Rickeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[BAJR]

WEll, it seems that the naesayers were wrong. using some grand investigation it seems that the mortal remains of Richard III have been recovered.

Good on ya.. for some sterling PR.
[h=1]Richard III dig: Skull image released ahead of DNA results[/h]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lei...e-21203814

[h=1]Richard III dig: DNA confirms bones are king's[/h]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21063882


now. settle down to tonights investigation. Keep all sharp objects in the drawer.

This could be a fascinating insight into investigations

anyways... until then...

I found this!


[ATTACH=CONFIG]1240[/ATTACH]

Rick II tweets!

[kevin wooldridge]

Dont forget this......will be interesting to see how many of David Oxleys unique presentation mannerisms appear in tonights TT special.......


[video=youtube;bf95P2DJC6E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf95P2DJC6E[/video]

It could be the new drinking game. Every time one of the Time Team 'do an Oxley', you take a drink. Might be drunk before the first advert break!!

[Dinosaur]

Given the game away!

Will have to find something else to watch now....

[BAJR]

Very interesting debate regarding the mtDNA research on Richard III . worth reading the comments
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/feb/04...intcmp=239

[kevin wooldridge]

There was a story on the news this morning that a 'crack team' of archaeologists are intending to scour the country searching out the lost graves of other historical celebrities. The first case apparently is going to be Alfred the Great in Winchester.......apart from the fact that numerous excavations have failed to find Alfred (including an Earthwatch project a few years back that the local archaeologists in Winchester admitted was a scam to fleece rich American idiots, many of whom thought they were digging for King Arthur!!), does this already show signs of backfiring on archaeology as a whole? The first time there is a significant failure (as in the recent Burmese Spitfire farce) we will further the public perception of us being cranky, bunny-huggers. Is there anyway this can be stopped before it gets out of hand? A moratorium on digging up kings (or queens come to that....I am thinking platform 6, Kings Cross station for those that catch my drift)....

[Wax]

Think I am with The Bard on this "Good firend for Jesus sake forbeare to digg the dust enclosed heare. Blese by ye man ty spare thes stones, and curst be he ty moves my bones" :face-approvespelling the master's not mine).

[Unitof1]

Interesting mtDNA problems hosty and hopefully all those dna people wont turn out to look like monkeys if its found that rickees maternal line were a bunch of slappers that had slept with half of britain and europe. leave it my son.

and an Interesting evaluation? technique when you are looking for late medieval deposits in a demolished building site. To hit the articulated leg bones in the base of a grave cut is a bit wincy at the best of times and would suggest that they were using a general- expose a certain percentage of natural in the base of the trench evaluation method and leave yourself a manageable bit of digging to do then presumably record the section. Kind of method that you might do for quarry work over large areas with lots of splogges below a topsoil.

But this is how it should be in developer funded archaeology if you want to have inexpensive evaluations when you dont know what you are looking for? Not so sure that its how to go at an urban site expecting bodies and being funded by a tearful private sector little old lady with the permission of the apparant landowner who also happen to be the planning authority-looking for remains that the church could possibly claim are theirs (not that they would care even though they took on lots of tithies to do so).

I have to say that when I establish articulated human remains I like to stop (let the coronor know etc) and establish that the aims of the evaluation in that area have been achieved and then start discussing the contract and pricing for an open area excavation. From the program I did not get much sense other human remains were found which might suggest that burying remains in this area was rare and possibly gives rickees body an bit of qudos in the pricing of contract stakes. You can also wonder how many bodies were they prepared for in this exercise.

Maybe this was not an evaluation but an excavation- a narrow trench excavation but using inespensive evaluation techniques (without an evaluatio). The excersise seems to have been funded by crowdfunding, one wonders how much the price was rested on not finding a possible rickee. I think I heard the amount of £10k was raised. Be interesting to know what the diggers on this site were paid, cant have been much. Possibly did it for love.


They did seem to go into an excavation phase- they widened the trench a little bit? Possibly limited by nearby buildings? Obviously the next thing that you do is to make somebody dress up in a paper suit and face mask (presumably to stop dna contamination?) and then use a mattock to expose the rest of the area, this a must, particularly if you are in an inexpensive hurry in looking for bodies with blows to the head.


PS Just off to paint big letters Rs in council carparks round my way.

[Dinosaur]

Did they check who was under the other letters? e.g. Alexander the Great's still (probably) missing, but suppose 'A' was probably too close to a standing building...

[Antipesto]

I would like to know if they waited for all the diggers to shoot off for tea-break before 'flag-gate' happened. Those two shouldnt have been allowed anywhere near those bones on site. As for the delicate shoving into the back footwell of the van - thats obviously what you do when you have a skelly box that doesnt fit, isnt it?

[Dinosaur]

Just shoving the bones into bags surprised me, no finds trays?