At the dawn of our kind men of many tribes sought out, mined and painted themselves with ochre, the "bones of the gods." The most sought after earth pigment was red ochre, with the ancients sometimes thinking it the blood of ancient gods and giants slain in titanic battles.
Or, at the chemical level, did our most ancient ancestors realize that this oxidized iron, the rust of the earth, was related to the hard-edged metal that would someday tear us to shreds in our groaning millions and leave the teeming survivors dependent on a great, metal-boned apathy machine?
In 40,000 Years From Home, I set out in July 2014 to examine the roots of our violent kind in terms or our defining behaviors. As far as I can tell, roughly 40,000 years ago there were two distinct species of humans living in the Near East, with this period seeing the first full development of language and the earliest physical evidence of spirituality. Two years into this effort, I can see that it is a lifetime work, and the body of evidence I have compiled thus far is far from complete. It does, however, provide a precursor. So, in the sacred month of the cruel Roman god of war, I am wrapping up this book as a prologue to A Dread Grace, and in hopes that the what is between the covers will help others in their consideration of the lesser, graceless side of human kind.
James—apropos of nothing, here's a bit of history about trade paperbacks touching on Robert Howard
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Thank you!
I think I've said this before but from my understanding Cro-Magnon just seemed to pop up from no where. At first on the West coast of Europe and Africa then spread inland.
Tex Arcane says, and I agree, that the Cro-Mags kicked the shit out of the Neanderthals with spears. The average White guy has broad shoulders much more suited for throwing and Neanderthals can't run. If you could keep the Neanderthal away from you and spear him to death then you could kick his ass. He runs you chase while chucking spears at him.
Same way Genghis Khan's archers swooped in and rained arrows on the west with powerful horned compound bows.
Sorry if I'm repeating myself but the way the Russians defeated them was they made rolling wooden fort walls they carried in wagons. They would throw these up and fire away at the Mongolians. Kind of like chasing and killing the Indians. The Indians were fierce and fast but never had good supply chains so you just continuously chase them down while being resupplied every so often. You wear them down and smash them.