adventures of an Unconventional Archaeologist by Donald Ryan. From the 16th to 11th century BCE tombs were constructed for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom in the King's Valley,