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William Beard (24 April 1772 – 9 January 1868) was a British bone collector. ==Life== He was the son of a farmer at Banwell, Somerset, was born on 24 April 1772. He received such education as the parish clerk, who was also the schoolmaster of the village, could give him. Like his father, he worked on the land. He married and bought a small estate, which he farmed himself. Excited by the tradition that Banwell Hill contained a large cavern, he persuaded two miners to join him (September 1824) in sinking a shaft. At a depth of about 100 feet they came to a stalactite cave. While making a second opening lower down the side of the hill, in order to form a better approach to this cave, he discovered a smaller cavern containing animal bones. With some help procured for him by the Bishop of Bath and Wells (G. H. Law), to whom the land belonged, Beard dug out the cavern, and found among the debris a number of bones of the bear, buffalo, reindeer, wolf, etc. Captivated with his discovery, he let his land, and spent all his time in searching for bones and putting them together. He acted as guide to the many visitors who came to see the cavern and the bones he collected. He soon learned something of the scientific importance of his discoveries, and became an eager collector of the contents of the bone-caves of the neighbourhood, at Hutton, Bleadon, and Sandford. He died on 9 January 1868, in his ninety-sixth year. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Beard (bone collector)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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