It seems to be purely by luck that the archaeologists carrying out the dig at Leicester were able to find human remains, which are likely to be those of Richard III,  at all, as they could easily have been destroyed in Victorian times.  It has recently emerged that the head of the remains was found just inches below Victorian foundations.

Site director Mathew Morris said:  “If the Victorians had dug down 30 cm more they would have built on top of the remains and destroyed them.”

The Mayor of Leicester City, Sir Peter Soulsby added:  “They obviously did not discover anything and probably would not have been aware of the importance of the site… If their plans had been just a little different, they could have destroyed a most significant historic find.”

Further information:

‘Victorian builders came within inches of destroying Richard III bones’, Science Blog.

‘Body found in Richard III search was almost destroyed’, Science on NBC News.com (16 October 2012).

Tags: Archaeology, Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Richard III