Genesis, We Begin

By Dennis Wammack

[“Genesis, We Begin” was expanded into the novel “Tallstone and the City: Foundation,” ISBN 979-8-9860246-0-8, published 09/01/22 by DCW Press. This novel is Book One in the series “The Beginning of Civilization: Mythologies Told True.”]

For 300,000 years hunters hunted, gatherers gathered, they sometimes mated. Then something happened. This is what happened.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dennis Wammack
• Release date: Nov 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463759288

Dennis Wammack

Alabama born and bred,All the pride.All the baggage.All the guilt.

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Genesis: We Begin

by Dennis Wammack

copyright 2018 Dennis Wammack

Smashwords Edition

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Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the work of this author.

The original version of this story has been edited and republished.

NOTE: This novella was expanded to become PART I in the Epic Novel CHANGED Chronicles of How and Why, ISBN 978-0-578-96339-6. The novel is available in digital format from most digital book providers including Smashwords, which generally has a discounted price.

This work was again revised and published in paperback format as Tallstone and the City: Foundation, ISBN 979-8-9860246-0-8, and is Book 1 in the six-book series, The Beginning of Civilization: Mythologies Told True. The paperback book is available from your favorite local bookstore.

A complete list of publications can be found at http://www.denniswammack.com.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

PART I. HUNTERS

PART II. GATHERERS

PART III. REQUIEM ET GLORIA

APPENDIX

GENESIS: WE BEGIN

Foreword

The structures at Gobekli Tepe were constructed at least of 12,000 ago. Located near the Turkish and Syrian borders, it is the oldest monolithic site in the world. Archeologists only guess at its purpose. It has no predecessor; no known reason to exist. It was built by hunter-gatherers. It predates all agriculture, animal domestication, and settlements.

Wheat was the first crop domesticated from wild grains. This domestication occurred within sixty miles of Gobekli Tepe.

The modern-day Turkish city of Sanliurfa lies seven miles from Gobekli Tepe.

PART I. HUNTERS

1. Adam

He stood tall upon his rock. Adam saw nothing on the eastern horizon but endless low, scraggly bushes. Nothing else was expected but he knew that his constant surveillance pleased the collection of females and children under his protection. Still a boy, he was accomplished with a spear and did well in training hunts. His wards were safe under his watchfulness.

Not yet being allowed to participate in a major hunt with his father, uncles, brothers and cousins did not discourage Adam. His greatest talent was here, with his rocks. Among his clan and among all other clans he had met, Adam was the most accomplished creator of spearheads, arrow heads, and cutting knives. Adam could look into the rock and see the wonderful shapes hiding inside. He knew where to tap and how hard. He could work the stones into smooth, efficient, deadly instruments. His spearheads and knives were desired by all who saw them.

The rock upon which he stood was his favorite source of material. He had begun his learning here. Barely old enough to walk, his grizzled teacher was delighted that the child took to his craft so eagerly and so skillfully. His teacher had been too feeble to continue to hunt but the man had been the clan's stone cutter. He was still useful to the clan by making sharp stones and training his replacement in his craft. The clan always chose the rock bed as a camp location because it was easy to find plus the selection of rock for their spears was virtually unlimited, especially now that they had a master stone cutter among them. The young boy's teacher was no longer part of the clan, however. Eventually, the teacher could not keep up with the children and old women. He had been given a ration of food and water and left at a camp. There was no old man nor any remains when they returned the following year. The boy missed his teacher.

The rock became flat by accident. Neither the boy nor the teacher had made such a plan. The boy simply kept cutting away the rounded top of the rock because he visualized the beautiful spearheads inside. The boy would cut down to a certain depth and then start again at the top. He eventually began sitting in the spot where he had cut away stone. The area became larger. The women eventually began sorting their herbs and seeds on the flattened portion of the rock. He saw the females lose their seeds in the roughness of the flattened stone, so he made the stone even flatter, without rough spots. After five camps at the quarry, the boy had created a perfectly flat rock upon which to chisel his stones, upon which the women could organize their plants, and, even, eventually, upon which the hunters would butcher their prey. The boy made larger sharpened rocks shaped to a man's hand. These rocks increased the efficiency with which the hunters could strip the flesh from their game.

The boy considered this to be his personal rock.

2. Vision on Stone

The boy remembered the previous hunt from this camp. The men had returned without game. The clan was without food. They survived on the herbs and fruits that the women had collected during the previous season. There was much hunger. The weaker died.

This hunt will be different, he thought. The boy visualized what the hunters would surely see. He sat down upon his rock and with chisel in hand, carved a figure of an antelope into the smooth surface of the rock. He had never seen or even thought of such a thing before, but the shape of the antelope flowed from his hand through the chisel and onto the rock table. The antelope looked alive. He carved two more. The boy then saw his older brother, spear in throwing position, ready to deliver the spear to the heart of the antelope. The vision flowed into the stone table. The boy looked at the figures and became terrified that his father would punish him for wasting time. Nonetheless, for good measure, the boy carved the figure of a fallen antelope.

3. Adam and Sophia

A great disadvantage of this campsite was the lack of shade for the children and old women. The gathering females would be scattered around the area trying to find useful herbs and grasses. But the old women spent their time tending and nurturing the babes and small children. Shade would have been a great blessing. The only shade at all was behind two twin juts of rock located on the slope of the hill. They were less than the height of a man and during the middle of the day, afforded little in the way of protection from the sun. Adam could not make the rocks taller, but he could have the younger boys scoop out the dirt below the rocks and, instead of raising the two rocks, he would lower the ground below the rocks. Adam ordered the four largest males to remove as much of the dirt as they could and pile it between the two rocks. The boys had been given a manly and meaningful task. Each would try to outdo the others.

Another great disadvantage to this site was the lack of any meaningful vegetation in the area. The females were diligent in their work but there were simply few plants to harvest. As the sun climbed higher into the sky, Adam wondered if there might be more plant life farther to the south. He went to his digging boys and gave them each a spear. He charged them with the protection of the children and women until he returned in the late afternoon. The four boys were bursting with pride and energy. Yes! They would protect the camp. Yes! They would move the dirt. Yes!

The hunters always set off to the east from this camp. Perhaps there would be better foraging in the south. Adam took three spears and set out toward the south in search of better fields.

A half mile from the camp, he came upon Sophia. Sophia had been accepted from a tribe from the northern hunting ground during an Encounter with that clan. The old women from both clans agreed that Sophia would be a worthy mate for Goodson, the elder son of the chieftain. She was accepted into Adam's clan when Goodson proclaimed in front of both clans that he would protect and provide for Sophia.

Adam acknowledged Sophia as he walked past her. Of all the females in the clan, Sophia was recognized as the leader in finding, identifying, and in the use of plants. She was to plants as Adam was to stone. Adam hesitated and then returned to face Sophia as she continued her futile search for useful plants. She was older than Adam, a full-grown woman while Adam was still a child. It was unheard of, unacceptable, and irregular but Adam invited Sophia to accompany him. Adam was searching for better vegetation for the females to forage and who better than Sophia to recognize and evaluate new areas? She was tall and could easily keep Adam's pace. Sophia would have ignored him, but this was her protector's little brother. Perhaps it was her duty to go with him. They began their fast trot toward the South.

The