Stone Age ‘Greta’ could help fight new pandemics
Scientists hoping 10,000-year-old skull will give them head start in beating coronavirus
ASTONE Age skull may provide the key to beating Covid. The 10,000-year-old remains – known as Greta – are part of a scientific project on historic pathogens and genetic development.
Staffordshire anthropologist David Adkins, who studies long lost tribes, also revealed fresh examinations of the skull have pinpointed a fresh mystery.
There appears to be an engraved outline of a woolly mammoth above the right eye-socket. He believes the bone could have been decorated by Stone Age artists.
Other experts have dismissed the artwork as water damage.
It is, however, Greta’s role in beating the pandemic that has gripped scientists.
The research is another twist in a very chequered story. Greta was found in a Burton upon Trent gravel pit in 1943. She was displayed at the town’s museum, but lost when the attraction closed in 1980.
Detective work by 50-year-old David led to the missing skull being located at Stoke’s Potteries Museum.
That was a very fortuitous find as Greta may now prove vital in the war against new viruses like Covid.
The piece is currently being examined at London biomedical research centre the Francis Crick Institute.
Mr Adkins said: “Greta is now part of an important project to study the relationship between ancient pathogens and the evolution of the human genome (genetic code).
“By understanding how genes relate to ancient microbes and how the two developed, it may be possible to one day address diseases such as Covid-19 like never before.
“It’s incredible to think that Greta, who has lain buried in Burton for millennia among mammoth tusks and teeth, is now centre stage in London and playing her part in this battle against disease.
“Greta has already been screened for ancient pathogens and hopefully will soon reveal her secrets.
“They are looking at the genetic make-up and seeing how genetic codes changed in relation to microbes and diseases.
“Understanding how the genes and diseases relate to one another may help us to combat pandemics.”
The strange elephant shape on the skull may also prove significant, Mr Adkins, from Burton, stressed.
It may provide proof for a belief he has held for some time: in pre-historic times, women were the huntergatherers.
It indicates “girl power” was at its strongest in Stone Age Britain.
“We know that body parts were kept by families and groups. Markings have been found on leg bones, accidental markings possibly the result of cannibalism,” added David.
“But it is very unusual to find something like this on a skull, quite unique, which is why some think it is water damage. To me, it looks just like cave drawing, particularly the kinked tail.
“Greta was found with a mammoth’s tooth next to her. There is a link between that mammoth tooth and the design on the skull.
“I think this is an important link in the chain. It is evidence that, in prehistoric Britain, women were the hunters, men the warriors.
“Greta was a huntress.”
Mr Adkins was also responsible for relocating another skull, Mabus, which dates back to the Bronze Age.
Mabus was first unearthed in 1952 at Stretton Gravel Pits, close to Greta’s grave.
Mabus is stained by a red substance, almost certainly red ochre – an iron oxide used by ancients throughout the world to preserve bodies. They were displayed in chambers. “In some tribes, these preserved
remains played a part in the daily life of the community.
“There is also an interesting similarity between Greta and Mabus – both have frontal sutures on their skulls which had remained open into adulthood. This is unusual and is occasionally idiopathic – or could be an extremely rare genetic trait – raising the question, were Greta and Mabus related?
“Unlikely but not improbable, perhaps, although it will become clearer when we examine the actual date and genetic code of Mabus.
“For a town to have one prehistoric skull is unusual – to have two is unprecedented.”
At present, all eyes are on Greta. And boffins hope this ancient skull may provide a head start in eliminating Covid.
ASPEEDING Audi driver ignored the pleas of his passenger and drove at excessive speed before crashing head-on into another vehicle on a Birmingham road.
Fasal Mahmood, who had two previous convictions for dangerous driving, had arranged to pick up a receptionist and part-time model at a hotel at the Mailbox at around 8pm, on February 17 last year.
He arrived in an Audi, which she had never seen him drive before, and she believed they were going to get some food.
Richard Franck, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court, said: “She recalled him driving too fast and had asked him to slow down but he didn’t.” He went on to Bromford Road, in Hodge Hill, where there are a number of traffic calming measures including bollards and slow signs.
“He decided to drive on the wrong side of the road to overtake two cars. He went on the wrong side of a keep left bollard and he then crashed head-on into a Seat Leon,” said Mr Franck. Another driver who saw his vehicle believed he was driving much faster than the 30mph speed limit.
The driver of the other car, Mahmood’s passenger and Mahmood himself all had to be cut out of the vehicles and all three were seriously injured. The defendant’s passenger was taken to Heartlands Hospital where she had to have an immediate emergency abdominal operation before being transferred unconscious to the Queen Elizabeth. She had also suffered a fractured vertebrae which was also operated on and
also fractures to her left foot, upper arm and nose, which resulted in her spending 12 days in hospital.
In a statement she said that she had been devastated both physically and emotionally by what had happened.
As a result her mother, who worked in the NHS, had to take extensive time off during the first Covid wave.
She suffered a deep cut to her chin causing scarring which had affected her confidence and meant she had to turn down work as a bridal model.
The driver of the Seat Leon suffered two broken legs and a hip dislocation and could not walk for eight weeks.
He said he had been left bed-bound for four weeks, experienced flashbacks, and had abandoned his career as a trainee engineer.
Mahmood, 36, of Whittington Oval, Stechford, who had previously admitted two charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and having no insurance, was jailed for three years and four months.
He was also disqualified from driving for six years and eight months.
In passing sentence Recorder Michael Burrows QC said, referring to the female victim: “She has had to turn down work as a bridal model because of the scarring and lack of confidence.
“It has also had a serious psychological effect on her and has changed her personality. You were driving at a greatly excessive speed. You ignored your passenger’s requests to slow down.
“You deliberately disregarded the rules of the road and you disregarded the danger to others.”
Anthony Barraclough, defending, said that although it was a terrible incident it was not the worst piece of dangerous driving.
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