Bones of Richard III
 

Lots of articles are out today about bones being officially declared to be those of Richard II. Instead of an article here is good video about the dig


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR1IjOVWI7Y"]The Search For King Richard III - The Archaeological Dig - YouTube[/ame]

Been reading about this lately. I like how the man who was DNA tested said, he "knew one day his family would be called upon if the king's burial place were to be found". That's very poetic and must be an odd little family secret.

I was going to post an article but the BBC article was quite graphic about the wounds on the skellie!

I was determined it couldnt be him, nothing that awesome would have suddenly been unearthed after all these years and even if they did they couldnt possibly prove beyond resonable doubt but they have and its so cool, can't believe that family. I would be telling everyone if i was decended from someone like that!!

Fascinating stuff!

I think it should have been left tbh.
I dont understand why people feel the need to unearth absolutely everything.
There will be no mystery left in the world and that would be no fun.

but after 500 years they found the body of dick the ****, isn't that more amazing than the mystery?

What's more interesting is the proof is only "beyond reasonable doubt" which means that it is probably him but there is still a chance that its just a random body and not actually who they think it is!

Personally I'm indifferent to the whole thing, yeah ok it's quite interesting and I can't deny that but I don't really care all that much.

thing is they are lucky to have been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt, it was amazing they found ancestors to get dna from, and the dna link means its most likely to be him what with the carbon dating and the site they found the body all means that if its not him its got to be a relative or something

People feel the need to unearth things because there is mystery. Mystery is no fun if you can't be arsed to solve it.

Anyway, this all sounds incredibly interesting. I'll have to watch the video as soon as I get home from college.

Researchers also look for the prestige. They want to be able to say "I found Captain Buggernutz bones" etc. I've always found it odd that the space agency spends billions looking for some kind of bacteria or something on other planets. There are a great many other more useful things of immediate import to research but people want to be able to claim to have been the first to discover "life" on another planet despite the facts Mars look quite dead.

Personally, I think finding the bodies of old kings (no matter how sucky they were) is very cool and interesting in a way I cannot describe. You have found the remains of someone Shakespeare wrote about. Someone plastered in history books who battled Tudors... to me just the idea of having found him is very, very cool.

It all reminds me of raiding a tomb in Skyrim or Oblivion lol. Digging up the king I would have been on lookout for trolls, vampires and draugrs

Just found this on a search - I am a self proclaimed Ricardian, and fascinated in the Wars of the Roses - and pretty obsessed with The Man Himself.

I know this thread is massively old, but I needed somewhere to geek myself out!

*Cacoethes* - if you see this - there was a lot of reason behind the Grey Friars dig, namely to prove/disprove the propaganda behind Richard's image pushed by the Tudors. To know if he was basically, Good King Richard who did an amazing lot for medieval England or Bad King Richard, deformed and bitter who killed two innocent boys.

The dig itself is a great opportunity to look into medieval history in general - we can't go round digging up the bones of Kings in Westminster, so the tests they have and can run on his body helps us to learn a lot about nutrition, health, the environment of Medieval life.

Also - if there are any other members of the R3 society, or anyone interested in history, then get in touch! I can't find a history club/section on here, so I'll just commandeer this thread.

Just me the big geek then.

wellingtons I love history, I'm obsessed with the Tudor period mainly, but also like history in general, I love learning dates and gruesome facts, plus finding out as much info as possible.

Also I think it is so cool and exciting they found his bones.

Tudor period is so dull though, Anne Boleyn aside - there's no mystery or intrigue, we know it all!

I don't find the Tudor period dull at all, I find it very very interesting and fascinating. And I don't think people do know it all, yes we get it taught a lot in school, but that is the basic info, mainly Henry VIII and his 6 wives and Elizabeth I, there is so much more about them and I have learnt so much more other than the basic stuff by reading books about them, I find it fascinating.

Sorry that was a Ricardian tongue in cheek jest! Yes it is fascinating. It's the parts you don't hear about, like just how much Edward VI was able to achieve despite being just fifteen and pretty ill for his reign.

Elizabeth I is really interesting, I found out recently she kept a locket ring with her mothers portrait in on at all times, because it would be too dangerous for her throne to wear it as a necklace.