Preparing for any obstacles that may hinder a groundworks project is essential and ground investigation is a major part of that process. After all, you never know what’s lurking under your feet. Whilst most probing underground unearths pretty ordinary finds such as rubble, large rocks, plastic and other general debris, every now and then the odd surprise is discovered.
Let’s take look at some of the most unusual things recovered underground…
Secret pitstop
In 1978, one of the strangest underground discoveries by far was… a green Ferrari Dino 246 GTS. The car was found by two children who were playing. There they were, digging around in the back garden of their home, when they encountered something just below the surface. What the youngsters had hit was in fact the roof of a Ferrari worth around $18,000.
After involving the police, a dig was then carried out which uncovered the car. The Ferrari had been covered with cloth and towels – presumably in a poor attempt to preserve it so it could be claimed back at a later date. The car was in surprisingly good condition and, due to the preservation of the number plate, police were able track down the original owner of the car. Bought in October 1974 by Rosendo Cruz in California, it was reported stolen a couple of months later…
With the neighbouring residents claiming they hadn’t noticed any strange occurrences at the house back in 1974, the incident has been written off as a theft and the mystery of why the Ferrari Dino was buried underground still remains…
A ‘mammoth’ discovery
The oldest and biggest (literally) discovery so far was made in Siberia along the Oyogos Yar west of Kondratievo River by local people who found the well-preserved carcass of a female woolly mammoth…
The mammoth mummy was found in an overhanging ledge, about 13 feet above beach Level in a low wave-cut bluff. The mammoth has since been named Yuka and analysis carried out on her teeth and tusks determined that she was roughly 6 to 8 years old when she died – 39,000 years ago!
Scientists initially presumed Yuka’s cause of death was due to being attacked by predators however evidence of this has not been found. Yuka is not the only mammoth to have been uncovered in recent years and scientists are researching the possibility of cloning this huge creature, weighing in at 5 tonnes and measuring at almost 10 foot tall.
Since 2014, Yuka has been on display in Moscow and is regarded as being the best preserved Siberian mammoth discovered… so far.
When Santa got stuck up the chimney
Perhaps the most heartwarming of these three discoveries; some builders once stumbled across a letter to Santa as they were knocking down a chimney breast. The letter, which was written in 1925 and signed by an E. Short, was remarkably undamaged.
91 years old and still legible, the letter read:
“Daddy Christmas,
Will you please bring me these things:
Fort, cannon, box of soldiers,
Indian, chocolate, boat, book, handkerchiefs.
Yours sincerely, E. Short”
Perhaps Santa got stuck up the chimney on his way out and left the letter behind? Let’s hope E. Short received the handkerchiefs he/she wanted anyway!
Wondering what’s under the ground on your site? If you need a site evaluation or would like to discuss ageneral groundwork project then please call us on 0800 634 5241 or email info@ashleygroundworks.co.uk