Dear Reader

Twenty-eight thousand years ago, a young boy walks with his companion, leaving tracks in the mud, side by side, within Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Cave, in southern France. Wolf or dog, that is the question, but the prints tell a story of close human-canine association at an early time. This is the dawn of the Gravettian period, and not long before our mission back in time begins. Where we find Lhen-na', a young woman of the Rabbit Clan. Her mate has died. She is alone in a savage land.

We are with Jason in book 1, FIRST CONTACT: Stepping forward on the path, I knocked a rock loose. It clattered out from under foot. Wheeling around in a low crouch, She, wild, grasping the long shaft of a spear... I backed away.

On their journey: Here was a girl who I judged to be no more than fourteen years old who was a master of her world. Who took everything that came her way without emotion. A girl who was prepared for the worst...had lived it...and yet prepared with open pride for the arrival of her very own child. It had me almost in tears... We had heard wolves crying back and forth during the day. She was not concerned. She explained that these wolves were familiar with humans. How she knew this I could not tell and she could only say that, “Wolves talk about humans."

That excerpt takes place on day 5 of their journey in the locale of present day Mende, France. Jason found her and her mate near present day Altier, about a thirty mile trek from the Chauvet Cave. What tragedy had befallen them that forced them to leave? How he was wounded...and died...the circumstances, we do not know, but this was my inspiration and how I placed them in that time, inspired as well by the boy and his companion in the cave. Wolf or dog, what we have come to call "man's best friend." The domestication of the wolf, how it began...a wolf pup taken from a den and raised by those humans...keen of hearing and sense of smell...and loyalty to the clan, and plenty of bones to gnaw, cleaning up the discards from the hunt, a symbiotic relationship before such a word may have even been a thing.

Earlier in the book: Becky (Jason's Becky, anthropologist in Kenya, East Africa) was saying to her students, “So you see, after the last glaciation, during the Holocene warm up, Africa entered into what we call the African humid period..." Hands were raised and there were questions from the students. Becky then continued. “And so this wetter period came to an end between 6,000 and 5,000 years ago, during what is known as the Piora Oscillation. The level of Lake Turkana dropped 55 meters and…”

“55 meters, that's a lot!” exclaimed one of the students.

“It is a lot, and just prior to the big dry up the Sahara was much like East Africa today, with most of the same species and some of the first Pastoral Neolithic peoples...who were hunter-gatherers and then became some of the first people in Africa to domesticate cattle and goats, and probably sheep too...”

So, domestication! The human journey... Our journey! And dropping back in time some four to five thousand years, the Holocene is gaining momentum. We find ourselves in what has come to be called "the fertile crescent," and one of the geographical regions of the earliest domestication of plants. The women, as they have done for milenia, grind the fruits of their gathering and banter back and forth in their way, their infants at their backs.

And when the wind picked up, as it had done so many times in the past, some of the grain was scattered before it was ground and stored away in sacks. And the people came seasonally to this place, as their ancestors had done, as the wild grain proliferated in that place. They came, and the best was gathered close in around that place, only the biggest and the best. And the grain plants became more profuse, and the women noticed and began to hold some back and scatter it more expertly than the wind had done. So it was, that there came a time when the people stayed in that place, and the menfolk hunted less and less and took note of the abundance of feed, and came the idea to drive that which they had hunted, close in, where the feed was best. Thus arose agriculture and animal husbandry. Of course, similar scenarios played out in other areas around the world, at different times, and with species endemic to those regions. And as they say, "The rest is history!" Which brings to mind a fascinating book on that very subject: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond.

All for now, but lots more to come. Domestication and what we call civilization, and all happening just after the last glacial maximum, what we call the Holocene. Why then, and not during previous cycles of warming and cooling? More on that in future newsletters as we go forward on our "journey through the fabric of time."

Navigate to all 3 books of the Trilogy at: https://kendallwilliamsauthor.com/ and Click here, to go to Goodreads for some awesome reviews.

And lots more in the Newsletter Archive at: https://kendall-williams-author.kit.com/posts

Quote from Ruth Benedict, anthropologist: "The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human difference."

Until next time, be well and safe journeys.

Sincerely,

Kendall Williams, Author

​kendallwilliamsauthor.com​

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