King of England buried under a parking lot

[whitehall]

I watched a fascinating Smithsonian documentary account of the discovery and recovery and identification of the body of King Richard III in 2012. It was perhaps the strangest archeological dig in history with a civilian, a British actor and a backhoe in a parking lot in a little village in England. Richard III was the notorious "hunchback king" depicted by Shakespeare and there was a hundred year old heated argument about whether King Richard's condition was exaggerated. A couple of civilians researched the possible location of Richard's body which was unknown and they narrowed it down to a parking lot in a small village and dug up the blacktop. The first trench ironically dug under the letter "R" in the parking lot revealed a skeleton. Making a long story short the skeleton exhibited a marked curvature of the spine and subsequent DNA analysis checked against the only living descendent of Richard III turned out to be a match and carbon dating was spot on to the time of Richard's death.

 

[bayoubill]

I read about that a month or so ago... amazing find... fascinating stuff...

 

[whitehall]

It was only an hour show but it seemed that the British scientific/archeological community wasn't interested or much involved in the search for Richard III body which proved to be relatively easy. The scientist babe who was brought in after the skeleton was discovered wasn't an archeologist and it seems her careless swing with a pick axe put a hole in Richard's skull. They may have sifted the soil around the body but they didn't show it in the show. Another twist is that the Shakespeare claimed the hunchback king also had a withered arm and the Brit scientists were careful to measure both arms and found that the bones were the same size so they determined that he did not have a withered arm. What they didn't bring up is that the extreme curvature of the spine would probably have caused limited movement in one arm and less muscle development.

 

[JoeB131]

Poor Richard III, the victim of Tudor Propaganda...

And Shakespeare.

When the greatest writer in English Literature trashes your rep,

 

[konradv]

Poor Richard III, the victim of Tudor Propaganda...

And Shakespeare.

When the greatest writer in English Literature trashes your rep,

Macbeth has an even better case of libel against Shakespeare.

Macbeth, King of Scotland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[whitehall]

The Brit's have a hell of a legacy. If they weren't murdering each other they were supporting kings that authorized the beheading of their wives. There was a time in British history when Knighthood was awarded to men who achieved great victories on the battlefield. Today they award knighthood to sleazy homosexual piano players.

 

[bendog]

Do all you guys have issues with other's sexuality, or your own. LOL

Talk about coming from left field. One of the indy tv channels is replaying a documentary about Cromwell late late tonite, if anyone's interested.