Gift yourself more peace

I found a cave behind a mound of rock that must have fallen thousands of years in the past. After an hour of digging enough of a tunnel to enter the large cavern, I found the remains of a tribe that had perished many centuries before, apparently after being entombed when the entrance collapsed. I shined my flashlight and headlamp around investigating.

There were thousands of bones! Many were from animals I recognized, mountain goat, deer, fish, even half a bison skeleton. The hundreds and hundreds of human bones still laid in the positions they had died in.

I saw a dozen or so simple clay bowls and pots and two large clay jars. I also found four large stone spear points, a few dozen arrow heads, one end of a bow with most of its string gone, and a few bits of leather from their clothing. The rest had decayed away or been eaten by bugs.

I could tell they had been seven adult women, fifteen or so children, and one adult male. He was sitting against the wall in a corner, the only one who hadn’t died laying down. He was quite short, but the bones showed he once had huge shoulder and thigh muscles. At six feet even I was close to a foot taller, but I’d never want to wrestle him.

Laying on the ground near the bones of the male was a large, curved tooth with some markings on it. I thought it was probably from a Smilodon, a saber-toothed cat. I felt the urge to touch it and picked it up. I suddenly felt stronger and more confident.

17 January 2024 at 3 months ago

I wasn’t having much luck in northeast Utah, prospecting for silver on the mountainous land I had recently inherited from my grandfather Amos Danbury. I’m Ronald Danbury Jr. and most of my life I’ve hated being called ‘Junior’. I’m my own man, not just a younger version of my father.

I found a cave behind a mound of rock that must have fallen thousands of years in the past. After an hour of digging enough of a tunnel to enter the large cavern, I found the remains of a tribe that had perished many centuries before, apparently after being entombed when the entrance collapsed. I shined my flashlight and headlamp around investigating.

There were thousands of bones! Many were from animals I recognized, mountain goat, deer, fish, even half a bison skeleton. The hundreds and hundreds of human bones still laid in the positions they had died in.

I saw a dozen or so simple clay bowls and pots and two large clay jars. I also found four large stone spear points, a few dozen arrow heads, one end of a bow with most of its string gone, and a few bits of leather from their clothing. The rest had decayed away or been eaten by bugs.

I could tell they had been seven adult women, fifteen or so children, and one adult male. He was sitting against the wall in a corner, the only one who hadn’t died laying down. He was quite short, but the bones showed he once had huge shoulder and thigh muscles. At six feet even I was close to a foot taller, but I’d never want to wrestle him.

Laying on the ground near the bones of the male was a large, curved tooth with some markings on it. I thought it was probably from a Smilodon, a saber-toothed cat. I felt the urge to touch it and picked it up. I suddenly felt stronger and more confident.

18 January 2024 at 3 months ago