1-2 March 2013 – Click here for full details, and to purchase tickets
10 things you might not know about the Mary Rose
Launched in 1511, the Mary Rose was intended to be the flagship of King Henry VIII’s fleet. She was a new breed of warship with purpose-built gun-ports that made her a fearsome floating fortress. But on 19 July 1545, for reasons still unknown, she sank in the Solent whilst leading 60 ships against the French. [...]
Richard III: the search for the last Plantagenet king
October 2, 2012 By Filed Under: Features, Richard III
On 12th September the University of Leicester held an extraordinary press conference. They announced that a three week dig seeking the remains of Richard III had ‘entered a new phase’ with DNA testing under way on an adult male skeleton. So what had they discovered? Richard Buckley, Jo Appleby, and Helen Foxhall Forbes told Matthew [...]
Miraculous survival: How Richard III’s church was preserved
October 1, 2012 By Filed Under: Articles, Richard III
If it seems a stroke of incredible good fortune that ULAS’ trial trenches came down on the very features that were needed to lead archaeologists to Greyfriars’ church – according to historical documents, the burial place of Richard III – the story of how the structure’s remains managed to survive 500 years while the site [...]
New Defence Archaeology Group launched aboard HMS Victory
Time Team’s Phil Harding and senior naval staff met today (28 September) aboard HMS Victory to announce the launch of a new tri-service Defence Archaeology Group.
Council for Independent Archaeology – 15 September
September 14, 2012 By Filed Under: Articles
Is it still possible to do archaeology without a grant? Today the whole world seems to be engulfed in an economic crisis, and thus grants of any kind are hard to come by – but are they really necessary? This is a topic that will be tackled head on at the next annual conference of [...]
The fatal injuries of Richard III
September 12, 2012 By Filed Under: Articles, Richard III
A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! Such were Richard the III’s last words according to Shakespeare – recorded in Act V scene iv of The Life and Death of Richard the Third, a play that largely contributed to the infamous image of the monarch after his death. Now the recent discovery by Leicester [...]
Richard III: DNA analysis
September 12, 2012 By Filed Under: Articles, Richard III
Update: for an account of how DNA analysis confirmed the identity of Richard III, see our short article by Dr Turi King, who led this aspect of the research. The recently-discovered skeletal remains thought to be a ‘prime candidate’ for Richard III are to undergo DNA analysis in order to confirm their identity. This laboratory [...]
Scoliosis & Richard III
September 12, 2012 By Filed Under: Articles, Richard III
University of Leicester archaeologists today (12 September) announced the discovery of an adult male skeleton suffering from scoliosis, which they believe may be the remains of Richard III. What is scoliosis? Scoliosis is an abnormal sideways curvature of the spine, where the spine curves either to the left or to the right of the body. [...]
Richard III: the significance of the choir
September 12, 2012 By Filed Under: Articles, Richard III
University of Leicester archaeologists today (12 September) announced that they may have found the remains of Richard III beneath the choir (also spelt quire) of Greyfriars Church, a Franciscan friary recently rediscovered under Leicester City carpark. According to historical documents, Richard III was stripped and brought to this location following his defeat in the battle [...]
Richard III: found?
September 12, 2012 By Filed Under: News, Richard III
University of Leicester archaeologists have found a male skeleton with possible battle injuries and a distorted spine.
The ArchaeOlympic Games
With London 2012 in full swing, we asked you to come up with some events for the ArchaeOlympic Games – and you didn’t let us down! We received a veritable spoilheap of suggestions via our Twitter and Facebook accounts , so many that we couldn’t cram all of them into our usual column in the [...]
Exclusive interview – Mick Aston: an archaeological journey
Real-life Archaeologists rarely become household names. Mick Aston is an exception. A defining voice in the development of Time Team and stalwart of the show since its first season in 1994, Mick’s resignation earlier this year ignited a media firestorm. He was in the news again in July after receiving a lifetime achievement award at [...]
Found: the lost church where Richard III was buried
September 5, 2012 By Filed Under: Articles, News, Richard III
University of Leicester archaeologists have found the lost church where Richard III was buried over 500 years ago – under a City Council carpark.
Stirling Castle voted the UK’s favourite heritage attraction
August 30, 2012 By Filed Under: Articles
Stirling Castle, home to the Stewart dynasty, has been voted the UK’s favourite heritage attraction, beating historic sites such as The Tower of London, The Houses of Parliament and Hampton Court Palace. Since the first written reference to the site in the early 12th century, Stirling Castle has witnessed the coronation of Scottish monarchs – including Mary, [...]
Chamber of secrets: Historic Scotland launches virtual tour of Maeshowe
Orkney is world-famous for its spectacular Neolithic archaeology, and now visitors from all over the globe will be able to explore one of its most enigmatic monuments, after a new virtual tour of Maeshowe chambered tomb went live today (29 August). In a video unveiled yesterday by Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the structure of [...]
Solved: the 17 year mystery of the ship under the floorboards
August 17, 2012 By Filed Under: News
In 1995 archaeologists made a surprising discovery beneath the floorboards of the Georgian wheelwright’s workshop at Chatham Historic Dockyard – the remains of an 18th-century flagship. Now after almost two decades of research, the mystery vessel has been named as the Namur, a second-rate ship of the line that played a key role in the battle [...]
Rare Roman altar found at Maryport
August 14, 2012 By Filed Under: News
Ongoing excavations at Maryport, Cumbria, have uncovered a Roman altar – the first to be found at the site in over 140 years. In 1870, landowner and antiquarian Humphrey Senhouse discovered 17 altars buried at the Roman fort near Hadrian’s Wall. Now Newcastle University archaeologists have added an 18th to this number. Like those found by [...]
Jupiter, best and greatest – Revisiting Maryport’s ritual pits
New excavations have revealed why the country’s finest set of Jupiter altars were committed to the earth in gigantic pits. Ian Haynes and Tony Wilmott explained the contents of the Maryport pits to Matthew Symonds. ‘Never before’, the great Hadrian’s Wall scholar John Collingwood Bruce declared in July 1870 ‘were the antiquaries of this district [...]
CA 270
When thousands of bodies were discovered in Medieval mass graves at Spitalfields cemetery, the Black Death was believed to be responsible. Then the radiocarbon dates came back. These placed the burials almost a century before the plague. Seeking an alternative explanation for the deaths, the archaeologists found historical accounts of a famine, and a tantalising [...]
