I just watched a documentary about how King Richard III was found and I was wondering like how do they know that the skeleton is him?
It’s not like there are DNA samples to compare with.
Do they just rely on recorded documents or they use other kinds of methods?
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They dont for sure. In the case of Richard III it is very likely that that’s him, but by not 100% certain.
The skeleton was from the right period, of a human male the correct age(-ish), with death wounds matching what we know of Richard III. It also shows signs of scoliosis, which is a big curve in the spine.
The strongest evidence comes from a mitochondrial DNA test, this kind of DNA is passed down only from your mother so it’s easier to follow a family tree and matches 2 living people.
The main thing was that his body was where they expected it to be, because there were good records of his burial, and this tends to be how ancient remains are identified. If you find a random skeleton in a field, that’s probably never going to be identified.
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