Ancient mid-afternoons

It is interesting to think of the land that we traverse – drive, walk, run, bike, fly across – as an ancient land.  I do this once in a while but try and do it more – like make myself – because of the perspective it lends.  (Caveat: this is not necessarily an impetus for moral reflection.)  Most iterations of this thought experiment wonder about, I’ll go ahead and say it, what the terrain and the world would have been like when natives lived here, like before Europeans.  It’s fun.  Maybe edifying.  (And may help put things in perspective re: current issues re: environment, etc., but not going to talk about that here.)  Living out west seems to afford many opportunities for this but it can be done anywhere.  Think of back east: now as then more lush, more habitation: much to imagine.  But out here the fantasies become sparer: natives did live more in stereotypical ways – seasonal nomadism?  A harsher place out here than in a southeast forest/temperate setting.

And to compare local past-conditions to other, more distant, past conditions – a big part of my game.  Think of living here compared to living elsewhere 15 centuries ago.  A native living in a semi-permanent locale along the Snake River, say compared to a city dweller in Meso-America.  Take it a step further, of course, and compare these existences with that of a European.  Compare commoners – here or there – with royalty – here or there. 

Similarities may be teased out in letting thoughts wander down these paths.  People are people and this is as true today as it was a millennia and a half ago – our lots in life are cast, the decision between two people to bring forth another life made: here we are experiencing the world that we are thrown into.  Is it fun to think about other ways of life because this life ain’t so bad?  I think that has something to do with it.

Take a walk down an ancient trail – in the west just walk near water: rivers and lakes are places that have drawn people, whether ancient or new.  And think about what they experienced, what they thought.  On the very same ground, at the very same spot.  I make myself mute the ideas that natives long ago were more concerned with finding sustenance.  To hopefully not too radically extrapolate: those in the past had complex motivations for things.  They paid attention to bigger pictures whether tribal alliances or personal alliances.  There were metropolitan areas and backwaters then, sure.  But regardless whether city or plain there were Caesars and Joe Schmoes.  Different proclivities, different talents. 

            Considering people in the past to be as many dimensioned as we are makes the world a more exciting place to be.  I’m seeking a connection here and I think I am justified in doing so.  Behind great historical trends are people with personal needs and desires.  Considered from the other way: personal needs ultimately fuel/allow great trends.  No matter whether then or now, whether here or there.