The Common Thread Episode 4
Good Morning from mtMRCA's Family Group Cave.
We all come from the mother
Excerpted from We Meet Again for the Very First Time (Continued):
Testifying to the strength, though, of the mother-bond, is the evidence clearly written in the mtDNA. That record does not lead back in time to adoptive mother nor forward to future other relatives. Elizabeth’s M-line is exactly the same as mine—back 150,000 years, 8,000 to 10,000 generations—to so-called “mitochondria Eve.” (An egregious misnomer. Who calls a mother who live 150000-200000 years ago the name of a fictional character of a book maybe 6000 years old?)
Previously on The Common Thread
Episodes 1 and 2 depict the cooperative daily routines and survival strategies of the mtMRCA family group. The members collaborate on essential tasks like foraging for stinging nettles, processing newly-caught rabbits for stew, and managing water resources using small rabbit bladders which fit small child’s hands. Intertwined with these chores are scenes of everyday family life, including treating a child's tick bite, teaching youngsters resource management, and maintaining hygiene.
Episode 3:
Wandered off the trail for awhile to tell a short tale about why mtDNA is inherited solely from the mother (and why):
Now we return to Mer-ca’s family group for an episode in which the family group awakes together, emerges from the cave into the day, and prepares to fish for bottom-feeders in the creek that bears their name.
#2
Query: which stream looks more like a 150,000 years ago in sub-saharan Africa?
Family members we meet in Episode 4:
Herb: Grandmother Lila’s older brother. His pair-bonded partner (Shala) died giving birth to a baby conceived during the first month in which she did not bleed. The baby died while still caught in the birth canal.
Ceta: Herb’s daughter whose pair-bonded partner died of a wound infection while Ceta was pregnant with their second child, Nelo, (11). Their first child (Madred) had survived a fever when he was seven. After the fever, his brain quit developing.
Madred: (14) Ceta and deceased partner’s son survived a deep fever as a child—speech and language difficulties. Remains “stuck” at age 7.
Sletin: Herb’s son, pair-bonded with Eipin 22 years ago.
Eitin: Daughter from a far-distant family group, taken into Merca’s family group at the Harvest Festival 22 years ago.
Mika: Sletin and Eitin’s son (21). He is pair-bonded with Hena (20) who is seven or eight months pregnant with their first child.
Mela: Sletin and Eipin’s daughter (17). The family group believes she will find a partner who will come back with the group from Harvest Festival this year.
Ayla: (19) Daughter to a bonded pair who have both died, granddaughter to another branch of Mer-ca’s family, connected more than four generations back. She will give birth soon.
Itim: Ayla’s partner with whom she bonded as they and other members of their family groups joined in a hunting trip of three overnights before they brought down a Giant Buffalo.
Let’s Go Fishin’!
“Let’s go catch fish!” Madred burst out of the cave, excited as a boy can be on a sunny, breezy, blue-skied morning.
His cousin, Josen, hopped along behind him yelling, “Yes, I want fish for evening meal!”
Balay, Josen’s little brother, came next, repeating,”Me? Me? Me?” all he could think to say to get his hope across in his eagerness.
Lapal, Balay and Josen’s mother, pursued them out of the cave, reminding them softly, “Tend to elimination needs first, my sons. We don’t want our waste fouling up the stream by accident.”
“Oh yes, Mama. I almost forgot! C’mon, Ba’y. We can go together and chase any carrion birds trying to find rabbit guts Grandpa Ara threw out there yesterday.
Hey, Madred, you come too.” He held out his hand for Balay who grabbed it and bumbled near his brother to their usual morning stop.
Madred, glad to be included in the trip to tend to “necessaries,” smiled and shuffled behind the brothers.
Lapal found herself shaking her head again as Mer-ca, with Kala already strapped upon her back, exited the cave. “The boys are so fire up about fish they didn’t even think about being hungry soon.”
Then, realizing Ceta was at the fire, “You’re an early bird.”
Up from sleep before anyone else, Ceta was arranging stones, making sure the liner from the cooking-log bowl was ready to go down to the stream for scrubbing. They would need it tonight for cooking greens and tubers as the fishers cleaned, cut, and fried the fish for the evening meal.
Mila and Eipin, yawning, stretching and rubbing their sleepy eyes, emerged then, “I’m a bit irritated to be waked up in such a rush, Auntie L. What is wrong with boys anyway?”
“I’m not so sure it’s because they’re boys,” Laval answered. “Youth, girls or boys, face the new day avidly in my experience. You certainly were keen to get going when we planned a day you found fun.”
“Oh Auntie L, I never got that crazy! They forgot to go to the WE area!1 Or to get something to eat!”
"Well, they’re going now and we can take something down to Bottom-Feeder Creek to meet them coming there after the WE. If they found some birds to chase, that’ll distract ‘em for awhile so we have time to pack some nuts and seeds for a bite to eat as we fish. There’s probably some berries still hanging on the bushes down there, too. ‘Though, the birds may have gobbled them up before we can pick them. We’ll see.”
“The guys’re all coming from the cave now,” noted Eipin. “They’ll need the WE. We all need to get the fishing gear ready. Did Grandpa Ara save some rabbit innards for the bait?”
“Yes, this old man hasn’t lost all his memory yet. It’s one of the reasons we decided to catch some fish today,” Ara wise-cracked. “I wrapped it up tightly and placed the package in the shallows of the creek.”
He and the other men, with a straggling Nelo, emerged from the sleeping area ready to seize the day.
Herb, Sletin, and Itim greeted the women with hugs, smiles, and “‘mornin’s.” Nelo, not far from being a man himself, mirrored their behavior, hugging his mother Ceta, reciting, “‘morning, Mom.”
Ceta, hugging him in return, “Good morning, Nelo. The other boys went to the WE. Go meet them there and the rest of us will bring some things to eat before we get too busy with the fish.”
Itim shyly shuffled close to Ayla. They rubbed cheeks and noses, gently kissed, happy grins on each face. They had snuggled together on their double sleeping mat during the night, but they missed each other whenever parted, be it minutes, hours, or days.
Herb announced, “I’ll find the net I rigged up for trapping the B-F’s as we drive them out of hiding. It’s likely tangled so may take some time to get the snarls out. I’ll detour to the WE before I bring the net down to the creek.
All acknowledged Herb’s plan. Ara, Sletin and Itim went about gathering the fishing gear from its storage spot—cordage devised from stinging nettle fiber and leather strips braided together served as lines, enough barbed hooks, designed especially for catching B-F’s, stowed with the lines.
Sturdy hooks, strong enough to out-last a fish stuggling to release its mouth, were a generations-old invention passed down from grandparents to parents to Mer-ca’s current FG. Grandpa Ara and Grandma Lily could each recognize a hook as one their own parents carved when they were children. Lily’s had been an elk antler; Ara’s, a horn from a giant buffalo.
Each line-fisher, standing on the bank or wading in shallows would select a right-sized stone to attach to the cord-lines to keep the bait down on the floor of the stream where the fish fed.
“Whadaya say? Shall we head ourselves out and down to the bottom-feeders’ creek,” Sletin enthusiastically renewing everyone’s eagerness. All chattered joyfully, looking forward to a day of difficult but joyous activity that would sustain them all, not just with food, but with close, bonding fun.
More FG Members Left Behind
“Oh wait. Did we forget Sonny and Star and their crew?” wondered Lila about her second child, his partner, and their off-spring.
“Oh no, remember, they all said they wanted to sleep-in while we caught the fish. Then they can stay up later to gut and clean the fish we aren’t able to finish. Of course, they can also safeguard the drying fish so hyenas, jackals, and other wily crooks don’t snatch all our hard work away.”
“Oh my, I did forget. What’s that all about? I’m not quite as old as Ara, I don’t think,” Lila remembered. “What shall I do about my memory?” she queried curiously, but with little worry. Each FG member knew all the others had their backs.”
All the while they talked, members had been readying food, (nuts, seeds, bits of dried buffalo meat) and fishing gear. They’d join Herb and the boys down at the creek.
Just as they merrily set off, a dreadful scream coming from the creek halted them in their footprints.
To be continued next time in Episode 5.
Who screamed? Why? Was someone hurt? or just scared?
Hint:
Waste Elimination