Zoo Archaeology and History

Zoo history and archaeology is a very interesting topic, but it is currently largely neglected. The purpose of this page is to provide information on research in zoo history which has been undertaken in the School of Biological & Earth Sciences at LJMU and provide further resources for anyone who wishes to find out more.

An entire session on zoos and archaeology entitled 'An Archaeology of Zoos: histories, material culture, conservation' was held at the International Council for Archaeozoology (ICAZ) Meeting in Mexico City, August 2006. This session was co-organised by Hannah O'Regan (LJMU), Sally Reynolds (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa) and Cornelius Holtorf (University of Lund, Sweden).

Tower of London Menagerie (Hannah O'Regan and Alan Turner)

In the 1930s many animal bones were recovered from an excavation of the moat adjacent to the former Royal menagerie site at the Tower of London. Amongst these were 19 dog skulls and three large cat crania (two lions [one shown above] and one leopard). These big cats would have been occupants of the menagerie (started in the reign of King John (AD 1199-1216) and closed in 1835). The specimens were donated to the Natural History Museum in London in 1936. English Heritage very kindly agreed to radiocarbon date four of the specimens, which showed that the lion specimens were Medieval, and the leopard and dog were slightly later. This made them the earliest captive big cat specimens found in the UK. Studying them allowed us an insight into the health of animals in the earliest menageries, and also provided an interesting comparison with the remains of modern captive creatures. This work was published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology in 2006. A short film about the Tower of London menagerie, which included this research, can be see online on the BBC's the One Show website.  

 

Useful books

Baratay, E. & Hardouin-Fugier, E. (2002) Zoo - a history of zoological gardens in the west. Reaktion Books, London. (Interesting, lots of good illustrations).

Blunt, W. (1976) The ark in the park - the Zoo in the Nineteenth Century. Book Club Associates/Hamish Hamilton, London. (London Zoo).

Hahn, D. (2003) The Tower Menagerie. Simon & Schuster, London.

Holloway, S. (1976) The London zoo. Michael Joseph, London.

Johns, J. (1969) Zoo without bars - the story of Chester Zoo. Victor Gollancz.

Keeling, C.H. (2000) The Marvel by the Mersey. Clam Publications, Shalford. (Knowsley Estate and the Earl of Derby).

Kisling Jr, V.N. (2001) Zoo and Aquarium History - ancient animal collections to zoological gardens. CRC Press, Boca Raton. (Worldwide review of zoo history with chapters on each continent).

Middlemiss, J.L. (1987) A zoo on wheels - Bostock and Wombwells Menagerie. Dalebrook Publications.

Parnell, G. (1999) The Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London. Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds.

Ritvo, H. (1987) The Animal Estate - the English and other creatures in the Victorian age. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

 

Papers and articles

Beardsworth, A. & Bryman, A. (2001) The wild animal in late modernity - the case of the Disneyization of zoos. Tourist Studies 1: 83-104.

Festing, S. (1988) Menageries and the landscape garden. Journal of Garden History 8(4): 104-117.

Harvey, J.H. (1947) The western entrance of the Tower. Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeology Society 9: 20-35.

Holtorf, C. (2000) Sculptures in captivity and monkeys on megaliths. Public Archaeology 1: 195-210.

Holtorf, C. & Van Reybrouck, D. (2003) Towards an archaeology of zoos. International Zoo News 50(4): 207-215. (online)

McCann, T.J. (1994) 'Much troubled with very rude company...' the 2nd Duke of Richmond's menagerie at Goodwood. Sussex Archaeological Collections 132: 143-149.

Montgomery, S.L. (1995). The Zoo: theatre of the animals. Science as Culture 4(4): 565-600.

O'Regan, H.J. (2002) From bear pits to zoos. British Archaeology 68: 12-19. (online).

O'Regan, H.J. & Turner, A. (2004) The interface between conservation biology, palaeontology and archaeozoology - morphometrics and population viability analysis, pp. 90-96. In The future from the past: Archaeozoology in Wildlife Conservation and Heritage Management. Eds. R.C.G.M. Lauwerier and I. Plug. Oxbow Books, Oxford.

O’Regan, H.J., Turner, A. & Sabin, R. (2006) Medieval big cat remains from the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 16: 385-394.

Reichenbach, H. (2002) Lost Menageries - why and how zoos disappear (Part 1). International Zoo News 316. (online). (Mainly discussion of Manchester and Liverpool Zoos).

Reichenbach, H. (2002) Lost Menageries - why and how zoos disappear (Part 2). International Zoo News 317. (online). (Germany, Holland and Belgium).

Thomas, P.D. (1996) The Tower of London's Royal Menagerie. History Today 46(8): 29-35.

Weinstein, R. (1980) Some menagerie accounts of James I. Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeology Society 31: 133-141.

Wood, D. (1999) Archaeological excavation of the Lion Tower. Unpublished excavation report by the Oxford Archaeology Unit.