Okay this is a more complete version than that I first saw, and agrees with
what I've heard.
We don't freeze here (Southern California); our decomposition season is all
year long.
Seems slightly different also in that all "my" farmers covered their dead
animals with dirt, whether they were work animals or beef/dairy cattle that
died unexpectedly near their homes. None of the equine burails here that I
know of had markers.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lyle E. Browning" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 11:14 AM
Subject: Re: University archaeologists start Tregaron elephant dig
On Apr 11, 2011, at 1:43 PM, Sean Doyle wrote:
> In the cases where they went so far as to identify the markers they only
> had the name, Demon, Runner, and what not. No indication of species or
> capacity on the marker. I wonder why the same treatment was not afforded
> draught animals in agriculturalist sites I've had the opportunity to work
> on?
Beef and dairy operations in VA have a designated area where natural loss
animals are hauled for "open-air" burials. These are invariably in ravines
at the margins of the pasture and in an intermittent drainage. That said,
half a mile downwind in the summer the odor is noticeable and within a
quarter mile it is sickening. VA has two seasons; winter and July so the
decomp season is March to November with frozen or nearly so in between in
the higher elevations.
Draught animals often did get burials, but not with markers. The farmers
knew where they were and used the area as needed. One such situation was
related in that a team of mules used to haul freight in wagon to the
steamboats for riverine transport would not stop backing up and went over
the end of the dock into the Pamunkey River. The crop was lost as were the
animals. A pit was dug by hand and the animals were rolled in. The last one
rolled in and came to rest with legs up. Alterations were made with a
chainsaw to allow dirt to cover the multiple grave. No other markers exist.
This happened about 80 years ago and is still current with the
great-grandchildren of the folks to which it happened. Ethnohistory would
undoubtedly relate more of same.
I have encountered horse "graveyards" with markers with the name and dates.
It would appear that the farther down the status ladder the animal, the less
likely it was to be commemorated. And it would have much to do with the
economic means and mindset of the owners. Commemoration in cement is more
prevalent in agrarian sites than formalized tombstones. One has to remember
that most of these animals were working animals, and not household pets. The
distinction is important when disposable income is scarce on farming profit
margins.
Lyle Browning, RPA
>
> Susan Walter <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Very true.
> I have thought of visiting one of our local pet cemeteries; not yet made a
> big enough excuse to do so. Just wondering if a working dog would have
> been
> marked as such on his/her marker.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sean Doyle" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 10:07 AM
> Subject: Re: University archaeologists start Tregaron elephant dig
>
>
> The one's in Western Colorado varied between fieldstone and wooden
> markers.
> East Texas on the other hand were invariably of stone, at least of the
> examples I have seen. We did in fact know they were dogs as in all three
> cases the landowners explained the burials to us.
>
> I wanted to add that I should have said "working dogs" instead of simply
> hunting dogs. The Colorado examples were located in the Piceance and were
> intermixed with sheep dogs. They always fascinated me, good
> representations
> of how much the human relied on and trusted this animal during its
> lifetime.
> As much a colleague as a pet.
>
> Susan Walter <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> With fieldstones?
> Did you know they were dogs?
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sean Doyle" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 9:02 AM
> Subject: Re: University archaeologists start Tregaron elephant dig
>
>
> Not so much pets, but hunting dogs. I have seen a great deal of marked
> hunting dog burials on various rural hunting tracts in both East Texas and
> Western Colorado.
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY on behalf of Susan Walter
> Sent: Mon 4/11/2011 9:01 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: University archaeologists start Tregaron elephant dig
>
>
>
> Not elephants, BUT often on rural sites I've stumbled (sometimes
> literally)
> on what appear to be fieldstone grave markers. In my own yard, our
> fieldstone markers denote pet burials. Everyone (except Mr. McCoy, who
> was
> exhumed and moved to a now unidentified final resting place) is accounted
> for from my farmhouse, built in 1890; they are in official cemeteries.
>
> Anyone else had pet burials marked like that?
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "geoff carver" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2011 12:30 PM
> Subject: University archaeologists start Tregaron elephant dig
>
>
>> Not quite sure what to think of this; maybe a useful training exercise
>> (PR?), but...
>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-13023965
>> What archaeological information can the grave of a circus elephant
>> reveal?
>> Something about burial customs for circus elephants in 19th c. Wales?
>
>
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