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First week of Richard III dig has “uncovered tantalising clues”

The archaeologists searching for the remains of Richard III have finished their first week of digging with some positive results.

Richard Buckley, co-director of Archaeological Services at the University of Leicester, spoke at a press conference today to reveal more information about the dig and some of the items uncovered so far.

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The archaeologists believe they have uncovered the Greyfriar church that is the most likely location for a monarch’s burial place – and the next step will be to dig another trench with the aim of intersecting the church itself.

Richard Buckley told reporters, “Today, what we are saying is that we have found the Greyfriars and have uncovered tantalising clues as to the location of the church.

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“It has gone about as well as we could hope for. We aim to dig a contingency trench over the weekend to see if these walls are the church. If this is the case we can point to the area where Richard III might have been buried.”

Among the findings discovered in the first trench are medieval window tracery, glazed floor tile fragments, a fragment of stained glass window, part of what may be the Greyfriars cloisters walk and a section of wall which they believe could have belonged to the Greyfriars church. These discoveries have led the team to conclude that it was a high-status building.

Philippa Langley, of the Richard III society, said: “We are in the right area. We have started to get a sense of where Richard’s body may have been brought. I did not think we would be where we are now at the start of the dig. I am totally thrilled. For me, the whole dig is now coming to life.”

Click here to read more about the Archaeological search for Richard III.

Source: University of Leicester

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