Archeologists are looking for the skeleton of anelephant – not in the savannah of Africa or the hobo camp of Asia , but in the green English countryside .
In Victorian Britain , traveling menageries would scale up and down the area to show off the alien animals looted from the imperium ’s aloof land , including Lion , tiger , bears , camels , and elephants . Legend has it that one elephant from a traveling show was lay to rest in 1891 somewhere around Kingswood , South Gloucestershire .
In the Leslie Townes Hope of drop brightness level on this mystery , the local council has recently commission Wessex Archeology to help find its colossal grave .
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A traveling menagerie and an elephant wander down a Victorian street.Image credit: The National Fairground and Circus Archive/The University of Sheffield
The elephant is allege to have perish after eating poisonous yew leaves and was buried somewhere in the neighborhood of Whitefield ’s Tabernacle or Holy Trinity Church . Since no prescribed phonograph recording of its inhumation exist , the search for its giant tomb is wide , so archeologist will be using geophysical surveys to scan large areas of land .
“ search for Victorian elephant interment is n’t our usual menu but a grave of that size would give a large hole and would certainly be identifiable with the Ground Penetrating Radar equipment we will be using to survey the situation , ” Tom Richardson , Terrestrial Geophysicist at Wessex Archaeology , say in a assertion post to IFLScience .
The elephant in question was part of Bostock and Wombwell ’s Menagerie , which a local newspaper reported was in South Gloucestershire in February 1891 :
“ Bostock ’s Grand Star Menagerie [ … ] will take up its quarter on Friday on the opened space near Lawrence Hill post , where it will remain for 8 days [ … ] Among the larger brute in the collection is Nancy , a fine nine - year - old elephant , four camels , ten or a dozen okay lions and lionesses , three Bengal World Tamil Movement , a sacred Indian bull , agnu [ sic ] or horned sawhorse , some leopards , polar and brown bears , a hyena , and a inner circle of Russian Hugo Wolf [ … ] The animals are all in splendid condition . ”
inspire by Romantic ideals of the natural worldly concern and the burgeoning conception ofDarwinism , the Victorians were fascinated with nature , albeit in a clinical and somewhat distant style . Menageries , where rare and wonderful fauna were kept in cage and chains , became hugely popular in the earned run average as a form of both instruction and entertainment .
“ During the 19th century , the enthrallment with the innate Earth allowed both traveling and electrostatic menageries to thrive . People wanted to feel alien and strange animals . run into these creatures was seen as educational , indeed the governance actively encouraged families to take their child . But merely see them was not enough ; the public also want to be entertained . In some menageries , fauna keeper began to do whoremaster with their beasts , especially with the large carnivore and elephants , ” explain Dr Steve Ward , a societal historian who ’s compose extensively about the story of the circus .
throw the lax attitude to creature welfare in centuries gone by , the digging of the elephant ’s skeleton have the potential to reveal some unsavory insights .
“ In the case of a menagerie elephant , as well as understanding where the animal came from and its age , we may be capable to see the impact of its life as an entertainer , this may include evidence of confinement including trauma from shackling the animate being or arthritis . It may also be potential to notice injuries or filtrate ensue from its performance duties , such as repetitive movements , ” added Lorrain Higbee , a zooarchaeologist at Wessex Archaeology .
