James looked up at the ceiling of the cave.  He had set his fire so that the smoke wouldn’t gather inside the cave, but drift out.  That was about 2 MYA ago if the tests were accurate so far.  He really didn’t know.  But the initial discovery had indicated two sets of artifacts from completely different times.

“Well, I can lift you up.  But to be honest I’m not sure you will be able to reach the ceiling even then.  I think you’ll still be a couple feet short.  I don’t suppose you were ever a cheerleader and feel brave enough to stand on the shoulders of a giant?”  He smiled.  I can probably just do a lift.  As to the canvas, this place appeared to have relics from two very different eras spanning a million years or more.  The older finds are going to have been trampled on repeatedly.  I wouldn’t get your hopes up.  But I would just checkerboard the site.  Leave no land unsearched.

“If you want to go for strategy, then we need to walk a mile in the shoes of our subjects - not that they actually wore shoes.”  He walked around the cave carefully sniffing the air and examining the ceiling of the cave with intelligent eyes.  Then he pointed.  “The fire was over there.  See how the ground dips.  Natural pit.  This is where he slept.  That rock,” he pointed at a large landscaping sized rock.  “He laced his spear and gear there.”

James walked to the cave exit.  “Out there was a small lake or large pond.  A stream ran through it.  He probably made natural fish traps made with stones.  If to, we might find some fish bones …. “ he pointed again, “down there.  Just dump them over the side of the hill away from the cave.”

The way James described the scene it was as though he understood how a cave man thought.

“By the time the second set of finds made their way here - the second group of nomads - the first one was long gone.  I believe you called him the Pathfinder?  Sounds like something to make a movie about.  You know, I doubt he thought of himself as an explorer.  He was just surviving.  He was also alone.  I notice that in both of the finds you attribute to him there are only signs a single individual was there.  He was an outcast - unlike the rest.”