the perfect parcel. He wasn’t going to let a minx and her pet nerd screw it up for him.
“Okay kids – we need a new plan,” Neil said. “This data stays with us . Dimitri – keep working on that recovery, as soon as we’re back online I want to know about it . If we’re right in our predictions, we’ve got less than a week before we get a major energy kick up the arse. Less than one week, got that? I want to be onto it – first with the press, publicity, interviews – this is our game. Both of you – get your shit together and get on the next flight out. Meet me at The Dish.”
Stretched under a tree in the vast quadrangle, the late afternoon sun filtered lazily through low-hanging leaves. The grounds were nearly deserted. This was Ivy’s favourite time of day, when she was allowed to give Kyah a taste of the freedom she yearned for. Now, the bonobo explored the branches above, dangling one-armed and hooting softly. At this time of day, the few straggling staff and students still leaving were familiar with seeing Kyah around the campus, and either ignored her or smiled at Ivy as they passed. Confident that Kyah was occupied tormenting a line of ants that trailed the jacaranda tree above her, Ivy stretched out and closed her eyes, silently revelling in the soft breeze. She tucked the headphones of her music player into her ears and scrolled through her favourite playlist, settling back on the grass. Ivy's thoughts drifted lazily from Kyah to her research, then to familiar faces and new faces around campus. A fleeting figure with dark wavy hair and a boyish grin swept through her mind. Ivy smiled at thoughts which were now far from work, completely unaware that she was being watched by two separate individuals.
“Ivy!” Jayne came hurrying across the grass, blonde hair whipping her face.
Ivy sat forward as Jayne approached, gathering her music player and placing it behind her.
“What's up?”
“Ivy, the first artefacts have arrived! They're amazing, covered in red blood cells and cellulose, starch, fibres…. Seriously hon, we're going to be looking at these for months . I don't even know where to start! They've sent charcoal and calcite as well; Eli's running it through the system. We should have our own radiocarbon date confirmed in a few days….”
Ivy could feel Jayne's excitement shared in her own veins.
Morwood’s team had been pushing for excavation approval in Indonesia for years, fuelled by the growing realisation that Aboriginal culture in north-west Australia bore resemblance in sophistication and style to those in Borneo. This discovery pinpointed Indonesia as a prime suspect for funnelling the first migrations of humans to colonise Australia from Asia.
It made sense. Migrating from mainland Asia to the joined continent of New Guinea and Australia would have been akin to an epic prehistoric game of stepping stones. There were a handful of potential pathways through the 13,000 islands of the Indonesian Archipelago to navigate, situated close enough that each progressive island could have been seen from the one before. However, it wasn’t likely an easy trip.
Dangerous currents still isolated the string of volcanic islands from greater Asia by a menacing division known as the Wallace Line. In their tropical seclusion untouched by humans, the islands had flourished, tempered by seasonal monsoonal rains and harsh, dry winds that left the earth thirsty. Birds and animals grew bizarre in their isolation and each island became a game board of nature’s experiments.
Then fifty thousand years ago with a burst into sea-faring technology, modern humans finally broke through the perilous water break. They had populated the volcanic necklace of Nusa Tengarra and forged new homes throughout South-East Asia, island-hopping all the way south to Australia and ulimately, leaving tantalising archaeological evidence of their trip. Somewhere . Morwood’s team needed proof – and a place in
“Okay kids – we need a new plan,” Neil said. “This data stays with us . Dimitri – keep working on that recovery, as soon as we’re back online I want to know about it . If we’re right in our predictions, we’ve got less than a week before we get a major energy kick up the arse. Less than one week, got that? I want to be onto it – first with the press, publicity, interviews – this is our game. Both of you – get your shit together and get on the next flight out. Meet me at The Dish.”
Stretched under a tree in the vast quadrangle, the late afternoon sun filtered lazily through low-hanging leaves. The grounds were nearly deserted. This was Ivy’s favourite time of day, when she was allowed to give Kyah a taste of the freedom she yearned for. Now, the bonobo explored the branches above, dangling one-armed and hooting softly. At this time of day, the few straggling staff and students still leaving were familiar with seeing Kyah around the campus, and either ignored her or smiled at Ivy as they passed. Confident that Kyah was occupied tormenting a line of ants that trailed the jacaranda tree above her, Ivy stretched out and closed her eyes, silently revelling in the soft breeze. She tucked the headphones of her music player into her ears and scrolled through her favourite playlist, settling back on the grass. Ivy's thoughts drifted lazily from Kyah to her research, then to familiar faces and new faces around campus. A fleeting figure with dark wavy hair and a boyish grin swept through her mind. Ivy smiled at thoughts which were now far from work, completely unaware that she was being watched by two separate individuals.
“Ivy!” Jayne came hurrying across the grass, blonde hair whipping her face.
Ivy sat forward as Jayne approached, gathering her music player and placing it behind her.
“What's up?”
“Ivy, the first artefacts have arrived! They're amazing, covered in red blood cells and cellulose, starch, fibres…. Seriously hon, we're going to be looking at these for months . I don't even know where to start! They've sent charcoal and calcite as well; Eli's running it through the system. We should have our own radiocarbon date confirmed in a few days….”
Ivy could feel Jayne's excitement shared in her own veins.
Morwood’s team had been pushing for excavation approval in Indonesia for years, fuelled by the growing realisation that Aboriginal culture in north-west Australia bore resemblance in sophistication and style to those in Borneo. This discovery pinpointed Indonesia as a prime suspect for funnelling the first migrations of humans to colonise Australia from Asia.
It made sense. Migrating from mainland Asia to the joined continent of New Guinea and Australia would have been akin to an epic prehistoric game of stepping stones. There were a handful of potential pathways through the 13,000 islands of the Indonesian Archipelago to navigate, situated close enough that each progressive island could have been seen from the one before. However, it wasn’t likely an easy trip.
Dangerous currents still isolated the string of volcanic islands from greater Asia by a menacing division known as the Wallace Line. In their tropical seclusion untouched by humans, the islands had flourished, tempered by seasonal monsoonal rains and harsh, dry winds that left the earth thirsty. Birds and animals grew bizarre in their isolation and each island became a game board of nature’s experiments.
Then fifty thousand years ago with a burst into sea-faring technology, modern humans finally broke through the perilous water break. They had populated the volcanic necklace of Nusa Tengarra and forged new homes throughout South-East Asia, island-hopping all the way south to Australia and ulimately, leaving tantalising archaeological evidence of their trip. Somewhere . Morwood’s team needed proof – and a place in
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