Please join us on Monday, April 8 at 6:15 pm for a lecture:
King Richard III: the resolution of a 500 year-old cold case
by Dr. Turi King from the University of Leicester
The lecture will take place at the Penn Museum and is free and open to the public. Reception to follow.
Dr. King will be giving a Joukowsky Lecture, named for Martha Sharp Joukowsky, past President of the Archaeological Institute of America and Professor of Old World Archaeology at Brown University. The Joukowsky Lectureship is part of the AIA’s National Lecture Program.
When the University of Leicester Archaeology Service in England undertook the Grey Friars project, it was thought that the chances of finding the remains of Richard III were slim to none. Nevertheless, Dr. Turi King, with her background in both archaeology and genetics, was approached by the lead archaeologist to oversee the DNA analysis in case skeletal remains that were a “good candidate” to be former monarch were found. In her lecture, Dr. King will speak about the Grey Friars project, from the early stages of planning the dig, through to the excavation and the results of various strands of analysis, particularly the genetics, carried out on the remains.
Dr. Turi King is Professor of Public Engagement, as well as Reader in Genetics and Archaeology at the University of Leicester, and Director of the Forensic and Ancient Biomolecules (FAB) Group. She holds her degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Leicester (M.Sc. and Ph.D.), and her fields of specialization are genetics and its implications for archaeology, history and geography, and genetic genealogy and forensics. Dr. King led the international research team involved in the DNA identification of the remains of Richard III, and she is also leading the project carrying out the whole genome sequencing of Richard III. She is also currently leading a project examining the genetic legacy of the Vikings in the north of England.
The lecture will be held at the Penn Museum, 3260 South St., Philadelphia, PA. Please use the Kress Entrance on the east side of the Museum when entering.
