The Mystery of the Tobacco and Cocaine Mummies – A Tale of Phoenician Travels to the New World

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There and Back Again – A Neolithic Tale

38.000 v. Chr. – Ein Roman des Lebens in der Eiszeit

The Expert Builders of Stonehenge

38,000 BC – A Novel Of Life During The Ice Age

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Tourists Through Time – The Search for Spiritual and Intellectual Beginnings in Western Europe

Prologue and First Chapter from :The Mystery of the Tobacco and Cocaine Mummies – A Tale of Phoenician Travels to the New World

Prologue
The Atlantic Ocean – 1626 BC.
Two Years after the Eruption of the Volcano on Thera
(also known as Santorini Island, Greece).
From the Ship’s Log of Dan the Navigator – A Canaanite Sea Trader from Kemet Deshret (also known as Northern Egypt):

The gods are with us! That is the only possible explanation for our survival. Great Baal’s lightning and thunder have ceased and the vast Al-Atlantic’s waters have finally calmed. The storm has taken us an inconceivable distance into the West. My observation of the stars tells me that this is true.
Our ship is still intact and we can once again raise our square sail. But to what advantage? The ocean’s currents only push us further away from the Middle Sea and our homeland. We are lost in the Al-Atlantic’s endless grey and blue waters.
How did we come to be in these dire straits? King Semqen sent us from Avaris – his capital city. Avaris lies in the lands nestled within the mouth of Kemet Deshret’s great black river – the Aur. The city is in urgent need of food.
Two years ago, a terrible deluge from the sea flooded our lands and uncountable numbers of our people were killed. Blackened skies brooded over Kemet for days and days.
Lamentably, the last two growing seasons have been disheartening. The farmers’ crops have either yielded miserable harvests or their plants have not grown at all.
Fleets of our ships have had to travel further and further west in hopes of trading for food.
Twenty-two days ago, with our fleet of ten ships, we sailed past Calpe – that towering rock which guards the narrow strait leading into the unpredictable waters of the Al- Atlantic Ocean.
Alas, previous fleets had already contacted the friendly tribes living on the Southern and Northern shores of the Middle Sea and had bartered for their surpluses of foodstuffs.
We have no option other than to travel further north and south along the shores facing the Al-Atlantic.
As it was agreed upon, when we reached the open ocean, part of the fleet turned towards the Northern shores, while four ships joined mine in sailing with the ocean’s current south along Alkebulan’s Northwestern coast.
More caution must be taken when trading with Alkebulan’s tribes – stories abound which warn that not all of them are friendly. These tribes live on the mainland near the
mouths of rivers which empty into the Al-Atlantic. They are known to trade dried fish for the olive oil and the colorfully glazed pottery and jewelry made by our people. We cannot spare our much-desired grain to trade for other foodstuffs.
We had heard of one tribe living several sailing days to the South which dries the meat of sea-snails. When eaten, these snails turn your lips purple-black. The snails taste good when prepared with herbs and they fill the stomach – that is what is most important.
Seven days ago, with a waning moon looking down upon us, we beached our ships on an island near the mouth of the Snail Tribe’s river. Fortunately, when we contacted the tribe’s people, they were friendly enough. One of the sailors whom my friend – Tammuz the Navigator – had hired, was able to speak with the leader of the Snail Tribe. The members of my crew, both the Canaanites and the black-skinned sailors from Southern Kemet, do not know the languages of the West.
Tammuz’s man was able to make an excellent trade agreement for the dried snail-meat. We did not actually see the shells of these animals, so I cannot say if they are the same sea-snails from which our people extract the purple dye.
On the morning when we had planned to return to the Middle Sea, black clouds were sighted in the distance. Suddenly, the winds of a violent storm arose and ferocious
waves swept our ship off the island’s sandy beach. Great Baal was filled with a terrible anger. For five long days, the waves crashed around us. Howling roars of thunder and terrifying flashes of lightning allowed us little sleep.
Somehow, our mast did not break and we were not carried down into the ocean’s depths. Though most of us are still trembling with exhaustion, thankfully, no one was swept overboard or greatly injured. This morning, Baal and his storm finally departed from these waters and the waves have stopped battering our ship.
We have not seen the other ships since the storm began.
At least, we have food. Drinking water is a problem though. We have filled all our empty jars with rainwater collected from our sail. Perhaps we have enough to see us through to the next full moon – but then what?
We are adrift and alone.

Part One: The Scrolls

Chapter 1

Paris, France – Present Day.
“Samantha, did you know that the Egyptian pharaoh, Ramses the Great, actually had tobacco leaves stuffed into his legs and body when he was mummified?” Lucien asked with his nose buried in his laptop. As usual, he was lost in a world which had last existed thousands of years ago.
Samantha and Lucien were the bestselling authors of three novels based upon the ancient past. They were currently doing research in preparation for their next project – a novel about the Phoenicians and the ancient Egyptians.
The couple were enjoying the summer’s sun on their plant-strewn balcony overlooking the Seine River. Their apartment was on the top floor of the Elsieten furniture warehouse in the Western suburbs of Paris. Elsieten was their online business specializing in selling high-end reproductions of antique European furniture. It was now a multi-million
Euro company which had thousands of clients around the world. These days, with the help of their savvy employees, Elsieten mostly ran itself, and Samantha and Lucien had more time available to pursue their mutual passion – discovering information about humanity’s distant past. They enjoyed uncovering plausible theories about how humans had lived during the eras known as the Paleolithic, the Neolithic, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. For several years, they had been traveling to ancient European archeological sites and researching information on humanity’s intellectual progress prior to when history was commonly written down. Recently, they had begun looking into the Bronze Age and early Iron Age civilizations which had existed on the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
“How could an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, who lived centuries before Columbus, possibly have tobacco leaves within his remains?” Samantha asked. “I mean, tobacco is an indigenous plant of the Americas. The earliest time that it should have been known about in the Old World was sometime after Columbus had returned from his voyages at the end of the 15th Century AD. We are talking about 2,700 years earlier than that.”
“Well, the finding of actual tobacco-leaf particles within the tissues of Ramses the Great’s mummy basically rules out the theory of contamination from modern-day smoking,” Lucien commented. “I have been reading about a theory which proposes that the Phoenicians visited the Americas. It suggests that they brought dried tobacco and coca leaves back from their travels and traded these leaves to the Pharaohs. The Egyptian priests had probably figured out that tobacco acts as an insecticide and had used it to preserve mummies. I am sure that the medicinal properties of the coca leaf would not have eluded those priests for long. There are mummies, from circa 1000 BC to 900 BC, who show evidence of having cocaine in their tissues. The coca plant is indigenous only to South America – so someone must have been trading tobacco and coca leaves to the Pharaohs. Ancient Egypt was primarily a river civilization. Egyptian sailors were not known for their skills in sailing across the Mediterranean Sea, let alone the Atlantic Ocean. The Egyptians sailed magnificent river boats but they mostly hired Phoenician sailors using Byblos boats for sea-trading.”
Samantha perused the internet. “Studies on the mummy of Ramses the Great found that he actually had red hair – which was a common trait among the Canaanite people who were living in the Levant – in the area of today’s Lebanon. The people from that area were named the ‘Phoenicians’ by the Greeks, but they called themselves ‘Canaanites.’ They were the most successful seafarers on the Mediterranean Sea for centuries.”
Lucien nodded. “That makes the Phoenicians the most likely candidates for attempting travel across the Atlantic Ocean. I’ve seen quite a few images showing examples of Phoenician Byblos boats. Variations of this type of sailing vessel were used for centuries. It was a remarkable Mediterranean trade-ship – usually outfitted with eight or more oars on each side and with a square sail. In 2008, a replica was made of this type of ship using traditional methods. In 2019, the ship was sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, from Africa to Florida, and demonstrated that such a vessel could have survived a transatlantic voyage.”
Samantha nodded as she finished reading an article about the 2019 transatlantic sailing expedition, and then she looked for more information about Ramses II. “I am looking for any other evidence – besides him having red-hair – which suggests that Ramses the Great’s ancestors were originally from Canaan. Let’s see, this article states that Ramses II – or Ramesses II –lived from 1303 BC to 1213 BC. He is commonly known as Ramses the Great. Egypt was quite prosperous during his 66-year reign. Soon after he came to power, Ramses II fought the Hittites and seized control of the Phoenician territories. Here it says that Ramses II’s Canaanite descent may have predisposed him to having had good trade- relationships with the autonomous city-states that bordered the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.”
Surprised by the article’s last sentence, Samantha stopped reading to ask, “Wasn’t Phoenicia a single nation?”
Lucien shook his head. “The Phoenician people were citizens of a number of independent city-states which had been established in the Levant over the centuries.”
Samantha laughed as she read further. “Did you know that the mummy of Ramses II developed a fungal infection and in 1974 his remains had to be flown to Paris for treatment? He actually had to be issued a passport!”
Lucien chuckled amusedly. “Were they able to cure him?”
“Well – yes,” Samantha answered. “Besides having a fungal infection, the mummy was infested with insects. Fortunately, the French scientists involved in the mummy’s restoration project were able to clear up both problems.”
Lucien nodded and opened one of the many books that he had scattered on his desk, “Okay. So, Ramses the Great was a pharaoh with possible Canaanite origins who ruled Egypt in the 13th century BC. By that time, having a ruler who had descended from a non-indigenous people would have been nothing new to the Egyptians. To give you an example, during the 17th and 16th centuries BC, Egypt is known to have had several rulers – called the ‘Hyksos’ – who were of foreign descent. The Hyksos Kings were Canaanites and Nubians who ruled Northern Egypt on and off from circa 1650 BC to 1550 BC. The city of Avaris, in the Nile Delta, was the Hyksos’ capital. Excavations at Avaris have uncovered numerous grain silos and two million buried amphora-jars – which tells us a lot about the volume of sea trade that was going on in the Nile Delta area during the Hyksos’ reign. Apparently, the Hyksos people had been immigrating and trading in the Eastern Nile Delta region for at least a century prior to them having taken over as rulers. Drought and famine were the most likely reasons why the Northern Egyptians were willing to accept new leadership. The Hyksos were probably able to assume power because of their vast sea-trade network. They simply could offer the people living around the Nile Delta better access to food than the native Egyptian kings could. Unfortunately, very little information still exists concerning Northern Egypt’s history during that time period. Only traces of the papyrus scrolls written while the Hyksos rulers were in power have survived the wet conditions of the Nile Delta and Egypt’s subsequent wars.”
“Why did the Hyksos rulers leave Egypt?” Samantha asked.
Lucien scanned his notebook. “The Hyksos were ousted by the Southern Egyptian Pharaoh Ahmose I in 1550 BC – who then made Thebes the capital of Egypt. However, 250 years later, around 1295 BC, Ramses the Great’s grandfather, Ramses I, took over as the king of Egypt. Ramses I ruled Egypt for only seventeen months before he died. Then his son, Seti I, became Egypt’s king. Ramses the Great grew up in the palace that Seti I built in Avaris – the same city where the Hyksos’ kings had ruled from. When Ramses the Great came into power, he built his capital, ‘Pi-Ramesses,’ approximately one mile north of Avaris. Anyway, the first Ramses, and all of his descendants, worshiped Set – the god of storms – who was similar to the Canaanite god, ‘Baal.’ Set was also the chief god worshiped by the Hyksos rulers three centuries previously. This god was despised by the Southern Egyptian rulers.”
“Okay – this material about the Phoenicians and the Egyptians is really illuminating,” Samantha commented as she wrote down some additional notes. Then she smiled and asked half-teasingly, “So, which pre-Columbian civilization in the Americas do you hold responsible for collaborating in this ancient drug dealing operation?”
“Oh, most definitely the Olmecs,” Lucien replied. “They lived in the area of today’s Mexico from circa 1,600 BC to 400 BC. Of all the people who were living in Mesoamerica during that time, the Olmecs were the most powerful and innovative. As I said before, Phoenician sailing vessels were sturdy enough to have made their way across the ocean. It is very possible that the Atlantic’s currents could have brought some of those ships from Western Africa to Mesoamerica.”
“The Olmecs were the people who carved the statues of giant heads – right?” Samantha inquired as she reviewed a website on pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. “It says here that they built their first city, now called ‘San Lorenzo,’ on an island within the Coatzacoalcos River. That’s similar to how the cities of Pi-Ramesses and Avaris were laid out in the Nile Delta.”
“Exactly!” Lucien exclaimed. “Coincidentally, some of the Olmec colossal heads and pictorial reliefs have features which resemble Black- African and Semitic peoples rather than Mesoamerican Indians. A few of the faces were carved with hawk-like, hooked noses and some have beards. Also, the Olmec colossal heads show men wearing tight-fitting skullcaps similar to the Kushite crowns of ancient Nubia. I have a theory that a group of Phoenician and Nubian sailors landed in Mesoamerica accidently. A few of them must have stayed there and established themselves as rulers of the indigenous people. This could have been as early as the 17th century BC. However, some of those sailors must have returned to the Eastern Mediterranean. Eventually, a trade network may have been established between the Olmecs and the Egyptians. It just makes sense when you look at some of the similarities between the cities of Avaris, Pi-Ramesses, and San Lorenzo. All of them were built on islands in river flood-plains. Similar hydraulic technology was used in all those cities to bring in freshwater. Both the Egyptian and Olmec cultures made their monumental buildings and statues using large stones transported from great distances to their cities and both appear to have aligned their most impressive buildings to star constellations. Other Mesoamerican cultures of that time used mostly wattle and daub methods to erect even their large buildings. Also, the Olmec civilization used an alphabetical script which shows similarities to Phoenician writing. Both the Olmecs and Egyptians built mortuary pyramids as well. All these innovations just suddenly appeared with the Olmec culture in Mesoamerica, whereas it took the civilizations living near the Eastern Mediterranean Sea centuries to develop them.”
“Okay, but the Olmecs don’t appear to have had metal-work technology,” Samantha pointed out. “Wouldn’t the Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Nubians have taken this technology with them across the ocean? We know that all of their cultures relied heavily upon bronze and eventually iron.
“Not necessarily,” Lucien replied. “Few people living in the second millennium BC would have been trained in metallurgy – even in Egypt. Such experts would have been unlikely candidates for long and dangerous ocean voyages. Also, if I had superior bronze or iron weapons, and I was part of a small group of people in a foreign land, I would probably want to keep that technology a secret.”
Samantha nodded. “I see your point. Assuming that your premise is correct and that people from the Eastern Mediterranean taught the Olmecs how to build mortuary pyramids – why? I mean, by the time that the Olmec civilization began erecting monumental structures, Egyptian royalty had stopped using pyramids as tombs. Why would people go across the Atlantic Ocean and resume the practice of building pyramids?”
“I am not sure,” Lucien conceded. “Maybe it was simply that the pyramids of Egypt were seen as awe-inspiring symbols of the power of kings by the sailors who traveled to Mesoamerica. Maybe they were willing to give technological and agricultural knowledge to the ancient Mesoamerican people in exchange for being worshiped as gods or kings. Those former sailors may have decreed that the colossal carved heads and pyramids be created as representations of their royal power.”
“What about the Olmec’s writing?” Samantha asked. “I read that Mayan writing dates back to around 300 BC. It was a pictorial script – similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics – not an alphabetical script.”
“Actually, the Olmecs used both alphabetic and pictorial methods of writing,” Lucien stated after perusing some information in one of his notebooks. “I have been researching the writing-styles developed by early civilizations. There is a theory which states that complex pictorial writing was used throughout the ancient world by royals and elites to exchange more sophisticated ideas among themselves. It was a way to limit who would have access to that knowledge. Phoenician alphabetic writing was probably developed around 2000 BC by working people – including traders – not elites. Because alphabetic written communication was relatively easy to learn, it was used more generally among people from various professions and trades.”
“So, a greater percentage of the Phoenician people were literate,” Samantha confirmed.
“Yes, and their more prevalent literacy helped the Phoenicians to develop a wide array of technological advances in a relatively short period of time,” Lucien explained. “The elite Egyptians were more secretive. Their complex writing was a method of controlling who would have access to their scientific and technical knowledge. This practice was used to hold power over their people. The Mayans did this as well. The adverse consequence of restricting literacy was that the advances made by the Egyptians and Mayans were slower to develop over the centuries compared to those made by the Phoenicians. Also, much of the knowledge of the Egyptian and Mayan elites was lost when they were killed in wars and their civilizations collapsed. In contrast, many of the technical advances made by the Phoenicians were still in use long after their civilization was destroyed. By making many of their innovations widely available to the people of their numerous colonies across the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, the Phoenicians’ ship-building technology and sailing techniques, and most notably, their widely-adopted, alphabetic-writing system survived the destruction of their trading empire and culture. In fact, variations of their writing methods are still used throughout the world today.”
“Our research for this novel is really coming along.” Samantha said as she stood up and stretched. Then she walked over and curled up on Lucien’s lap. “However, I am interested in pursuing another line of investigation right now,” she murmured seductively as she nuzzled Lucien’s neck.
“Tell me more about what you have in mind,” Lucien whispered in Samantha’s ear as he picked her up and headed towards their bedroom.

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First Chapter from: There and Back Again – A Neolithic Tale

Chapter 1

Stonehenge, England (The Stone Temple of the Sun and the Moon – before the era when the tall sarsen stones were erected.): 3065 BC (Located nearby is the novel’s village of Aven.).

“Greetings Brigo!” Jan called out jubilantly as he left the river’s shore and walked over to his friend and fellow sky-watcher. He clasped Brigo’s forearms and said, “I have amazing news! It has taken me years, but I have finally figured out a way to estimate the size of the earth.” Smiling, Jan stepped back and looked fondly at his friend. “There is so much to tell you – and more to show you – but all that can wait until tomorrow. After all this time, I am truly happy to see you again. It appears that life in Aven has kept you in good health.”

Astounded, not only by Jan’s news, but by his unexpected presence, Brigo raised his eyebrows as he studied his friend’s excited face. He chuckled and – unable to think of anything appropriately witty – he modestly acknowledged Jan’s words with a nod and then he politely responded, “You are also looking well, and yes, it has been a very long time.”

Brigo had been chopping wood in front of his home when he had been summoned to the river in order to greet a visiting sky-watcher. When he recognized Jan standing on the river’s bank, nothing could have surprised him more. Brigo had not seen the renowned celestial expert from Carnac in twelve years. His friend still looked very fit and his deeply tanned face made it clear that he had not been spending all of his time watching the stars from the darkened entrances of sacred tombs.

Jan told Brigo a bit about his voyage from Carnac across the Ocean Father to the Great Island. Jan had come up the river to Aven in what looked like a small version of a Byblos boat. Brigo had not seen one of those sailing vessels since the last time that he had been in Carnac. Suddenly, the last twelve years floated away and memories took their place: Brigo had been standing with Jan at the Ocean Father’s shore bidding farewell to Hote, their friend from Kemet. Together, the two men had watched as Hote’s boat had disappeared into the horizon’s mists. A few days afterwards, Brigo had left for home with a grain-trader from Aven.

Brigo’s curiosity stirred as his thoughts returned to the vessel before him. “Speaking of voyaging on the Ocean Father, where did you get the boat?”

“I built it,” Jan said in all seriousness and with no hint of bragging in his voice.
Brigo smiled, recalling that his friend had always been so forthright. Thirteen years previously, Jan had been the leader of a team of celestial experts from the Ocean Father’s realm who had taken off for Kemet. They had traveled south on the Ocean Father, along the coast, and then the boat had turned east and they had sailed across the Middle Sea to Kemet – unsure if they would ever see their homes again. There had been six of them – all adepts in studying the sun’s movements: Jan and his two colleagues, Tigo and Manu, were from Carnac, the esteemed center of celestial knowledge. The youngest of them, Nake, had come from the coastal land near the Great Southern Estuary – far to the south of Carnac. And then there had been Worad and himself from Aven.

Brigo’s smile turned bittersweet – he wondered what had happened to Worad – his friend since boyhood. When it had come time for their return journey to the Ocean Father’s shores, Worad and Tigo had remained in Kemet to continue their research. Worad had also fallen in love. He had married a woman named “Itet,” whom he had met in the king of Kemet’s home. She had been pregnant when Brigo had sailed from Kemet on his return voyage to Aven. He wondered if the child had lived and, for that matter, if any of them were still alive.

Jan interrupted Brigo’s reminiscing by asking, “Are you still following the movements of the sun with two of Nake’s hide-discs?”

Brigo laughed, “Of course! I can set one of the discs to an adjustable frame which is attached to a small tower that I constructed. My tower is similar to the one that Nake had shown us. It has a broad plank for a base. I use a rope to drag my tower around the Stone Temple of the Sun and the Moon in order to catch the sun’s angles and to observe solar eclipses. I am very happy to say that my eyes are still sharp despite my studies of the sun’s movements. Mori had been so thrilled when I had explained how the two sun-discs worked.”

Brigo sighed, “I miss Mori’s brilliance so much. Up until the last year of his life, we had worked together on his idea of trying to standardize the time in a day. Did you know that he died seven years ago?”

Jan nodded with visible sadness in his eyes, “Yes, one of the grain-traders had told me the news.”

Mori had trained both Worad and Brigo in the celestial mysteries since they had been small children. The great teacher had been like a second father to the boys. He had always taken their questions seriously and had patiently explained the movements of the heavenly bodies in ways that their young minds could understand. Still thinking of his beloved teacher, Brigo recalled sorrowfully, “Mori had been white-haired and quite frail when he visited the Stone Temple of the Sun and the Moon for the last time. He had walked there with the help of one of his sons. Mori had spent his time watching the shadows cast by the sun as it moved throughout the day and sharing his wisdom with all who were present, including myself. Less than one moon-month after that, his spirit had departed for the next world.”

Jan remembered something that he hoped would rekindle Brigo’s previously happy mood. “I heard that your shaman, Kruppec, conducted Mori’s burial with great ceremony. I was told the sky on that day was a brilliant blue and that the temperature was pleasant. Is it true that over one thousand people attended the ritual of the burning of his body?”

“Well, it is true,” Brigo chuckled, “but you must understand that Mori died two days before the beginning of the summer-solstice celebrations. I believe that Mori’s spirit spoke a word or two with the weather gods and I am sure that his ghostly presence guided Kruppec’s every move during the ceremony. Did you know that the two of them were great friends despite their continuous arguments about the celestial mysteries?”

Amused at the thought, Jan’s eyes widened in great surprise. “Their disputes were legendary – even in Carnac!”

Both of the men burst into laughter.

***

They were walking towards Brigo’s home in Aven. Brigo had

already spoken with some of his acquaintances and had organized accommodations for the boat-crew’s leader, as well as eight of the sailing-men. Two of the crewmen would remain by the river. Their leader had asked them to guard the boat and its cargo. Jan would stay with Brigo’s family.

The two sky-watchers reached the top of a hillock, and suddenly, a huge, circular earth-mound structure, studded with blue-gray standing stones, appeared in the distance.

Jan pointed excitedly towards the Stone Temple of the Sun and the Moon. “I am truly looking forward to visiting your renowned temple again.”

They made a plan to spend most of their time on the following day at the temple.

The two old friends talked about the people that they knew from their adventures all those years ago. Jan told Brigo exciting news from Kemet – he had heard that Worad and Tigo were still alive and studying the celestial mysteries. They had made their homes in Abdju and both had families. When Brigo inquired further about his boyhood friend, Jan reported that Worad and Itet had three living children – two boys and a girl.

“I was told that Hote is also doing well and that he is great friends with Worad,” Jan commented.

“Do you know if Hote and Enora have children?” Brigo inquired.

Hote had met Enora in Carnac when he had originally negotiated with Jan and his team about sending a group of celestial experts to Kemet. King Djer of Kemet had requested that master sky-observers from the West come to his lands in order to assist his priests in studying the summer solstice and the movements of the sun.

Enora had studied the celestial mysteries, but her interests had more to do with the traveling-stars than the sun. One evening, while the sun was setting, she had taken Hote to a sacred tomb. Viewing the sky from the entranceway of a sacred tomb made faint stars more brilliant and easier to detect. Enora had encouraged Hote to concentrate on the edges of select, distant mountain-peaks and had taught him how to observe the stars as they rose above specific places on those peaks.

Later, Hote had spoken of this to the Ocean Father’s celestial experts while they had been sailing across the Middle Sea and he had asked many questions – making his admiration for Enora plain to all. Yet when they had arrived in Kemet, it had become clear that Hote had a close relationship with a woman called “Bunefer.” Brigo had thought that he had misunderstood the feelings of the other man for Enora.

However, several moon-months later, when Hote and the returning sky-watchers had arrived in Carnac, he had asked Enora to marry him. Hote had then taken her with him back to Kemet. On that same voyage, Hote had also taken Nake back to his home near the Great Southern Estuary.

“I heard that Hote and Enora have two girls and that they still live near the king’s home,” Jan replied, returning Brigo’s thoughts back to the present.

Hesitating a moment, Jan added, “I was told that Atlam, the stargazer from the Safe Haven Island, had died. On a more cheerful note, I learned that Kagemni and the other priest-students whom we had trained are all well and continue to study the heavens. Nake recently visited Carnac and he looks to be in good health. Manu is also doing well. The two of them bid me to send you their greetings when I saw you next.”

Brigo smiled, fondly remembering Nake and Manu. He was pleased to hear that his old companions had thought of him.

“I thank the gods that our friends have seen such good fortune in their lives,” Brigo said. “I envy you, Jan. There must be many traders from the Middle Sea that visit Carnac. Obviously, some of those traders come from Kemet. A trade-vessel from the mainland occasionally comes ashore in Aven. But in truth, most of the trading done here is with travelers who walk to our village from different parts of the Great Island. We usually hear news concerning the mainland only when our grain- traders return from their travels.”

“I admit that a few traders from the Middle Sea come to Carnac each year, but it is very rare that we get visitors from Kemet,” Jan said. “However, a boat from Kemet did arrive about two moon-months ago – well before the spring equinox. Nake arrived in Carnac on that same boat.”

Brigo and Jan talked about Nake and his people for a few more moments and then they halted their conversation. They had arrived in the western part of Aven and before them stood a large building which was home to several families.

Brigo opened the door and his face glowed with sincere happiness as he turned again towards his friend. “Welcome to my home! Earlier, my wife, Siga, sent word that she is planning a feast in your honor. I am not sure about you, but I am starving – let us go and see what tasty food awaits us.”

*** End of Chapter

Excerpts of Introduction and Chapter 1 from 38,000 BC:

Introduction

The novel, 38,000 BC, is about life in Western Europe during the last Ice Age. Is it possible for the men and women of our modern world to truly envision how people lived 40,000 years ago? Probably not. However, this book attempts to offer a glimpse into what life could have been like for our ancestors 400 centuries ago.

***

Imagine the Western European landscape during the Ice Age – the Scandinavian glaciers had spread south to the latitude of Frankfurt and the Alpine Glaciers had reached as far north as the Danube River. Where did all this ice come from? The answer is – from water that had previously been in the oceans. With the colder temperatures, most precipitation came down as ice and snow and remained on the glaciers – less water returned to the oceans. During the last Ice Age, sea levels dropped 120 meters (or 400 feet), which significantly reduced the expanses of surface water on the earth. This reduction lowered the amounts of water that evaporated around the world and caused the annual rain and snowfall levels to decrease drastically (1). The weather was drier, colder, and windier. Even in areas that were not covered by glaciers, the permafrost was extreme. The land of Western Europe was mostly covered by tundra, with scattered, sparse groves of dwarfed pines, birch, and willow trees. Experts suggest that present-day Northern Siberia has a climate similar to that which prevailed during the last Ice Age in much of Western Europe.

***

Yet, 40,000 years ago, people survived in these temperatures. Bands of hunter-gatherers are believed to have migrated west along the Danube River Valley from today’s Eastern Europe to the lands where the Neanderthals had previously roamed (Neanderthals are called “the old ones” in our story). Just like modern-day men and women, these migrating hunter-gatherers were Homo Sapiens or “wise men.”

***

Our story takes place during the last Ice Age, approximately 40,000 years ago, in an area that, in modern times, is known as the “Swabian Jura” or “die Schwäbische Alb” of Southern Germany. There is a famous archeological site in the Ach Valley known as the Hohle Fels cave.

***

In 2008, a six-centimeter tall (or 2.4 inches in height) mammoth-ivory figure, known as the “Venus of Hohle Fels,” was found by archeologists in a sediment layer within the cave dated to be approximately 40,000 years old (1). The Venus of Hohle Fels is the oldest undisputed representation of a human being to have been discovered to date (5). This female figure plays a pivotal role in our story.

***

Additional finds from this same sediment layer within the Hohle Fels cave include two other small, mammoth-ivory figures: one of a bird and one that is shaped like a man – possibly with the head of a lion.

***

In the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, a mammoth-ivory statue of a lion-man was discovered that towers in size over the other figures. He stands approximately 31 centimeters tall (or 11.8 inches in height) and is estimated to have taken around 400 hours to carve (1,4,5,7). Lion-man figures play an important role in our story as well.

The Ach and Lone “cave valleys” and the Danube River Valley near the present-day city of Ulm, Germany are the predominant settings for our story.

Chapter 1

The flowing streams throughout the big valley had once again transformed into solid, icy ribbons that glistened in the cold sunlight. The frozen waterways announced the time when the various “People of the Lion” tribes living nearby would return to their caves. Li’s grandmother had told her that this had been their people’s custom for many generations. Two seasons ruled their lives: the “Season of Flowing Waters” and the “Cave Season.”

The Season of Flowing Waters was the time when the waterways rippled and gurgled and made the ground wet. Its days were filled with much activity. Li’s tribe would leave their spacious, comfortable cave in the valley surrounded by mountains and follow the stream to the big valley with its vast wetland-areas and many waterways in order to live closer to the animal herds that roamed there. Shortly after the rushing stream-waters broke through the ice, Li’s people gathered their belongings and walked a whole day – all the way to their traditional camp-area in the big valley. Once there, her people would build their animal-hide and mammoth-bone or tree-branch sleeping shelters, often next to previously used fire-pits. Her tribe’s big-valley shelters bordered those of the other tribe, who also lived in the smaller valley in a nearby cave during the times when the streams froze and the land was only frigid-white. Her grandmother had told Li that, many, many Cave Seasons previously, when she was still a small child, some of the families from their tribe had left to make a new tribe in the neighboring cave. The men and women of Li’s tribe would hunt with the other tribe’s people when they camped in the big valley.

During the Season of Flowing Waters, the people of the two tribes could see the great wall of ice in the distance from their adjoining camps. Large numbers of reindeer, bison, deer, and horses traveled through the big valley and made their way along the great waterway’s web of many streams. Sometimes they saw herds of mammoths as well. The lions, hyenas, and wolves also came to the big valley to hunt, but they tended to stay away from the tribes’ camps during the light of day. Still, the tribes had their scouts roam the areas surrounding the camps to keep wary eyes on the big predators. The real danger was at night, so the men posted many guards and lit fires to keep the vicious predators away.

Li loved the days in the big valley when the brilliant sun warmed her face. Most mornings, she accompanied her grandmother and walked along known paths collecting edible plants, flowers, berries, roots, and pine-cones. They carried leather sacks to hold the bounty of plant-foods that they gathered during the short, wet season. Li’s grandmother was one of their tribe’s healers. She would point out various herbs and other healing plants to Li along the way. These plants were also carefully gathered and were stored in a separate leather-pouch. The inner-bark of trees was also useful to healers and sometimes Li helped her grandmother to strip the trees.

***

The latest ice storm had frozen the streams in the big valley and had transformed them into solid, white bands weaving along the ground. Many of the springs had already frozen and safe drinking-water was becoming more difficult to find. It was no longer practical for all the people to remain in the camps. Spring-water, however, was always available in the cave valley where it bubbled out of the ground and hillsides in many places – even on the coldest days.

The women and children of the two tribes left the big valley together and made their way to the cave valley along the frost-covered path. With them, they brought a large part of the stores of roots, nuts, dried berries, and smoked meats that they had managed to collect and preserve during the days when the waters flowed. Li, her mother, her grandmother, and Ro walked along with Ta and her mother and grandmother.

***

Unlike the women and children, the men stayed on the now-frozen plains of the big valley in hopes of bringing down a few more animals before the wind and the ice storms became intolerable. The younger men dragged the rest of the food-stores to the caves during that time and then they returned to the big valley to join the hunts. Before returning to the cave valley, the men also held their mysterious secret rituals in the otherwise deserted camps.

The Cave Season food-supply would be stored in deep pits located a short distance from each cave’s entrance. The precious supplies would always be guarded. The cold-pits were lined with leather-hides and covered with tree-branches and stones to help protect the food from small predators – such as foxes and birds. Hyenas and lions also lived in the valley and were extremely dangerous. During the Cave Season, Li and Ta had to stay inside all the time unless they were accompanied by adults. The big predators were very fast, and children seemed to be their favored prey.

***

The smell of smoke and the darkness of the cave reminded Li that the days of freedom and daylight were over.

The Cave Season had begun.

***

Excerpts of Chapters 1 and 2 from Tourists Through Time:

Chapter 1

Paris, France: Present day.

“The human mind never ceases to amaze me,” Lucien exclaimed as he looked up from his laptop. “Did you know that experts are now theorizing that some of the paintings in the Lascaux cave have to do with astronomy? Think about it, 17,000 years ago in this part of Europe, there might have already been an established tradition of looking to the heavens for answers to questions about humanity’s existence. Not bad for cavemen!”

Samantha leaned over Lucien’s deck chair and her golden-brown hair brushed his cheek as she kissed his waiting lips. They were both enjoying the warmth of the springtime sun on their large plant-strewn balcony overlooking the Seine River. “I knew it!” She smiled. “Watching YouTube can really pay off.”

Originally from California, Samantha had come to Paris five years previously to complete her graduate studies in international journalism at the CELSA Paris-Sorbonne University. She never left.

A few months after she had arrived in France, Samantha had met the native-born Lucien while traveling in Brittany. She had been savoring a frothy cappuccino in a cafe in Carnac while studying a brochure about the area’s ancient stone alignments. Looking towards the window of the café, she had noticed a young man glancing her way. Walking over, he had introduced himself and asked about her interest in the megaliths. She had told him that she was curious about why ancient man had built so many structures using massive stones.

After talking a bit more, they had decided to explore the “Le Ménec” alignments together. Samantha had truly enjoyed discussing the possible meanings behind the long rows of standing stones with Lucien. It had been fun to meet someone who shared her interests. Lucien was handsome, with a classically Gallic face, dark brown hair, and deep blue eyes. His six-foot athletic frame was taller than Samantha’s, but not by much. She admitted to herself that Lucien’s mind was only part of what had initially attracted her to the man.

The young American with her long lovely curves had captivated Lucien from the start. It was obvious that they shared a mutual interest in archeology and he had enjoyed speaking in English with someone other than a business client. Once Lucien discovered that Samantha also lived in Paris, he had asked to see her again. They became friends and began spending weekends together visiting megalithic sites. When Samantha completed her graduate studies, she discussed her future plans with Lucien and told him that she was considering a job in journalism. He had invited her to join his online company, Elsieten, instead.

Lucien was happy that he had gone with his instincts and had hired Samantha. Her insightful suggestions regarding how to attract his English-speaking clientele had particularly impressed him. As an independent middleman between English and American buyers, and French importers, Lucien’s business specialized in selling high-end reproductions of antique European furniture.

Samantha and Lucien’s personal relationship gradually grew from one of deepening affection to love. They shared many interests, including a passion for exploring European Stone-Age sites and discovering intriguing information about them. During the five years since they had first met in Carnac, they had explored many of the Megalithic sites to be found in Portugal, Spain, Germany, and all over France.

***

“Samantha, ma chérie, you have to see these images of Lascaux with the star constellations,” Lucien said excitedly.

She looked over at Lucien’s laptop and the Lascaux pictures on the screen. Samantha’s eyes lit up and she smiled at him. “These images are awesome! I will definitely have to watch the program on Lascaux that you were talking about yesterday.”

After taking a break and enjoying the view for several minutes, Lucien set aside his research on Lascaux and opened his Brittany file. It was time to resume his investigations into ancient Carnac. Recently, they had learned that many of its megalithic stone structures were aligned to solar and lunar celestial events. Samantha and Lucien had become intrigued. The ancient wonders of Carnac continued to fascinate them both.

***

“I just finished watching a YouTube video in which some really interesting theories about Carnac were presented,” Lucien said. “Do you want to hear about them?” She nodded and Lucien proceeded to report on his latest discoveries. “During the program, it was suggested that 6,500 years ago, Carnac’s people were able to establish true North-South-East-West without a compass! It appears that they even learned how to predict significant moon events and the onset of the summer and winter solstices – it has to do with Carnac’s latitude. All theory, but wow! Over a thousand years before Stonehenge or the pyramids of Egypt, people who probably didn’t have complex number systems or conventional math may have figured all this out just by using ropes, squares, triangles, and observation.”

Unable to remain seated, Lucien walked over to the coffeemaker that they had brought outdoors, and he continued talking while pouring himself another cup of the dark elixir. “They erected megaliths around Carnac for at least 2,000 years. Then they seemed to have mostly abandoned the Brittany region, probably to look for other lands where they could continue their research. My guess is that around 5,100 years ago, some of Carnac’s people went to the Stonehenge area for that purpose. It looks suspiciously like they left their legacy in Egypt as well.”

“Stonehenge is relatively close to Carnac, so that sounds reasonable, but why Egypt?” Samantha asked.

“People were erecting stone sun circles in Egypt as early as 6,800 years ago,” Lucien explained. “That is also the estimated date given for the earliest man-made large stone structures found in Brittany. However, the megalithic sites in Egypt are nowhere near as elaborate as the ones we saw in Carnac. Who knows, maybe ancient Egyptian seafarers explored the Atlantic coast, and decided to start creating Brittany’s megalithic alignments. Anyway, geometrical information on the Sun and the Moon, and the star constellations, just like what experts believe they have found in Carnac, ended up in Egypt around the time the pyramids were built – 4,600 years ago. I feel like a detective gathering more and more clues about the ancient past!”

***

She thought about Lucien’s belief in Atlantis, or at least in the idea of an ancient civilization whose great wisdom had been lost due to some massive cataclysm or war. Plato had hinted at it, as had other ancient writers. And certainly, there were many noteworthy arguments out there suggesting that knowledge, generally considered to have originated in early civilizations, such as Sumer and Egypt, had actually come from older sources. But what were these “older sources,” and how did the knowledge spread? That was what intrigued Samantha and had so since her childhood. Yes, Lucien and she were birds of a feather, and it still filled her with wonder knowing that she had found her soulmate.

***

Chapter 2

Lascaux, France: 14,685 BC.

Kalo hunted less and less. During his life, he had seen eight handspans of the Season of the Great Bull. While he still had stamina, he could no longer run the vast distances often necessary to cover when tracking bigger prey. In spite of this, Kalo was a respected and productive member of his tribu, the hunter-gatherer group known as the “Horse People.” Once the heavy snows melted, he spent his time traveling along the waterways, trading his finely-crafted, practical tools for items not found in his territory. He also traded in high quality, vividly colored paint products. Some of these materials he could find locally, but he had to barter for the special midnight-black stone that he used to make the paint which was so much darker than charcoal. All the tribus in the area greatly valued these paints.

Besides swapping his wares for edible goods, Kalo also bartered for shell, bone, and stone, and items made from them, which were coveted by the members of his tribu. Upon returning home, he would trade the goods that he had acquired for meat and cured hides, thereby providing for his family’s needs. Kalo was considered an old man and he had the typical aches and pains to prove it.

Although it was still quite cold, it was the Green Season now, and day by day, the sun stayed a little bit longer in the sky. The nights were getting shorter and the heavy snows had finally melted. The waterway’s ice had ultimately lost its fight with the surging current and made it possible for Kalo to use his circular hide-raft once again. For the most part, Kalo was dressed in the tailored hides of reindeer, as that animal was abundant around the area where he lived. His gloves and hat were made of the more flexible skins of rabbits and foxes. There was still a handspan of full moons before the Great Bull of the Heavens reappeared in the night’s sky. Standing next to his raft, Kalo was packing for another trading journey.

***

He stored the last of his provisions in thin sheets of rabbit skin to protect them from water damage. Kalo would see at least two full moons before he completed his journey to and from the endless salt waters that his people called the “Great Oceanus.” If illness or bad weather delayed him, Kalo might not be able to return home until after the next Season of the Great Bull.

Tar, the leader of the shamans of the Horse Tribu, had made a long journey to the High White Mountains after the completion of the last Sun Season ritual, and had brought back much of the stone from which they created the special midnight-black painting material (4). As the snows once again had covered the Horse People’s lands, having an abundant supply of the black paint had allowed Kalo, Tar, and the elderly shaman, Ald, to complete many paintings in their tribu’s sacred cave. The men were especially pleased that they had managed to complete the Star Bull painting, thereby giving the Great Bull of the Heavens an awe-inspiring home. The Horse People hoped to entice the Great Bull to visit them, along with the Star Flower who followed him, before these revered star deities resumed the journey to their home above the Great Oceanus. Having His presence in their cave attracted the Great Bull’s earthbound herds and lured them into returning to the Horse People’s hunting areas. The Great Bull’s companion, the Star Flower, was held in high esteem as well. She was the star deity who encouraged the vegetation to return after the snows eased, providing food for both Kalo’s people and the animal herds.

The Horse People bore the name of the animal they found to be the most glorious to behold when compared to rhinoceros, reindeer, or elk. A neighboring tribu carried the revered bison’s name.

Returning to his task, Kalo grunted his approval as he packed the vibrant red and yellow ochre that he had found during the last Rutting Season. He also packed the painting pastes that he had made from the midnight black stone and both ochres. When his journey finally brought him to the Great Oceanus, he would have enough painting materials with him to trade for many seashells, and much salted fish and flint. Feeling hungry, Kalo sat down and ate a bit of dried elk meat, and while listening to the gurgling sounds coming from the waterway, his mind was lulled into thinking about the shamans and the sacred cave.

For the last two handspans of Rutting Seasons, Tar had been the lead shaman of the Horse Tribu. Kalo thought the shaman had always been star-kissed. Tar was older than he was by a handspan of season cycles, and as he was coming of age, Kalo had looked up to the older boy. Kalo’s parents had told him that Tar, as a young child, was always asking questions about the stars and pointing to them. Ald, the Horse People’s elder shaman, had noticed Tar’s youthful curiosity and had started teaching the boy about celestial mysteries beyond those which were generally known to their tribu’s people. It was not long before Tar could name most of the star-animal constellations in the sky, and once Tar’s manhood awoke, he became Ald’s apprentice.

Kalo remembered when Tar’s abilities to commune with the heavens had surpassed Ald’s. To learn the nature of celestial events, shamans took a secret potion that only they knew how to make. When shamans drank the potion, they were able to make sky journeys that allowed them to enter the spirit world. They would sit in the sacred cave facing the stars and their spirits would travel deep into the heavens. One night, Tar returned from a sky journey and spoke of a large wild star that would be seen in the nights to come. He told the Horse People that the fearsome wondering star did not appear to be angry and should not cause them harm. Two nights later, a mighty wild star with a long tail appeared. It returned for many nights, but it did not seem to aggressively approach their world – and then it moved on just as Tar had foretold. It was after this event had transpired that Ald had asked Tar to lead their people in matters involving the heavens, while the older shaman continued in his roles as the tribu’s primary healer and spiritual guide.

Fireballs were also seen in the night skies and flared brightly, particularly when they fled from the Great Bull. Often, the largest ones were thunderous, and the people had a tremendous fear of them. Tar watched the heavens closely and warned his tribu when he saw a storm of fireballs coming. When they appeared, the people would take shelter in the sacred cave and would implore the Great Bull to protect them. Throughout the season cycles, fireballs would intermittently streak across the sky, and wild stars periodically reappeared, but the Horse People had confidence in Tar’s ability to predict these fearful spectacles. They also knew that he would do his best to protect them.

***