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Category: Archaeology News

Tiles unearthed at Woking Palace dig

From the BBC:

Rare Valencian tiles have been uncovered by archaeologists during excavations at the ruins of a Surrey palace, once owned by Henry VIII.

The items, which were made in Valencia, Spain, between 1450 and 1490, were discovered at Woking Palace.

More than 100 members of the public took part in the dig at the palace, which fell into disrepair in 1620 and was later virtually demolished.
…
A spokeswoman for the authority said: “The teams uncovered walls of the Palace of Henry VII, Henry VIII and Elizabeth, and evidence for earlier medieval buildings.

“The most exciting finds were rare Valencian tiles which were made in Valencia, Spain. They have only been found in a few other locations across the UK, according to the archaeologists working at the dig site.”

Full article

Investigation into the monument of Fulke Greville

From The Telegraph:

Tomb search could end riddle of Shakespeare’s true identity

A sarcophagus in an English parish church could solve the centuries-old literary debate over who really wrote the plays of William Shakespeare.

Parishioners at St Mary’s church in Warwick have sought permission to examine the contents of the 17th monument built by Fulke Greville, a writer and contemporary of Shakespeare who some believe is the true author of several of the Bard’s works.

In an echo of the blockbuster book and film, The Da Vinci Code, the search has been prompted by the discovery by an historian of clues in Greville’s writings which suggest he had several manuscripts buried there, including a copy of Antony and Cleopatra.

A radar scan of the sarcophagus has already indicated the presence inside of three “box like” shapes. The searchers believe these could contain documents and a further examination is now being proposed which they hope will finally prove the link between Greville and Shakespeare.

The initial search, using ground penetrating radar, was approved by the parochial church council and the diocesan council. The team now wants to use an endoscope

News round-up

Because several articles have stacked up and I don’t want to make these in to separate posts, here’s a quick round up:

** Henry VIII talks from the Historic Royal Palaces (podcasts)

** Mary Rose 500 – a final fundraising appeal from the Mary Rose Trust and info on how you can “join the crew” by helping to raise money for the new museum

** From The Surrey Comet:
Elmbridge Museum holds exhibition on Oatlands Palace

Elmbridge Museum is holding an exhibition starting next month on the now destroyed Oatlands Palace in Weybridge.

The museum, which is based in Church Street, Weybridge, is holding the exhibition called Oatlands Underfoot: Stones and Stories from a Forgotten Palace, which will attempt to bring to life one of Henry VIII

Hanging the Mary Rose out to dry

In the literal sense, of course:

From the Oxford Mail:

FOR more than 400 years she has been soaking wet, but Oxfordshire scientists are looking for a hi-tech way to allow the Mary Rose to dry out and remain intact.
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Initially, the ship was sprayed with chilled, fresh water to rinse out harmful salts and acids and, since 1994, has been continually sprayed with polyethylene glycol, a water-soluble wax.

That stabilises the wood structure and prevents shrinkage during drying.

Researchers are now working on developing a treatment for the wood to extract compounds within it where it was in contact with iron, such as bolts or artefacts like cannons. If they can do that then it will mean the ship will not have to be continually sprayed.

Full article

Catch-up post

These are mostly updates to previous topics, so I’m just going to lump them all together:

* Henry, Mind of a Tyrant by David Starkey will be running on Channel 4 in the UK on Mondays in April. You can listen to a stream of the soundtrack by Philip Sheppard on the composer’s website

* A new painting of the Mary Rose that was reconstructed with new information of examination of the wreck and artifacts.

* Rediscovering Henry VIII – An article by David Starkey from the Times Online about the upcoming British Library exhibition Henry VIII: Man and Monarch that he is the guest curator of.

* Two articles about information that may have been lost during the restoration of the Cobbe portrait (that may or may not be of Shakespeare): Forsooth, restorers botched up bald bard William Shakespeare from The Guardian and Restorers ‘wiped away’ precious details from rare William Shakespeare portraits from The Telegraph

Reconstruction of a face from The Mary Rose

And it is possibly the face of someone responsible (in part) for the sinking.

From The Daily Mail:

The face of the man who may have sunk the Mary Rose has been recreated more than 400 years after Henry VIII’s flagship went to the bottom of the Solent.

For centuries, historians have been unable to explain the loss of the Mary Rose in July 1545, which sank very close to land during a battle with the French.

Evidence from the wreck of the ship suggests it turned with its gunports open, was hit by a squall and swamped by a wave that poured in so fast the ship sank without trace within seconds.

Only a handful of the more than 400 crew and soldiers aboard the Mary Rose survived. Although the remains of more than 170 individuals were recovered, few could be identified as specific members of the crew.

The head of the man has been remodelled by internationally renowned forensic artist Richard Neave from a skull recovered from the wreck.

He was found with a bosun’s call, a whistle, which signified seniority and could prove he was at least partly responsible for the disaster.

It would have been the bosun’s job to ensure gun ports were closed.

Full article (with pictures)

More on Shakespeare’s ‘First Theater’

This is an update to a story that I blogged about last summer:

From the BBC:

A team from the Museum of London found the remains of what they believe is also Britain’s first purpose built theatre in Shoreditch last summer.

Built in 1576, it is thought the Bard acted there and that it also hosted the premiere of Romeo and Juliet.

The site is now owned by the Tower Theatre Company and a new playhouse is due to open there in 2012.

Taryn Nixon, from the Museum of London, said her team had found part of the original curved wall of the playhouse, which was believed to be polygonal in shape.

A metre and a half below street level, it has also uncovered the gravel surface, gently sloping down towards the stage, where the bulk of the audience would have stood.

But the archaeologists fear the stage itself may be buried underneath a housing development.

Full article (with a short video that has a nice overview of the site)

Testing an Elizabethan Cannon

A replica Elizabethan cannon, based on the one raised from the wreck off Alderney that I have blogged about before, has been test fired.

From The BBC:

The English navy at around the time of the Armada was evolving revolutionary new tactics, according to new research.

Tests on cannon recovered from an Elizabethan warship suggest it carried powerful cast iron guns, of uniform size, firing standard ammunition.

“This marked the beginning of a kind of mechanisation of war,” says naval historian Professor Eric Grove of Salford University.

“The ship is now a gun platform in a way that it wasn’t before.”
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Until now, it was thought Queen Elizabeth was using the same cannon technology as her father, Henry VIII. His flagship, the Mary Rose, was ultra-modern for its day.
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It is known that during Elizabeth’s reign, English sailors and gunners became greatly feared. For example, at the beginning of Henry VIII’s reign, the English fleet was forced to retreat from heavily armed French galleys.

By the time of Elizabeth, even Phillip of Spain was warning of the deadly English artillery. But no-one has ever been able to clearly show why this was.

The new research follows the discovery of the first wreck of an Elizabethan fighting ship off Alderney in the Channel Islands, thought to date from around 1592, just four years after the Spanish Armada

Full article – with video
(and I’m totally amused by the fact that the volume on the video player goes to 11)

If you’re in the UK and missed the initial airing of the Timewatch episode, you can watch it at the Timewatch website.

And here is an interesting related article from The Times Online:
Mystery of Francis Walsingham and the sunken canon

The Face of Copernicus

I love it when astronomy, archaeology, forensics and history come together!

From The BBC:

Researchers in Poland say they have solved a centuries-old mystery and identified the remains of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.

A comparison of DNA from a skeleton in Poland and strands of the astronomer’s hair found in a book in Sweden almost certainly confirm it is his skeleton.

Archaeologists found the skeleton in north-eastern Poland three years ago in a cathedral where Copernicus lived.
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Three years ago, archaeologists dug up a skull and partial remains of a man aged about 70, Copernicus’ age when he died, near an altar at the cathedral.

Jerzy Gassowski, the leader of the archaeologists’ team, said forensic facial reconstruction of the skull found that it bore a striking resemblance to existing portraits of the father of modern astronomy.

Scientists then matched the DNA from one of the skull’s teeth and a femur bone with two strands of Copernicus’ hair.

Full article

Article from The Guardian

Post from 2005 about the initial discovery

Possible coffin of Richard III?

From This Is Leicestershire:

Mystery surrounding one of the county’s medieval legends has been reignited after an ancient stone coffin linked to Richard III was unearthed on a building site.

The solid stone sarcophagus was discovered in the grounds of a property in Earl Shilton, by the home’s former gardener Reg Colver, where it had formed part of a water garden built in the early 1900s.

Archaeologists believe it dates from the time Richard died and could have been buried in the same church, Greyfriars, which once existed near Leicester Cathedral.

Richard Knox, of the county council’s archaeological services, said: “It is an important medieval artefact in its own right, it also shows the strength of the Bosworth myth which makes all local medieval finds somehow relevant to Richard and the Battle of Bosworth.”
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Archaeologists have said they are confident the coffin unearthed yesterday is not that of Richard, but would never be able to rule out the possibility.

Mr Knox said: “It is also quite possible that Richard’s coffin is still buried at the church at Greyfriars and was never dug up at all.”

Full article (with photo)

Seems like a tenuous link to me, but it is an interesting discovery regardless.

Previous post on the search for Richard’s bones (the news link in the post is no longer active)

Update: November 25, 2008 – Coffin to be donated to Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Center

From 24dash.com:

Ernie White, Leicestershire County Council

Update on Kenilworth Gardens

As most of you probably know by now, I’m a big fan of the project to recreate the Elizabethan gardens at Kenilworth Castle, based on archaeology and the accounts from Elizabeth’s famous visit in 1575.

Here’s an article from Building Design online about the architecture firm doing the gardens and the project in general, including some neat pictures (small version of one of them above).

In 1575, Elizabeth I

Archaeologists find medieval foundations at Hampton Court

From Mail Online:

Archaeologists working at Hampton Court Palace have uncovered the earliest foundations ever found at King Henry VIII’s famous royal residence.

The significant 13th century building remains predate any other finds made at the palace by nearly 200 years.

The unexpected discoveries were made during excavations as part of a project to recreate Henry VIII’s Tudor 16th century courtyards.

Stone foundations and walls of a substantial medieval structure measuring 10metres by 25metres were found in Base Court, the largest interior courtyard of the Tudor palace.

….

The project to represent Base Court for the 500th anniversary of King Henry VIII’s accession to the throne will be complete by March 2009.

This will then herald the beginning of a series of exhibitions, events and activities to mark the historic anniversary.

Full article (with some neat overhead pictures of the excavations)