The Hohokam Dig

Two museum scientists travel to a desert excavation to investigate why prehistoric desert peoples abandoned their villages. While setting up camp they are suddenly attacked by a band of naked brown people who seem to emerge from the ruins, using atlatls and wearing yucca-fiber breechclouts, shell bracelets, turquoise ornaments and other Hohokam accoutrements. The encounter forces the researchers to confront whether the attackers are a modern prank, a supernatural return, or a surviving strand of ancient culture, and the narrative examines the collision between scientific curiosity and an inexplicable reappearance of the past.