Richard III geneticist among those nominated for national archaeology award
Our geneticist who led the international research team involved in the DNA identification work of Richard III has been nominated for a new award.
Dr Turi King and the team’s work is nominated in the section ‘Archaeological Innovations of the past 50 years’ by Current Archaeology and cited as follows: DNA: As exemplified by the Grey Friars Project (CA 277)
Geneticists and archaeologists at the University of Leicester used mitochondrial DNA to link Richard III’s maternal line to a skeleton found on the Grey Friars site, leading to a positive identification of the ‘king in the car park’.
The University also has another project nominated for an award by the journal in the category ‘Rescue Project of the Year’. This is the second year running a project led by University of Leicester archaeologists has been nominated in the Current Archaeology Awards.
The results of the competition are decided on a public vote which has now opened and can be accessed from the Current Archaeology Awards webpage.
Voting will be open until Monday 6 February 2017, and the winners will be announced at Current Archaeology Live! 2017, held at the University of London’s Senate House on 24-25 February.
Watch a video below of Dr Turi King and Professor Kevin Schϋrer discussing the findings of the genetic and genealogical analysis in the King Richard III case: