THE BOOK
Some of the ideas discussed in this blog are published in my new book called "The Stonehenge Bluestones" -- available by post and through good bookshops everywhere. Bad bookshops might not have it....
To order, click
HERE

Thursday 13 August 2015

Mammoths on Preseli



Only joking -- couldn't resist putting this post up.  It's a fantastic image from today's BBC web site.  An illustration from the Natural History Museum.  Very graphic -- and I'm sure those hills are the undulating summits of Mynydd Preseli.

I have always dreamed of finding a mammoth bone, or a tusk, in some of the Pembrokeshire deposits.  Prefectly possible -- mammoths would certainly have been roaming along the Devensian ice edge c 20,000 years ago.  In most of the world they became extinct by 10,000 BP, but a small population survived on Wrangel Island until about 4500 BP.

12 comments:

TonyH said...

Wrangel Island, eh? Where's that? (why not ask the oracle, rather than using Google). Hve you seen anything of Wrangel Island, Brian?

BRIAN JOHN said...

In the Siberian Arctic, in the Chukchi Sea -- not all that far from Alaska. Never been there -- wish I had though...... apparently it escaped glaciation in the Devensian.

TonyH said...

I know a retired Church Minister whose gigantic Parish was in the North West Territories of Canada. He and his wife lived at Tuktoyaktak for a while, close to the broadly circular mound - shaped geomorphological features known as pingos. Brian has in 2015 commented on the existence of some of these in Cardiganshire and, I think, Pembrokeshire too.

They also worked at Sachs Harbour, Inuvit and Fort McPherson.

Unknown said...

Dear Dr Brian John,
New to this form .I am an interested amateur.
I have been looking at the sea around Carnac with google earth .the estuary , the bay .
The majesty of what appears to be there is awesome and shocking .
could you confirm to me that what I am seeing is not a hoax ?
Cheers Yve from narberth.

BRIAN JOHN said...

Yve -- what is it about the image of the Carnac area that you find majestic, awesome and shocking? Google Earth does not lie -- and things appearing on satellite images are often rather impressive -- explain please.
Brian

Unknown said...

DEar Brian ,
If you look at Google earth July 27 2012 there seem to be hundreds of stone lines ,
etc all going in different directions covering miles of the sea bed . Some are a kilometer out . I find it hard to believe that the extent is so large. What can you say about them ?
How far back does this go do you think ?
Have you looked at it ?Do you know about them?

Cheers Yve

BRIAN JOHN said...

Yve

Are you looking at the rows and lines of the mussel and oyster fishery? This is a big industry in the neighbourhood...... shellfish farming as we might call it.

Unknown said...

Hmm ,
You could be right there ..
I will try to find out more .
What a dummy .
Sorry .. all that lost sleep for nothing .
Cheers Yve

Unknown said...

You are right .
So sorry for the inconvenience .
Cheers Yve

chris johnson said...

There are supposedly alignments out into the bay south of Carnac. I did not study these myself but there is a paper you can download from Jerome Fournier which talks about the results of recent diving work, the discovery of jadeite axes from Visio and lots of interesting stuff. There is also a bibliography.

Probably Geo knows all about it if he is around.

PS Not sure if any of this is viewable on Google Earth so Brian is probably right too.

Geo Cur said...



See 47.567739 ,-2.896542 on GE for the the non submerged bit of the the 1.5 submerged stone circles of Er Lannic .
Pics of non submerged part at
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/10315/er_lannic.html

combuijs said...

Thanks for dropping the Jerome Fournier name, Chris, I found an interesting article about the extension of the alignments of St. Pierre de Quiberon. (They call it alignments du Moulin, but that is a confusing name as there is one in nearby Plouharnel as well).