- An archaeologist is found murdered. His lab holds ancient remains of Neanderthals and Homosapiens; these are given to Clark to research. Brennan is jealous that she has to work the current case and not the ancient one.
- A clumsy parachutist landing in a tree discovers a corpse covered in silk cocoon webs. It's identified as pseudo-scientific author and adventurer Sutton. He married Marina Tovah, whom he met on expedition in Chechenya, from where he brought Sapiens and Neanderthal bones found on a single site. Her excessively competitive attitude, marked by Sweets as an educational risk for Christine, hinders Dr. Clark Edison's examination, putting Hodgins in the middle. Booth looks for the Sutton's problems with violent in-laws, publisher and eccentric Texan expedition sponsor.—KGF Vissers
- A man in a parachute gets stuck in a tree following a sky dive. He finds himself face-to-face with a dead body in a giant cocoon. The man SCREAMS. Back at Bones and Booth's house, mom tries to encourage their daughter to play a game of peek-a-boo. Turns out another younger kid at daycare can play the game and Bones wants little Christine to keep up with the baby Joneses.
B&B head for the woods to investigate the "moth man." The truth is that the victim is a human man. Nearby is a wrecked car. Booth quickly determines that somebody pushed the bar, which hit a boulder, which catapulted the victim into the trees above. Bones cuts a small hole in the cocoon, unleashing a shower of giant bugs. They land of Bones's face, but she isn't at all bothered, of course.
Back at the lab, Hodgins estimates that the body was cocooned by the very worms that fell on Bones. The team also identifies the body as a prolific author of conspiracy books. Not only that, but the victim then sold bogus artifacts based on whatever he had written. Later, Booth and Sweets interview the victim's widow, a Russian woman named Marina. Turns out the victim recently brought something, another artifact, into the country -- a big one, too. Marina's brother comforts his weeping sibling, who is very pregnant.
Booth and Bones head to the victim's storage facility to investigate. They find lots of lots of human bones -- each one thousands of years old. Back at the lab, Clark takes the bones to his new office in the anthropology department. Bones is indignant. "I taught him!" she tells Camille. "I just hope I'm available when Dr. Edison needs help." Bones's ultra-competitive side, witnessed earlier with Christine's peek-a-boo game, is revealing itself. Booth points out this pattern of behavior to Bones and she does not take it particularly well.
The pair then head to the victim's publisher, who explains that he recently called and said he had found something of real scientific relevance (a rarity for the author). The publisher then explains that the author sold all of his phony artifacts to the same person -- a businessman in Texas. Sweets tracks the sales to a fundamentalist who funded the author's most recent trip to Russia. Back at the Jeffersonian, competitive Bones visits Clark, who explains that the bones indicate that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals were living together in the same cave using the same resources. Bones is skeptical, but intrigued.
She then notices that some of the remains indicate a spear wound. Explaining that a murder was committed -- albeit thousands of years ago -- Bones announces that the bones will thus be returned to her. Clark is agape. The pair appeals to Camille, who says Clark's department can keep the bones, but Bones can have access to them. "Drop the egos and figure out what happened to this poor caveman," she says. Now it's Bones's turn to appear shocked.
Elsewhere, Sweets questions the Texas businessman, Wilson, who believes that the Earth is 6,000 years old, according to the book of Genesis. Yet Wilson also bought a number of artifacts that were reportedly far older. "Do you destroy the artifacts that contradict your creationist views?" Sweets asks. Wilson admits as much. So Sweets theorizes that when the author actually found something of real value -- the old bones -- he refused to hand them over to the man who funded his trip. Wilson insists that the victim stole from him. And then Wilson stops talking and asks for a lawyer.
Clark, in the meantime, makes another potentially shocking discovery -- the homo sapien and the Neanderthal mated and had a child, whose physical makeup would seem to indicate as much. Bones then examines marks on the more recent victim's body and theorizes that, months before his death, the dead man was flogged with a leather whip. So Sweets interviews Marina again. She admits that her very traditional family was horrified when they learned she was pregnant with a foreigner's baby. Marina's father flogged the victim. Sweets wants to know if her father then followed the couple to America. Marina says "no" -- her family in Russia has basically disowned her.
Back at the lab, Bones begrudgingly congratulates her former pupil on his great discovery. It's progress. Bones then turns her attention to solving the 21st century murder. She discovers that a major artery was severed, causing the victim to lose consciousness in 30 seconds. And who has the training to deliver such a deadly blow? Turns out Marina's brother was special forces back in Russia. Nowadays, he bets on the horses. "You broke two weeks ago, then you got a transfer from a Russian bank for $20,000," Booth notes. Booth's theory: the father paid the son to kill the victim and regain their family's honor. Marina's brother goes silent. He will say no more.
Bones, in the meantime, looks again at the wound and notices that the sharpness of the cuts on the victim are consistent with bookend. So B&B head back to the publisher's office, and discover traces of blood on the floor. The publisher admits that she lost her cool when the author "cut me out of it" and insisted on publishing in a legitimate scientific journal. Later, Bones allows Clark to have his moment and reveal the historic finding. Booth is pleased ... and a bit relieved. "I don't want to pass my failings onto Christine," mom says. She suggests Booth make a similar attempt. "What failings?" he asks.
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