You may get your woolly chums, Ceri, as scientists in Siberia have found a preserved woolly mammoth, including liquid blood! In theory, and in a Jurassic Park sort of way, they could reproduce a mammoth using the DNA. Rightly, a scientist on the news said it would be much better to use that kind of science to preserve creatures living today.
I haven't seen any woolly mammoths lately. That did remind me of the film Quest for Fire (it won an Oscar for make-up); elephants were used to portray mammoths in the movie (set 80,000 years ago) and were given hairy wigs but no one had taken into account that elephants do not normally see each other wearing wigs and the poor animals took fright. I really enjoyed the film and must look to see if there's a DVD of it.
I like the mammoths in Ice Age - so cute.
George Monbiot, the environmental campaigner, has published a book called "Feral" to introduce the reader to the concept of "rewilding". He lives in Wales and has a particular dislike for sheep which he calls "the white plague". He also says he loves variety: "it's one of the reasons I think the Welsh language is worth preserving".
Ideally, he wants to re-introduce lynx, wolves, wild boar, moose, dalmatian pelicans, blue stag beetles, grey whales and forest bison. He'd also like to see elephants roaming the Highlands (wouldn't we all?),
Something I didn't know is that apparently the birch tree evolved to resist attacks by elephants. When you break or coppice its branches near the bottom, as elephants do, new shoots sprout almost immediately.
It may well be that sometime in the future, walkers on the Wales Coastal Path will find themselves face-to-face with a hippopotamus or a rhino.
On Saturday, 1st April, 1995, Sion Barry of the Western Mail wrote this article:
A medieval long-house believed to have been built by Welsh settlers has been unearthed under the grounds of the White House in Washington.
The discovery, described as the archaeological find of the century, was made by a leading French geological team taking soil samples only 100 yards from the Clintons' bedroom.
President Clinton announced yesterday that the partially excavated quarter-acre site had been designated of special archaeological importance. He added that it might mean moving a wing of the White House brick by brick to gain full access to the site.
The President, whose wife Hillary is of Welsh descent, has described the find as "truly amazing."
At a press conference Mr Clinton, smiling but obviously moved, said, "To think Hillary and I have been sleeping just yards from something that could re-write the history books is simply staggering.
"From early analysis it would seem that the almost perfectly preserved building is of Celtic design.
"Due to the importance of this find I have already given the go-ahead for more in-depth archaeological work to be carried out. If need be we are willing to have our living quarters moved brick by brick, if there is evidence of further remains."
Some reports from Washington last night were claiming that the long house was in fact of Welsh origin.
Geological team leader Roberto Scheda, while admitting that the archaeological questions are for others to decided, is reported as saying that the name Madoc appeared to be inscribed on a lintel.
Also discovered some 10ft below the surface, is a circle within a cross, another strong indicator of a Celtic link.
Leading Welsh medieval expert Professor Sion a Rhys said the find could prove once and for all that 12th-century Prince Madoc was the first European to reach the Americas.
Prof Rhys added, "The discovery is remarkable, and could mean that the received views of historians regarding Welsh Prince Madoc relative to Christopher Columbus will have to be revised."
He continued, "The stories of Madoc reaching America and of a lost Indian tribe having a similar language to Welsh could now have to be elevated from the ranks of mythology."
Welsh long houses, with stone foundations, were particularly common in South-East Wales.
Welsh communities at the time were made up, not of village settlements but of farmhouses in which a family would share their home with their animals.
But Dr Vijay Singh, of the Museum of North American Indian Culture in Boston, said the Washington long house was not necessarily European.
Dr Singh said, "It is possible the remains of an ancient Indian settlement have been found.
"We know from artefacts that in the 12th century some advanced Indian tribes were building wood and stone structures. However, from the lay-out and design there is clearly a very strong Celtic connection."
A further complication arose last night, when experts in the Republic of Ireland sought to claim the settlement as their own.
Sean O'Shaughnessy of the Irish Archaeological Association said, "From our sources in America it would seem that the building is of Irish origin, and certainly not Welsh."
But a spokesman for the Wales Tourist Board said, "The knock-on possibilities for the tourist industry in Wales are endless if this long house is verified as being Welsh."
I like SJ's ad! Thanks for the photo, Ceri.
The frustration with Time Team is that they only have 3 days to work on a site. BBC4 has returned to Meet the Ancestors, a series I really enjoyed; Julian Richards has gone back to some previous investigations and new science is helping to tell us more. Interesting that something we now take for granted in forensics, the examination of teeth to tell us where people were born and brought up, originated with a PhD student who featured on Meet the Ancestors years ago; she couldn't anyone to take it seriously at the time but then she examined some teeth on the programme and everyone wanted to know about it.
I happened to catch an episode of Time Team dealing with Gateholm, a small island off the coast of Pembrokeshire which is part of the National Trust. The island, such as it is (uninhabited and difficult to reach) was once attached to the mainland and inhabited from possibly 4,000 years ago, along with an iron age fort on the mainland. It's believed that a path led from the fort across a land bridge to what is now an island.
The archaeological team was obliged to cross using a zip wire. At first, it was thought, because of the shapes the team could see from the land and aerial pictures, that the island had once been a monastical place but, following their excavations, it became clear that the area had been inhabited from about 4,000 years ago and continued to be inhabited until at least the mid-Roman period (200-400AD). The island was previously excavated in 1910 and 1930 when a couple of items of possible religious significance were found (a beautiful bronze stag and a stone phallus); this time, amongst the various bits of pottery (some of Roman origin), an amber bead was found. This was very exciting because amber came from the Baltic region. At both the fort and the island, there was strong evidence of roundhouses and, on the island itself, a Roman home. The team believed that in the post-Roman period, there were probably several hundred people living on the island. Although, to us, the place seems remote and in the middle of nowhere, in fact it was a hub on what one of the team called a major motorway (ie: the sea) between Ireland, North Wales, Cornwall and Brittany with all that implies in terms of trade and cultural exchanges. Very close to the fort and the island lies Martin's Haven, a tiny natural harbour, which would have been ideal for boats visiting and leaving the area.
Her expression (no pun intended) says "I can see just how this one is going to turn out, another dead loss". Poor woman!
You may recall the East Anglian police force who were recently "cowed" by a runaway farm animal and brought out the SWAT team to deal with the said ruminant, managing to miss it completely at first with 21st century weaponry and then killing the poor thing.
The same police have now been sent out to deal with a rather cross (and injured) swan. Three officers, a patrol car and a riot van were sent to deal with this creature at a cost of about 600.
Fortunately, someone at the site had read P G Wodehouse. Anyone who had read the story about Bertie Wooster and Mr Filmer being trapped on the roof of small summer house on an island in the lake at his Bertie's aunt's house (Aunt Agatha, that is, the one who bites the heads of rats) will recall that both men were rescued by Jeeves. The swan, in this case, having endless "reserves of neck" was taunting them and Jeeves took a raincoat and threw it over the swan, allowing Bertie and his companion to escape.
The police in this latest battle of man versus fauna, found a sheet and threw it over the wretched bird and took it to a local river.
We now await the next episode in this series of adventures with East Anglian police.
Apparently she does it all the time. She loves dancing! There've been more than 400,000 viewings of this video.
Good for her!From now on, I'll be careful not to do The Funky Gibbon when I'm at the bus stop.
