A famous American professor of Biology was leading the tour. The deal was like this: he provides guidance and explains the findings, whereas we, the students, have to hand him over the most precious items found.
We started a slow descent to the bottom of the dried sea. The shores were all sandy and very movable. We had been shown the easiest trails down and the hunt for natural antiques began.
We wondered a couple of hours in the sea bottom and then, our pockets full of little fossilized bones and shells, started to ascend. Finally all were back on the top but nothing was handed over to the American professor. No big or unique findings!
There was time to go back to our cars, but my insatiable curiosity and desire to find something outstanding drove me back to the edge of the sea shore steep edge. Here I noticed some sort of roundish stone peeping out of the sand, it was few steps down and I took the risk and carefully made these steps. Then I dug out the stone – it proved to be a huge ammonite, size of a big table dish and almost entirely intact! I put it under my shirt and looked for a way to go back. At that moment, the sand under my feet started slowly and treacherously to yield in and I was driven down with frightening acceleration. The picture of my fall probably reminded the famous Surikov painting: «Suvorov’s Army passes over Alps»
In a few minutes of that crazy descent I was back at the bottom of the sea and when I looked up – I saw small figures of people, size of a play-mobile dolls crawling on the top. My efforts to climb up were futile: the sand dutifully yielded under my feet and I was idling at the same spot… I frantically started to think what to do in order to avoid embarrassment of rescue party send to me and get me out. I recollect one documentary movie when some native people were moving on the steep sandy shores by digging small holes along their way. This tactic was used: I dug a hole with my hands, put a foot into it and then dug another hole for the next step…
It took not long to feel my hands and feet are shaking with fatigue but I had no choice but continue this arduous climb. And finally, I saw one of my friend leaned over the precipice edge to give me a hand.
I was up on the top again! And my precious ammonite was still with me!
I showed it to our American guide and my ambitious desire was satisfied – he took it!
…One very pretty girl from our group approached me and handed over a small bouquet of freshly picked wild flowers but this would start my next story…
Good bye the 100 milions years old sea – we took to our cars and safely drove back to civilized world.
Экскурсия на дно древнего моря
В бытность мою студентом Института Вайцмана, я взял интереснейший предмет – курс биологической эволюции. Да, я был знаком с этим предметом по советской школе. Но там преподавали эволюцию на примитивном уровне – как постепенное накапливание организмами полезных для выживания свойств.
От низшего к высшему по восходящей линии. Когда советская наука увлеклась бредовыми идеями академика Лысенко – и этого не стало. По специальности инженер электронных материалов, я был без малейшего понятия о терминах биологии, тем более на английском языке. Пришлось сидеть в библиотеке со словарем и переводить незнакомые мне слова как то: усики, жвала, головоногие, членистоногие, и т. п. Зато передо мной открылся целый мир эволюции во всей ее сложности со скачками и периодами застоя, с нисходящей и восходящей ветвями, слиянием признаков и их разделением. Взаимодействие генетического набора (genetic pool) и изменения климатических условий и этот вечный дуализм – борьба между сохранением и изменением… Все было очень интересно и захватывающе! В конце курса я сделал презентацию о ранней стадии эволюции человека. Удивил даже преподавателя, когда привел доказательства, что человек, еще не превратившись по-настоящему в человека, уже проявлял склонность к искусству и выделывал свои примитивнейшие инструменты с такими деталями, которые не имели функциональной нагрузки, кроме как отображали наличие элементов фантазии или воображения у этих получеловеков.