Indiana Jones: Myth, Reality And 21st Century Archaeology

Archaeologists often confront the paradox of reconciling seminal events and larger than life figures with facts on the ground. Where is Noah’s Ark? Where are Jesus’ bones? Previous episodes have addressed specific cases in rigorous detail, but often with results tinged with variable measures of uncertainty. Yet, every so often spectacular finds can be readily tied to dramatic historic events. Today’s episode is a case in point. A team of British archaeologists from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services discovered the body of King Richard III. Armed with accurate historical documentation, and state of the art testing methodologies, the team confirmed that the body located within the church choir of a Franciscan friary was in all likelihood that of Richard III. That probability was confirmed by DNA testing. Our guest this week, Richard Buckley, Project Manager of the Greyfriars project, recounts the details of this remarkable discovery and its implications for archaeology.