Mammoth task of preservation

IF THERE is one iconic picture of Ice Age humans, it must surely be that of half a dozen muscled prehistoric cavemen surrounding an angry mammoth that they are trying to spear to death. Sadly, of course, this member of the elephant family that was unique to the northern hemisphere eventually became extinct, but it is sobering to remember that these magnificent animals were still living on Wrangel Island in the Siberian Arctic as recently as 3,700 years ago.

The classic explanation for the demise of these creatures was that they were hunted to extinction by humans invading the tundras of the north in the wake of the retreating Ice Age, in what is sometimes known as the "Pleistocene overkill".

The mai...