Thursday, October 18, 2012

"They were on or near the trails of Caribou, Muskoxen, and Woolly Mammoths as they migrated back and forth with seasons of the calves.  Their hunters moved with the wind and crossing the weather as it drove the herds to their advantage.  Dangerous and always alert to the many changes in weather, herd dispositions and with a constant attention to predators also crossing the tracks of their fresh spoor. Caches of stone spears and blades were left on the surface of the ground, on the ridges, overlooking the valleys. These groups living 20,000 years in their world of ice, maintain vigil with the hunt and always listening for any disturbances in the distance.  Old hunters leaned on their spears and with younger boys searched constantly in all directions of the camp. Giant bears followed the scent of the hunt, with lions and tiger cats, all making their way towards the herds, cris-crossing the camp boundaries in the chase. These were dangerous times and everyone stayed close to camp for protection."
"Ice Age tundra, ancient and perpetually frozen, harbors the remains of ancient Woolly Mammoth and a host of the many others that inhabited the Pleistocene.  Drifting these rivers in the high Arctic, with it's clear waters and vast country that no person could traverse within their lifetime. This region offers the 'Most Significant Sculpture Medium in the World.' This region invented quiet, and peace, sings in the winds like trumpeting Mammoths in the great distance. Trails along the rivers are gone but are just under the frozen ice covering ancient sod that once Mammoths fed, and Mastodons as they migrated in and out from the northern glacier chill. I remember in the ancient times, and I relive them again each time I am in this place, I still call home."