Images and words weave Charles Mingus’ musical tale together with the poignant factual story of early hominid Pithecanthropus erectus. It was conceived and designed entirely while listening to the composition “Pithecanthropus erectus” by Charles Mingus. The original text in this book is written by paleoanthropologist Rick Potts, who was thus my collaborator in the project. His words flow throughout my woodcuts; these were printed by Terrence Chouinard on my pulp-painted, watermarked handmade paper. There is a continuum of images running across the recto and verso of the book, so you never truly start or finish. The book, as does the music, explores Mingus’ view of the ascent and descent of the dominant species.