"Deep Past" by Eugene Linden is an entertaining novel, even if it is not a work of high literature.
It is science/speculative fiction, that started from the author wondering about a scenario in which humans had gone extinct 10k years ago, before we developed much, if any, material culture. He felt that had that happened another intelligent species 1M years later would have no idea that we had even existed (different story now, of course).
In the book, a discovery on the steppe of Khazakstan leads to revolutionary discoveries about very, very old intelligence.
The author has written several non-fiction books on animal intelligence.
It is science/speculative fiction, that started from the author wondering about a scenario in which humans had gone extinct 10k years ago, before we developed much, if any, material culture. He felt that had that happened another intelligent species 1M years later would have no idea that we had even existed (different story now, of course).
In the book, a discovery on the steppe of Khazakstan leads to revolutionary discoveries about very, very old intelligence.
The author has written several non-fiction books on animal intelligence.