steepholm: (Default)
steepholm ([personal profile] steepholm) wrote2010-10-13 06:20 pm
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Uffington Post

I see a retired vet has claimed that the Uffington White Horse is actually a dog:

"Anatomically it's not a horse at all," Mr Swarbrick said. "It's too long and too lean and it has a long tail - horses don't have a tail the length of that stylised creature at Uffington."

Some might say that the clue lies in the word "stylized", Mr Swarbrick. Still, as long as the matter's been raised, I may as well share my own theory, which is that the creature on White Horse Hill is

...a kangaroo.

Uffington - horse? Or kangaroo?

Kangaroo in the Wild

As this anatomical comparison demonstrates, the Uffington White Roo has the same powerful hind legs, the long balancing tail, the alert posture and the pugilistic stance we have come to associate with Australia's favourite marsupial. How such an intimate knowledge of kangaroos spread to Bronze Age Britain is a puzzle I leave to wiser heads to solve. I think the Spice Road may have had something to do with it. Or trade winds. Or... something. But can we wonder that these noble creatures inspired such awe and reverence in our ancient ancestors?

[identity profile] a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com 2010-10-13 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
aaaaand now it looks like a dog to me. A stylized dog, but a dog nevertheless.
sheenaghpugh: (Default)

[personal profile] sheenaghpugh 2010-10-13 05:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I like the roo idea! Must admit, I have always thought the proportions wrong for a horse - legs way too short for body, even stylised.

[identity profile] mevennen.livejournal.com 2010-10-13 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Superb!

[identity profile] intertext.livejournal.com 2010-10-13 07:07 pm (UTC)(link)
hee. I think it's a weasel myself.

[identity profile] calimac.livejournal.com 2010-10-13 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
It is backed like a weasel.

(Someone had to say it. And, indeed, it is.)

[identity profile] endlessrarities.livejournal.com 2010-10-13 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Sorry. I still see it as a horse. Though the kangeroo theory is rather nice. It fits in well with my own theory that the odd beaked Pictish beasts on the carved stones have to be plstypuses. Okay, they post-date the Bronze Age, but... Maybe there's some folk memory at work...

[identity profile] endlessrarities.livejournal.com 2010-10-13 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I meant platypuses, but I'm not even sure if I spelt it right that time, either!!

[identity profile] swisstone.livejournal.com 2010-10-13 08:07 pm (UTC)(link)
It's a cat, obviously!
ext_12726: (cup of tea)

[identity profile] heleninwales.livejournal.com 2010-10-13 08:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Definitely a cat. It's got whiskers. :)

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2010-10-14 09:02 am (UTC)(link)
It's a dragon. Specifically the dragon that St. George slew.