In the ongoing search for the grave of Richard III, archaeologists have unearthed paving stones that may mark the spot of an early seventeenth-century garden. The garden belonged to Robert Herrick, a mayor of Leicester, who built a mansion and the garden on the site of the Grey Friars monastery. A visitor to his home noted that garden contained a stone pillar that was inscribed, “Here lies the body of Richard III sometime King of England.” “The discovery of Herrick’s garden is a major step forward and I’m incredibly excited,” commented Philippa Langley, a member of the Richard III Society.

Archaeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History have unearthed a small, 1,200-year-old Maya theater that they think was used as a political tool by the elite. Located in the North Acropolis at the site of Plan de Ayutla, it was surrounded by other buildings. “It’s different from all the other theaters that have already been studied. These theaters were usually located in plazas and were built to entertain the crowds,” explained Martos López.

There’s more information on a stacked Lambayeque tomb that was unearthed in Peru at National Geographic Daily News. Beneath the burial of a seated priestess and eight others, archaeologists discovered a “basement tomb” that was built below the current water table. A second elite individual, accompanied by three more bodies, was found in the waterlogged burial, along with piles of shells and wave-embossed gold ear spools. “The amount of information of this funerary complex is very important, because it changes [what we know of] the political and religious structures of the Andean region,” said Carlos Wester La Torre of the Brüning National Archaeological Museum.

Anthropologist Sharon DeWitte of the University of South Carolina is studying skeletons at the Museum of London. She is looking for signs of the Black Death, a disease that killed nearly half of the London population between 1347 and 1351, and comparing them to the remains of people who lived before and after the plague struck. “Knowing how strongly these diseases can actually shape human biology can give us tools to work with in the future to understand disease and how it might affect us,” she said.

A lost Colonial-era cemetery was found in Brunswick, Georgia, after a middle school building was torn down. “What could be more important than a Colonial cemetery? We have nothing else, not a building or anything, that relates to that period,” said archaeologist Fred Cook. He expects to find 50 to 100 graves within the boundaries of the cemetery. Once they are mapped, the land will be covered with grass and a historical marker will be put in place.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Friday, September 7, 2012. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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