Palitoy landfill

[roundster]

Best use of archaeological survey equipment ever Spoons!!

I'm in, pretty sure my 24 year old Archaeology A-Level will prove invaluable in this search!!

 

[spoons]

Best use of archaeological survey equipment ever Spoons!!

I'm in, pretty sure my 24 year old Archaeology A-Level will prove invaluable in this search!!

Excellent Roundster, reckon that is you in charge then

 

[subzero]

I'm amazed at how paper still hasn't degraded after all those years/decades underground, when it comes to the E.T. Atari game landfill that was recently unearthed sure a lot of the papers and card boxes were very crushed but not degraded, but that was in a dry desert with not much rain. So I always assumed that anything of paper or card for that long underground in THIS country, with so much rainwater seeping into the ground that surely it would have easily broken down after this long, but obviously not and that surprises me.

This will be an amazing find of biblical proportions if this gets unearthed, it would be an exciting thing to witness!

 

[Darth Bobby]

I'm amazed at how paper still hasn't degraded after all those years/decades underground, when it comes to the E.T. Atari game landfill that was recently unearthed sure a lot of the papers and card boxes were very crushed but not degraded, but that was in a dry desert with not much rain. So I always assumed that anything of paper or card for that long underground in THIS country, with so much rainwater seeping into the ground that surely it would have easily broken down after this long, but obviously not and that surprises me.

This will be an amazing find of biblical proportions if this gets unearthed, it would be an exciting thing to witness!

I think it was because they seal the land fill over with clay which is is not pourous. It's like at Glastonbury festival when it rains, it floods, the water just sits there as the soil full of clay. Maybe an expert could explain it better, I'm guessing. The BBC4 programme is worth watching, it's facinating and terrifying at the same time.

 

[Clarkspie&chips]

I think it was because they seal the land fill over with clay which is is not pourous.

That's correct, landfills have a clay capping later to stop groundwater getting in and washing out any nasty chemicals in to the water table.

I'm personally hoping they pull bucket loads of grey limbed hoth troppers out of the ground and I can finally get my hands on one.

 

[Cardbackkid]

So this dig is actually happening ?

 

[olisuds]

Very exciting reading and incredible research! Can't wait to hear how this turns out!

 

[mattholt76]

Watched the BBC4 documentary and it was very interesting and encouraging for this documentary from a lot of what has been said here.
I thought because it's not Arizona a lot of deterioration would have occurred especially in paper.
There is a chance that figures or weapons were bagged maybe?

The other interesting take away for me is that it looks likely that many Landfills will be dug up in the future as its easier
than looking for new sources of metals etc.... which means the Palitoy stuff might surface someday without looking for it... unless
development on top of it like the HS2 seals it off for a few hundred years :-D

The other good news is I read the Star Wars Exhibition at New Walk has already had 30,000 visitors which is more than the Leicester City Football exhibition of 2016.
So interest for the toys may grow and Matt Fox's little nod to the Myth might help build an audience for this film and possible
crowd funding

 

[subzero]

I'm amazed at how paper still hasn't degraded after all those years/decades underground, when it comes to the E.T. Atari game landfill that was recently unearthed sure a lot of the papers and card boxes were very crushed but not degraded, but that was in a dry desert with not much rain. So I always assumed that anything of paper or card for that long underground in THIS country, with so much rainwater seeping into the ground that surely it would have easily broken down after this long, but obviously not and that surprises me.

This will be an amazing find of biblical proportions if this gets unearthed, it would be an exciting thing to witness!

I think it was because they seal the land fill over with clay which is is not pourous. It's like at Glastonbury festival when it rains, it floods, the water just sits there as the soil full of clay. Maybe an expert could explain it better, I'm guessing. The BBC4 programme is worth watching, it's facinating and terrifying at the same time.

Ah that explains that then, I always pictured them just pouring buckets of dirt all over it and compacting it down.

 

[Bonsai_Tree_Ent]

The other good news is I read the Star Wars Exhibition at New Walk has already had 30,000 visitors which is more than the Leicester City Football exhibition of 2016.

Ha! Leicester City winning the Premier League is insignificant next to the power of the force!

 

[momike]

I think Laurence might disagree :lol:

 

[mattholt76]

quick update...

We filmed Andy on Tuesday with his knowledge on Archeology & the challenges of such a dig. Thursday we interviewed Kayleigh at Astons Auctions
about the current state of the vintage toy market and the kind of prices things go for & the normal places they are found... so big thanks to Andy & Kayleigh.

Laurence seems to have gone "underground" * and I've not had an email or private message since his last post, maybe he's digging as we speak. Either way
it would be great to hear from him and other collectors that would like to feature in the doc & comment on the myth. We are planning on doing a follow up
with Matt Fox reflecting on the success of May The Toys Be With You. Another thing we would like to feature is the makeup of the Palitoy plastic, how it stands up
to the ravages of time especially in "the pit". We are also looking to interview Palitoy employee's, we have a few through family contacts (I knew my Gran worked there but only just found out my Mum did too... only Action Man im afraid much earlier)

You can see examples of our other documentary work on our Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/mglmedia

we'll keep you posted on developments, have a great weekend

Matt

*excuse the pun

 

[spoons]

Matt is was great meeting you and Wayne, and it would be great to have everyone working together on this.

If the landowner(s) ever do grant permission I think this would make a great community project for Star Wars collectors and locals.

 

[pmsbull]

Watching with interest !

 

[mattholt76]

Hi Guys,

We have put together a trailer from the few weeks of stuff we've filmed so far. This also gives our film a bit of credibility
and stops us from having to explain it all longhand! Also I hope it conveys the tone as we are making this to be an entertaining
documentary:

https://youtu.be/blyORNY9H78

Thanks to all those who have given their time so far. We still have some more interviews lined up from parties outside the forum but if anyone
wants to contribute an interview, anecdote or thinks you might have anything related to the myth that might make an interesting subplot please get in
touch.

all the best

Matt
[email protected]

 

[Plastikheld]

Trailer looking great so far. That's going to be fun.
Wish you could take it to the maximum suspense and start digging ... as cliffhanger for part 2.

 

[mr_palitoy]

Ha ha, looking good!



Jason

 

[theforceuk]

:lol: Very good, nice pun Jason, 'Its a story that surfaces every phew years.' :lol:

More exciting than the Episode 9 trailer is gooing to be probably.

 

[Palifan]

Great trailer and really looking forward to seeing this once it's completed, congrats to all involved!

Ian

 

[mattholt76]

BBC Inside out, a local East Midlands documentary news programme, is featuring landfill mining tonight
...that's the 2nd film on this in the last 3 months.
Seems highly probable that these landfills will be dug
up at some point anyway which may help our film.

We are off filming in Wales next with an 80's TV presenter :-D

Matt

 

[Darth Bobby]

Wow the trailer looks amazing! Very exciting project, good luck!

 

[mattholt76]

Wow the trailer looks amazing! Very exciting project, good luck!

Thanks D.B. will post any interesting developments here. all the best

 

[subzero]

Looking interesting so far, can't wait!

 

[tobedesu]

Looks good.
Great to see Joe from Leicester Vintage on there. Nice bloke.

 

[mattholt76]

Hey folks, just a note to say we are still here and still following up on leads when we can. Had to turn our attention
to our paid projects but looking to make some more progress on "In a Landfill" this summer.

I just spotted we popped up in THE VINTAGE REBELLION : Episode 52 LAUNCHED last October. It was great to hear the discussion and
that the trailer we made has had some views. (1172 on Youtube at the time of writing)

My work took me to L.A earlier this year. I dropped into the "Scum & Villainy Cantina in Hollywood and interviewed an American guy who had heard the myth
across the pond! We recorded a little interview as he was quite a character with a patch over his eye. It's a great destination for Star Wars fans if you ever
find yourself stateside:
https://scumandvillainycantina.com/

I will try and keep you posted with any more developments as they happen but also please feel free to throw any leads or possible interviews our way
so we can keep adding to the story

[email protected]

all the best
Matt

 

[Robstyley]

Nice trailer, snappy editing. This is like one I saw about the Atari E.T game but about 10x more exciting because it's about Vintage Star Wars. The stuff is out there somewhere.. if it wasn't incinerated, it must be there!

 

[mattholt76]

Nice trailer, snappy editing. This is like one I saw about the Atari E.T game but about 10x more exciting because it's about Vintage Star Wars. The stuff is out there somewhere.. if it wasn't incinerated, it must be there!

Thanks for the kind words and thanks for watching! Yes the Atari doco has inspired us a bit, although I don't think we'll get the Arizona sun for our expedition :-D
Main thing is to try and make it fun to watch and hopefully uncover more than just the figures if you get me

 

[JKF]

Found this thread after reading again about the Atari find & wondering what became of similar buried Palitoy rumours, interesting to hear people following up on this seriously! Even found myself namechecked earlier on in the discussion

Digging up or drilling into old landfills was something I used to do quite often in my last job. Always quite interesting finding old crisp packets from long extinct brands and relatively intact newspapers. I did get a piece of Lego out of one in the Lake District a couple of years ago which I took home, but sadly no Star Wars.

Condition of anything surviving will just be down to how well the landfill was constructed and managed, how wet it was at the time of infilling etc. Rules have tightened over the years, one from the mid 80s might not be too bad. From experience some are bone dry with quite fragile paper pieces surviving, others are just a dark mush with occasional identifiable objects. A concern will be what else has been deposited there - anything like asbestos and it'll be a non-starter recovering things just on cost grounds. Also you always find people with strange tales about these places, so treat rumours with a degree of skepticism (one up in Cheshire next to a chemical works was alleged to have had barrels containing still-alive laboratory monkeys deposited there in the middle of the night, that kind of bollocks). Unfortunately the Environment Agency website which used to list basic details of operating periods of sites and permitted wastes is no longer operating, but you can see maps of the position of old sites with dates at groundsure.io - I've had a look at Lount where two large sites are shown (one municipal, one private) with a few smaller sites dotted around the area.

Happy to provide any advice on this, if you need someone to watch over a drilling rig or trial pits that could recognise obscure SW related bits of plastic in the sample tube I'm probably your man!

JF

 

[edd_jedi]

It's finally happening!

 

[edd_jedi]

There's a BBC article on it too: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3p07gjge2o