Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh ——Bio and Archives--January 27, 2026

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The poet Longfellow famously wrote that people who make history leave “footprints on the sands of time.” Unfortunately, no matter how famous a person is, these passing footprints are washed away by furious ocean waves, tides, or intense winds, unless the footprints are somehow petrified.

Archeologists have found human and animal remains, fossilized and mummified, skeletal remains from various time periods, buried artifacts, artwork on cave walls, tools, graves, inscribed stones, stone arrowheads, dried up medicinal herbs, beaded items, jewelry, and cloth(ing) which had proven that humans were more civilized than previously thought.

The Neanderthals, for example, cared for the sick and the infirm, and buried their dead. They had a religious belief. We know they had compassion for the weak and reverence for the dead.

Ralph S. Solecki of the Smithsonian found a grave in a cave in the Zagros Mountains of northeastern Iraq. Its discovery and analysis was most remarkable, adding to the knowledge about the Neanderthal man.

Flowers were found around........

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