Teacher-Authors: What’s Happening on my Writer’s Blog

A lot of teacher-authors read my writers blog, WordDreams. In this monthly column, I share a popular post readers over there enjoyed. 

One of the popular posts on WordDreams was about progress on my next prehistoric fiction, but what really caught readers’ attention were 1) skills we never thought our ancestors possessed 150,000 years ago, and 2) the unexpected roots of music. See what you think:

Endangered Species is Book 1 of  Savage Land, the third trilogy in the primeval man series, Dawn of Humanity.

One piece of man’s prehistoric past I’ve wanted to uncover is when our ancestors first discovered religion. Conventional wisdom says that came about to answer unanswerable questions like why does it rain? And proof man believed in a god arrived when we began to bury our dead.

But I wanted more so I kept digging.

I discovered an interesting bit of paleo history in France called Bruniquel Cave. This is a 176,000 year old cavern

built deep underground by Neanderthals.

We know they did it because they were the only early man in Europe at that time. It is about

350 strides beyond the reach of natural light.

Not just any cave, though, with stone walls and a hearth. This one had been constructed:

Neanderthals gathered over 400 pieces of  heavy stalagmites and placed them in two rings, one within the other, and did it without natural light. 

How did they see in the pitch dark? There is evidence of fire around the circles–to light the area? Watch this:

To build this structure required brilliant planning, advanced technology, and symbolic thought — traits never attributed to Neanderthals prior to Bruniquel Cave. Now we know:

Neanderthals wielded fire

traveled comfortably deep underground

cut and moved massive stalagmites long distances

created a complex subterranean construction

imagined a world beyond survival and procreation

No researcher I read would even venture a guess why this construction was there or what its use. But, I will, in my upcoming trilogy Savage Land.

There’s something else about stalagmites and stalactites I learned: They make beautiful music.

It makes me wonder if our ancestors built these stalagmite circles for music? Or worship? Any ideas?

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Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.