https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XHNKaW08IsDw50KYuiGQoiYzBymZjjozhyGCYL6kF9Y
(Will update more as I go.)

Dr Harriet "Harrie" Ryanne Chester looked behind her to check on James’ progress as they made the trek to the dig site.  The dig site was on the side of a steep hill some 300 feet above the surrounding terrain.  There wasn’t a whole lot of clear, level ground.  The trek up was downright dangerous.  The site itself was in a cave and was a gold mine to the archaeological world.  This site was in eastern Turkey, about 50 miles south of Batumi (Georgia - the country, not the state).  Had Dr Chester been any less experienced James would have been annoyed.  He did ask her not to get any further ahead and remain attached to a safety line attached to him.  

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.8608827,41.7490782,7863m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

James had a backpack that had to weigh a good 125 pounds, but moved as it it was light as a feather.  The man was built like a Greek God.  But that isn’t why she had hired him.  Well, it was in a way.  The job had called for someone in excellent condition, and trained for rugged terrain.  And … James spoke Turkish.  

There were other grad students and another professor, though they would rotate out.  Most would work at Base Camp or make brief trips up.  There were two grad students who would be at Base Camp for most of the dig.  One was Greg Larson; the other was Susan Thompkins.  Greg was wheelchair bound from a car accident with a drunk driver.  His job was on site lab work.  Susan was there for making molds and packing up specimens for transport.  Susan and Greg had good chemistry working together.  Oh it wasn’t a romance.  Just plain mutual respect.

At the dig site they found stakes put in place on the first trip up.  That one had been made with very little gear, mainly just the stakes.  A path was laid out to ascend and descend.  A Safe Zone was laid out to be the camp.  And a path to and from the dig was laid out.  Heaven help anyone who violated the canvassing of the site.  That was Archaeology 101.

It took James about an hour to get the tent up so they could start setting up the data link to base camp and the outside world.  Once he was done with that he set up the “kitchen and garbage dump.”  No campfires, smoking, etc was allowed at the dig site.  Trash was always collected and removed.  James had joked about archaeologists messing things up by trying to leave a zero footprint.

Once done James finally spoke.  “Finished set up.  Anything else you need?”  There was no question he would have read the synopsis of the dig.  He had a basic idea of what they would be looking for.  The first day, while exciting for an archaeologist, would be boring for most to go through.  There would be a lot of sectoring, photographing, note taking.  The real fun would come later, after they had begun to unearth enough to argue over.

+++++++++++++

It was an old cave.  Early testing had shown the age of the find to be around 2 MYA.  That was in line with estimates of the earliest migration out of Africa.  That wasn’t what excited the professor.  It was evidence of fire use.  She would be looking for signs of use of fire for cooking.  Cooking was only known to go back less than 1 MYA.  

James nodded, uninterested in a finger bone that had been reported.  He didn’t get excited like the usual grad student.  He was slow and methodical, patient.  It was another great quality for an archaeologist.  “First piece of the jigsaw puzzle?”  He smiled.  “Estimated time for solution 2 million years.  I suppose that is going to make this harder than 51 days.”  He was referring to a blonde joke in which a group of blondes go celebrating at a bar chanting “51 days”.  They had solved a puzzle in 51 days, but the box had said 3-4 years - referring to the typical age the puzzle was intended for..

What they were looking for were discrepancies in the ages of the artifacts and fossils. Dr Chester was after the Pathfinder, sort of a mythological first explorer among ancient humans.  It made sense.  Someone had to be first.  Most respected archaeologists argued that the first explorers would be groups.  But she supported a theory of single human explorers.  The problem was, there were never any fossils records - except of animals.  She also had a theory that her explorer was inventive, being a member of the species that used more advanced technologies than his fellow humans - such as early use of fire to cook.

This cave had all the earmarks of having been used by such an individual.

James shook his head.  “The fossil dated newer than some of the rest of the cave.  Someone inhabited this cave before him - by a geologic difference in time.  But then that is why you wanted this site.  You want to find evidence that this cave was reused.  What has you confused is why the newer fossils and artifacts are more primitive than the older ones.  You want to know what some of the theories are being batted around by your students back at the university?

“I think my favorite is the Neanderthal time traveller.  He travels back to the times of Erectus and lives it large.  But here is what I think about that theory.  If such a man existed he’d be an outcast, if not hunted.  Or he might be regarded as a god.  Imagine it.  Some guy shows up in clothing with you in your birthday suit.  He is gnawing on a bone from some medium sized animal, but is rending through it easily.  After all, cooking does that - makes meat easier to digest.  He is a stranger, not part of your clan.  He is eating food from YOUR hunting grounds.  Do you tolerate him?  Or do you kill him?

“Of course, I don’t think much of the time travel notion.  But what if he is just an early arrival of the next evolutionary state?  He’d be viewed in much the same manner.  His ways are strange.  He’d be an outcast, likely banished or killed.  Such a man would fit into your theories.  He would be the first explorer out of necessity.”