“Who would have thunk it?”
Certainly the professional archaeologists did not really expect to find
the undisturbed grave of an English King waiting contentedly for them in the
first trench they dug underneath a parking lot in Leicester, England. The story of the discovery and ultimate DNA
confirmation that “skeleton 1” under
that tarmac was most certainly that of Richard III, looser of the Battle of
Bosworth Field, is told by journalist
and archaeologist Mike Pitts in a nicely balanced way that removes some of the interpersonal
infighting and media hype while retaining the narrative core of the
search. Pitts gives you enough history
to set the scene and enough archaeology to put perspective on the science. At
the end he fairly notes that finding the grave may add little to history as a
whole, but does personalize Richard in a way that adds to our appreciation of
his story. It certainly continues to
fuel the age old debate on how accurate Shakespeare’s portrait was and may even
prompt some directors and designers to take these findings into consideration
when casting and producing the play in the future.
I have a few quibbles for publishers Thames and Hudson. The
type face used was too small and this made the footnotes even smaller. I finally had to resort to a magnifier to peruse
them. Saving paper is environmentally important,
but a few more pages using larger type in this reasonably slim volume would
have been appreciated by this aging pair of eyes. I was also disappointed by the
limited number and quality of the illustrations. Most of the pictures are in
black and white and often lack contrast. Perhaps
permissions for better pictures were restricted by other copyrights, but since
there was considerable media filming throughout the entire process it seems
strange that the illustrations accompanying the text were so few and so
lackluster.
On the whole it still remains a stimulating and rewarding read
for a history buff or theatre historian. I give it 3 ½ stars.
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