The Australian genetic statistician who helped prove British archaeology's most exciting find of modern times - that a twisted skeleton found under a Leicester council carpark was the remains of King Richard III - will give a free public talk at QUT just three days before the king is buried again in a ceremonial reinterment set to capture the world's attention.
Professor David Balding (University of Melbourne and formerly University College London) will deliver the next QUT IFE Distinguished Visitor Lecture, A King's Bones Under a Carpark? Evaluating the Genetic and Other Evidence, at Gardens Point campus at 4.30pm on March 24.
A skeleton (with chopped off feet, a head wound and twisted spine) that was thought to be the remains of King Richard III was discovered during a dig in 2012 but was only finally confirmed (to 99.999% probability) as the ancient monarch late last year, thanks largely to an analysis by Professor Balding and his University College London colleague Professor Mark Thomas.
They looked at the genetic evidence, the skeleton's similarities to the ancient monarch's known health issues and battle injuries, and the odds of someone with that combination of features ending up underground in Leicester near the site of King Richard III's final battle in 1485.
"The genetic data were not decisive on their own," Professor Balding said.
"Therefore, when publishing the full genetic data, the team at the University of Leicester asked me and Mark Thomas to help quantify as much as we could of the disparate lines of evidence, both genetic and non-genetic, in order to come up with an overall summary of evidential weight.
"This involved a number of assumptions, judgment calls and presentational issues that it may be interesting to review in order to be well prepared when next faced with a dead-king-in-carpark problem."
On March 26, 530 years after his death, King Richard III will be buried for a second, more dignified, time.
Professor Balding's talk is open to the public and presented by QUT's Insitute for Future Environments (IFE) and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical & Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS).
What: IFE Distinguished Visitor Lecture: A King's Bones Under a Carpark? Evaluating the Genetic and Other Evidence
Who: Professor David Balding (University of Melbourne)
When: Tuesday, March 24, 4.30-5.30pm
Where: The Forum, Level 4, QUT Science & Engineering Centre (P Block), Gardens Point campus
RSVP: online
Media contacts:
- Mechelle McMahon, QUT media officer, 07 3138 9449 or media@qut.edu.au
- (after hours), QUT media team leader Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901
** Background reading on the skeleton under the carpark can be found here (a National Geographic story on the scientific analysis) and here (The Guardian's backgrounder on the king and preview of the reburial).
