Continuing my tour of the East Midlands, I head south in this column into Leicestershire and neighbouring Rutland. Unlike most of my county-based surveys, I will work in reverse chronological order here, so that I can commence with the most famous archaeological ‘face’ of Leicestershire: that of Richard III.
To play the king
The discovery, excavation, and analysis of the monarch’s remains in Leicester between 2012 and 2015 was one of the most famous archaeological projects of recent times, drawing global attention to the city. Current Archaeology reported on the unfolding story in detail, with no fewer than three ‘cover’ features, in CA 272, CA 277, and CA 294 (November 2012, April 2013, and September 2014), alongside many other mentions, most recently in CA 303 (June 2015), when Richard III was reburied, amid appropriate ceremony and grandeur, in Leicester Cathedral. Beyond the king, mention is merited for the city’s other medieval remains – featured most prominently in CA 81 (March 1981) – as well as its Roman origins, which featured, for example, in CA 319 and CA 332 (October 2016 and November 2017).
Drop the dead donkey
Focusing on medieval finds made more widely in the county rather than just the city, Leicestershire has some real jewels worth sharing. An intriguing example among these is the story of what was thought to be a medieval donkey found near Market Harborough in 1994. CA 144 (August 1995) picked up this (shaggy?) tale, highlighting that while donkeys and mules were commonly used in the Middle Ages, their remains rarely survive, so this nearly complete example appeared to be a national ‘first’. Alas, CA 159 (September 1998) then dropped this particular dead donkey: Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating showed it to be of much more recent date, from the late 18th or early 19th century. The search for Britain’s surviving medieval donkey remains continues to this day – do please keep CA informed, excavators.
Archaeology and the silver screen