“The Discovery and Identification of King Richard III, the King Under the Car Park” by Matthew Morris, Leicester University.
(from Joanne Garner) There was a good attendance for the local history lecture with a difference, that being it was another county’s local history. Mathew Morris, Project Officer at the University of Leicester Archaeological Services gave a detailed talk about his personal and first-hand experience of the discovery and identification of King Richard III, discovered buried under a Leicester car park. After setting the historical scene (the King’s body having been laid to rest by monks in Grey Friars church, after his death in battle on the fields of Bosworth).
Mathew illustrated, by the use of overlaid maps, just how fortunate the team had been in positioning their two initial excavation trenches. Once human remains had been unearthed, Mathew explained how meticulous and lengthy work, involving osteological examination, battle wound and weapon comparisons, mitochondrial DNA sequencing, diet analysis, and radiocarbon dating, had been carried out to determine that the remains were that of the King, now reburied in Leicester cathedral.