Only 4 days to go until possibly the most important announcement any Ricardian might ever experience: are the human remains found in Leicester those of Richard III?
All will be revealed on Monday, 4 Feb 2013, at 10h00 UK time and 21h00 AEST.
Posts Tagged ‘Leicester Greyfriars Dig’
Only 3 days to go until possibly the most important announcement any Ricardian might ever experience: are the human remains found in Leicester those of Richard III?
All will be revealed on Monday, 4 Feb 2013, at 10h00 UK time and 21h00 AEST.
In Australia we are ahead of most of the rest of the world – except for our friends across the ditch in New Zealand.
For us, it is only 5 days to go until possibly the most important announcement any Ricardian might ever experience: are the human remains found in Leicester those of Richard III?
I would like to apologise to Susan Higginbotham, whose brilliant idea I have unashamedly “borrowed”.
We have heard a lot about Michael Ibsen, who as John Ashdown-Hill established is a descendant of Richard’s sister Anne in a direct all-female line. His DNA was to be compared to the DNA the scientists were hoping to extract from the remains found in Leicester in September 2012.
However, DNA does mutate over time and generations, so the scientists were not sure whether a DNA comparison between Michael Ibsen and the remains would be conclusive. That is why genealogists from the University of Leicester have been searching for an alternative line of descent. It has now been revealed that they were indeed successful in tracing another descendant.
However, whether this second line of descent confirms that the remains are those of Richard III or not, will only be revealed at the eagerly anticipated press conference on 4 February 2013.
More information:
Natasha Sheldon, ‘The Secrets of the Bones: DNA Analysis and the Search for Richard III’, Decoded Science (27 Jan 2013). URL: http://www.decodedscience.com/dna-analysis-and-the-search-for-richard-iii/24792 Date accessed: 28 Jan 2013
This morning, when I first switched my computer on, there were two emails waiting for me from my friend Renate, which really made my day:
It has just been announced that the much anticipated press conference to reveal the results of the scientific and archaeological investigations carried out on the male human remains found during the dig in Leicester, has been scheduled for Monday, 4 February 2013, at 10h00 UK time – this means 21h00 Australian EST.
Channel 4 will broadcast the documentary on ‘Richard III: The King in the Car Park’ at 21h00 UK time on the same day, which means 8h00 on 5 February 2013 Australian EST.
More information:
‘Date set for Search for Richard III press conference’, University of Leicester (23 Jan 2013).
‘Richard III: The King in the Car Park’, Channel 4 Press Info (23 Jan 2013).
Tags: Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Media, Richard III
As announced yesterday, last night, or rather early this morning Australian time, The One Show on BBC 1 had a short item on the Greyfriars Dig. Of course, as soon as possible I sneaked into the BBC iPlayer and watched the programme. The format of The One Show is light early evening infotainment. There was an item on car clampers in public car parks and another about an upcoming second series of a TV programme, but after about 20 minutes they came to the car park story I was interested in.
The item on Richard was presented by Dan Snow, who is referred to on the show’s website as “Our history man”. Initially he had a short rather fat and bend-over man standing next to him, who was supposed to be Richard, so I started fearing the worst. However, my fears were premature. The programme itself was objectively presented, scoliosis was explained as a lateral curvature of the spine. Dan first interviewed Richard Buckley, who explained where they found the remains. He then had a chat with Michaeil Ibsen, Richard’s great great great …. nephew, at the Bosworth Battlefield Centre. There were also some re-enactors fighting with each other, the one side proudly displaying their white boars, Richard’s emblem.
After the item the hosts of the show asked Dan of his opinion whether the remains were those of Richard. Dan said that through his talks with the experts he had been convinced that it is indeed Richard. He also mentioned that the Minister of Justice is supposed to announce next week, where Richard (if it is him) would be reburied.
Dan also said that Richard had had very bad PR and though “he may have had his nephews killed”, this was fairly insignificant compared to what other kings before and after him were up to. He also stressed that Shakespeare painted Richard as dark as possible as he lived in Tudor times.
The whole segment finished with a short clip from Richard III with Laurence Olivier.
Though the programme did not offer any new insight to anyone who has been following the developments, it would have been a concise informative item for those who were not approaching it with any special interest. However, The One Show is not aimed at medieval history buffs, so for its target audience it was not a bad programme.
Tags: Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Media, Richard III
10
Jan
PATIENCE, PLEASE!
The University of Leicester has announced that the results of the test being carried out on the human remains found during the Greyfriars Dig will be published in the first week of February.
The tests are being concluded at present and will then be analysed. A press conference by the University of Leicester has provisionally been scheduled for the first week of February to announce the conclusions of its investigations.
Though this is a bit later than we had maybe originally hoped, at least we now have an a bit more definite date. The important thing is that the tests are done thoroughly and their results hold up to scrutiny in years to come. Not that we end up with a situation like with the examination of the bones in Westminster Cathedral, claimed to be those of the Princes, where the results do not hold up to today’s scrutiny.
Tags: Archaeology, Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Richard III
Our friends in the UK informed us that ‘The One Show‘ on BBC1 is scheduled to include an item about the Leicester Greyfrairs Dig at some stage during this week. Unfortunately we do not know exactly when it will be screened, it might be in tonight’s show.
Unfortunately if you are not a resident of the UK, you cannot view BBC programmes on their iPlayer, unless you have a software that disguises your whereabouts (which is free to download off the internet). It would be good, if we managed to catch it – or if our ABC finds it of sufficient interest to show it here.
Tags: Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Media, Richard III
3
Jan
PLEASE VOTE!
We all have been following the dig at the Greyfriars in Leicester with interest and fascination and are impatiently waiting for the results of all the various tests being carried out on the human remains which appear to be Richard’s.
Now it is your chance to contribute to this research project and no, we are not asking for money!
The Leicester dig has been nominated for an award as part of the 5th annual Current Archaeology Awards. These awards celebrate the projects and publications in this year’s editions of the Current Archaeology magazine, and the people judged to have made outstanding contributions to archaeology.
The awards are entirely voted for by the public, there are no panels of judges. In the category “Research Project of the Year” you will find the nominee “Richard III: the search for the last Plantagenet king’ – please show your support for this project which has been so close to all our hearts by voting for it.
Voting closes on 15 February 2013. The winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony on 1 March at Current Archaeology Live! 2013.
Please go to the Current Archaeology website and vote: http://www.archaeology.co.uk/vote
And should you be lucky enough to spot a copy of Current Archaeology at your local newsagent, and I know they are difficult to find in Australia, there are worse things to spend your money on!
Tags: Award, Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Richard III
A big ‘Thank You’ to Renate for finding these links for us!
As you might have guessed, I’m talking about the dig in Leicester for the remains of King Richard III. It was certainly very carefully planned. The experts had carefully worked out, where the most likely location of the former church of the Greyfriars and where the best spot to start digging would be. However, there was also luck involved, as the most likely spot was under a carpark – much easier to dig up than if it had been under some building.
And although it was possible to bring the various parties together – City of Leicester, University of Leicester and Richard III Society, thanks to the relentless efforts of Philippa Langley – money and time was limited, while the area originally covered by the friary of the Greyfriars was huge. As Richard Buckley, lead archaeologist of the dig, said at the beginning of the project:
I would have loved to have had the time and money to dig numerous trenches and excavate large sections of the area, but that’s the way it goes. We had to put all our eggs in one basket and pick three spots which we thought would herald results.
And we know by now that they hit the jackpot and found a male skeleton, which looks as if it might be Richard’s (tests to confirm this are being carried out).
We had heard that they had found it quite soon after the start of the project. However, I had not known until now how soon they actually found the remains. On the first day in the first spot they started digging, site manager Mathew Morris found a leg, just after scooping away a bit of earth. They followed the leg – and found the complete skeleton of an adult male who shows signs of having died violently in a battle and having had scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine. Circumstantial evidence which looks most promising.
The find certainly convinced Richard Buckley, who had been sceptical whether they would find anything before the dig. Now he says: “As soon as I walked across and saw the skeleton under excavation with my own eyes, that was good enough for me. Since then, I’ve made no secret to the fact I think it’s him.”
It sounds too good to be true, but in this case it actually is true. As Philippa Langley, a screenwriter, said in a radio interview: “If I had written this in a screen play I think it would have been thrown at me Good planning, good luck or a bit of both and said ‘get real’”.
She was there when he – and she is sure it is him – was found. The exciting find was also filmed by the crew who was on site for the Channel 4 documentary, due to be broadcast in early 2013.
Here is the article describing the actual find:
‘Review of 2012: A year when digging up a Leicester city centre car park sparked worldwide curiosity’, This is Leicestershire (29 Dec 2012). URL: http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Review-2012-year-digging-Leicester-city-centre/story-17710559-detail/story.html Date accessed: 30 Dec 2012
Or you might like to listen to a BBC radio programme, describing the whole process:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p011xpt1/BBC_Radio_Leicester_Documentary_Richard_III/
Tags: Archaeology, Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Richard III
