A class in the field

Chapter 3   A class in the field

 

 

 

“Hi, I'm Charles Mohan. Glad to meet you,” he stretched out his hand.

 

“Susan Hauser, glad to meet you,” she took his hand.

 

Charles always had a steely hold. He deliberately kept it gentle with the ladies but it never passed their attention and made them peer at him curiously.

 

“Meet Bob Mulberry,” Charles waved, as they shook hands.

 

They were standing in a tent they had pitched at the burial grounds. Bob made some coffee on a camp stove and brought in three steaming cups.

 

They sat around a collapsible plastic table and went over the project proposal reports.

 

“I believe Dr. Fronberg has confirmed your change of dissertation?” Charles inquired.

 

“It was all last minute. I just got the confirmation last night and put everything aside to drive up here today.”

 

“We had a change-of-heart situation with the previous graduate student,” Bob offered. “ We are here one week and suddenly she has....... nightmares......,” he paused, hesitatingly, to look at Charles.

 

“Her graduate thesis was on lucid dreaming. The department thought it was a natural extension for her to apply that to anthropological studies. It's a new area.” Charles portrayed a focused perspective on the work.

 

“That's being applied to psychological concepts of reality and illusion,” Susan offered. “Its still experimental.”

 

“Our study is of people in 10,000 bc,” Bob took up the initiative, “ what we have are artifacts and wooden carvings that symbolize social norms in behavior.”

 

“These people lived in ritualized dream behaviors that involved animals and forces of nature. They regulated their behavior on the basis of fundamental logical systems of animals, such as family, survival, food orientation and organization of the society. We learnt by looking at how animals did it.” Charles said as he lit up a cigarette.

 

Then he continued, “ The Russians have well documented studies on Scythian burial sites, also in and around the same 10,000 bc period. This is what's interesting. Our sites uncovered stone artifacts, in the Caucus mountain areas, it was wooden and then in the Altai region, they found gold figurines.”

 

Susan raised her brows in surprise.

 

“Another feature we detected is the animal species. In Asia, its tigers. In the middle-east, monkeys and apes. In North America, its bears.” Bob reported from his brief.

 

“There's been studies that indicate relations between that and modern societies in each of these regions. We haven't done much in that area. We are just starting to look at the phenomenon.” Charles seemed thoughtful.

 

Susan was responding to the clarity there were raising and seemed eager to participate.

 

“ Has there been any direct correlation that way?” she asked.

 

“The North American experience is quite revealing, just from a historical basis,” Charles started, as he referred to the brief. “ We are puzzled for instance as to why the native population continued in tribal conditions all the way until the 18^th and 19^th centuries, while the same regional experiences of people from that age have moved into urbanized conditions.”

 

“The European migrants caused a major shift in attitudes when they came. So we figure there's a schism between the prototype native population, still in development, and the urbanized social behaviors. That dividing factor is viewed as a 'ripper' effect and is highly divisive on the issues. We're attempting some rage measures on the 'ripper' and it looks alarming.” Charles's face had worked into creases and he suddenly appeared very exhausted.

 

“The 'ripper' effect substitutes for the ' god factor ' that unites the two sides in other societies,” Bob said, looking  a little grim.

 

They sat in silence for a few seconds as they considered the possibilities.

 

“It has served to grow our societies in many ways but it is also a severe hindrance on many issues. In a final analysis, if we cut to the chase, it is a survival of the fittest on the basis of individual behaviors,” Charles said.

 

“Dr. Mohan figures we'll call it the 'Mad Max' syndrome of the lonely road warrior,” Bob said, smiling mischievously.

 

The doctor he referred to smiled sheepishly and did not appear pleased with the suggested outcomes.

 

“Its better than naming it after us,” he offered.

 

Susan couldn't help smiling herself.

 

“It is a choice our society has chosen for itself,” she began, her own independent nature was quite apparent. “ Will we as Americans be any different?”

 

“We think the answer to that lies in the ground below us,” Charles replied as he stood up.

 

They carried their coffee mugs and made their way to the digs. The sun was at its peak in a sky that was azure blue. It felt like a glorious day.

 

Reviews

[Wendy Seames Garner]

You have some very interesting information here, have you worked on a dig before?

[patricia]

From firm handshakes to the build up of exciting investigations, tied together beautifully with believable minute details.
The two paragraphs on nightmares and lucid dreaming were intriguing.
You describe the mindset of the people from 10,000 bc in a captivating way.
an engrossing chapter.
Thankyou