Leicester University
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I have just watched the excellent 2021 film The Dig, about the 1939 discovery of the amazing treasures of Sutton Hoo. It stars Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan and I thoroughly enjoyed it…but then, out of interest, I read more online. And lo! Yet again the truth had been tampered with from the moment the…
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One of the largest mass-burial sites ever found in the UK has been discovered next to Leicester Cathedral. It contains “….the skeletal remains of 123 men, women and children dumped down a narrow vertical shaft in the early 12th century….’Their bones show no signs of violence – which leaves us with two alternative reasons for…
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This article seems to cite all the right sources in implying that there is a false paternity event in the short line between Edward III and Richard III. However, they haven’t examined Edward III’s Y-chromosome or the much longer paternal chain to the (Regency) 5th Duke of Beaufort, as we did here. Hilariously, even one…
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We all know that an unidentified medieval stone sarcophagus containing a lead coffin was discovered close to Richard’s last resting place in Leicester. And, probably, that it proved to be that of an elderly woman. Now there is a video of what happened when it was opened. When they first examined the remains inside…
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There has been a lot of publicity about the splendid The Lost King, but until happening upon this article I hadn’t read anything about the thoughts of the writer, Jeff Pope. What had his opinion of Richard III been before the advent of Philippa Langley and her almost miraculous discovery of Richard’s remains? One…
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Well, once again the archaeologists of Leicester University are busy with their gleaming trowels. This time they’re scratching and scraping the ground beneath the Highcross Shopping Centre in search of Leicester’s Roman and medieval past. See here. I wish them well, truly, but can’t help noticing that complete omission of any mention of the finding…
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… it was announced that the remains discovered on the site of the Leicester Greyfriars were indeed those of Richard III. On this page you can see both mitochodrial DNA lines: the first by John Ashdown-Hill and the back-up by Leicester University, both to collateral descendants in Commonwealth nations. Here you can see how easy it…
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According to this article there have been five interesting archaeological discoveries in the past decade. First among them, of course, is the finding of Richard III’s remains:- “….When King Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, he was buried in the church of the Grey Friars. In 2012, The Richard III Society…
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“….This undated photo issued on Thursday Nov. 25, 2021 by the University of Leicester Archaeological Services shows a Roman mosaic unique to Britain and depicting one of the most famous battles of the Trojan War. Nearly a decade on from uncovering the remains of King Richard III under a car park near Leicester Cathedral,…
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Almost six years ago now, it was confirmed that the remains identified under a car park in Leicester were those of Richard III. One of the principal components of this identification was that the remains shared the mtDNA of Michael Ibsen, a maternal line relative traced by John Ashdown-Hill, as was Wendy Duldig by the…
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