Writing The Book

“DNA Detectives – The Stone Age Mystery” is the third book I have written. Just like my other books the story has been in my head for a very long time! I wanted to write something for children that would bring the subject of the Stone Age alive and up to date in terms of the science being used to investigate it.

If I could go back in time to when I was working in the laboratory this is the area of genetics and science I would love to have worked on. I find it so incredible that you can get DNA from someone who is over 10,000 years old! Modern science is making huge headway in enabling us find out what it was really like to live in this period of time. My degree was in Pathobiology, the biology of disease and I have always been interested in this field. Being able to use DNA from someone’s teeth and look at their bones to determine what made them ill is incredible. Something that I find fascinating!

When I was researching this book, I was very lucky to get help from my neighbours who are both archaeologists and experts in the Stone Age. I remember my first conversation with them after they agreed to help me. I said “the thing is about the Stone Age is it’s a bit dull. All that was left behind were stones. I want to find a way to make that exciting!”. They looked at me in utter horror. Now after completing my research I can understand why. It is truly the most fascinating and interesting period of time. In fact, I would go as far as to say it is probably my favourite period of time. These people were incredibly intelligent and resourceful. I doubt if placed in a similar situation that we would survive.

I also spent time at Creswell Craggs to complete my research. When I was writing about the caves in the story, I was visualising the caves at Creswell. It was wonderful to see the cave art so close up. The caves are located around a lake. It is the caves on the left of the lake where the cave art has been discovered and there is evidence of people living in the caves on the right of the lake. You could really get an idea of what it must have been like to live in the cave and hunt the animals living in that area. After my visit my mind was going into overdrive with how to describe the caves in my story!

Weblinks

I have compiled some great web links to help you learn more about DNA, cells, forensic science, archaeology and the Stone Age.

I have divided the web links into the chapters from the book so you can learn about the different subjects as you read the book. There are some great video clips to watch, some fantastic online games to play where you get to be an archaeologist and excavate a grave, you can find out how to make Stone Age tools out of soap, go to a virtual online laboratory and extract DNA, use DNA to find out what ancient skeletons looked like and extract some DNA from fruit at home!