Wonder of the World

"This is the only man-made structure visible from space," the guide said.

"Wow!" said Elmer. "But is it for?"

"That," replied the guide, "is one of the great mysteries of ancient history. Most scholars think it had some religious significance."

"But it looks like a wall," Elmer protested.

"Indeed, it does," agreed the guide, "which is why some say it was built to repel barbarian invaders from the south. However, the archeological evidence indicates a settled agricultural civilization to the south, so the barbarian hypothesis seems shaky. That's why scholars are investigating the position of the sun at the solstices and equinoxes to perhaps shed some light on the subject, as it were." He smirked. "Maybe they were herders, and the wall was meant to keep the livestock in. But the civilization that constructed this edifice crumbled some ten thousand years ago. So no one really knows."

"Could you talk about why that civilization fell?" I asked. I had brought my son Elmer down to the Southern Wilds by the Big River to see the ruins and learn some ancient history.

"Ah! Hmm, ha!" the guide temporized. "That is also a big subject for debate. The global climate catastrophes of the time undoubtedly had a lot to do with it, but the collapse seemed to be shortly after the erection of this structure. The civilization went from what you might call 'great' to cat piddle in an eye blink, historically speaking. You could say it has taken ten thousand years to make it great again."

"One interesting point!" I interjected. "It took a great deal of knowledge and expertise to build such a, um, Wonder of the World, as you called it. Some scholars don't believe that the people of that primitive day had the know-how to do it. I have heard it speculated that the wall was actually built by aliens."

"Yeah, I've heard that one, too," replied the guide. "I would have to say that I don't buy the no know-how nohow." He gave me an odd look. "I guess it depends on how you define 'alien,'" he added gnomically.

"So, these ancient people," asked Elmer, "what language did they speak? Did they speak Spanish, like us?"

The guide shook his head. "We don't think so," he said. "It was some obsolete language that no one has been able to crack yet."