Cradle of Man

What you see on that map is the spread of Homo sapiens at the start of our project; a region with a climate and terrain similar to our world's Great Rift Valley, where mankind arose historically; that is, a warm area comprised of lakebeds and river systems, wetlands and grassy and lightly forested regions. Large wildlife in this region includes species such as wild canids, large flightless birds (both predatory and non-predatory), otters, crocodilians, large wild felines, hyenas, elephants, and other primates. Smaller wildlife is rarely mammalian (with a notable absence of rodents), but rather dominated by reptiles and small birds.

For reference.
 
A lot of these are VERY anachronistic, man... Large monumental structures, horseback riding... we're something like 50,000 years away from that kind of thing.

Like I explained earlier on chat, I am just about completely unaware of what the timeline for these things would be.

However I never specified horses, mainly because according to OP there arent any horses available, and because I am not sure what sort of animals they would be riding. It could be otters for all I know. I left that up to the GM to decide, since he is by nature more familiar with what might be available than I am.

As for the stone structures, I didnt intend for anything grand to be created. Literally just blocks of stone to be moved into place to surround a small settlement that would contain maybe a few dozen people. Seeing as they are in the mountains, this could be as little as moving a few boulders downhill into a circle where they would make camp inside.
 
Though the Upper Acheulites are known for assumed otter domestication, an offshoot of the groupings is believed to have moved west roughly 55,000 years before present day. Due to a lack of otter remains in their burial areas, it is likely that the otters either did not make it, or were not there in the first place.
Spoiler :
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Most importantly, however, is a cave painting found in their area, showing what appears to be a weir and a harpoon pointed at a vague fish thing - this, combined with soil readings, heavily implies an aquaculture amongst these people, who have thus been called the Weir Culture.
 
The Later Dandakoi culture is, according to contemporary anthropologists, believed to have evolved into two separate major groups, though this is controversial as the distinction between the two is rather blurred and they frequently overlap at archaeological sites.

The Narmadas culture can be said to be a more riverine one, focused in the west of the Dandakoi area, as there is evidence of river-fishing and other aquatic activities - Narmadas sites are thus found further and further downriver than (Later) Dandakoi ones. Narmadas sites also show increased evidence of strong cohabitation between humans and primates, especially monkeys.

The Hamanas culture is more concentrated to the east. The Hamanas culture appears to have developed primitive sewing needles from bone. There is also strong evidence of increased cohabitation between humans and monkeys, just like in the west.
 
Some Upper Acheulites got lost on a fishing trip in a storm and found a new, but small, land in the sea. They would come to be known as the Island Acheulites. The islanders had few otters, so attempted to catch small birds and train them to hunt smaller birds.
 
Some Upper Acheulites got lost on a fishing trip in a storm and found a new, but small, land in the sea. They would come to be known as the Island Acheulites. The islanders had few otters, so attempted to catch small birds and train them to hunt smaller birds.

I'm already working on the update, but feel free to elaborate on this for the next wave.
 
Wave 4
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The Canokoi culture, in the southwestern plateaus and jungles surrounding them, is distinguished from the other post-Dandakoi cultures in the region by a strong presence of wolf remains near human burials, though these are not believed to have quite represented a domesticated stage in this era.

The other two post-Dandakoi cultures in the lowlands, the river-tied Narmadas culture in the east and the sewing-equipped Hamanas sites in the west, also show evidence of a similar practice, though in their case, these remains occurred with langurs rather than wolves.

Further north, among the tropical river valleys, the early Goshen sites are now divided into the Upper Goshen and Lower Goshen; both of which appear to have adopted the use of otters from the Acheulite. While use of otters is significantly more prevalent in Upper Goshen sites, the distinguishing feature is actually in the design and longer use of Upper Goshen homes as compared to the more motile Lower Goshen settlements.

Along the northeastern coast, the Weir Culture split off from neighbouring groups; while its sites lack otter remains, they are notable for their use of more sophisticated fishing weirs than other sites of the time.

Further to the east, the Masunke-P stage diverged into what has become known as the High Masunke stage in the southern coastal jungles, using smaller and hafted tools, and the Low Masunke stage in the northern savannahs and forests, who began to favor bone over wood or stone in their tools.

Descendants of the Maseroi E2 stage include the Masepotami culture, whose extremely rare sites divide them into a Lake and Delta location utilizing similar styles of shelter. Domestic otter remains have been found in Delta sites, though it is unclear if this is because of the proximity of the Upper Acheulite culture or an internal use. Outside of the Masepotami culture, there also exists the Maseroi E3 stage, which is marked by a shift in settlement patterns.

Lastly, the Southern Acheroi stage in the northwest diverged from Early Acheroi, and is marked by the presence of sewing needles adopted from the Maseroi E2 and by the presence of fishing nets at sites in close proximity to bodies of water.

Spoiler :
Nothing much to comment here. Dealt with some anachronisms and terrain confusions.


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Raal'ladokeroi 2:
Pressured by the Maseroi E3 to the south and the Acheroi to the north, many migrate en masse to the east, many staying semi-nomadic in caves and natural clearings. This migration is also marked by increased loads in hunting, perhaps through sharper stones for spears or some other innovation.
 
High Wier Culture It is unknown whether this culture is actually a distinctive archaeological record, or simply evidence of occupation of prime sites by different groups at different times. High Wier Culture show evidence of both Upper Acheulite and Wier influences, with the distinctive Wiers accompanied by bifaced hand axes and scrappers, and, significantly, Otter remains, as they expand westwards.

Land Wier culture: while the coastal wier people generally are replaced by the High Wier Culture, those who migrated inland seem to have adopted a lifestyle well suited for the savannah. a number of mass animal grave sites indicating a "buffalo jump" hunting practice, as well as larger otter remains, seem to indicate that Land Wier people subsisted on nomadic hunting using larger otters more adapted to land.

Therantan Culture: After the High Masunke people came into contact with the domesticated wolf and langur, both spread like wildfire through the archaeological record.
 
The Derbibah culture is believed to have originated from the Narmadas culture, and is characterized by a number of sites found further downriver from the Narmadas sites, which show signs of further interaction between dogs and humans - though whether this is proper "domestication" or merely some intermediary step is highly disputed - as well as similar interaction between humans and langurs.

The Later Hamanas culture is a rather significantly more clearer descendent of its namesake. Later Hamanas sites show further evidence of humans of using trees as a form of shelter, but in a far more advanced more than ever before - evidently, Later Hamanas people had been able to craft primitive ladders to easily reach safe heights, as well as hammocks, and combinations of them, to act as sleeping sites above the ground.
 
Islander Masepotami: The people of the delta were probably the first to make extensive use of the primitive boats in use by humans at this point in history. Some of the people in the delta migrated to islands off the coast, and their culture is classified as a separate third branch of the Masepotami culture known as the Islander Masepotami. Fishing appears to have been a more important source of food than earlier, and unlike their delta counterparts there is no hard evidence of domestic otters in Islander societies.

Otterman: The Delta Masepotami culture eventually developed into what is called the Otterman culture. It is known that by this time, domestic otters were a central part in delta culture. Burial remains found on the delta islands show customs of replacing a dead person's head with the head of an otter, as human skeletons have been found along with otter craniums.
 
The Helleroi derives from migration of some Acheroi tribes to lands inhabited by the Upper Acheulite culture, near northeast coast. Increasingly this culture began to leave hunting behind and to prefer domestication and fishing already practiced in the region, but they kept the artistic traditions, which have evolved significantly. It was discovered that these people went on to carve rudimentary faces on wood and even stones, some small as otters and other as big as humans. It is not known if the faces represent the artists themselves, their ancestors or simply sketches with human traits.
 
Wave 5
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The Raal'ladokeroi B stage diverged from the A period of that culture after it shifted to the eastward side of the mountains, and adopted traits of neighbouring cultures, like otter fishing.

The Helleroi culture in the northeast coastal forests is an interesting blend of Acheroi and Acheulite influences, borrowing Acheroi art and Upper Acheulite lifestyles and adding in carved stone statuettes of people and otters for unknown purposes.

The Otterman culture appears to have taken the art and settlement practices of the Masepotami and integrated them with many of the Upper Acheulite traditions in the area. Notably, they appear to have attached some religious significance to otters - or at least, that remains the leading theory as to why they would replace human skulls with those of otters at burial sites.

The Islander Masepatomi stage remains, as with its predecessors, extremely small and rare in terms of archaeological sites; from what little can be gleaned, unlike nearby cultures, they did not use otters in their fishing practices.

The High Weir stage appears to have diverged from the Weir culture through influence from the Upper Acheulite, as well, and shows a blend of the Weir culture's advanced fishing practices and the otter-domestication of the Acheulite stage. The other branch of the Weir culture that leaves sites in this period has come to be known as the Inland Weir, which appears to have bred larger otters akin to the Upper Goshen for terrestrial hunting practices, and, in the savannahs and scrublands south of the major rivers, left behind early evidence of larger game-hunting, particularly of Mastodon and wildebeest.

The neighbouring Derbibah culture, believed to be a successor to the Narmadas culture in the east, is notable for both the large number of langur remains at its sties, as well as the earliest known fully domesticated dogs. Further east still, the Later Hamanas stage lacks much evidence of dogs, but appears to have adopted more arboreal practices than other societies.

Along the southeastern ridge forests, the Therantan culture also adopted the use of dogs and cohabitation with langur, though they appear to be more closely related to the High Masunke stage than to Narmadas sites.

Spoiler :
Update images will probably get spoilered starting next turn.

For those of you who would like an overlapping map of the domesticates, I have one here:
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For future record, just because an area is filled in doesn't *guarantee* it's inhabited, especially for mountains - it's often a matter of simplification

Lastly, updates are going to start taking longer and longer. I still plan to shoot for daily for tomorrow and the weekend, though I ask you to forgive me if a day gets skipped, and the next stage will be slowing down in order to accommodate more detailed updates and gameplay.

EDIT: Oh - area southeast of the major rivers is scrubland and savannah, and is populated by many megafauna such as Mastodon. Are where the Canokoi inhabit is largely highlands and plateaus, some clear and dry, some with cloud forests. It's substantially colder than other regions of the map, and the wildlife reflects that.


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The increased presence of ivory artwork, as well as early tools and lighter, more aerodynamic spears in Low Masunke sites indicates that this period was marked by the increased hunting of local megafauna such as mastodons and elephants. These beasts would have provided massive amounts of food, as well as large amounts of skin for clothes, helping the Low Masunke culture to prosper at this time. Burial sites which contain ivory artwork have been found, although these are not ubiquitous throughout Low Masunke sites, and are more prevalent towards the North.
 
Trimaran Culture While carbon dating places the Trimaran culture as superseding High Wier culture, the distinct overlap, and, frankly, palimpsest of sites suggests to most academics that there is no real difference between High Wier and Trimaran, and that the reason that the evidence of characteristic Trimarans are not present in earlier sites is simply an accident of preservation. Indeed, the most "damning" evidence of the trimaran's naval industry is a simple cave-wall painting of the distinctive boats which has not been conclusively dated. Significantly, Dogs begin to be found in sites throughout the area, presumably Co-existing with otters in parallel niches. In some cases, though these are scattered in sites throughout Trimaran occupation, Langur remains are found, though presumably they had not yet grown to become an integral part of society.

Later Wier Are distinct from the more eastern Inland Wier mostly because of geography. The open savannas and sahels of the west allowed for larger scale megafauna hunting. Stress on animal remains, as well as butchery evidence, indicates that the Later Wier hunted employing both "Animal Jumps" and persistence hunting. Later Wier, Trimaran, and Inland Wier sites of this period are characterized by male figures carved with engorged, disproportionate phalluses, and female figures with swollen breasts and genitalia.

Harpoon Achealite sites, supplanting Upper Acheulite sites, like contemporary Trimaran sites show evidence of large scale boat building, though in a slightly different style. Artistic evidence, mainly ochre paints on cave walls, show scene of humans hunting larger marine mammals aboard catamarans. In conjunction with this, increasing presence of bone toggle headed harpoons are found.
 
The Hamanas B culture developed from the Later Hamanas and other related cultures, it continued its people's shelter's ascension from the ground to the trees. These people had apparently grown increasingly adept at arboreal construction - it is believed that Hamanas B peoples slept in mobile yurt-like structures, their bases built from hammocks between tree branches and accessible via primitive ladders, and with fabric used to cover the whole structure and provide protection from rain. In addition, it is believed that dogs spread to the Hamanas B culture. This type of shelter was so successful that it spread throughout the region.
 
Given my schedule tonight, I am not sure when the update will be released, and it may be early morning.

That being said, I strongly encourage people to submit new cultures, with a soft deadline of midnight EST.

Daily updates are planned for tomorrow and Sunday, with Sunday *most likely* being a summary of the events so far and thr introduction of new ways for you all to interact with the world.
 
The Helleroi are gradually leaving nomadism, and began to inhabit the pleasant land next to rivers and the sea. The domestication of otters, coupled with increasingly intense fishing, almost eliminated the need for hunting, which now has more ceremonial than practical significance. Examples of rudimentary temples were found along the banks of rivers, usually in caves, and containing large number of stone figures. One hypothesis is that these figures signify some kind of ancestor worship, as each sculptor carves his own face in stone, and leaves it in a seemingly sacred site, or simply a place protected from the weather, like the mentioned caves.

The Southern Acheroi kept hunting as the main source of food, along with moderate fishing. Much of the artistic traditions related to wood carvings remained, but with a strange and curious peculiarity: on the north shore of the great lake, a unique cave became a huge deposit of sculptures, as if each artist wanted to put their art there. It seems that this practice has roots in some primitive religious tradition, perhaps something connected to "their origins" or something. Moreover, they maintained a semi nomadic lifestyle, living in certain areas at certain seasons. Now, thay are known as the Laakeroi Culture.
 
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