The Mountains Of Madness
Part 3
When Lake had fulfilled his first keen curiosity, he wrote a message in his notebook and had the young Moulton run back to the camp to send it wirelessly. This is my first word of this discovery, and it tells of the identification of early shells, ganoid bones and placoderms, the remains of labyrinthhodonts and thecodonts, large pieces of mososaur skulls, and the remains of labyrinthhodonts, dinosaur bones and steel plates, pterodactyl plates and wing-bones, archeopteryx debris, Miocene shark teeth, primitive bird skulls, and the skulls, vertebrae, and bones of other ancient mammals such as palaeotheres, xiphodons, and other ancient mammals, dinocerases, eohippi, oreodon, and titanotheres. There is nothing recent from mastodons, elephants, true camels, deer, or ox-type animals; therefore Lake concludes that the last deposits had occurred during the Oligocene epoch, and that layer of the basin has been lying in a dry, dead, and inaccessible state for at least thirty million years.
On the other hand, the prevalence of very early life forms is singular in the highest degree. Although the limestone formations were, based on evidence from embedded fossils such as ventriculites, positively and unmistakably Comanchian and not earlier particles; the free fragments in the hollow space included a surprising proportion of organisms hitherto considered to be a much older period — even rudimentary fish, mollusks, and even a fish, and distant corals such as Siluria or Ordovician. The inescapable conclusion is that in this part of the world there has been an extraordinary and unique level of continuity between life more than 300 million years ago and only thirty million years ago then. How far this continuity had gone beyond the Oligocene age when the cave was closed, certainly passed all speculation. Anyways, though, the terrifying arrival of ice in the Pleistocene about 500,000 years ago — just yesterday compared to the age of this cavity — must have put an end to the primitive forms that locally managed to outlive those termstheir general term.
Lake was not content to let his first message stand, but had another bulletin written and sent across the snow to the camp before Moulton could return. After that Moulton stayed in wireless on one of the planes; transmitting to me — and to Arkham for conveying to the outside world — additional writings that Lake often sent to him by a series of messengers. Those who follow the newspaper will remember the excitement created among the science people by the report that afternoon — reports that finally brought, after so many years, the, to the Starkweather-Moore Expeditionary organization which I am eager to persuade from its purpose. I had better give it a message literally when Lake sent it, and as our base operator McTighe translated it from his pencil shorthand.
“Fowler made the most important discovery in sandstone and limestone fragments from the explosion. Several different striated triangular prints like the one on the Archaean slate, are, prove that the source survived from over 600 million years ago to the Comanchian era without more than moderate morphological changes and a decrease in average size. Comanchian prints seem to be more primitive or decadent, if any, than older ones. Emphasize the importance of discovery in the media. Would mean biology what Einstein meant for mathematics and physics. Join my previous work and strengthen the conclusion. It appears to indicate, as I suspected, that the earth had seen an entire organic cycle or life cycle before it was known that it began with Archaeozoic cells. It has evolved and specialized no more than a thousand million years ago, when the planet was young and recently uninhabitable for life forms or normal protoplasmic structures. Questions arise as to when, where, and how development occurs."
————————
"Later. Examine specific skeletal fragments from the land and sea of large sauria and primitive mammals, find a single local wound or injury to a bone structure not caused by any known predatory or carnivorous animal from any period. There are two kinds of — straight, boring, and seemingly cutting hacking. One or two cases of cleanly cut bones. Not many specimens were affected. I sent to camp for an electric torch. Will expand the search area underground by hacking stalactites. "
————————
————————
“10:15 P.M. Important discovery. Orrendorf and Watkins, working underground at 9:45 p.m., discovered a giant barrel-shaped fossil from a completely unknown realm; the; probably a vegetable except for overgrown specimens from unknown marine radiata. The tissue proved to be preserved by mineral salts. Tough as skin, but the awesome flexibility remains in some places. Signs of damage to the ends and sides. Six feet end to end, 3.5 feet in diameter, taper to 1 foot at each end. Like a barrel with five bulging protrusions in place of the staves. Lateral damage, such as thin rods, is at the equator in the middle of these mountains. In the grooves between the mountains was a strange growth. A comb or wing that folds and spreads like a fan. All were severely damaged except for one, which gave it nearly seven legs of wingspan spread. The setting reminds one particular monster of a primitive myth, especially the fabled Elder Things at the Necronomicon. These wings appear to be membranes, extending on the skeleton of the glandular tube. Small clearly visible holes in the frame tubing at the wingtips. The edges of his body withered, giving no clue to the inside or to what had been broken there. Had to dissect when we got back to camp. Cannot decide whether vegetable or animal. Many features are clearly primitive almost extraordinary. Have set all hand cutting stalactites and looking for further specimens. Additional scarring was found, but this will have to wait. Having trouble with dogs. They can't hold a new specimen, and will probably tear it to pieces if we don't keep our distance from them. "
————————
The Elder