CRO-MAGNON (5 page)

“
Based on what Solomon learned from the diver, perhaps early teens.” Mathiessen gestured. “Although, as you may know, prehistoric people tended to be larger than the modern average and may have grown faster. The Neolithic population explosion, being based on farming, did not—”

“
So,” Calder said. “A nuclear family, perhaps with a pet wolf. That jibes with the ten-thousand-plus age estimate. According to fossil evidence, man began to domesticate wolves about fourteen thousand years ago.”

“
Horse hockey,” Blaine said. “Or wolf scat, if you prefer. Robert Wayne’s group at UCLA analyzed mitochondrial DNA from a hundred forty dogs of various breeds, and a hundred sixty-two wolves from around the world, and concluded that—”

“
All we need to know,” Calder broke in, “is that the wolf is compatible with—”

“
. . .the
Canis familiaris
genotype could have begun to diverge from
Canis lupus
as much as a hundred thirty-five thousand years ago,” Blaine finished. “Although their phenotypes didn’t change until later.”

Calder looked exasperated. “What has that—”

“
Please, people,” Mathiessen said. “I was about to say that Dr. Calder may be wrong about the nuclear family, at least if he means a family each of similar blood.”

He paused to glance at each of the scientists. “And he’s certainly off target on the ten-thousand-year figure.”

“
How’s that?” Calder still sounded vexed.

Let out the first cat,
Mathiessen thought. “From what I heard of the detailed but necessarily crude body measurements, I feel that the female was probably anatomically modern human, which would not be out of place in that time frame. But, judging by the data furnished by the diver, the adult male may well have been Neanderthal.”

Both Calder and Blaine’s mouths fell open. Mathiessen continued, “Which, of course, would be out of whack with a 10,000-BP estimate.”

He held up his hand again as the two scientists started to speak. “I’ll get to that, too. So, the child couldn’t have been their issue unless he was a hybrid—”

“
Unlikely,” Blaine said. “There’s no more than a trace of Neanderthal genes in modern man, and we believe that came from limited interbreeding in the Levant, thousands of years before anatomically modern humans colonized Europe.”

“
I agree,” Calder said. “But not for that reason. Neanderthals as a separate species went extinct probably twenty-seven thousand years ago. Certainly by twenty-four thousand. It doesn’t take a genetics expert to realize that, even if they interbred with more numerous incoming moderns, their genes would have been swamped—”

“
Whether the child was theirs or not,” Mathiessen said, “you are now in what I suspect may be the correct time frame. I believe, from a shell necklace the diver saw on the female and sketched, and also from their garments, which were of the fitted type but fashioned completely from animal skins, that the remains hail from the Aurignacian period. Which would make them thirty to forty thousand—”

“
Garments?” Calder’s tone sounded disdainful. “No garments could survive bacterial action anywhere near ten thousand years, let alone thirty. I should think you of all people would know—”

Time to empty the bag.

“
Oh, did I neglect to tell you?” Mathiessen hung his head to hide the thrill of what he was about to divulge.

#

“
The remains consist of bodies,” Mathiessen said. “Intact bodies.”

In the ensuing silence, Calder could hear voices from a TV in a neighboring room. He stared at Blaine. Her oval face had gone still. She stared back, her blue eyes glazed.

Wanting to get it right, Calder said, “You’re saying the skeletons are complete.”

“
I don’t think that’s what he means,” Blaine said, blond hair swishing about her shoulders as she swung to face the IHE director. “Is it, Dr. Mathiessen?”

Mathiessen wagged his leonine head.

“
Flesh-and-blood bodies.”

The two scientists gaped.

“
Bodies.” Mathiessen began unfolding his fingers. “Man. Woman. Child. Wolf. Lion.” He paused, obviously waiting for a response.

Calder felt stunned. Blaine also seemed at a loss.

“
I must remind you both of your pledge.” Mathiessen’s sober glance took in the two of them. “If this should get out . . .”

“
But that’s impossible.” Calder shook his head. “The few unfossilized bones we’ve found exhibited only traces of ligaments. No flesh. Not even marrow, which would—”

Blaine nodded. “For actual flesh to survive over tens of thousands of years—”

She stopped and stared at Calder. They both looked at the IHE director.

“
Permafrost,” they said in unison.

“
Indeed.” Mathiessen smiled. “A few yards beneath the surface, those mountains have been frozen since Paleolithic times. And the cave lies deep.”

Blaine looked dubious. “Why would anyone set up camp in an icebox?”

“
Protection from the elements,” Mathiessen said. “Although man is a tropical animal, low temperature can be ameliorated with garments, fire, and shelter.”

Calder said, “Initial decomposition—”

“
Would be minimal in those temperatures as long as any camp fire died reasonably soon,” Blaine said. “As in modern cryogenic practice, DNA would not be functionally degraded.”

Calder stared at the older man. “As you say, if word got out . . .”

Blaine looked thoughtful. “So, the Tajik government knows nothing about a cave lion, human bodies, or a possible Neanderthal?”

“
Correct.”

“
Let me guess. Salomon forbade the diver and geologist to mention intact bodies.”

Mathiessen nodded.

Blaine said, “Why didn’t the Tajiks ask?”

“
They probably didn’t think to,” Calder said. “There’s no precedent for bodies, and only a few for bones. Anatomically modern human bones have been found about three hundred miles away at Samarqand, and the partial bones of a purported Neanderthal boy at Teshik-Tash in southwestern Tajikistan, far west of the Pamir. And a few fossil teeth suggest that both AMHs and Neanderthals may have ranged as far east as the present Mongolian border by the time of the Upper Paleolithic.”

Mathiessen nodded again.

“
Mostly just individual bones,” Calder said. “And except for a single shovel-shaped tooth, which may be Neanderthal, found in a cave in the northern Pamir in 1997, there’s no evidence in that area.”

The director of the Institute of Human Evolution spread his hands. “Not exactly a plethora of discoveries. The Tajiks aren’t exactly experts in paleoanthropology. They probably assumed the bones are those of modern hunters.”

“
Or at most, Neolithic,” Calder said, beginning to recover from his initial shock.

Blaine said, “So, how do Dr. Calder and I fit in?”

“
Salomon negotiated with Delyanov to send a team of experts into the cave before the lake freezes for the winter. He thinks the Tajik government wants to represent the find as of little consequence so it won’t interfere with their hydroelectric aspirations. He got to pick the team.”

“
How’d Salomon manage that?” Calder said.

“
How do you think?” Mathiessen rubbed his fingertips together.

“
That would be like him,” Blaine said.

“
As soon as Salomon heard, he contacted me,” Mathiessen continued.” He says that if the Tajiks learn how old the remains are, they’ll close the cave to foreigners.”

“
Of course they would,” Calder said.

“
Why are you talking to us?” Blaine said. “Why aren’t the Tajiks mounting a full-on expedition? There might be other caves—”

“
Delyanov, the nature minister, doesn’t want publicity until he knows exactly what’s there.”

“
Why not? I should think he’d want to capitalize on the find.”

“
I suppose you know that the government of Tajikistan is a holdover from the Soviet era. Most of the high officials are ethnic Russians. They’re in charge of a small country with few resources and a lot of strife, particularly the insurgency that’s been popping up since 1997. The officials know they could be ousted at any time.”

“
So they’re corrupt,” Calder said.

“
The economy runs on grease. Plus, they need the hydroelectric project so they can extract more graft. And if it got out that they ignored a major prehistoric find, they’d have trouble floating a loan from the World Bank.”

“
Realpolitik,” Calder said. “And there’s also this Fitrat.”

“
Just so. She’s not a member of the Russian cadre and may not be in on the bribery, but they have to accommodate her. She wants a preliminary survey now, with a complete one next year after the lake thaws. On Delyanov’s orders, she’s limited the expedition to two people; a paleoanthropologist and an expert on prehistoric cave art.”

“
Cave art?” Calder said.

“
The diver also mentioned to the camp master that he saw colored drawings on the cave walls, frosted beyond legibility.”

Calder gave a whistle. A water-locked cave. Prehistoric art. He was getting an inkling why he was here.

“
That ups the ante,” he said. “Think of the publicity that Chauvet cave has generated for French archaeology. Images of Bison, lions, rhinoceros—thirty-two thousand years old.”

“
Or Altamira, for Spain,” Blaine said.

“
Or Cosquer, near Marseilles, that you’ve worked in, Ian,” Mathiessen said. “A submerged tunnel nearly six hundred feet long and a hundred twenty feet below sea level, leading to a waterlocked cave.”

“
Yes.” Calder experienced again the disabling claustrophobia of the long underwater passage. Picturing the colored drawings of horses, ibex, extinct giant deer, seals, and great auks, he wished he were back there now despite the unease he had felt. But the French government had closed the cave to foreign scientists. And anyway, his “voluntary” teaching load excluded field work these days.

“
Dr. Blaine asked why I’m talking to you two,” Mathiessen said. “That’s why.”

Blaine said, “Because we’re scuba divers?”

Mathiessen nodded. “You two are the only scientists with the requisite knowledge and credentials who are also accomplished divers. Ian as part of his profession. And you, Caitlin—may I call you Caitlin?”

“
You can now.”

“
You dive as a pastime. Second to, I believe, surfing.”

Calder glanced at Blaine, noting her sleek swimmer’s body. A scuba diver, like himself. So that was why the two of them had been chosen.

“
You seem to have done your homework,” Blaine said. “But I’m no physical archaeologist. I specialize in genetics. Primarily, cloning.”

“
That’s why Mr. Salomon insisted you be one of the two investigators. He wants genetic samples of the bodies, along with the anthropometric measurements. Particularly the Neanderthal, if the man turns out to be such.”

“
Oh,” Blaine said, with a sigh. Calder watched her step to the sliding doors, where she stood looking out.

Mathiessen, perhaps fearing he was losing her, hurried on: “Mr. Salomon was particularly pleased when I informed him that Dr. Calder has worked in computer-aided paleoanthropology, something that had escaped his hasty search.”

“
Great,” Blaine said without turning.

Calder watched her gaze moodily over the snow-covered town. “What is it, Dr. Blaine?”

“
Salomon wants more than a DNA sample,” she said, her voice sounding tired. “He wants his own Neanderthal, for profit.”

“
The thought occurred to me, also,” Mathiessen said. “Of course, the ethics of the situation—”

“
Laszlo Salomon didn’t build a worldwide conglomerate worrying about ethics.”

Calder said, “You picked me because I can cover both disciplines that Fitrat specified. Paleoanthropology and cave art.”

“
Waterlocked cave art,” Mathiessen said. “Reachable only by diving. As far as I could learn, you’re the only scientist in the country skilled in paleoanthropology, underwater archaeology, and cave art.”

Calder nodded. “I suppose this Fitrat woman will be told that I’m the physical anthropologist and Dr. Blaine is the cave-art specialist.”

“
Correct,” Mathiessen said. A frown creased his craggy face. “I wouldn’t have agreed to the deception, except that it’s Salomon’s way or no way. And with the turmoil in Tajikistan and next door in Afghanistan, who knows what conditions might prevail next year or next decade. If we miss this opportunity . . .”

He looked from Calder to Blaine. “Will you do it?”

“
I’m the paleoanthropologist,” Calder said. “I’ll be in charge.”

“
Nothing doing.” Blaine turned, scowling. “I’m not taking orders from some backward bone-lover.”

“
This is a scientific endeavor,” Calder said. “Increased knowledge should be the output. Not something frivolous like—”

Blaine bristled. “Genetic analysis is not friv—”

“
Laszlo Salomon is known for putting profits ahead of knowledge,” Calder said. He glanced at the IHE director. “I should control the mission.”