(On the plains near the River Terme, northern Turkey, 1247 BCE)

Penthesilea and her sister "Hippolyte-the-younger" rode their swift horses into a dense thicket of poplar trees on a small plateau. The location was above the river Thermodon, known today as Terme in what is now northern central Turkey. While in their mid-teens and hunting alone, the two Amazon girls were anxious to find game in that stand of trees. They remained a great distance from their 'Sisters' but had learned how to produce a piercing whistle to summon help if they needed it.

On that day they were determined to bring back a plentiful supply of food on their own. Tied tightly in a bundle and positioned behind them on their horses were the carcasses of several pheasants and rabbits, freshly killed that day to be presented as an evening meal to their clan. From observing the flaring of their horses' nostrils they silently detected there was a large animal in the area, perhaps a deer or a boar. Their horses would have reacted differently had it been a lion which were known to frequent the plains and plateau of the area. And if it had been their perennial enemy, male nomadic warriors, the girls would have smelled them themselves.

Penthesilea at seventeen was the older of the two by three years and had a stronger build. On the back of their horses they sat comfortably on their saddle blankets. A stout spear, two and a half meters long was securely pushed through the heavy bindings of this saddle for easy access. The lance had a wicked working end-an iron 'delta' point with a ridged center for piercing and lodging inside flesh and bone. Across one shoulder they carried their ever-present Scythian-style bows and attached to their horse's neck, leather quivers of bronze-tipped arrows bounced quietly along as they rode. Each girl wore tight wool leggings-the last year they were allowed to have them-eventually preferring the more bare-leg dress in their eighteenth year, when they were eligible to fight in battles.

It would be the year after that when they were allowed to participate in the reproductive rites of their tribe. These juvenile leggings were dyed with geometric patterns particular to the individual girl, repeating with vegetal colors in diagonal rows from the ankles to their thighs. Their upper body was covered by a loosely-fitting tunic-sleeveless and open from shoulder to shoulder. It moved freely with their actions and periodically exposed their breasts as they rode. This light garment was gray, green, or sometimes tan in color, like the foliage they needed to blend into for more camouflaged security. It was gathered close to their body only at the waist by a decorative belt which each girl had personally and lovingly wove, incorporating an array of colored stone beads.

The waist sash of each girl was subtly emblematic of their individual identity and sometimes included strands of colorful threads, feathers and even bronze or bone-carved rings. It would stay with them their whole life. It had been created in childhood with the instruction of the older women to insure it was individual and like no others, past or present. This decorative item they called "tah edra"would be buried with them in death and had the purpose of keeping their characteristics in the next world for all eternity.

Dangling now freely from Penthesilea's belt, incased in a leather sheath, was a small, symmetrically shaped bronze sword, not large enough to be a burden when moving, but of lethal measure and weight to be used in close, hand to hand combat or for the effective killing of animals and enemies at close range. The blade of this sword was kept razor sharp, and like all the weapons the women carried with them on horseback, it too, was ever-ready for access and lethal when employed through practice and agility.

The two girls, comfortable in their garb and quietly controlling their animals through the dense greenery, were anxious to encounter any of the game which was the usual fare and abundant for their staple diet. They were, by age, already skilled Amazons-confident and moving as one with their horses. That they had been trained to be constantly alert-ready for any unforeseen attack or opportunity to be the aggressor, was what kept their culture alive and formidable as opponents for generations. The Daughters of the Moon were forever on the watch for nomadic males, known to them since their birth simply as "Ma tahl," the 'enemy' in their Amazonian dialect. With these intruders they were prepared to fight to the death upon any encounter in the wild.

Suddenly, Hippolyte detected a rustling movement in the brush ahead of her. With a subtle hand signal she relayed this to Penthesilea and they rode foreword attempting to herd the creature closer between them. A large deer jumped out of its hiding place and began to crash through the bush. The girls could tell by its three-prong horns it was a male of two to four years, capable of putting up an entertaining chase and struggle. The running animal bolted out of the thick foliage and reacted by pure instinct. To slow its predators it leaped strongly and gracefully over entire bushes.

Penthesilea rode quickly in pursuit, jumping the bushes with her horse and all the while gaining on their prey. Soon she was close at its side, while her sister pressed the animal closer in tandem. With her mount at full gallop, Penthesilea took her sword free of its sheath and leaped from her horse onto the deer, avoiding its antlers and tackling it by the neck. She rolled with it gracefully into the brush, holding its horns upward with one hand and deftly slicing through its throat with her weapon.

Gripping the deer's horns now with both hands to prevent it animal from injuring her in its last moments, Penthesilea stayed clear of its powerful legs as they flayed uselessly in the air. In a matter of moments the warm animal was motionless, save for a few last spasms which drained it of its last bright-colored life force.

By nightfall the women back at the gathering of tents would be roasting its flesh along with the other game brought in that day by the small hunting parties. Around Penthesilea's closest circle of Sisters and elders, they would be dining on one of their favorite meals and giving thanks for their deliverance from hunger and their enemies once again. Every woman and girl in the nomadic society, however, was keenly aware that this serenity and its guaranteed contentment was never seen as a given. For each future day and night in the lives of the Daughters of the Moon presented the possibility of hunger, strife and warfare.

* * *

At the end of the long day on the Big Sur coast, the two researchers returned by car to Carmel, just south of Monterey shortly before nightfall. It was an area along Highway One known as 'the mouth of the valley,' where shops, art galleries, a bookstore, and a Chinese restaurant sprawled below a Comfort Inn motel. The professor had made arrangements for their rooms there for three nights.

While sitting in the restaurant, drinking a beer, and waiting for their Chinese dinner, the two men relaxed, totally exhausted at a table amid what seemed to be mostly tourists in transit up or down the coast. The professor removed a tightly sealed bag from his breast pocket. He began looking at the small pieces of metal inside. These they had gleaned through their efforts of screening the tomb floor and outside perimeter of it that day. The peculiar objects took the appearance of small, brownish grapes in his hand.

"Buttons," Nicasio observed, as the professor held out his treasures for him to inspect more closely.

The professor took them back, placed them on a napkin and poked about the spherical pieces of corroded castings with a pen.

"Yes. There's no doubt about that. Brass buttons. And Spanish, Pre-Colonial." The objects he held were half-inch diameter orbs. Each had a sturdy eyelet attached beneath, melded into its mass from the crude casting process. The configuration had the obvious purpose of being sewn onto a garment to be pressed through an adjoining eyelet for fastening panels of cloth or leather together.

That article of dress was well-known to both men as characteristic of the Spanish 'doublet'-a long, heavy shirt with full sleeves. It was traditionally worn by soldiers, sailors and gentlemen alike during much of the Renaissance Period in Europe. Nicasio was aware that these buttons would have been sewn close to each other, forming a line down the front center of the garment, in this case a heavy military uniform. Such buttons were intended to hold the clothing around the body securely, for warmth and protection.

"Yes. Precious buttons from Spanish doublets," the professor repeated. His voice was sounding now mo sleepy, in response to an overwhelmingly full day. "And you see there?"

He squinted his eyes behind his round, thick glasses, pointing to the smooth, unadorned nature of the curious objects.

"Yup. . ."

Nicasio caught himself in an uncontrolled yawn. He was equally relaxed from the beer the waiter had brought and the long day as well.

"Ok. . . they're very smooth. Not ornamental like some I've seen. So what do you make of that, professor?"

"Well, that's why I say 'precious.' They're exactly what we came to find down there today, my boy. You should be very proud of yourself."

Nicasio was silent, trying to concentrate through his exhaustion where he had seen such similar buttons before.

"These castings are consistent with the Spanish armor buckle I found on the floor of the tholos earlier," the professor continued, now morphing into his lecturing voice. "Brass cast . . . cross-braced and fairly crude . . . as you can see."

"Yes," Nicasio replied also squinting his tired eyes in the dim light.

"Both artifacts are styles in keeping with the dress of Spanish soldiers until around the first third of the seventeenth century. Couldn't be much later than that. I'm quite sure. Early sixteenth century . . . most definitely."

"Great!" The volume of Nicasio's voice indicated he was coming back to life. The professor's wise pinpointing of a time frame caused Nicasio's attention to rally. And it occured just as the Chinese waiter came out to take their orders.

The professor continued in a lower voice and only after the man left, insuring a strict air of confidentiality.

"After that time, Nicasio, Spanish military buttons became more ornamental. Probably the ones you are used to seeing at the missions . . . and that small fact alone gives us some tasty little parameters of time to work with here."

The professor rubbed his hands together excitedly, indicating somewhat of a breakthrough for them.

"Very nice," the younger scholar added. "And just how precise are you willing to make those parameters?"

"I'd say reasonably between 1550 and 1610."

Nicasio looked back at his longtime professor now more awake than ever. Though familiar with the legendary acumen of this mentor, he could still be astounded by the man's experience and specific knowledge at times.

* * *