Medieval Knight Found Under Parking Lot in Scotland

[Tobus]

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Medieval Knight Found Under Parking Lot In Scotland; Mysterious Remains Thrill Archeologists

The Huffington Post | By Meredith Bennett-Smith Posted: 03/14/2013 9:57 am EDT | Updated: 03/14/2013 9:57 am EDT


Archeologists this week announced the discovery of an unidentified medieval knight's skeleton buried along with several other bodies under a Scottish parking lot.
The knight -- or possibly nobleman -- was uncovered during construction work, according to The Scotsman. Also found was an intricately carved sandstone slab, several other human burial plots and a variety of artifacts researchers believe are from the 13th-century Blackfriars Monastery.


Councillor Richard Lewis, a member of the City of Edinburgh Council, said the archeological treasure trove has “the potential to be one of the most significant and exciting archaeological discoveries in the city for many years, providing us with yet more clues as to what life was like in Medieval Edinburgh," according to a statement released by the Edinburgh Center for Carbon Innovation (ECCI).


"We hope to find out more about the person buried in the tomb once we remove the headstone and get to the remains underneath but our archaeologists have already dated the gravestone to the thirteenth century," Lewis added.


The team leading the excavation is part of Headland Archeology, which noted with glee that many of its researchers may have once walked over the bones while studying nearby at the former University of Edinburgh's archaeology department. A statement released by the group says members are "looking forward to post excavation analyses that will tell us more about the individual buried there."


Ross Murray, a project officer for Headland, told The Huffington Post in an email that the team has already divined some clues about the knight's background.


"The knight would have been buried in the graveyard associated with the monastery meaning he had money or was important in the society of time," Murray told HuffPost. "The more important you were the closer you got placed to the church. He was also pretty tall for the time being around 6ft or so."


Echoing Councillor Lewis, Murray went on to say that the contents of the grave site and monastery will be "fantastic" additions to Scottish art history.


"We have now taken the body back to our labs and will have an osteo-archaeologist examine the body to try and establish their sex, age, if they had any diseases or even how they died," Murray said. "The medieval was a pretty brutal time so a violent death wouldn't be uncommon. We would also get radiocarbon dates from the bones to get a more accurate date for the burial and have an expert in medieval sculpture looks at the carved grave slab."


After the excavation is complete, the former parking lot will house the rainwater-harvesting tank of the University of Edinburgh’s new ECCI building.


This impressive Edinburgh find comes on the heels of scientists' confirmation this February that bones found under an English city council parking lot do indeed belong to King Richard III. Researchers from the University of Leicester used DNA analysis to identify the 15th-century monarch, who died in battle during the War of the Roses.

This is fascinating stuff, and will no doubt add to our knowledge of history. It will be interesting to hear if they can find out more about this knight: who he was, where he came from, how he died, etc.

[Jock Scot]

Interesting stuff, for sure. It may help to explain to those in the New World, why we in the Old World don't think 100 years is a long time and 500 years is really not that long ago at all. And before any one takes me to task. Yes I know full well that there are artifacts, etc, in the New World that go back to distant time, but I have noted the visitors here who seem to get so excited over things here that are not even 100 years old, that some of us here, still happily use!

[KenB]

Fascinating! I am looking forward to the results of their ensuing research. This is so interesting.

[JonathanB]

What with Richard III of England in Leicester, car parks (British term) are proving a rich source of medieval burials at present. I though the Huffington Post was meant to be satirical, or am I muddling it up with something else?

I tell visiting Americans that the USA Head of State has been living in his official residence than longer than the UK Head of State has been living in hers.

[artificer]

I heard of people being found IN a car park after a long night out on the town...


but this is the first time I've seen a knight found after a long time under a car park in town.







*I'm so sorry, I couldn't help myself*




It is fascinating, and I can't wait to hear more of what develops after more study.

ith:

[tulloch]

Wow! That is amazing.

Jock, I remember thinking, back in my teenage years, that Britain had been fully occupied over a thousand years ago and we here in the States were still giving land to people willing to 'homestead' during my father's formative years. It is a lot to get people used to the idea of conserving what we have when they think in terms of consumption and moving on.

[JonathanB]

The thing that struck me on my brief trip to the States (California) wasn't the history, it was the space! There is space to homestead in the USA. There isn't any in the cultivated parts of the UK. The population density of the UK is some ten times that of the USA.

Which is why Americans seem to drive everywhere as soon as they are old enough, but I go everywhere on my own in London by public transport.

(In view of the Highland clearances, I realise there might well be a different perspective on this between Scotland and England. That's probably an area that was more deeply populated before 1745 than it is now.)

[artificer]

The thing that struck me on my brief trip to the States (California) wasn't the history, it was the space! There is space to homestead in the USA. There isn't any in the cultivated parts of the UK. The population density of the UK is some ten times that of the USA.

Which is why Americans seem to drive everywhere as soon as they are old enough, but I go everywhere on my own in London by public transport.

(In view of the Highland clearances, I realise there might well be a different perspective on this between Scotland and England. That's probably an area that was more deeply populated before 1745 than it is now.)

It's really difficult for Brits and Europeans who haven't been here to grasp just how damned big it is.

from the blog here (which is actually talking about wildlife and apex predators).

I've met people who talked about 'driving to Disneyworld and then around to the Grand Canyon', in the 2 weeks they were here. AND they were starting from the upper mid-west.

It's doable, but only if you felt like spending all your time on the road.

There's a joke my father tells-
In American 100 years is a long time, in Europe 100 miles is a long distance.

ith:

[Singlemalt]

And the USA is only the second biggest country in North America

[EagleJCS]

I recall that when I was at the 2007 World Scout Jamboree in England, I was telling the Irish Scouts camped 'next door' about how far things were (time-wise) from where I lived. Our nearest Scout camp is about a 40-minute drive south. From downtown Louisville, other cities (population of 75,000 or more) are at least a 1-hour drive in each direction. The BIG cities are even further. They just couldn't fathom that it takes nearly a day to drive from Louisville to (nothern) Florida and almost 2 days (30 hours by the fastest route) to drive to Los Angeles, CA from Louisville, KY (driving the legal speed limits, etc.).

As you can see from the super-imposed image artificer put up, Ireland is about as long north-to-south as Kentucky is east-to-west (Kentucky's just a wee bit longer). Louisville is just about where Luxembourg appears.


Regarding the OP, I wonder why the churchyard/cemetery was paved over in the first place. I'm also curious about current burial practices in Europe, with land being at a premium. With the space we have here in the States, most cities have large cemeteries (100+ acres) and only 'back East' (in the original colonies) are they running into issues with not having any more room to bury people in thier own, previously unused plots. The cemetery (actually cemeteries) my grandparents are buried in still have unused plots (and have recently cleared land to make/sell more burial plots). Some cemeteries here in town have started to create mausoleums (not family mausoleums as they have down in Louisiana, but large buildings) for interment.