Curiosity with a paper trail.
Before the Record is an independent research atlas by Kevin S. Martin.
It asks what can be established about lives, knowledge, relationships, images, and remembered landscapes before surviving writing. The atlas begins with fifteen pilot cases across continents and will expand as sources are checked and new questions become testable.
The work may inform When Heaven Was Near, Kevin's comparative atlas of sacred memory, but the archaeological and historical claims here stand on their own evidence. An attractive interpretation can be narrowed, revised, or retired.
For source corrections or a carefully documented research lead, see Corrections & revisions.