Guernsey’s Pagan Icon – La Gran Mere du Chimquiere
At the entrance to the St Martin’s Church yard there is a rather curious pagan symbol that has no real business being there, right next to a Christian Church. It’s a standing stone carved into the shape of a female figure known as La Gran’mere du Chimquiere (Grandmother of the cemetery). What is more there’s a second such stone outside the Castel Church. So where did they come from and why are they outside 2 island churches ?
Can We Tell What the Lifespan of a Dinosaur was ?
The problem with dinosaurs is that they lived a very long time ago- between 250 million and 65 million years ago – But is possible to tell what the lifespan of a Dinosaur might have been ?
Why Were Some Dinosaurs so Large ?
From the fossil evidence, it’s clear that, species by species, individual by individual, dinosaurs were more massive than any other group of animals that has ever lived on land. It’s as if today’s laws of physics didn’t apply back then allowing them to grow to such a gigantic size. So what could possibly explain this ?
What Colour Were Dinosaurs?
Until recently, we knew nothing of the skin of dinosaurs. Depiction of their colour was left to the imagination of illustrators. In 2009, however, that all changed when remnants of skin and ‘proto-feathers’ , actually hairlike filaments—sometimes called dino fuzz, were found on some dinosaur remains in China.
Were the Dinosaurs Cold-Blooded like all today’s Reptiles ?
The problem with dinosaurs is that they lived a very long time ago- between 250 million and 65 million years ago – and the vast majority of our knowledge of them is based on fossilized bones and skeletons, which are all that have survived the ravages of time. So can we tell if dinosaurs were warm or cold-blooded ?
Could Huge Dinosaurs Really Sustain Themselves on a Veggie Diet?
On the face of it there seems little hope of working out precisely how a 75ft long, 50 ton Brachiosaur fed itself. However it is possible to make a few guesstimates, by assuming the present laws of physics and chemistry applied 65 million years ago.
How did Farming Arrive in Europe ?
The first modern humans in Europe were hunter-gatherers who arrived around 40,000 years ago. But around 9,000 years ago the first farmers arrived. These farmers came from the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East – but how ?
Why do men go bald?
There are 193 species of monkeys and apes in the world today, but only one of them is hairless: us ! The average person has around 100,000 hairs on his or her head, so why do some men go bald ?
Why did the Neanderthals die out ?
The archaeological evidence revealed that the earliest Neanderthals had lived in Europe about 200,000 years ago. But then, about 30,000 years ago, they disappeared… just at the time when the first modern humans appear in Europe. The question is Why ?
How are fossils formed?
When animals, plants and other organisms die, they typically decay completely. But sometimes, when the conditions are just right, they’re preserved as fossils. In this article we take a look at how that process occurs.
Why did we swap hunter-gathering for farms and villages ?
About 10,000 years ago mankind began to abandon hunter-gathering as a way of life for farms and village life. We would naturally assume because it was better, more efficient, healthier. However there are puzzling problems with these reasons.
