Camping with the ancestors

We drove into ancient Mesopotamia and reached the upper part of the Tigris river. Following a dirt road off the highway we came to the sandbanks and set camp there. The river was only about 20-30 meters wide here and on the other side was a hundred meter rock wall of red and grey sandstone, eroded by the water. A man picking up fishing nets quickly disappeared when we approached. We were alone except for the cows drinking on the other side, coming down a small pass in the rock wall. We made a barbecue and as the sun set we fed the fire with twisted branches and stared into the flames as people must have done here for thousands of years. The only thing spoiling the illusion of living the life of the first civilization was our yellow-striped aluminium chairs and the distant echo of the traffic reflected by the rock wall.