  In this paper we report on results in the study of spatially homogeneous
cosmological models with elastic matter. We show that the behavior of elastic
solutions is fundamentally different from that of perfect fluid solutions
already in the case of locally rotationally symmetric (LRS) Bianchi type I
models; this is true even when the elastic material resembles a perfect fluid
very closely. In particular, the approach to the initial singularity is
characterized by an intricate oscillatory behavior of the scale factors, while
the future asymptotic behavior is described by isotropization rates that differ
significantly from those of perfect fluids.
