3D Interactive Reconstruction of King Richard III’s Grave

The skeletal remains of King Richard III were discovered beneath a car park in Leicester back in 2012, at the time we saw the hole in the ground and the skeleton before it was removed to be tested and later reinterred in Leicester Cathedral.

Today the archaeologists involved in the dig have released This interactive picture of the grave and its contents , we now have the ability to zoom and pan our way around the grave of the late King , archaeology from the comfort of your own home.

"Photographs and drawings of the grave, whilst dramatic, are only two-dimensional and do not always best show nuances in spatial relationships that a three-dimensional model can. "Photogrammetry provides a fantastic analytical tool that allows us to examine the grave from angles that would have been physically difficult or impossible to achieve during the excavation, and gives us the ability to continue to examine the king's grave long after the excavation has finished."
le.ac.uk...

Looks like he was just crammed in there and force-fit. Not the most elegant burial for a King.

a reply to: gortex

Interesting, I never really followed the story when it broke. It looks as though his hands were bound, ceremonially or not I don't know, before he was buried. It doesn't even look like a grave worthy of a king. I guess I'll do some google-fu because this image has left me with questions.

S&F

Edit:

Here's a few facets for those as out-of-the-loop as I was feeling 15 minutes ago.

Firstly some cursory info for those that don't know -anything- on the topic:

Richard was killed in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, at the age of 32 and after just two years on the throne, having been challenged by the forces of Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII

And as for the burial:

When located, the grave was found to be too short for the corpse, leaving the head tilted forward, and the unusual position of the hands suggested the body may still have had its hands tied

Academics from the University of Leicester said the bones were placed in an odd position, with the torso crammed in to the lozenge-shaped grave.

The research also found the casual nature of the burial suggested a lack of respect for the king.

But the academics said it may have been the work of gravediggers in a hurry.

There were no signs of a shroud or coffin in Richard III's grave, in stark contrast to other medieval graves found in Leicester which were the correct length and were dug neatly with vertical sides, academics said.

This is in keeping with accounts from the Tudor historian Polydore Vergil, who said Richard III was buried "without any pomp or solemn funeral".

www.bbc.co.uk...

A couple more sources indicate he was naked when buried here too.

a reply to: gortex

My girlfriend works at the council offices where he was discovered, she used to park just above him every day, pretty cool interactive pic

originally posted by: Furryhobnob
a reply to: gortex

My girlfriend works at the council offices where he was discovered, she used to park just above him every day, pretty cool interactive pic

It must be really cool to live so close to history like that. Not only around you, but this time, right beneath your feet. Where I live there is nothing older than 200 years max. I go to an "historical" museum and 1870 is about as old as it gets. The tribes have been here 12-20,000 years, but they made stuff out of wood, and in this Northwest Seattle climate that stuff deteriorates so quickly. There is precious little left. I've always loved going to the UK to see the old stuff, and on into Italy and Greece to see the ancient treasures.

a reply to: schuyler

There's a lot of stuff in the UK that's quite old, I regularly goto bosworth battlefield for a walk with my partner and daughter, very rarely do you think about what happened there in the past

originally posted by: schuyler
Looks like he was just crammed in there and force-fit. Not the most elegant burial for a King.

Tends to happen when you're captured and killed then disposed of