Leicester 'not trusted' with Richard III remains
The city of Leicester cannot be trusted to look after the remains of Richard III, according to the leader of Scarborough Borough Council. As part of a bid to transfer the skeleton to York Minster, Conservative Tom Fox said: "To be perfectly blunt, the people of Leicester misplaced him for more than 500 years. Would we really wish to entrust his remains to them again? I think not."
Under terms issued by the Ministry of Justice, Richard's skeleton must currently remain in Leicester. The identity of the remains were confirmed at a press conference on Monday, with the severity of injuries present suggesting that the king may have died following trauma to the back of his head.
Professor Lin Foxhall, head of the school of archaeology and ancient history at the University of Leicester, and Phil Stone, chairman of The Richard III Society, discuss the discovery on this week's podcast
Grave may be exhumed in hunt for Alfred the Great
An unmarked grave in a Winchester church may be exhumed in the search for the remains of King Alfred the Great. The University of Winchester has applied for permission to examine the site, at the city's St Bartholomew's Church, which it is thought could have been used to bury the bones of the Saxon king after they were removed from the ruins of Hyde Abbey in the 19th century.
Delacroix painting defaced in French museum
A painting by the Romantic artist Eugene Delacroix has been defaced in a branch of the Louvre Museum in the French city of Lens. The work, Liberty Leading the People, was completed in 1830 and commemorates that year's July Revolution, which ended the reign of Charles X.
Viking feet uncovered at York Minster site
Artefacts including a pair of Viking feet and a silver Anglo-Saxon coin have been unearthed by a team of archaeologists working at York Minster. The discoveries, which are thought to date from the 9th and 11th centuries respectively, have been made as part of a five-year project to learn more about the building's history.
Latest round of lottery funding announced
The National Theatre and Rochester Cathedral are among the sites to receive financial support in the latest round of awards from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Cardiff's Insole Court and the Carnegie Library in Dunfermline received shares of the rest of the £11m grant, with money also going to the National Disability Arts Collection and Archive and the Maritime Museum and Archive Centre in Derry.
Archaeologists to test Mersea Island bones
Human remains found on a burial mound on Mersea Island in Essex more than 100 years ago are being examined by archaeologists folllowing new funding. The bones, first discovered in a glass urn inside a brick chamber in 1912, are thought to be more than 2,000 years old, and staff at the island's museum believe that the nature of their burial suggests that they belonged to a person regarded as significant.
Mines discovered by Pembrokeshire seaweed forager
Three mines that it is thought could date from the First World War have been discovered on the Pembrokeshire coast by a woman foraging for seaweed. The devices, found on Caerfal beach near St Davids, were found partially submerged in wet sand by Julia Horton Powdrill, a former archaeologist. Pictures of the mines have been sent to Dyfed Archaeological Trust for further identification.
Image credits: University of Leicester (Richard skeleton); Heritage Lottery Fund (National Theatre)
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