Palaeo-poetry:
[Professor Matthew Bennett of Bournemouth University] stresses there is always a risk of pushing [fossil] footprint analysis too far in pursuit of a captivating story – what he calls “palaeo-poetry”. It is tempting to argue that the woman hurried because she was wary of roaming sabre-toothed cats, but we will never know for sure. Still, footprints do pitch us closer than ever to the emotions of ancient people. [“How fossil footprints are revealing the joy and fear of Stone Age life,” Colin Barras, NewScientist (9 April 2022, paywall)]
Hey, who could resist such a great word?
