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The Archaeological Dig

Project manager Richard Buckley from University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) discusses the 'Greyfriars Project', the excavation in August 2012 of a council car park which unearthed a skeleton subsequently identified as the mortal remains of King Richard III.

Where we dug . . . and what we found there

The Burial

Dr Jo Appleby from the University of Leicester’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History carefully uncovers the skeleton, discovered below a Council car park in September 2012, which would later be identified as the remains of King Richard III.

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Removing a Tooth for DNA Analysis

Dr Turi King from the University of Leicester’s Department of Genetics and Dr Jo Appleby from the University’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History carefully extract a tooth from the skull of a body found under a Leicester car park in September 2012. The tooth will provide ancient DNA that will subsequently identify the body as that of King Richard III.

Extraction and analysis of DNA

Identifying the Remains

Dr Turi King from the University of Leicester’s Department of Genetics and Dr Jo Appleby from the University’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History discuss the scientific processes and techniques which will be applied to the skeleton found under a council car park in September 2012, techniques which will subsequently confirm the remains as those of King Richard III.

The Scientific Outcome (press conference 4th February 2013)

On the 4th February 2013 the University of Leicester announced it had discovered the remains of King Richard III. During this live recording the researchers put forward the evidence and present their conclusions.

The search for Richard III - completed

Injuries to the Remains

Dr Jo Appleby from the University of Leicester’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History describes the injuries visible on the skeleton found beneath a council car park in September 2012 which was subsequently identified as the remains of King Richard III.

Osteology

The Genealogy

Professor Kevin Schürer, the University of Leicester’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise, discusses how direct descendants of King Richard III’s family were traced, whose DNA could then be used to identify the remains found under a council car park in September 2012 as those of the King.

Lines of descent

Medieval Archaeology

Mathew Morris from University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) discusses the problems faced by archaeologists searching for medieval remains underneath urban areas. Mathew was fieldwork director on the Greyfriars Project in September 2012 which successfully located the body of King Richard III beneath a council car park.

The problems of urban archaeology

The Blue Boar

Richard Buckley from University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) discusses Leicester’s long-demolished Blue Boar Inn, the 15th century coaching inn where King Richard III stayed before the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. In 2012, a chance discovery in a Victorian notebook enabled University of Leicester space scientists to reconstruct an accurate model of the Blue Boar.

History of the Blue Boar

A look at Leicester

Academic based at the University of Leicester takes viewers on a tour of medieval Leicester

Colin Hyde, from the East Midland’s Oral History Archive based in the Centre for Urban History at the University of Leicester, has created a short YouTube documentary featuring the many Richard III sites in Leicester.