Richard III

[lillianorchid]

I was reading earlier how the remains they had found beneath a Leicester car park are now confirmed through DNA Testing and Carbon Dating to be King Richard III! How amazing is this? :D

Comments

[constant_muse]

yes, inspiring stuff!!
Incredibly lucky that the archaeologists dug the first trench right on top of the bones! when they did not have a confirmed floor plan for the friary, and that the skeleton was intact and that we now have all these techniques available.

[lillianorchid]

I agree! It's really amazing stuff! :) I'm still in awe of how much they have discovered from the bones alone. :D

[franciskerst]

But the scoliosis is enough pronounced to be called a hunch, when you look at the profile.

[lillianorchid]

My understanding of Scoliosis is that it does not result in a hunched back, but in one shoulder being higher than the other. I'm no doctor though, so I wouldn't know. I'm just repeating what I read. :)

[franciskerst]

By the way I am currently managing a work group (among others) about public procurement in "preemptive Archaeology" markets.

[lillianorchid]

Oh, that sounds interesting. :)

[byslantedlight]

To be honest I suspect the tv doc was trying to spare the feelings of the RIIIsoc woman, because my understanding was that the severe scoliosis probably would have meant he was what many people might call "hunchbacked"...

All very interesting, though...

[lillianorchid]

I didn't watch the documentary that was on, sorry. I read about it instead on the internet, very interesting stuff. :)

My understanding of Scoliosis was that it resulted in one shoulder being higher than the other, but I'm no doctor so I could be wrong. :)

[byslantedlight]

My understanding of Scoliosis was that it resulted in one shoulder being higher than the other
Yes, that's what I understand as scoliosis too - it was really the other side of it I was wondering about, the what many people might call hunchbacked, whether we know exactly what people 500 years ago meant by "hunchbacked"? And actually that may not even have been the term they used, that could be our modern interpretation of it too (or through Shakespeare?) - I've seen reference to him being called "crookback", which could describe either one shoulder higher than the other, and be later translated into something more dramatic...

[sw33n3y]

How exciting! It made our local news, this far away as well. :D (Story quote below):

"Everyone thought I was mad. It's not the easiest pitch in the world to look for a king under a council car park...I'd like to thank Leicester City Council for allowing us to dig up their car park," said Philippa Langley, a screenwriter and member of the Richard III Society.

[lillianorchid]

Yes, very exciting! :D I was reading about all about it.

I thought it was pretty awesome that the Leicester City Council agreed to let them dig up that car park; not many councillors I know would agree to that. :)

[sw33n3y]

Yes, I think that would be true of councils, most places. They got a very lucky break there. :D