Digging Up Medieval Kings in Car Parks

The news that the bones of King Richard III, recently dug out of a Leicester car park where I was born (Leicester that is, not a car park) have been successfully DNA matched to a living ancestor has rocked my world this week.

And the media have gone wild - as so they should. I was gripped by Channel 4's documentary about the whole story, from Philippa Langley's quest for the lost grave through to discovery of the bones and confirmation of his identity as England's last Plantagenet King.

If you find the whole story far too serious to contemplate, there were also many utterly hilarious mockumentary style awkward moments in the documentary to watch out for thanks to Philippa Langley's strong emotional attachment a King who has been dead for over 500 years. You just had to look at the Philippa's face when they try to tell her that Richard III had been stabbed in the bottom.

The BBC have also put together an interesting Interactive Piece on the Twisted Bones That Reveal A King dispelling the myth and confirming the truth that Richard III was indeed a hunch-back caused by scoliosis.

As a keen amateur archaeologist  I can only dream to have been involved in this dig. How exciting it would have been not only to have discovered the bones at the first attempt, but also to have collected some many other artifacts surrounding the grave.

As my friend Cat posted on Facebook the other day - "Love how lots of countries struggle for some history & we're digging past Kings out of pub car parks".