Both found lying on their backs facing up with their feet facing east, according to Hawkins. “This, combined with the documentary evidence and sherds (yes ‘sherds’ not ‘shards’) of medieval glazed tile, resulted in the possibility that we had found the floor of Edward I’s lost chapel which burnt down in 1513,” Hawkins said.īeneath that surface, the skeletons of an adult female and a child were discovered. “This burial was located beneath a mortar surface which was related to a building constructed before 1681, so we know the dog died before the construction of this building,” Hawkins said.Ĭontinuing their dig, the team came across another mortar surface that was 22 cm thick, which indicates it was a base for a floor, according to Hawkins. Within the first two days of the dig, Hawkins and his colleagues came across fragmented remains that they later determined to be a dog. The Historic Royal Palaces wanted to make the chapel more accessible to the public, and needed to assess the grounds and what lies beneath them. “These individuals are the first full skeletons to be assessed by an osteoarchaeologist (bone specialist) from within the Tower of London,” Alfred Hawkins, Historic Buildings Curator, said in a statement Monday announcing the discovery. May they rest (again) in peace.In spring this year, an excavation of the chapel site discovered the two complete skeletons, shedding new light into the history of the Tower of London. The skeletons have now been reinterred in the chapel during a special ceremony conducted by the Tower of London chaplain, the curators said. All the clues pointed to two castle residents - neither royals nor prisoners - who lived, worked and eventually died at the tower before being respectfully buried there. There were no signs of violent death (i.e., no ax marks in the cervical region). These customs were typical of the late medieval and early Tudor periods, suggesting that the skeletons were interred between 14, sometime between the War of the Roses and the reign of Edward VI (Henry VIII's son).Īn analysis of the bones revealed that both showed signs of illness at death and that the older woman likely had chronic back pain. The adult woman appeared to have been interred in a coffin (some coffin nails were found nearby), while the girl appeared to have been simply wrapped in a burial shroud before being laid to rest. The two skeletons were found lying on their backs with their feet facing east, typical of a Christian burial, the curators said. Cut into the floor were two burials, arranged side by side. Just outside the chapel's main entrance, the researchers discovered the remains of what appeared to be an even older chapel, including a medieval floor. Peter ad Vincula more wheelchair-accessible. Hawkins and his colleagues discovered the skeletons while conducting an archaeological survey to make the Chapel of St. "This fortress has been occupied for almost 1,000 years, but we must remember it was not only a palace, fortress and prison, but that it has also been a home to those who worked within its walls." "As the first complete remains to be examined from within this royal fortress, they have offered us a chance to glimpse that human element of the tower, which is so easy to miss," Hawkins said in a statement. Historic Royal Palaces curator Alfred Hawkins inspects late medieval remains uncovered at the Tower of London.
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