The Mountains Of Madness
Part 3

Of course it is impossible for me to relate precisely the stages by which we take what we know about the terrible chapter of pre-human life. After the first shock of a certain revelation, we had to pause briefly to recuperate, and it was completely three hours before we embarked on an actual systematic research tour. The statues in the building we entered were from a relatively late era — probably two million years ago — as examined by geological, biological, and astronomical features; and embodied an art that would be called decadent compared to the specimens we found in older buildings after crossing bridges under glacial sheets. One building hewn out of solid rock seems to go back forty or maybe even fifty million years — to the lower Eocene or Cretaceous over — and contains reliefs of artwork that go beyond anything else, with one remarkable exception, which we encountered. Since then, we have agreed, the oldest domestic structure we went through.

Were it not for the support of those flashlights to be announced soon, I would have refrained from telling what I found and concluded, lest I be constrained as a lunatic. Of course, the early part of the infinitely patchy story of — represents the pre-terrestrial life of star-headed creatures on other planets, and in other galaxies, he said, and in another universe — can be easily interpreted as a fantastic mythology of the creature itself. But such parts sometimes involve designs and diagrams that are so close to the latest mathematical and astrophysical discoveries that I barely know what to think. Let others judge when they see the photos I will publish.

Of course, there was not a single set of engravings we encountered that told more than a fraction of the related stories; we did not even begin to enter the various stages of the story in the proper order. Some spacious rooms are independent units as far as their design is concerned, while in other cases a continuous chronicle will be carried through a series of rooms and corridors.  The best maps and diagrams are on the walls of the terrifying ravine beneath even the surface of the primeval land — a cave that may be as high as 200 square feet and sixty feet high, which is almost unquestionably a kind of educational center. There are many repetitions provoking the same material in different rooms and buildings; since certain chapters of experience, and summaries or specific phases of the history of race, are, it is definitely a favorite of the decorators or different occupants. However, sometimes, variant versions of the same theme prove useful in resolving debatable points and filling in gaps.

The Elder Things's