History surfs an incoming tide
The cave they first occupied, and the marks they left, are extant. They had never seen the sea, heard it or heard of it. Amongst many passages of fine writing is Winchester’s description of these people, “trekking down the Rift ... after long centuries ... man did reach the terminal cliffs and he did find the sea. He would have been astonished to reach what no doubt seemed to be the edge of his known world, at the sudden sight of a yawning gap between what he knew and what he knew nothing about ... he saw far below him a boiling and seemingly endless expanse of water, thrashing and thundering and roaring an endless assault against the rocks that marked the margin of his habitat. Yet, he didn’t run yelping back to the safety of the savannah.” No, he went on to explore.
The book is a far-reaching exploration. It wears its scholarship lightly. We embark on it and are carried along by its current as surely as if we set ourselves adrift on the Gulf Stream. Its encompass seems as broad as its subject, as full of currents and undercurrents. The voyage is fascinating, with new information at every tack.
