Back to the Mesolithic Age calendar
I thought we might have a quick look at trees and how they returned to England after the
Ice Age or were they there all the time.
The first
trees existed under water around 500 million years ago. About 330 million years ago trees were able to grow on land. It was at this time, in order to adapt, that
trees covered themselves with a bark, the outer skin you can see nowadays. The whole process probably took about 100 million years.
When the last Ice Age started many trees would have been killed as the ice covered the land and possibly them as well. It is possible, though no-one
seems to be certain, that some trees may have survived under all the ice.
When the ice
started to melt, water flowed across the land. This made the soil good for growing. The trees would have started to grow in a variety of ways.
The winds would blow
pollen up from the south carrying little seeds. Birds would migrate back to England and carry tree seedlings and bury them in different places. Once established,
many trees re-seed themselves. The oak tree sheds its acorns which, if not disturbed, will eventually grow into another tree.
Although not
found in England, the coconut palm tree is brilliant at this. I spent some time living on some islands in the Pacific Ocean, Fiji and Tonga, and they are full of
palm trees. High up in the trees are coconuts and when they fall and people don't pick them up and eat the flesh inside or drink the milk, the coconut begins to
sprout and also puts its roots down into the earth.
Just for a bit of fun, and nothing to do with English history at all, I thought I'd let you see a little video I made in Fiji. I met this lady who was
the principal of a school that I did some work with and asked her if men still climbed the palm trees to get the coconuts down. “Oh yes”, she said, “meet me at 4.00pm
and I'll bring someone to show you.” I did, expecting to see some strong Fijian man. Wrong. The tree-climber was her grandson, 12 years old, and, when he started
climbing, quite alive. My first thoughts were he would maybe climb up 10 foot or so just to show how it was done. My second thought, which followed quite quickly,
was, insurance. There is a trend in the western world to sue anyone and everyone who may have been breathing at the same time you have an accident. As this
12-year-old boy climbed higher and higher, I hoped that this had not spread into Fijian culture. As for Health and Safety, forget it. Navitali, probably spelt
very differently, climbed to the top, knocked down a few coconuts, came down, threw them across, a potential Fijian scrum-half if ever I saw one, opened the
coconut using a machete while his young friend held the coconut and then gave it to me to drink. I can hear you saying, ‘lovely story, I believe you’, then
ringing the old people’s home to have me put away. Watch this.
I know some people will say I shouldn't have put this in here but the bit about trees replanting themselves reminded me and I thought it might
interest some of you. Of course I must add, “Don't try this at home”, please. Anyhow it might help you to remember about self-growing trees, tree-planting
birds and trees flying in on the wind. Who knows?
Forward to 7300BC
