Hints of people travelling along the edges of the world

July 18, 2018 2:07 PM

Coastlines around the world are revealing the footprints of ancient people gathering together, playing and travelling together, article by Andrew Curry in Hakai Magazine

Hakai Institute research at Calvert Island and footprints at Bluefish caves, previously.

Humans hunting Giant Sloths, previously.

posted by Helga-woo (6 comments total)

This was really neat, thank you! And apparently I really like the topic because I've read both the previouslies. Hakai Magazine does neat stuff and ancient humans are interesting to read about, I guess.

Amusing: Happisburgh is pronounced absolutely nothing like it sounds. N-o-t-h-i-n-g.

Super cool: Duncan McLaren incorporating First Nations peoples into his group researching First Peoples. More of this, please!
posted by librarylis at 6:55 PM on July 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

Five hundred meters away from the cave where he found the footprints—in the direction the running tracks are pointing—there’s another cave, a hollow in the rocks that would have overlooked the dunes where the footprints were made long ago and where archaeologists have found stone tools and other evidence of early human occupation. “That cave would have been there back then, and these people were moving towards it,” he says. “We have no proof, but we think that was home.”

That reminds me of a story about an unlucky archaeologist, some dinosaur prints and a time travel experiment gone awry... but the title escapes me.
posted by CynicalKnight at 8:33 PM on July 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

A Sound of Thunder, by Ray Bradbury?
posted by johnca at 9:49 PM on July 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

Nope, not that one, but almost as old. I am likely misremembering, but here goes...

Two archaeologists are excavating a thin layer of sand to expose a set of tyrannosaurus tracks embedded in stone in the desert. In the remote distance is a military base rumored to be conducting dangerous temporal experiments.

As the excavation progresses, they have followed the beasts' leisurely stroll along what was once the muddy shore of an ancient lake, when suddenly the tracks turn sharply inland and the pace quickly widens to a run. What has the creature spotted to trigger that? No doubt some luckless prey. The day is getting late; they eagerly anticipate extending the excavation tomorrow to find the remains of a T-rex meal. While one of them prepares to bed down for the night in their tent, the other pulls away in their jeep for supplies in town.

A sudden strangely coloured flash lights up the twilight sky coming from the direction of the base - the jeep, already fading in the distance, seems to have disappeared completely! Must be a trick of the eyes.

The next morning, the archaeologist is puzzled to discover his companion has not yet returned. Nonetheless, he continues the excavation alone, and is frozen with horror when he eventually unearths, overlaid by the now furious gallop of the dino tracks, the twin tire tracks of a vehicle...
posted by CynicalKnight at 4:00 PM on July 19, 2018 [4 favorites]

I was thinking it might be an Arthur C Clarke story, and it looks like it might have been "Time's Arrow". Couldn't find a link to the story, but here's one to a description of it.
posted by rochrobbb at 7:38 PM on July 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

I worked on the Calvert Island site (the central Coast of BC one) if anyone has any questions about that.
posted by Rumple at 2:34 PM on July 23, 2018 [1 favorite]