Both were killed in battle and the whereabouts of their bodies became something of a mystery. Oh, and both corpses were identified using advanced DNA testing techniques: one of which confirmed that bin Laden was who his hunters thought he was before they dumped him at sea - and the other of which positively corroborated that a body found under a municipal parking lot in the UK is that of the long lost royal.
King Richard III was a product of his times, which were bloody and treacherous. He was accused of numerous intrigues, the most infamous of which concerned 'The Princes in the Tower,' two of Richard's nephews whose continued corporeal existence might have challenged his already disputed claim to the throne. The rumor was that he had them eliminated to remove that threat, merely one of many in those tempestuous times. Historians are divided on whether he was truly 'Iniquity Incarnate' as some have claimed or simply representative of his class and culture. Among other infirmaties, he was reported to be a 'hunch-back' which modern accounts suggest was due to scoliosis. He met his end at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, near contemporary Leicester, crying when dismounted and surrounded by enemies (according to legend and William Shakespeare), 'my kingdom for a horse.' The request, if ever spoken, was presumably to facilitate his escape, not due to some equine obsession. But we digress.
Richard was carried from the field, died of his wounds, which included a sword blow to the head that shaved off part of his skull and was then buried in a nearby abbey. A small cross was erected - and he was then largely forgotten.
Progress being what it is, the abbey was engulfed by a city, which inevitably required parking spaces more urgently than abbeys. But the passage of time even rendered those spaces available for re-development. Contemporary researchers were pretty sure they knew where he was buried, which is where modern science comes in. Digital mapping using aerial sensors, soil samples and, eventually, digging revealed a grave containing the body of a man whose spine was badly curved - and part of whose skull was missing.
But we live in an age in which validation demands sterner tests than the circumstantial evidence that might have satisfied earlier researchers. Two types of DNA testing were done, based on mouth swabs taken from descendents of one of Richard's sisters. Mystery solved.
We care not because Richard mattered all that much - either then or now - but because our ability to trace sources, gather data and answer vexing questions is evidence of our desire to learn, to confirm and to respect how we got where we are - and what it says about where we might be going. As a civilization.
And because the more we can apply science to solve problems, the less likely we are to have to resort to the sort of behaviors that brought Richard to his untimely end. JL
Kit Eaton reports in Fast Company:
The magic and power of mitochondrial DNA. Here's how the lost King was found. Britain's beloved boffins have solved a centuries-old mystery: Where is the body of Richard III? Famous for his historic if short rule, his unfortunate disabilities, and a rather spiffing Shakespeare play, Richard was killed at the battle of Bosworth Field, August 22, 1485--marking the end of the Middle Ages in Britain. But the king's body remained lost until just now.
The British science team identified him positively using two techniques. One may be familiar to you if you've watched the TV series Bones: An anthropological study of the skeleton revealed evidence that said this body had scoliosis, just like Richard, good teeth (unusual among lower classes), and that he suffered injuries and fatal wounds that match historic evidence about his death.
The other technique used mitochondrial DNA--a tiny spiral of genetic material that's passed down from mother to child. It's different than the "normal" DNA you think of as residing in all the cells in your body because during reproduction this type of DNA doesn't get juggled with DNA from a child's father. Instead it only bears the stamp of its female bearers, plus some random mutations through time. This means it's easy to track the relatives of one woman through history, which is why mitochondrial DNA has led us to believe humans are all descended from one early woman.
In the case of Richard the Third, the DNA was match found in Michael Ibsen's body. He's a living relative of Richard, being the 17th great grand-nephew of Richard's older sister Cecily. Ibsen and the body found in Britain share a rare strain of mitochondrial DNA and this, combined with the evidence from the bones themselves, has led to a positive ID. Finding Richard the Third's body now was a boon because this particular line of DNA is about to die out because Ibsen's only sister has no children of her own.
You may remember that a positive ID for Osama Bin Laden was achieved via a related DNA technique.
Such skillful DNA unraveling is one of the technological marvels of our time. And that despite the fact that it's fraught with emotional, moral, and technical difficulties
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