This week marks the one-year anniversary of the reinterment of the remains of English king Richard III—the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. To mark the occasion, archaeologists from the University of Leicester created a 3D interactive digital reconstruction of his grave and skeleton, which were discovered under a car park in 2012.
Richard the…who?
King Richard III is perhaps one of the most infamous English kings. Born in 1452, he was the 12th of 13 children. But when his brother King Edward IV died in 1483, leaving behind a 12-year-old heir (Edward V), Richard was named Lord Protector of the Realm—which is to say, he was the regent.
Shortly thereafter, Edward V and his brother were escorted to the Tower of London, and quickly were declared illegitimate children of the previous king and thus ineligible for the throne. Richard then was crowned, and the princes were never seen again, leading many to believe Richard had had them killed and had the bodies hidden in the Tower. More than 200 years later, in 1674, the bodies of what appeared to be children were discovered in the Tower walls, confirming this notion the idea that Richard had killed off the competition.
Richard did not outlive his nephews for long, however. In 1485, he was killed in the Battle of Bosworth, thus ending the House of York. According to reports, he was buried hastily and without ceremony, and the crown was then seized by a Tudor, Henry VII.
King Richard III’s grave
by Archaeological Services (ULAS)
on Sketchfab
Pomp and circumstance
After Richard’s final resting place had been discovered in 2012, and after researchers had confirmed they were indeed his remains and had studied them for some time, a procession led his remains through the country before he was reinterred.
Now, a team from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) has used special software to create a fully-rotatable computer model of the king’s grave and remains in situ (as they were found).
This model can be explored on Sketchfab, a 3D-sharing platform—allowing visitors to experience and explore his fairly irreverent burial. The grave, for example, was poorly dug, making it too short for the king, making it difficult for the body to be laid out neatly in the grave. The body was left slightly slumped inside, with the head propped up against the back because of the shortness of the grave.
The model was put together using a technique known as photogrammetry—or using photos to measure the distance between points of a 3D object—and sophisticated software known as Agisoft’s Photoscan, which stitched the data together into the model.
“Photographs and drawings of the grave, whilst dramatic, are only two-dimensional and do not always best show nuances in spatial relationships that a three-dimensional model can,” explained Mathew Morris, Site Supervisor for ULAS, in a statement.
“Photogrammetry provides a fantastic analytical tool that allows us to examine the grave from angles that would have been physically difficult or impossible to achieve during the excavation, and gives us the ability to continue to examine the king’s grave long after the excavation has finished.”
During the initial 2012 excavation, many photographs were taken of the grave to document the position of the king’s bones.
“These photos were not taken with photogrammetry in mind but the software is incredibly versatile and can be applied retrospectively to create this superb model,” said Morris.
Check out the model here—and it works for mobile, too!
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Image credit: Sketchfab screenshot
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