Created: Monday, 15 July 2013 09:10

CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALANDA nearly intact pony skeleton has been unearthed at the site of the Isaac Theatre Royal, which was badly damaged in a 2011 earthquake. Archaeologists think the animal died sometime between the mid-1800s—when the area had been used as pasture by a circus and as a coaching depot—and 1906, when the theater was built. One shoe had been found in the grave. The pony’s other shoes had probably been removed for reuse, but archaeologist Katharine Watson added that it was unusual for a horse to be buried rather than sent to the knackery.