What is this page?

Time runs left to right. Clues from people sit on the top line, clues from nature on the bottom. A solid green line means a hunch that is looking good. A dashed line is a weaker hunch. A grey line is a mystery that is already solved, which shows what a real match looks like. Hover for names, click to read, and use the range buttons to zoom in.

Words we use: Mystery A question nobody has answered yet. Clue from people Something people wrote down or told long ago: a chronicle, a diary, a story, a carving. Clue from nature Something nature recorded by itself: tree rings, ice, rock layers, or the leftovers of an exploded star. Hunch Our guess that a clue from people and a clue from nature are about the same event. Book or paper Where we read it, so anyone can check our work. Step Something we did, in the order we did it.