King Richard III's Bones Found Under English Parking Lot

Monday, February 4, 2013 - 14:00 in Paleontology & Archaeology

Remains Of Richard III University of LeicesterA stunning archaeological find--confirmed by DNA--to light up this winter of our discontent. Britain's most reviled king, the short-lived monarch Richard III--last of the House of York, last of the Plantagenet dynasty, final loser of the Wars of the Roses, and benefactor of Cambridge University--has finally been identified. He lay buried beneath a nondescript English parking lot until September, when the remains were exhumed. Today, researchers at Leicester University confirmed that the bones they found are indeed the remains of Richard III, the last English king to die in battle. DNA analysis matched the skeleton to two of Richard III's modern descendants, according to the researchers. One is a Canadian-born furniture maker named Michael Ibsen and the other person wants to remain anonymous. Based on this and incredibly strong circumstantial evidence, the researchers at Leicester said they concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that the...

Read the whole article on PopSci

More from PopSci

Latest Science Newsletter

Get the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox! It's free!

Check out our next project, Biology.Net