Mists of Dawn
Encyclopedia
Mists of Dawn is a juvenile science fiction
novel by science fiction writer and anthropologist Chad Oliver
first published in 1952 by John C. Winston, Co. as a part of the Winston Science Fiction
series of juvenile novels. The story follows the adventures of adolescent Mark Nye when he is accidentally transported to the stone age
by his uncle's time machine
. It includes a factual foreword on the science of anthropology
and how Oliver uses this science in the telling of his story.
has finally finished his space-time travel machine after 20 years of research. On the eve of its maiden voyage to Ancient Rome
, Dr. Nye's nephew Mark is trapped inside and sent back in time to the year 50,000 BC when a nearby rocket test explosion sends him careening into the controls. When Mark arrives at his destination he must survive the two weeks it takes the space-time machine to recharge for the return trip with nothing but a few matches, a pocket knife, and a 6-shot .45 revolver.
When he awakens, Mark sees a reindeer-like animal, and takes two more shots from his revolver to take it down. After building a fire and roasting part of his kill, Mark again feels he is being watched. Rather than more Neanderthals, however, he sees a human figure resembling an American Indian
whom he suspects is a Cro-Magnon
man. He offers to share his food, and they establish a rapport, both realizing neither intends to harm the other. Mark discovers the man's name is Tlaxcan. In the face of an imminent storm, they cooperate to build a crude lean-to and rest for the night.
When Mark wakes up, Tlaxcan is nowhere to be found, but he notices a group of vultures circling not too far away. Mark investigates to find Tlaxcan lying injured near a dead wolf-like animal. Mark tends to Tlaxcan's wounds and they set off to return to Tlaxcan's home.
They reach the valley of the Danequa, Tlaxcan's people, only to be confronted by several Danequa men. Tlaxcan vouches for Mark, but tensions are still high. Qualxan, the shaman of the tribe, takes Mark alone into a cave and puts on a ritual display of "magic" in order to establish his dominance over Mark. Mark leaves the cave and uses his matches to "create" fire out of thin air in front of the whole tribe. This earns him the respect of many members of the tribe, but an old warrior, Nranquar, is unimpressed. He maintains the only way for Mark to prove himself is to join the hunt for mammoth
.
When the time for the hunt comes, the whole tribe participates. Their strategy revolves around distracting and agitating the mammoth herd enough that they can induce it to stampede off the edge of a cliff. At one point during the hunt Nranquar is about to be trampled but is rescued by Mark, who is himself injured.
At the conclusion of the hunt the tribe celebrates with a massive feast at the site of the mammoth stampede. After the revelries Mark and Tlaxcan leave with the bulk of the tribe, returning to their valley taking as much of the meat as they can carry, leaving a small contingent of hunters to guard the remainder of the kill.
When Mark and Tlaxcan return to the site of the kill to relieve the guards, they spot circling vultures and suspect an ambush. They change course and manage to avoid the Neanderthal trap, but the Neanderthals, in frustration, charge wildly after the two. This results in a furious chase across the plains, eventually landing Mark and Tlaxcan in a deep subterranean cavern where they battle a bear-like creature. Finally prevailing against these threats, they return to the valley of the Danequa.
When the tribe learns of what has happened they hold a war council and decide to embark upon a campaign against the Neanderthal settlement. During the time when the Danequa are preparing for war, Qualxan hints that he knows Mark will soon be leaving the Danequa and returning to the "land of his fathers". Qualxen suggests that before he leaves, Mark visit Tloron, a Danequa holy man.
Tlaxcan leads Mark deep into a cave in the valley where he finds Tloron working by the light of soapstone lamps on a magnificent cave painting
. Mark realizes that he has seen this particular image before, 50,000 years in the future, yet he is witnessing it at the moment of its creation.
Finally the Danequa march off to war. A battle ensues, and Mark and Tlaxcan pursue some Neanderthals across the plains in the direction of the space-time machine. The two friends prevail against the Neanderthals, and Mark says his goodbyes. He sets his return time to 15 minutes after he left his own time, and returns home.
and McComas
praised the novel for "combin[ing] solid thinking on the elements of time travel with a warmly sympathetic portrait of Cro-Magnon
civilization."
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel by science fiction writer and anthropologist Chad Oliver
Chad Oliver
Symmes Chadwick Oliver was an American science fiction and Western writer and chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin...
first published in 1952 by John C. Winston, Co. as a part of the Winston Science Fiction
Winston Science Fiction
The Winston Science Fiction set comprises 35 science fiction juvenile novels by famous science fiction authors such as Poul Anderson, Arthur C. Clarke, Ben Bova, and Lester del Rey and one non-fiction book Rockets through Space: The Story of Man's Preparations to Explore the Universe by del Rey...
series of juvenile novels. The story follows the adventures of adolescent Mark Nye when he is accidentally transported to the stone age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
by his uncle's time machine
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
. It includes a factual foreword on the science of anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and how Oliver uses this science in the telling of his story.
Plot introduction
Dr. Robert Nye, a nuclear physicist working at White Sands Missile RangeWhite Sands Missile Range
White Sands Missile Range is a rocket range of almost in parts of five counties in southern New Mexico. The largest military installation in the United States, WSMR includes the and the WSMR Otera Mesa bombing range...
has finally finished his space-time travel machine after 20 years of research. On the eve of its maiden voyage to Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, Dr. Nye's nephew Mark is trapped inside and sent back in time to the year 50,000 BC when a nearby rocket test explosion sends him careening into the controls. When Mark arrives at his destination he must survive the two weeks it takes the space-time machine to recharge for the return trip with nothing but a few matches, a pocket knife, and a 6-shot .45 revolver.
Plot summary
Upon his arrival in the stone age, Mark ventures out of the space-time machine in search of food and water. He is soon accosted by a group of Neanderthals who drag him back to their cave lair. Mark suspects he is to become dinner, so he shoots one of his guards and escapes, barely managing to evade his captors in an all-night chase. Mark finally finds a place to hide and collapses into exhausted slumber.When he awakens, Mark sees a reindeer-like animal, and takes two more shots from his revolver to take it down. After building a fire and roasting part of his kill, Mark again feels he is being watched. Rather than more Neanderthals, however, he sees a human figure resembling an American Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
whom he suspects is a Cro-Magnon
Cro-Magnon
The Cro-Magnon were the first early modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are radiometrically dated to 35,000 years before present....
man. He offers to share his food, and they establish a rapport, both realizing neither intends to harm the other. Mark discovers the man's name is Tlaxcan. In the face of an imminent storm, they cooperate to build a crude lean-to and rest for the night.
When Mark wakes up, Tlaxcan is nowhere to be found, but he notices a group of vultures circling not too far away. Mark investigates to find Tlaxcan lying injured near a dead wolf-like animal. Mark tends to Tlaxcan's wounds and they set off to return to Tlaxcan's home.
They reach the valley of the Danequa, Tlaxcan's people, only to be confronted by several Danequa men. Tlaxcan vouches for Mark, but tensions are still high. Qualxan, the shaman of the tribe, takes Mark alone into a cave and puts on a ritual display of "magic" in order to establish his dominance over Mark. Mark leaves the cave and uses his matches to "create" fire out of thin air in front of the whole tribe. This earns him the respect of many members of the tribe, but an old warrior, Nranquar, is unimpressed. He maintains the only way for Mark to prove himself is to join the hunt for mammoth
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
.
When the time for the hunt comes, the whole tribe participates. Their strategy revolves around distracting and agitating the mammoth herd enough that they can induce it to stampede off the edge of a cliff. At one point during the hunt Nranquar is about to be trampled but is rescued by Mark, who is himself injured.
At the conclusion of the hunt the tribe celebrates with a massive feast at the site of the mammoth stampede. After the revelries Mark and Tlaxcan leave with the bulk of the tribe, returning to their valley taking as much of the meat as they can carry, leaving a small contingent of hunters to guard the remainder of the kill.
When Mark and Tlaxcan return to the site of the kill to relieve the guards, they spot circling vultures and suspect an ambush. They change course and manage to avoid the Neanderthal trap, but the Neanderthals, in frustration, charge wildly after the two. This results in a furious chase across the plains, eventually landing Mark and Tlaxcan in a deep subterranean cavern where they battle a bear-like creature. Finally prevailing against these threats, they return to the valley of the Danequa.
When the tribe learns of what has happened they hold a war council and decide to embark upon a campaign against the Neanderthal settlement. During the time when the Danequa are preparing for war, Qualxan hints that he knows Mark will soon be leaving the Danequa and returning to the "land of his fathers". Qualxen suggests that before he leaves, Mark visit Tloron, a Danequa holy man.
Tlaxcan leads Mark deep into a cave in the valley where he finds Tloron working by the light of soapstone lamps on a magnificent cave painting
Cave painting
Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings, and the term is used especially for those dating to prehistoric times. The earliest European cave paintings date to the Aurignacian, some 32,000 years ago. The purpose of the paleolithic cave paintings is not known...
. Mark realizes that he has seen this particular image before, 50,000 years in the future, yet he is witnessing it at the moment of its creation.
Finally the Danequa march off to war. A battle ensues, and Mark and Tlaxcan pursue some Neanderthals across the plains in the direction of the space-time machine. The two friends prevail against the Neanderthals, and Mark says his goodbyes. He sets his return time to 15 minutes after he left his own time, and returns home.
Characters in "Mists of Dawn"
- Mark Nye - the main character, a 17 year old boy
- Dr. Robert Nye - Mark's uncle, a nuclear physicist working at White Sands.
- Tlaxcan - a Cro-Magnon hunter, befriends Mark
- Nranquar - An old and respected Danequa, does not initially welcome Mark until he proves himself in the Mammoth hunt
- Qualxen - Danequa shaman, accepts Mark after his display of his mastery of fire (by matches)
- Tloron - Danequa "holy" man, practices the white magicWhite MagicWhite Magic may refer to:* White magic, healing or "good," as opposed to Black magic; see also magic * White Magic , an American rock band* White Magic , album by Swedish musician ceo...
of cave painting
Reception
BoucherAnthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
and McComas
J. Francis McComas
Jesse Francis McComas was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe....
praised the novel for "combin[ing] solid thinking on the elements of time travel with a warmly sympathetic portrait of Cro-Magnon
Cro-Magnon
The Cro-Magnon were the first early modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are radiometrically dated to 35,000 years before present....
civilization."