The Mole People depicts the encounter of present-day archaeologists with a civilisation from southern Mesopotamia that has been extinct since Antiquity and has since developed without contact with other human populations. At the plot level, this civilisation is linked to the Sumerians, although, as we shall see, virtually nothing about it could be characterised as Mesopotamian (with the exception of the great building of the underground city, which is shaped like a ziggurat). Instead, the aesthetic is distinctly Egyptian. This is apparent from the first moments when the lost city is revealed to the archaeologists after a long trek into the mountainous interior. Thus, the first remains observed are walls sporting Egyptian hieroglyphs arranged in columns and presenting the typical formula of Egyptian offering scenes, introduced by the usual 'Words to be spoken by' (ḏd-mdw jn). Oval cartouches containing the names of the Egyptian pharaohs in inscriptions are visible on the same wall. Next to these remains is part of the shaft and capital of a typical Egyptian lotiform column.
The palace of the king of the vanished civilisation is equally Egyptian. On its walls, we see representations of Egyptian reliefs and paintings and one of the walls presents a mural reproduction of a papyrus from the Book of the Dead depicting the ritual of opening the mouth at the tomb gates, as it appears in numerous papyri whose vignettes represent chapter 17 of this compendium of religious literature.
The characterisation of this civilisation is also markedly orientalist, finding its greatest expression in the dance scene in the throne room of the palace. Another element in this respect has to do with the presence of monstrous beings whom the humans subject to slavery, an expression, typical of western orientalism, of the perceived tyranny of the oriental monarchs.

Author: Abraham I. Fernández Pichel