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Lost elephant? Try the pub...
Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 9:15 pm
by Gob
Only in Wales...
Archaeologists having started digging up a pub beer garden in search of a legendary Victorian circus elephant.
The Tregaron Elephant has long had its place in local folklore, and is thought to have been buried behind the town's Talbot Hotel after dying on tour.
The small-scale excavation started on Saturday morning and the hunt for clues about the animal's final resting place will continue until next Thursday.
About 10 people from the University of Wales Trinity St David are taking part.
The elephant was said to have fallen ill after drinking contaminated water in the Ceredigion town in 1848.
It is believed to have been part of Batty's Travelling Menageries, a circus troupe which entertained widely in the area that year.
Dafydd Watkin and his partner Tracy Batt are licensees of the Talbot Hotel, and they said about 30 people had watched the start of the dig.
Mr Watkin said the archaeologists were working in the hotel's beer garden, but had found nothing so far.
"They started digging this morning and they'll be here until next Thursday," said Mr Watkin.
"There's been quite a crowd here. About 30 people have been in and out watching the dig in the beer garden, and we're expecting more people over the weekend.
"Before the dig started the local councillor Catherine Hughes said a few words."
The dig has started in the beer garden at The Talbot in Tregaron
Mr Watkin said he was not worried about losing trade because of the dig, and added that it would probably draw in more customers.
The dig is part of a wider project by the University of Wales Trinity St David's archaeology department.
Dr Jemma Bezant of the School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology is heading it up.
She said last month that the project was about celebrating the story of the Tregaron Elephant and less about "finding out the truth".
She added that it was likely the effort would generate more questions than answers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-13023965
Re: Lost elephant? Try the pub...
Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 9:53 pm
by The Hen
Would they not have buried it in a field rather than next to a pub?
I really think they are just digging for a free pint from the landlord. Once they have had enough pints, they'll start to dig next to an Indian restaurant. Mark my words. You Welsh people can't fool me!
Re: Lost elephant? Try the pub...
Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 10:37 pm
by Timster
LMAO~ I was thinking the same thing
Hen. I think they had to be drunk in the first place to bury a 2000 lb about to be rotting corpse behind the pub anyway. Just didn't want to get to far from the brew, eh? Have they not heard of the ' keggar ' in Wales?
Re: Lost elephant? Try the pub...
Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 2:53 am
by loCAtek
Wow, about a hundred and fifty years counts as archeology in the UK?
Re: Lost elephant? Try the pub...
Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:40 am
by Sean
Time for another English lesson then...
Archaeology is the study of historic artifacts...especially those which have been excavated. It does not have any time limits. 150 years ago is fairly historic wouldn't you say?
I think you're most likely confusing it with the word 'antique'...
Re: Lost elephant? Try the pub...
Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 12:07 pm
by Crackpot
antique is commonly considered 100 years or older so Antique would apply. Interestingly I have an bedroom set that was my Grandparents that is now nearing on antique.
Re: Lost elephant? Try the pub...
Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 5:57 pm
by loCAtek
I think he meant to say Antiquity or antiquities, which is an ancient time or an artifact from that time.
Archeology is the study of past human cultures, usually prehistoric ones that didn't leave written records. A high school science class that was held at my school had a brief archeological course, where the teacher created a mock-indian village, that he buried himself in a field. From the tools, vessels and clothes, the students were to try to deduce what kind of society these people once were.
A buried elephant sounds more like a historical science course in paleontology.
Re: Lost elephant? Try the pub...
Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 8:50 pm
by Gob
more news....
Dr Bezant said: "We have started excavating and we've picked some Victorian debris such as clay pipes and pottery, so we're in the right period.
"We've also found some teeth, which are thought to have come from a sheep, but there's no sign of the elephant yet, but it's early days.
"Since we've been here we've heard a number of stories that the elephant was buried elsewhere in the town. The hotel once owned 100 acres of land, so it could be buried elsewhere.
"The land is owned by someone else now, but he's happy for us to return another time to search his land (if the elephant is not found)."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-13023965
Re: Lost elephant? Try the pub...
Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 10:08 pm
by The Hen
Well of course there were bits and bobs from the Victorian era in the ground. The hotel has been there for sometime.
I have just been searching google maps to get an idea of the layout of the town.
Right behind the beer garden of the Talbot Hotel is a church. I wonder if they used the ground there for the corpse disposal?
Re: Lost elephant? Try the pub...
Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:59 pm
by The Hen
My mistake. My maps were showing the wrong building as the Talbot Hotel.
I have seen the field the elephant is purportedly buried in.
I wonder whether they should be digging in the darker elephant shaped patch towards the back end of the field, rather than where the beer garden is?
