Placodontosaurus spinosus

Among the extinct lifeforms of Mars, the “Tagmasauria” rank quite high up in popularity (rivalled only by the giant nothornithes of the Hylozoic), due to their diversity, size and perceived similarity to Earth’s dinosaurs (or rather what we used to think dinosaurs were like in the past). But, unlike Dinosauria, Tagmasauria is not a true clade. It is a polyphyletic umbrella-term that has historically been applied to any megafaunal onychognaths from the Thermozoic, This includes many groups of varying ancestry, from quite baroque archaeocephalians with arthropod-like characteristics, to more reptilian or even avian cuneocephalians. Sometimes the label is even applied to giant deltadactylians of the Hylozoic. 

A more distinct group among the tagmasaurs that probably does have a monophyletic origin are the Lagopodia. These are a group of huge, bipedal and herbivorous cuneocephalians. They likely had their origin in a faunal turnover during the Middle Cydonian that saw the extinction of many earlier archaeocephalians. One of the better-known lagopods is Placodontosaurus from the Late Cydonian Basmachee Rocks. Its skeleton preserves most of the spinal column, ribcage, pelvis, some parts of the limbs, the impressive dorsal spines, a complete mandible and a large part of the lower jaw, which have all given us great insight into the appearance and biology of these creatures.

Diet and lifestyle

Unlike almost all modern onychognaths, early cuneocephalians possessed teeth. These were composed not of hydroxyapatite like ours, but rather of biosilicon, much like the eye-disks of onychognaths. This made them incredibly durable, but also energetically expensive to grow. In addition, silicon dioxide is piezoelectric, so, while it remains untested, there was perhaps a chance that creatures such as these could have accidentally electrocuted themselves by just clicking their teeth. These two reasons are perhaps why many lineages later independently lost this trait in favour of keratinous beaks. Placodontosaurus is named so for its large, flat teeth, which were accompanied by rake-like ones at the snout-tip. It is generally interpreted as a high-browser, using the rake-like teeth to strip off leaves and branches off fractarian and arephyte trees and then grinding them down with the placodonts. A competing hypothesis is that, much like the Oloropoda, a group of lagopods that Placodontosaurus was closely related to, it was an amphibious animal and instead used its teeth to pluck shelled prey off the lake floor and crush it open. This diet might explain the robustness of the jaws, but there is not much more to corroborate it. The oxbow-shape of the pulmonal ribs indicate that the breathing-holes were located on the back and not, like in many modern onychognaths, on the belly. Nearly all tagmasaurs share this trait and it is usually interpreted as an aquatic adaptation towards life in the primordial swamps and lakes of Mars, but it is possible that this may have simply been an ancestral condition that was retained even in more terrestrial descendants. While its feet were probably broad enough to swim (if skin connected the two toes) Placodontosaurus’ arms were not paddle-shaped like in its derived oloropod-relatives and seem to have instead been rather long and grabby, better suited for drawing near vegetation. What would be helpful to know is what its full tail looked like, but about half of it is missing. In oloropods, the tail is laterally flattened, much like in crocodiles, and if Placodontosaurus also shared this trait it would be a good indicator for an aquatic lifestyle. The lower jaw notably has a central groove, which may have given room for a long, muscular tongue similar to a giraffe, which would make more sense to have for a high-browser.

Gait and Posture

The earliest tagmasaurs were hexapods, though beginning with the Cydonian there appears to have been some sort of “arms race” that drove multiple groups to independently evolve bipedalism for whatever reason. Early on some reconstructions showed these bipeds walking with a horizontally held spine and stiff tail as a counterbalance, much like theropod dinosaurs. Ironically, most evidence instead points towards these tagmasaurs actually having walked much less dynamically, more like tokusatsu-actors in rubber suits. Their tails lacked any ossified tendons and, without constant muscle straining, would therefore have dragged on the ground. Their pelvis is more similar to that of kangaroos than theropods, so at rest the thigh muscles would have been much more comfortable in an upright standing position. Although the low Martian gravity would have maybe allowed it for animals this size, unlike kangaroos, which have long, plantigrade feet, the digitigrade feet of lagopods show no evidence for saltation, so they likely also walked in this stance instead of hopped. Extinct ground sloths or sthenurine walking kangaroos like Procoptodon are perhaps the most comparable. This undynamic gait lines up pretty well with the idea that these aliens were ectotherms with low metabolisms (discussed below) that only achieved this erect bipedal gait through assistance from the planet’s low gravity. Although unrelated to these tagmasaurs, the same principle is observed today on Mars in goniopods and yrpoids.

The tripod-hypothesis has been largely confirmed by a Late Cydonian trace fossil, Urocunichnus, which shows a large tagmasaur, perhaps an oloropod, walking along, clearly creating a rut in the dirt by dragging its tail behind it. Interestingly though, as the distance between footprints increases (indicating an pick-up in speed), the rut disappears. Perhaps like basilisks and other lizards, these tagmasaurs were capable of running for short distances, during which they assumed a more dynamic horizontal posture.

Physiology and Dorsal Spines

In the earliest days of areopaleontology, it was thought that the tagmasaurs may have been endotherms or at least had an elevated metabolism, based off what was known about giant, straight-legged animals on Earth. While there is no doubt that the largest of them must have very likely been mass-homeotherms to some degree thanks to their size alone, there is today very little evidence that any tagmasaurs were tachymetabolic (having a high resting metabolism). On the contrary, most evidence points towards bradymetabolism (low resting metabolism that is only raised in quick bursts when required):

• Histology: Whenever studied, bones of tagmasaurs show strong, closely spaced growth rings, sparse haversian canals and dense collagen layers. This is in stark contrast to the spongy lamellar bone found in modern deltadactylians and nothornithes or mammals and dinosaurs. It points towards tagmasaurs having had only slow very growth rates with low energy expenditures. It likely took them multiple decades to grow to adult size, with some of the largest perhaps living for centuries, like tortoises.
• Ecology: In warm-blooded animal communities, carnivores are vastly outnumbered by herbivores, as they have a high energy need and therefore cannot support large populations. In fossil nothornithe communities, as well as mammal and dinosaur ones on Earth, predator populations are only about one to five percent as large as that of their prey.  In tagmasaur ecosystems, the predator-prey ratio could make up to 10 – 25%, a value which on Earth is closer to that seen in ectothermic arthropods, such as spiders.
• Environment: Most tagmasaurs seem to have lived in humid, tropical environments and many showed aquatic adaptations, suggesting amphibious lifestyles and habitats like those of crocodilians and turtles that are more suited for bradymetabolic organisms. Notably, even though Mars was quite warm during the Late Thermozoic, tagmasaur fossils are exceedingly rare from far southern latitudes and high elevations, suggesting that they were not able to cope well with aridity and low temperatures. Conversely, in said environments, early periostracans, who are hypothesized to have evolved tachmetabolic rates, enjoyed greater diversity than they did in tagmasaur-dominated communities, though they curiously still remained small.
• Atmosphere: While the exact composition remains unknown, most signs point towards the atmosphere of Mars being low in oxygen during the Thermozoic Era and higher in carbon dioxide and hydrogen, similar to the modern one. It seems doubtful that this atmosphere could have supported such large aerobic organisms and more likely that these organisms more heavily relied on less efficient hydrogenotrophy, necessitating lower metabolisms. It would also serve to explain why the more aerobic and endothermic periostracans remained small throughout the era and only attained huge sizes during the more oxygenated Hylozoic.
• Gravity: With no heavy gravity like on Earth, standing and walking on upright legs did not require any significant energy expenditure, so even bradymetabolic organisms were free to enjoy the benefits of said posture. It also required far less energy and smaller hearts to pump blood through large bodies.

In this light, special attention has been given to the prominent dorsal spines of Placodontosaurus and many other tagmasaurs, hypothesized to have supported skinny sails. This feature obviously would have increased the surface area of the body compared to the volume, allowing the organism to more easily pick up environmental or solar heat from its environment. On the flipside, however, such a sail could also be used to argue in favour of endothermy, as such features can also be used to shed off excess heat, much like the large ears of elephants.

This is further complicated by the question of if these dorsal spines even supported a sail. As many researchers have pointed out the, tiny yrp of modern day has almost identical spines growing out of its back, but they stand free with no membrane between them. A growing paleoart trend has become to show Placodontosaurus and others similarly sailless, interpreting the dorsal spines purely as display features. There is no strong evidence either way.

Reproduction

How exactly most tagmasaurs like lagopods reproduced remains a mystery. Probably like most of the more derived onychognaths, some gave live birth. The reduced second arms of forms like Placodontosaurus have sometimes been interpreted as spanning a membrane between them that and the abdomen that could have acted as a pouch like in marsupials, implying some degree of parental care, but direct evidence for this remains sparse. Due to the amphibious habits of many tagmasaurs, a more radical hypothesis has been that at least some of them may have had an aquatic larval stage, with some small amphibious tagmasaurs actually being the tadpoles of larger, more terrestrial species. This idea also remains unsupported.

Ecosystem

Above we see Placodontosaurus, conservatively reconstructed, in an approximation of ancient Basmachee Rocks, which used to be a sub-tropical crater lake. In the background, large shield volcanoes rise and a giant wadjet soars through the air in search of clouds of aeroplankton. Wading through the lake is the lurdupod Astraposaurus,  a huge, amphibious tagmasaur that likely fed on aquatic flora and used its “shoulder-snorkels” to breathe while its head was submerged. Our protagonist is leaning against an early polyfractarian tree, which were now replacing the older arephyte flora and, unlike them, pumping oxygen into the air. The tagmasaur is alerted by something out of frame, perhaps a predator like the bipedal Hyksosaurus or the hexapod Mantidognathus. Upset by the giant shaking its home is a little Platyodon, an early periostracan that may have been clad in fur like its modern descendants.

Their day would eventually come. As volcanism and geosyncline orogenies continued, more and more carbon dioxide was drawn from the air while light-blocking aerosols amassed. The global temperatures grew colder, sea levels lowered and the new change in flora caused a spike in oxygen levels that reduced free methane. The swamps and lakes of the tagmasaurs would soon dry up and perhaps a series of punctuated ice ages would finish the job. The future belonged to endothermic bird-like creatures that would succeed where the insectoid reptilians failed.

Chiropede Shrubs

Most of the common chirorbites  live lives not unlike arezoans. They are born from simple eggs or through live birth after two parents mate and impregnate each other and go on to live by feeding on smaller animals or plant matter. But not all of their members have forgotten their roots in what is actually Mars’ flora.

One sub-group of the Chirorbita reproduces in a unique way. The chiropedes, which have elongated bodies and often only a single eye, begin their lives as plants. When two adult chiropedes mate, they lay an egg into the ground which hatches into a tiny, worm-like larva that buries its head into the soil and becomes a sessile organism, whose tissues house photosynthetic zooxanthellae. As the frond of this plant grows, it begins producing leaves at its tip, which eventually form into a fan-like canopy. As some of these leaves mature, they begin growing a hardened tunicine exoskeleton, feelers and eyes. Eventually, some of them devour their own zooxanthellae, detach and begin life as their own independent animal, soon about to repeat the cycle. Most chiropedes are herbivores and feed on photosynthetic flechtoids, which is probably where they acquire the photosynthetic cells for the next generation from.

In some ways this bears similarity to the reproductive cycle of the unrelated skolex, but in them the sessile stage is diploid and the mobile one haploid, making them alternating generations like in earth-plants, whereas in the chiropedes both forms are diploid. The difference can be understood in simple terms as follows: If you were a male human and reproduced like a skolex, your sperm cells could undergo mitosis by themselves and become independent organisms once released. If you reproduced like a chiropede instead, it would be your whole penis detaching from your body and becoming independent.

While this seems extraordinarily alien, it is really not much different from the reproductive cycles seen in our own oceans’ cnidarians. There, free-floating jellyfish fertilize eggs, which hatch into a planula larva. Said larva attaches to the seafloor, becoming a polyp. As it grows, the polyp produces more jellyfish in a process called strobilation. Some parasitic flatworms, the cestodes, also reproduce through strobilation. The chiropede clade thus derives its scientific name, Strobilata, from this well-known process.

The existence of Strobilata poses a lot of phylogenetic questions for the Chirorbita. Some studies suggest that the clade might actually be paraphyletic, chiropedes being the ancestors to the more derived euchirorbites, like the spectacled chirorbite. If true, this would mean that strobilation is actually ancestral to the clade but was lost later on in some lineages in favour of a more direct reproduction. This is supported by the fact that some of the more basal pseudarticulates (though not all of them), like the menamin, also reproduce through cestode-like budding.

For the family tree of the Fractaria phylum as a whole, other fascinating possibilities open up. It is generally thought that pseudarticulates and polyfractarians, which are clonal colonial organisms, are only distantly related, sharing a common ancestor among simple, monovexillan fractarians. But two new competing schools of thought have appeared in recent years. One proposes that the pseudarticulates actually derived from polyfractarians whose gonosphores became independent from the whole organism. The second, more popular one, is that polyfractarians derived from a basal strobilating pseudarticulate whose organs one day stopped detaching from the polyp and instead started working together as a single sessile organism, eventually losing all complex traits like eyes, guts or a nervous system in the process. Actual evidence for either position has not yet been gathered.

On a final note, it is interesting that, while still attached to its polyp, a chiropede still has a nervous connection to the polyp and the surrounding chiropedes. One wonders how it must feel like in the final stages before detachment, when the chiropede already has eyes and is wriggling, to be your own being and yet still be part of a larger one. If your hand could think, what would it think?

Xenoarchaeology II: Prehistory

Click here to read Part I

 

Before Skiamun

It has largely been accepted that the Skiamun were the very first species on the red planet to evolve sapience or at least develop what we can call civilization. A recent challenge has come to this consensus, thanks to seismological surveys on the Tharsis plateau. Beneath the foot of volcano Alba Mons, buried under hundreds of metres of later lava flows, was detected a colossal triangular structure. After excavation it turned out to resemble a pyramid, made of a still unidentified red stone. Due to heavy erosion and no additional artefacts, it is being debated if this is indeed an artificial structure or instead an oddly shaped volcanic tholus. Dating of the volcanic layers indicates that the “Crimson Pyramid” is approximately about 20 million years older than the beginning of the Usukanni Monumental Period, making it highly unlikely that it could have been built by the Skiamun, their predecessors or any of the other known sapient species. A recent dig found an odd erosional pattern inside a “shaft” leading into the pyramid, which at least one researcher has identified as possible artwork. If indeed interpreted as such (and not as pareidolia), the heavily defaced figure could be seen as depicting a sort of four-winged dragonfly creature with a long tail and large mandibular jaws. Vaguely similar creatures are seen in Skiamun mythological artwork, so it is possible that, if authentic, this was a later carving made by them.

 

Eolithic

Disregarding the aforementioned section, the earliest known archaeological stage of Martian prehistory is the so-called Eolithic, but rather than being a true age this is more a category of convenience. Dated to this stage are possible crude stone artefacts which cannot be ascribed to any specific species. The problem lying herein that this era of technology is so simple that it becomes indistinguishable from rocks, such as flint, which can knap into pointy shapes purely due to natural erosion. Great caution should therefore be taken when interpreting “eoliths” as products of intelligent forces. Indeed, due to a lack of definite evidence for intentional crafting, some authors argue that there was no such thing as an Eolithic and that the alleged tools found so far could all be simple geofacts.

Fig. 1: The Faustkeil of Luw, from Seilacher's notebook.

At least one artefact does raise some eyebrows, the Faustkeil of Luw (fig. 1), named after the crater formation it was found in eastern Iani Chaos. It is a broad, somewhat flattened, chipped flintstone, whose one half seems as if it could have been knapped in an intentional way. Based on form alone it could just be a natural geofact, but it is the circumstances of its discovery which make it intriguing, as it was found embedded inside the carapace of an Imperiotherium. As it is unlikely that the animal just happened to fall atop a naturally sharpened rock, this points towards the Faustkeil having been used by an intelligent force as a weapon. Who its wielder may have been is impossible to say. It could have been an early Skiamun, one of their undiscovered ancestors or something completely different. Unfortunately, the artefact has become lost since its discovery, only the notes and sketches of Andrews’ team remain.

 

Palaeolithic

The Old Stone Age of Mars begins with the first definitive fossils of the genus Psittacanthropus and tools that can be clearly assigned to them.

Fig. 2.

Among those tools are handaxes (fig. 2) and spear-tips, which show much more intricate craftsmanship and intentionality than any of the earlier eoliths. As can be expected, these were likely made to hunt, kill and disassemble animals. How exactly the earliest Psittacanthropus lived is still difficult to say, due to a lack of data. Some data indicates that around the Middle Palaeolithic fire may have been discovered, though the usage of fire on Mars is an immense kettle of worms, as it poses the question of how these beings were able to control fire without blowing themselves up, given the fact that, unlike Earth, Mars has in equal parts hydrogen and oxygen in its atmosphere. Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain this discrepancy and we will return to it again later.

Fig. 3: Tracing of Delphaeus Hills rock-carvings. Clearly visible are a Skiamun attacking a large thecocerate with a spear. The creature on the right is likely a pedicambulate, but of unknown affinity, due to sporting what appear to be antlers, something not seen in any known species.

Apart from fire and tools, the Late Palaeolithic is marked by the invention of language, complex social bonds and art, which undoubtedly reflects advances in the mental capacity of the Skiamun. A famous find of the Andrews Expedition are rock carvings at Aram Dorsum, at a site nicknamed Delphaeus Hills.

Fig. 4: Megafauna represented in Delphaeus rock carvings. What appears to be a late-surviving eborothere is attacked by a huge carnivorous tripod.

These are indispensable for understanding Skiamun origins, as they show the creators of the carvings living among and interacting with the local wildlife, most of which is now long extinct. Notably, some of the carvings show mysterious creatures (fig. 5) that are unknown from the fossil record, but may have been the basis for some of the later hieroglyphs. Notably, all of the Palaeolithic art found so far only depicts creatures that really existed and no beings that could be interpreted as gods or spirits. This makes it unlikely that these mystery beasts were invented.

Fig. 5: Two mysterious creatures from rock carvings. Left has been dubbed the "One-footed Snorkel Monster" and resembles no known organism on Mars, either living or extinct. It does, however, frequently appear in ancient art (often shown to be mobile, therefore discounting the idea that it is simply a shellubim) and may have even been the basis for the later "Sacred Spirit" hieroglyph. Either this was an animal frequently encountered by the Usukanni that went extinct without a trace or it was a purely mythological entity, perhaps a chimaera of multiple creatures. The creature on the right may represent an early Anak.

Neolithic

When exactly the Martian Neolithic began is unknown, though its origins may have lied in an aridification event hundreds of thousands of years ago, which likely led to an extinction of megafauna and forced the nomadic Skiamun to look for other food sources.

Fig. 6.

One of the earliest possible pieces of evidence for the beginnings of agriculture was found at the Syracuse cliffs of Sagan crater (back then a large lake) not far from the later city of Kalan. The object (fig. 6) is a petrified piece of wood into which were inserted the slicing teeth of some large pedicambulate. This was originally interpreted as a weapon, perhaps similar to the Mesoamerican macuahuitl, but this has recently been challenged. The abrasion pattern on the blades indicates that it was mainly used to cut vegetation, which makes it possible that this was actually an early scythe. If true, this could be the earliest known farming tool on Mars.

Fig. 7.

Lithic technology in general greatly advanced during this time, producing even more finely crafted flint knifes (fig. 7), whose form indicates that they were even equipped with wooden handles.

Fig. 8.

The first definite signs of a Neolithic come in the form of pottery, whose distinctive changes in craftsmanship can be used to split up the later Neolithic of Usukanni into distinct periods or stages. The first stage is the so-called Pre-Artistic (fig. 8), as its pottery consists of very simple vessels with no decorative elements. These clearly served a purely practical purpose as storage and transport vessels for grains, water and other goods.

Fig. 9.

 

 

 

Fig. 10.

This is followed by the Abstract Stage (fig. 9), where vases and vessels now begin to be decorated with stripes and abstract geometric forms. An important innovation during this time seems to have been the invention of the handle, undoubtedly a great aid for creatures that could not walk with two free hands. Also first appearing are cups with a distinct half-funnel (fig. 10), literal “Schnabeltassen”, which were likely adapted for the fact that Skiamun do not have lips and therefore need differently shaped vessels than we do to drink from.

Fig. 11

Fig. 12: Outline of the McRath megalithic structure.

This is then followed by the Pictoral Stage (fig. 11.), in which abstract images and patterns are replaced with clear art depicting animals and scenes from life along the river. Concurrent with the Pictoral Stage are the first archaeological signs of larger settlements. One of these is the Snorkie Shrine (fig. 12) on McRath Island, east of Gorduswil. It is a quite large megalithic mound, whose inside consisted of a circular chamber connected with the outside through a corridor. The shrine is named so after the figures which appear in relief on the distinctive t-stelae that held up the building’s roof (fig. 13). While the word shrine, given to it by its discoverers, indicates religious importance, there is no definitive proof that the building was actually used in such a fashion. It is equally possible that this could have been a communal home or maybe a food storage. In the latter case, the animal art may have served to ward off thieves.

Fig. 13: A t-stele found at McRath and other megalithic sites. The relief of the "Snorkel Monster" is a recurring motif.

The appearance of megalithic structures signals a change in simple village life. Rising populations increased both inequality and the need for social cohesion, administration, and the specialization of society into distinctive groups. Not everyone could be a farmer or herder anymore. Villages and tribes once held together by the mere bonds of family were now growing into towns whose elders were able to organize such large projects for a higher purpose. This development would ultimately lead into the last stage of prehistory, the Proto-Dynastic Era, where cities were now surrounded by large monuments, gods had found a home in temples and petty kings invented warfare and metal tools to fight for hegemony across the great river, ending the Stone Age in bloodshed. But writing was still absent. Once that last step would be made, that tool to communicate through time, life here required but one more ingredient. A great leader to unite the quarrelling tribes, to harness the power of the land, to build a legacy that would stand the test of time. A civilization.

Xenoarchaeology I: Skiamun and Martian Hieroglyphics

Fig. 1: Statuette of King Nersidiler, Late Period, one of the youngest known artefacts to be inscribed with Martian hieroglyphs. He wears a false-eye-crown on his pseudocranium. The left arm is broken off, fragments indicate he may have been holding a ceremonial staff or, more menacingly, a mace.

“And thus spoke Pharaoh: Oh courtiers, I do not know any deity you could worship other than me. So, High Priest of Amun, fire on the clay to bake bricks and build me a tall pyramid, so that I may catch a glimpse of the God of Musa. But I am indeed convinced he is among the liars.”

- The Holy Quran 28:38

 

Given their ongoing and not at all diminished popularity, you would imagine there to be tons of volumes written about the great ruins which litter Mars. Be it the Great Sphinx of Cydonia, the mysterious globe-spanning canals, the rock-hewn basalt cities of Tharsis or the ushabti megaliths, these structures continue to fascinate and perplex both the xenologist as well as the layman. But due to the difficulty of study and their sheer undecipherability, technical literature is sparse and the market is instead filled with atrocious pulp novels on the matter.

Herein lies an attempt to comprehensibly chronicle the rise and decline of at least one of these ancient civilizations, the old Kingdom of Usukanni, which inhabited the vanished river system of the Oxia Palus and Margaritifer Quadrangle. Not only is it one of the few ancient civilizations of Mars we can study with historical methods, for its writing system has recently been deciphered, but it is also one of the oldest and longest-lived of the Skiamun cultures. The study of Usukanni’s archaeological remains will not only aid in understanding these vanished people, but may also more generally offer clues for the emergence of intelligence on the red planet. For not only were the Skiamun the first (and perhaps because of that also the most advanced) intelligent species on the planet, but the appearance of intelligence in others, such as the Anaks, the Ushabti and the Tolkan, may in some ways be directly linked to them.

The Quest to read Martian Hieroglyphs

Deciphering the Martian hieroglyphs of the Usukanni had long been deemed impossible, for not only is the language and its culture long extinct but also the species that spoke said language. Today, the only sapient creatures left on Mars are the Ushabti and most of their societies have been left in a sorry state, likely following the deterioration of the planet. Most of them carve out an arduous nomadic existence, herding flocks of bennus or djihauti across the sparse northern planes and living in small tents made of hide. Some exist in an even more primitive, troglodytic state, being hunter-gatherers that house in caves. They have no writing whatsoever and whatever tales that date back to when the Skiamun roamed Mars are now drenched in mythology and superstition.

But these creatures too used to know civilization and indeed, some of their oldest must have coexisted with the latest of the Skiamun. And some may have preserved that memory, thought one Louis Fourier. Studying, talking and almost living with the Ushabti of the Margaritifer Quadrangle, he observed that one tribe, the Tamd, live in fact a sedentary existence, building small huts made of stone bricks or even inhabiting the ruins that were hewn into the hills by previous Ushabti civilizations. They still practice a form of agriculture, using wells connected to underground aquifers as a form of irrigation. And they have their own writing, which is sporadically used by their shamans and village elders. Though sometimes used to write letters between tribes, these are most often carved into animal bones and then thrown onto the ground in order to read the will of ancestral spirits. Fourier studied the Tamd writing and concluded that it was an alphabet, using only a few dozen letters with fixed phonetic meaning. What makes this discovery profound is that, if alien linguistics follows any patterns similar to those on Earth, the Tamd writing system, by virtue of being an alphabet, must already be a quite advanced one that went through multiple phases of simplification, instead of being a recent, primitive invention.

Based off this assumption, Fourier and a team of xenoarchaeologists studied the ruins of the vanished Aram Chaos Ushabti culture, which some of the Tamd were inhabiting, in hopes of finding the predecessor of this writing system. And they were successful, for among reliefs, carvings and shards of pottery could indeed be found sigils and signs which resembled those of the Tamd alphabet. However, though they were clearly transcribing an earlier form of the Tamd language, only about one third to one half of the alphabet’s letters could find earlier predecessors among the ruins. Once it was clear that it was the vowels which had no ancestors, the earlier Arami script revealed itself to be an abjad, a form of writing which only writes down consonants, the vowels being merely implied. This was strange. Ushabti do not communicate with their mouths but instead by modulating the spiracles on their chest and abdomen, which leads to all of their languages being very heavy in what we would call vowels. Why then would their earliest forms of writing only employ consonants?

Fourier and his team originally just ascribed this oddity to alien psychology. Perhaps vowels were so universally consistent among the early Ushabti that only the consonants were worth writing down. Rival archaeologist Herbert Marsh had a different idea, however. He made the bold claim that the Arami abjad was adapted from an even earlier writing system that was invented by creatures with different vocal capabilities, with the evolution into an alphabet being an adaptation to Ushabti biology. These pre-ushabti creatures, he figured, must have been the “Skiamun”, the tripodal creatures which the modern Ushabti called the underworld gods. And these “gods” must have been one and the same as the fossilized remains found in the buried tombs of the Usukanni and Cydonian cultures. However, there was not enough data from those cultures to confirm such a connection and thus Fourier and Marsh were engaged in an intense debate for a few years, which ended one day with a sudden depressurization of their lecture hall. Since then, their students have been continuing their fight, sometimes with use of small arms laser weaponry. 

Fig. 2: Copy of a Late Period relief on the Nersidiler Palette, showing a Skiamun (presumably Nersidiler) about to hit an Ushabti with a mace. Images such as this are used as evidence by proponents of the theory that Ushabti began their existence as a form of cattle that was then gradually domesticated into sapience by the Skiamun as a form of slave labour, explaining their reverence as gods. Notably though, the individual here is seen already wearing a form of clothing, which would speak against it being a simple animal.

After securing funding, Troy Herman Andrews aimed to finally put the debate to rest and organized the largest xenoarchaeological expedition that has ever been witnessed to date. The Andrews Expedition surveyed over 100 Usukanni sites from north in the Ares Vallis all the way south into the Argyre Basin. Their achievements were astounding and started a xenoarchaeological mania back on Earth. Andrews’ greatest achievement was finally being able to test Fourier v. Marsh, having now secured and catalogued various additional examples of Martian hieroglyphs, which were before only known from a handful of heavily eroded tomb inscriptions. The most important discovery was that the Usukanni employed two different writing systems, the classic and quite artistic hieroglyphs used on monuments, and much simpler hieroglyphs used to write down more menial texts, such as documents or letters. The latter script, which one of Andrews’ teammates quite appropriately christened “Hieratic Martian”, bore an undeniable resemblance to Arami abjad. There indeed was a connection. The question that remained was if the Ushabti saw and appropriated the hieroglyphs long after the Skiamun extinction as a form of cargo cult or adapted this writing system and possibly even language from the Skiamun directly while they were still alive, which could allow us a passage into reading the deeper past.

Fig. 3: The evolution from Martian hieroglyphs into the Tamd alphabet, using essentially the same sentence (click to enlarge).

Based on archaeological strata, Andrews’ expedition was able to differentiate three distinct aqueous periods (when Mars still had oceans) along the Ares Vallis: A prehistory, a Monumental Period and a Late Period. In the latest prehistoric strata begin to appear singular glyphs inscribed on square-cut bone fragments, likely used for ritualistic purposes, which resemble the later hieroglyph signs. Proper hieroglyphic writing is used throughout the entire Monumental Period, whose tombs only preserve bones of Skiamun and their domestic animals. The first known fragments of Hieratic Martian are found in the Late Middle Monumental, though its origin likely stretches back further. Towards the end of the Late Period, burials of Ushabti are often found in the same horizons as those of Skiamun, which indicates that in the latest stages of this civilization, the two species have lived in the same communities or at least areas (if this was a friendly co-existence or more like the relationship between men and cattle is another debate). One of the youngest known giant tombs of the Late Period has inscribed in its walls a short hieroglyphic text, below which is inscribed what appears to be the same text, but in a precursor to Arami abjad. The tomb had been abandoned mid-construction and in one chamber were found tablets which may have been blueprints. These came with hieratic sketches of the tomb's later hieroglyphic texts, including the apparently bilingual one. From these fragments could finally be gleaned a direct evolution from the Skiamun hieroglyphic and hieratic script to the Arami abjad of the Ushabti. While it is debatable if the inventors of the Arami abjad were Ushabti themselves or if the system was made by Skiamun (perhaps even for them), this was profound evidence for a continuity. The ancestors of the Tamd must have developed their language in an interlingual context with their “gods”, preserving some of the original phonetic meaning. Understanding the Tamd language, which had been extensively studied by ushabtiologists like Fourier, could therefore form a basis for also understanding the Usukanni language and writing. The ancient history of Mars could finally be conquered through historical methods.

Biological and Geographical background

Skiamun (Psittacanthropus challengeri) were members of the class Pedicambulata, likely sharing a common ancestor with the similarly intelligent Anaks. Unlike most pedicambulates, their scolecodont beaks were monodont and their mineral eyes, which had formed into stalks, had shifted towards the sides of the body. This, along with very well-developed chest-eyes, allowed them to see well in both an upright and horizontal position. Like all antitrematans, they were hermaphrodites that laid leathery-shelled eggs. Like many other periostracans they must have possessed a syrinx-like organ in their throat, which, like in birds, allowed for a wide range of sounds that could be employed in language.

Fig. 4: A Skiamun in nude, shown with an extended phallus and speculative hairs along the back.

When normally striding, Skiamun tripodally knuckle-walked, not unlike apes, as is evident in their anatomy and their own art. For this purpose, many cultures developed a type of flat-topped knuckle-rings, often made of fractarian wood, which might be called “hand-sandals”. When needed, they could also stand, sit or even jump on just their single hindleg. Tombs of nobles are rarely found with “hand-sandals”, which might indicate that their status allowed their knuckles to rarely touch the ground, perhaps being carried by servants. Their knuckle-walking nature has often led to speculations that, like humans, they evolved from arboreal ancestors. But the related Anaks walk on their flat fingers, which makes this unlikely. The closest known possible fossil relative to both, Coryphodontavis, was a rather heavy-set, herbivorous animal that likely lived on the ground, probably curling its hands into fists to keep the rake-like claws sharp. Its biology and habit may be more comparable to that of Earth’s chalicotheres, which may indicate a similar origin for Skiamun. An actual transitional form between these archaic beings and their intelligent relatives is still missing, however.

A debate exists currently whether or not Skiamun had fur like other pedicambulates. Data from mummies is lacking here. In their own artwork they depicted themselves as smooth-skinned, but this may have been an artistic convention, a beauty ideal or reflect a cultural custom of shaving. The discovery of finely crafted combs in some tombs indicates the presence of hair on the body in at least some form, unless, of course, these people wore wigs and pelts made from the hairs of domestic animals.

Fig. 5: Topographical map of the dried up river valley that once used to be the Usukanni Kingdom. In yellow are ruins and names of major settlements, in red ancient monuments.

The area in which the Usukanni culture developed was a great river system which began in the Argyre Basin (then a great lake or inland sea) and flowed north all the way into the Great Boreal Ocean, specifically the former bay of Chryse Planitia. The river’s former delta is coincidentally where the Mars Pathfinder mission landed. In the south, the rivers and lakes were fed each summer by the meltwaters of the surrounding tundra, which up north led to controllable annual floods, very much like those of the Nile valley on Earth. In ancient times this formed an excellent breeding ground for a sedentary culture, the mighty Ares vallis river being the lifeline and connector of what was about to become a truly great civilization.

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