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BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE said that a skeleton found under a city centre car park in central England could be that of the medieval king Richard III.
Researchers from the University of Leicester said they had found a male skeleton with similarities to historical descriptions of Richard, who ruled England between 1483 and his death in battle in 1485.
The remains, which are well preserved, are undergoing DNA analysis.
“What we have uncovered is truly remarkable,” said Richard Taylor, the university’s director of corporate affairs.
“This skeleton certainly has characteristics that warrant extensive further detailed examination,” he told a press conference.
The team, which has been excavating a car park in the city of Leicester for three weeks, said the skeleton had an arrow-head embedded in its back and had received blows to the skull consistent with injuries received in battle.
Archaeologist Claire Graham uses a ground penetration radar at the Leicester car park to search for the grave. (Photo: Rui Vieira/PA Wire)
Today, Richard III is best known as the hunchbacked villain of a play by William Shakespeare – and while the skeleton is not that of a hunchback, it does have a curved spine.
“This would have made his right shoulder appear visibly higher than the left shoulder,” said Taylor.
“This is consistent with contemporary accounts of Richard’s appearance.”
The bones were found in what was once the choir area of a church believed to be the king’s resting place, which the archaeologists have uncovered beneath the car park.
Richard is thought to have been buried at the Franciscan friary of Grey Friars in Leicester after his death in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, but the church was demolished in the 1530s and its location had been lost until now.
The team used ground-penetrating radar equipment to pinpoint the best areas of the car park to begin the search.
Taylor said the team will use DNA from a man who is a direct descendant of Richard’s eldest sister, Anne of York, to try to get a match. The process is expected to take up to 12 weeks.
“We have sent the remains off to the laboratory for analysis. DNA testing will take between eight and 12 weeks and the remains are being analysed as we speak,” said Taylor.
“It is an exciting discovery”.
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It’s only a matter of time. driving accounts for 30% of male employment worldwide. When vans trucks light rail taxis are driverless there will be an unemployment disaster.
exactly Patrick, rise of the machines technology is not always a good thing.
I don’t think I’d be ready to trust this technology anyway.
Automation has been killing jobs for centuries and will continue to do so for millennia.
As always people will have to adapt and adjust careers accordingly.
Can’t hold back progress.
Do you have a source for that, Patrick?
Those guys can work at something else. This is a great thing. Can’t wait for driverless cars.
Taxi drivers, van drivers, lorry drivers, bus drivers all looking at this and feeling a bit uneasy I’d imagine… on the plus side if it can take me home from the pub on a Friday night it won’t be the worst thing in the world
I look at advancements in technology in my sector and feel the same uneasiness. Can either sit back and do nothing, or look to try and learn new skills.
Who’s going to clean the puke off the seat before you get in.. Or who will wake up the drunk passenger in the back seat.. Self drive taxis may work well in some places but will not work well at 4am on a Saturday night in Dublin..
I would imagine there will be multiple internal cameras. Plus payment will be by card only. If camera catches a passenger damaging the car i.e. Puking…charge to card straight away.
Problem is technology/AI is advancing so quickly it is now replacing humans rather yhan just impeovibg the work place. Imagine the fin hackers will have with automated vehicles!??
Cheer up, planes still have pilots.
By the time the driver realizes that an accident is imminent it is generally too late to grab control. Safe driving requires forward planning and anticipation. You cannot be plunged into an emergency manual override position moments from disaster and expect to avoid it.
There’s many reported cases by Teslas stopping accidents before the driver even realised one was happening. Loads on dash cam vids and accounts on motoring forums. The tech is already saving lives. Given the number of road deaths here and around the world we’d be mad not to pursue this.
have your say