All roads lead to Rome and nowhere

If a person were even to pretend that they were living in a different time by virtue of their ability to time travel, it gives a perspective to the events that unfold as they happen. I am imagining that in the stone age there was a clay tablet that got passed around explaining the wonders of this new technology called metal  and how it would change the world forever.
When all roads lead to Rome and Rome leads to null, it is time to take a turn into the wilderness, even if that may lead nowhere.
In the wilderness, all travelers are emperors.