When Time Rolled Back

A young member of a primitive riverine tribe, restless and different from his kin, discovers a buried, gleaming spherical structure whose interior contains floors of exhibits. Pictorial charts and devices present a sequence of human development—from cave life to increasingly complex dwellings, tools, social organization, warfare, and technological inventions—provoking awe and speculation. Confronted with images of long-term progress, he experiences yearning, intellectual awakening, and questions about improving life and the persistence of death, and the narrative explores the psychological and social implications of a primitive mind encountering a visual record of human advancement.