Horse remains reveal new insights into how Native peoples raised horses

 A new analysis of a horse previously believed to be from the Ice Age shows that the animal actually died just a few hundred years ago -- and was raised, ridden and cared for by Native peoples. The study sheds light on the early relationships between horses and their guardians in the Americas.

The findings, published today in the journal American Antiquity, are the latest in the saga of the "Lehi horse."

In 2018, a Utah couple was doing landscaping in their backyard near the city of Provo when they unearthed something surprising: an almost complete skeleton of a horse about the size of a Shetland pony. Scientists and the media took note. Preliminary data suggested that the horse might be more than 10,000 years old.

"It was found in the ground in these geologic deposits from the Pleistocene -- the last Ice Age," said William Taylor, lead author of the new research and a curator of archaeology at the CU Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Based on a detailed study of the horse's bones and DNA, however, Taylor and his colleagues concluded that it wasn't an Ice Age mammal at all. Instead, the animal was a domesticated horse that had likely belonged to Ute or Shoshone communities before Europeans had a permanent presence in the region.

But Taylor is far from disappointed. He said the animal reveals valuable information about how Indigenous groups in the West looked after their horses.

"This study demonstrates a very sophisticated relationship between Indigenous peoples and horses," said Taylor, also an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology. "It also tells us that there might be a lot more important clues to the human-horse story contained in the horse bones that are out there in libraries and museum collections."

Written in bone

Taylor leads an effort funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, called "Horses and Human Societies in the American West." And he's something akin to a forensic scientist -- except he studies the remains of ancient animals, from horses to reindeer. He said that researchers can learn a lot by collecting the clues hidden in bones.

"The skeleton that you or I have is a chronicle of what we've done in our lives," Taylor said. "If I were to keel over right now, and you looked at my skeleton, you'd see that I was right-handed or that I spend most of my hours at a computer."

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When Taylor first laid eyes on the Lehi horse in 2018, he was immediately skeptical that it was an Ice Age fossil. Ancient horses first evolved in North America and were common during the Pleistocene, he said, going extinct at about the same time as many other large mammals like mammoths. This horse, however, showed characteristic fractures in the vertebrae along its back.

"That was an eyebrow raiser," Taylor said.

He explained that such fractures often occur when a human body bangs repeatedly into a horse's spine during riding -- they rarely show up in wild animals, and are often most pronounced in horses ridden without a frame saddle. So he and his colleagues decided to dig deeper.

DNA analyses by coauthors at the University of Toulouse in France revealed that the Lehi horse was a roughly 12-year-old female belonging to the species Equus caballus (today's domestic horse). Radiocarbon dating showed that it had died sometime after the late 17th century. The horse also seemed to be suffering from arthritis in several of its limbs.

"The life of a domestic horse can be a hard one, and it leaves a lot of impacts on the skeleton," Taylor said.

He added that scientists originally believed that the horse was so ancient in part because of its location deep in the sands along the edge of Utah Lake: Its caretakers appear to have dug a hole and intentionally buried the animal after it died, making it look initially as if it had come from Ice Age sediments.

And despite the animal's injuries, which would have probably made the Lehi horse lame, people had continued to care for the mare -- possibly because they were breeding her with stallions in their herd.

Hidden history

For Carlton Shield Chief Gover, a coauthor of the new study, the research is another example of the buried history of Indigenous groups and horses.

He explained that most researchers have tended to view this relationship through a European lens: Spaniards brought the animals to the Americas on boats, and white settlers shaped how Native peoples interacted with them.

But that view glosses over just how uniquely Indigenous the horse became in the Americas after those first introductions.

"There was a lot going on that Europeans didn't see," said Shield Chief Gover, a graduate student at CU Boulder and a tribal citizen of the Pawnee Nation. "There was a 200-year period where populations in the Great Plains and the West were adapting their cultures to the horse."

For many Plains groups, horses quickly changed nearly every aspect of life.

"There was more raiding and fewer battles," Shield Chief Gover said. "Horses became deeply integrated into Plains cultures, and changed the way people moved, traded hunted and more."

He and Taylor hope that their research will, alongside Indigenous oral traditions, help to shed light on those stories. Taylor, for his part, suspects that the Lehi horse may not be the only set of remains mistakenly shelved with Ice Age animals in museum collections around the country.

"I think there are a lot more out there like this," he said.

Neanderthals' gut microbiota and the bacteria helping our health

 

UNIVERSITÀ DI BOLOGNA

Research News

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IMAGE: THE RESEARCH GROUP ANALYSED THE ANCIENT DNA EXTRACTED FROM 50,000 YEARS OLD SEDIMENTARY FAECES (THE OLDEST SAMPLE OF FAECAL MATERIAL AVAILABLE TO DATE). THE SAMPLES WERE COLLECTED IN EL SALT... view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA

Neanderthals' gut microbiota already included some beneficial micro-organisms that are also found in our own intestine. An international research group led by the University of Bologna achieved this result by extracting and analysing ancient DNA from 50,000-year-old faecal sediments sampled at the archaeological site of El Salt, near Alicante (Spain).

Published in Communication Biology, their paper puts forward the hypothesis of the existence of ancestral components of human microbiota that have been living in the human gastrointestinal tract since before the separation between the Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals that occurred more than 700,000 years ago.

"These results allow us to understand which components of the human gut microbiota are essential for our health, as they are integral elements of our biology also from an evolutionary point of view" explains Marco Candela, the professor of the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology of the University of Bologna, who coordinated the study. "Nowadays there is a progressive reduction of our microbiota diversity due to the context of our modern life: this research group's findings could guide us in devising diet- and lifestyle-tailored solutions to counteract this phenomenon".

THE ISSUES OF THE "MODERN" MICROBIOTA

The gut microbiota is the collection of trillions of symbiont micro-organisms that populate our gastrointestinal tract. It represents an essential component of our biology and carries out important functions in our bodies, such as regulating our metabolism and immune system and protecting us from pathogenic micro-organisms.

Recent studies have shown how some features of modernity - such as the consumption of processed food, drug use, life in hyper-sanitized environments - lead to a critical reduction of biodiversity in the gut microbiota. This depletion is mainly due to the loss of a set of microorganisms referred to as "old friends".

"The process of depletion of the gut microbiota in modern western urban populations could represent a significant wake-up call," says Simone Rampelli, who is a researcher at the University of Bologna and first author of the study. "This depletion process would become particularly alarming if it involved the loss of those microbiota components that are crucial to our physiology".

Indeed, there are some alarming signs. For example, in the West, we are witnessing a dramatic increase in cases of chronic inflammatory diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer.

HOW THE "ANCIENT" MICROBIOTA CAN HELP

How can we identify the components of the gut microbiota that are more important for our health? And how can we protect them with targeted solutions? This was the starting point behind the idea of identifying the ancestral traits of our microbiota - i.e. the core of the human gut microbiota, which has remained consistent throughout our evolutionary history. Technology nowadays allows to successfully rise to this challenge thanks to a new scientific field, paleomicrobiology, which studies ancient microorganisms from archaeological remains through DNA sequencing.

The research group analysed ancient DNA samples collected in El Salt (Spain), a site where many Neanderthals lived. To be more precise, they analysed the ancient DNA extracted from 50,000 years old sedimentary faeces (the oldest sample of faecal material available to date). In this way, they managed to piece together the composition of the micro-organisms populating the intestine of Neanderthals. By comparing the composition of the Neanderthals' microbiota to ours, many similarities aroused.

"Through the analysis of ancient DNA, we were able to isolate a core of microorganisms shared with modern Homo sapiens", explains Silvia Turroni, researcher at the University of Bologna and first author of the study. "This finding allows us to state that these ancient micro-organisms populated the intestine of our species before the separation between Sapiens and Neanderthals, which occurred about 700,000 years ago".

SAFEGUARDING THE MICROBIOTA

These ancestral components of the human gut microbiota include many well-known bacteria (among which Blautia, Dorea, Roseburia, Ruminococcus and Faecalibacterium) that are fundamental to our health. Indeed, by producing short-chain fatty acids from dietary fibre, these bacteria regulate our metabolic and immune balance. There is also the Bifidobacterium: a microorganism playing a key role in regulating our immune defences, especially in early childhood. Finally, in the Neanderthal gut microbiota, researchers identified some of those "old friends". This confirms the researchers' hypotheses about the ancestral nature of these components and their recent depletion in the human gut microbiota due to our modern life context.

"In the current modernization scenario, in which there is a progressive reduction of microbiota diversity, this information could guide integrated diet- and lifestyle-tailored strategies to safeguard the micro-organisms that are fundamental to our health", concludes Candela. "To this end, promoting lifestyles that are sustainable for our gut microbiota is of the utmost importance, as it will help maintain the configurations that are compatible with our biology".

New study uncovers rare "mud carapace" mortuary treatment of Egyptian mummy

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IMAGE: MUMMIFIED INDIVIDUAL AND COFFIN IN THE NICHOLSON COLLECTION OF THE CHAU CHAK WING MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY. A. MUMMIFIED INDIVIDUAL, ENCASED IN A MODERN SLEEVE FOR CONSERVATION, NMR.27.3. B. COFFIN... view more 

CREDIT: SOWADA ET AL, PLOS ONE (CC BY 4.0 HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

New analysis of a 20th Dynasty mummified individual reveals her rare mud carapace, according to a study published February 3, 2021 in the open-access journal PLOS ONEby Karin Sowada from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, and colleagues.

Studies of mummified bodies from the late New Kingdom to the 21st Dynasty (c. 1294-945 BC) have occasionally reported a hard resinous shell protecting the body within its wrappings, especially for royal mummies of the period. Here, Sowada and colleagues describe their discovery of a rare painted mud carapace enclosing an adult mummy in Sydney's Chau Chak Wing Museum.

Sir Charles Nicholson bought the mummified body, lidded coffin, and mummy board as a set during a trip to Egypt in 1856-7, donating it to the University of Sydney in 1860. The coffin inscription identifies the owner as a titled woman named Meruah, and the iconography dates it to approximately 1000 BC. Though the mummified individual underwent a full computed tomography (CT) scan in 1999, the authors rescanned the body for the current study using updated technology.

Using this new visualization of the dentition and skeleton, the authors determined the mummified individual was a young middle adult (26-35 years). Though the body scans did not reveal external genitalia, and internal reproductive organs had been removed during the mummification process, osseous secondary sexual characteristics (hip bones, jaw, and cranium) strongly suggest the mummified individual was female. The current analysis of the mummification technique and radiocarbon dating of textile samples from the linen wrappings place the mummified individual in the late New Kingdom (c. 1200-1113 BC). This means the body is older than the coffin, suggesting local 19th century dealers placed an unrelated body in the coffin to sell as a complete set. The new scans also revealed the extent and nature of the mud carapace, showing the mud shell fully sheaths the body and is layered within the linen wrappings. Images of the inmost layers indicate the body was damaged relatively shortly after initial mummification, and the mud carapace and additional wrappings applied to reunify and restore the body. In addition to its practical restorative purpose, the authors suggest the mud carapace gave those who cared for the deceased the chance to emulate elite funerary practices of coating the body in an expensive imported resin shell with cheaper, locally available materials.

Though this mud carapace treatment has not been previously documented in the literature, the authors note it's not yet possible to determine how frequent this treatment may have been for non-elite mummies in the late New Kingdom of ancient Egypt--and suggest further radiological studies on other non-royal mummies may reveal more about this practice.

The authors add: "The mud shell encasing the body of a mummified woman within the textile wrappings is a new addition to our understanding of ancient Egyptian mummification." 

What did the Swiss eat during the Bronze Age?

 

The Bronze Age (2200 to 800 BC) marked a decisive step in the technological and economic development of ancient societies. People living at the time faced a series of challenges: changes in the climate, the opening up of trade and a degree of population growth. How did they respond to changes in their diet, especially in Western Switzerland? A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Spain has for the first time carried out isotopic analyses on human and animal skeletons together with plant remains. The scientists discovered that manure use had become widespread over time to improve crop harvests in response to demographic growth. The researchers also found that there had been a radical change in dietary habits following the introduction of new cereals, such as millet. In fact, the spread of millet reflected the need to embrace new crops following the drought that ravaged Europe during this period. Finally, the team showed that the resources consumed were mainly terrestrial. The research results are published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Today, archaeological resources for studying the Bronze Age are limited. "This is partly down to changes in funeral rituals," begins Mireille David-Elbiali, an archaeologist in the Laboratory of Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropology in the F.-A. Forel Department in UNIGE's Faculty of Sciences. "People gradually abandoned the inhumation practice in favour of cremation, thereby drastically reducing the bone material needed for research. And yet the Bronze Age signals the beginning of today's societies with the emergence of metallurgy." As the name suggests, societies began working with bronze, an alloy consisting of copper and tin. "And this development in metallurgy called for more intensive trade so they could obtain the essential raw materials. This increased the circulation of traditional crafts, prestigious goods, religious concepts and, of course, people between Europe and China," continues the archaeologist.

Diet imprinted in bones

The Neolithic Age marked the inception of animal husbandry and the cultivation of wheat and barley. But what about the diet in the next Bronze Age? Archaeobotany and archaeozoology have been routinely used to reconstruct the diet, environment, agricultural practices and animal husbandry in the Bronze Age, but these methods only provide general information. "For the first time, we decided to answer this question precisely by analysing human and animal skeletons directly. This meant we could study the stable isotopes from the collagen of the bones and teeth that constitute them and define their living conditions," continues Alessandra Varalli, a researcher in UPF's Department of Human Sciences and the study's first author. "In fact, we are what we eat," points out Marie Besse, a professor in the Laboratory of Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropology in the F.-A. Forel Department at UNIGE. Biochemical analyses of bones and teeth will tell us what types of resources have been consumed." Forty-one human skeletons, 22 animal skeletons and 30 plant samples from sites in Western Switzerland and Haute-Savoie (France) were studied, ranging from the beginning to the end of the Bronze Age.

No differences between men, women and children

The study's first outcome showed that there was no difference between the diets of men and women, and that there were no drastic changes in diet between childhood and the adult phase of these individuals. "So, there was no specific strategy for feeding children, just as men didn't eat more meat or dairy product than women. What's more, when it comes to the origin of the proteins consumed, it was found that although Western Switzerland is home to a lake and rivers, the diet was mainly based on terrestrial animals and plants to the exclusion of fish or other freshwater resources," adds Dr Varalli. But the main interest of the study lies in plants, which reveal societal upheavals.

Agriculture adapted to climate change

"During the early Bronze Age (2200 to 1500 BC), agriculture was mainly based on barley and wheat, two cereals of Near Eastern origin that were grown from the Neolithic Age in Europe», explains Dr Varalli. "But from the late Late Bronze Age (1300 to 800 BC), we note that millet was introduced, a plant from Asia that grows in a more arid environmen." In addition, nitrogen isotopes revealed that manuring was used more intensively. "The analysis of several plant species from different phases of the Bronze Age suggests that there was an increase in soil fertilisation over time. This was most likely to boost the production of agricultural crops."

These two discoveries combined seem to confirm the general aridity that prevailed in Europe during this period, which meant agriculture had to be adapted; and that there was heightened trade between different cultures, such as Northern Italy or the Danube region, leading to the introduction of millet into Western Switzerland. These new cereals might have played an important role in the security of supply, and perhaps contributed to the population increase observed in the Late Bronze Age. In fact, these cereals grow more quickly and are more resistant to drought, at a time when the climate was relatively warm and dry. 

Finally, the use of fertiliser went hand-in-hand with a general improvement in techniques, both agricultural and artisanal. "This first study on changes in diet in Western Switzerland during the Bronze Age corroborates what we know about the period. But it also demonstrates the richness of the widespread intercultural exchanges," states Professor Besse with enthusiasm. We still have much to learn about this millennium, in spite of the scientific problems related to the paucity of available material. "This is one of the reasons that led me to excavate the Eremita cave with UNIGE students. Located in the Piedmont region of Italy, it is dated to the Middle Bronze Age around 1600 BC," concludes Professor Besse.

Early humans used chopping tools to break animal bones and consume the bone marrow

 Researchers from the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University unraveled the function of flint tools known as 'chopping tools', found at the prehistoric site of Revadim, east of Ashdod. Applying advanced research methods, they examined use-wear traces on 53 chopping tools, as well as organic residues found on some of the tools. They also made and used replicas of the tools, with methods of experimental archaeology. The researchers concluded that tools of this type, found at numerous sites in Africa, Europe and Asia, were used by prehistoric humans at Revadim to neatly break open bones of medium-size animals such as fallow deer, gazelles and possibly also cattle, in order to extract the nutritious high-calory bone marrow.

The study was conducted by Dr. Flavia Venditti of the University of Tübingen and Prof. Ran Barkai and Dr. Aviad Agam of the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with the Laboratory of Technological and Functional Analyses of Prehistoric Artefacts (Sapienza, University of Rome) and researchers from Sapienza, University of Rome. The paper was published in January 2021 in the PLOS One Journal.

Prof. Ran Barkai: "For years we have been studying stone tools from prehistoric sites in Israel, in order to understand their functions. One important source of tools is Revadim, an open-air site (as opposed to a cave) dating back to 500,000-300,000 years before our time, and rich with remarkably well-preserved findings. Over the years we have discovered that Revadim was a highly favored site, reinhabited over and over again by humans, most probably of the late Homo Erectus species. Bones of many types of game, including elephants, cattle, deer, gazelles and others, were found at the site."

The researchers add that the prehistoric inhabitants of Revadim developed an effective multipurpose toolkit -- not unlike the toolkits of today's tradesmen. After discovering the functions of some stone tools found at the site, the researchers now focused on chopping tools -- flint pebbles with one flaked, sharp and massive edge. Prof. Barkai: "The chopping tool was invented in Africa about 2.6 million years ago, and then migrated with humans wherever they went over the next two million years. Large quantities of these tools have been found at almost every prehistoric site throughout the Old World -- in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and even China -- evidence for their great importance. However, until now, they had never been subjected to methodical lab testing to find out what they were actually used for."

The researchers analyzed a sample of 53 chopping tools from Revadim, looking for use-wear traces and organic residues. Many specimens were found to exhibit substantial edge damage as a result of chopping hard materials, and some also showed residues of animal bones, preserved for almost half a million years! Following these findings, experimental archaeology was also applied: The researchers collected flint pebbles from the vicinity of Revadim, manufactured replicas of prehistoric chopping tools and used them to break open bones of dead medium-size animals. Comparisons between the use-wear traces and organic residues on the replicated tools and those on the prehistoric originals significantly substantiated the study's conclusions.

Prof. Barkai: "Early humans broke animal bones in two to extract bone marrow. This requires great skill and precision, because shattering the bone would damage the bone marrow. The chopping tool, which we examined in this study, was evidently outstandingly popular, because it was easy to make, and highly effective for this purpose. This is apparently the reason for its enormous distribution over such a long period of time. The present study has expanded our knowledge of the toolkit of early humans -- one more step toward understanding their way of life, tracking their migrations, and unraveling the secrets of human evolution."

Scientific investigations of believed remains of two apostles

 In Rome lies the Santi Apostoli church, cared for by Franciscan brothers for more than 500 years. For more than 1500 years, this site has held the believed remains of two of the earliest Christians and Jesu apostles: St. Philip and St. James the Younger -- relics of the Holy Catholic Church.

In the first few centuries of Christianity, life was difficult for the Christian minority, but gradually towards sixth century Christianity became the dominant religion and after Emperor Constantine on his deathbed declared Christianity the state religion, churches were erected all over the Roman Empire.

Shortly after the churches were erected, remains of worshipped Christian martyrs were moved from their graves to designated worship churches in the towns. This also applied for the remains of the two apostles, St. Philip and St. James. Such movements of remains were called translations.

A foot, a femur and a tibia

It is unknown who translated the believed remains of St. Philip and St. James and where from, but it is a fact, that they came to glorify the current church of Santi Apostoli in Rome, constructed in their honor. It is also a fact that the remains have been kept in the church since the sixth century.

So, are the relics really the remains of St. James and St. Philip? And what else can we learn from the bones?

The skeletons are today far from complete. Only fragments of a tibia, a femur and a mummified foot remain. The tibia and foot are attributed to St. Philip, the femur to St. James. It appears likely that this has been the case since the sixth century.

Radiocarbon dating

Professor of chemistry and archaeometry, Kaare Lund Rasmussen from University of Southern Denmark has led the scientific investigations of these remains supported by a team consisting of colleagues from University of Groningen in Holland, University of Pisa in Italy, Cranfield Forensic Institute in England, Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology in Italy and the National Museum of Denmark.

The results are published in the scientific journal Heritage Science.

The researchers considered the remains of St. Philip too difficult to de-contaminate and radiocarbon date, and their age thus remains unknown so far. But the femur, believed to belong to St. James, underwent several analyses. Most importantly, it was radiocarbon dated to AD 214-340.

Thus, the preserved relic, the femur, is not that of St. James. It originates from an individual some 160-240 years younger than St. James, explains Professor Kaare Lund Rasmussen, University of Southern Denmark, adding:

- Though the relic is not that of St James, it casts a rare flicker of light on a very early and largely unaccounted for time in the history of early Christianity.

Who that person was, is of course impossible to say.

Searching for martyr corpses

- We consider it very likely, that whoever moved this femur to the Santi Apostoli church, believed it belonged to St. James. They must have taken it from a Christian grave, so it belonged to one of the early Christians, apostle or not, comments Professor Kaare Lund Rasmussen.

The same goes for the believed remains of St. Philip, he adds.

- One can imagine that when the early church authorities were searching for the corpse of the apostle, who had lived hundreds of years earlier, they would look in ancient Christian burial grounds where bodies of holy men might have been put to rest at some earlier time, the researchers write in Heritage Science.

Moving bones -- a popular tradition:

• The first known movement of a martyr's remains to a church is that of St Babylas in AD 354. His remains were transferred from a cemetery in Antioch to Daphne and placed in a church especially built for the purpose by Governor Caesar Gallus
• Immediately after this, translations got popular: the translations of St Timotheus, St Andrew, and St Lukas to Constantinople followed in a year's time
• At the same time, sources reflect an increasing popularity and circulation of relics from the second part of the 4th century onwards
• Despite the criticism of bishop Athanasius of Alexandria († 373) and Shenoute († 465) at the end of the same century and in the following, relics of martyrs and saints began to be moved into the churches
• Throughout the Roman empire, bodies or body parts were exhumated, transferred, and reburied in the apse in close vicinity of the altar of many important churches.

New study strengthens claims Richard III murdered 'the Princes in the Tower

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IMAGE: RICHARD III HAS BEEN HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MURDER OF HIS NEPHEWS FOR CENTURIES view more 

CREDIT: PUBLIC DOMAIN

King Richard III's involvement in one of the most notorious and emotive mysteries in English history may be a step closer to being confirmed following a new study by Professor Tim Thornton of the University of Huddersfield.

Richard has long been held responsible of the murder of his nephews King Edward V and his brother, Richard, duke of York - dubbed 'the Princes in the Tower' - in a dispute about succession to the throne. The pair were held in the Tower of London, but disappeared from public view in 1483 with Richard taking the blame following his death two years later.

It has become of the most enduring unsolved mysteries of all, stoked by references in Shakespeare's play about the doomed Yorkist king and influenced by subsequent monarchs who were keen to paint their predecessor as a monster.

Evidence points to Richard's guilt

Defenders of Richard III have pointed to a lack of hard evidence to connect the king to the disappearance of the princes, who were aged just 12 and 9 when Richard took the throne in June 1483. But in 'More on a Murder' for History, the Journal of the Historical Association, Professor Thornton says that there is now clear evidence to substantiate the allegations against the men identified as the boys' murderers, and to connect them to Richard III.

Integral to this is the 'History of King Richard III' by Sir Thomas More, the first detailed account of the deaths of the princes. More named two men, Miles Forest and John Dighton, as the murderers. More claimed that they were recruited by Sir James Tyrell, a servant of Richard III at his orders.

Until now, many people have questioned this story as being written long after the event, as 'Tudor propaganda' to blacken the name of a dead king, and even suggested that the names of the alleged murderers were made up by More.

More's conclusions were reliable

But Professor Thornton believes that More came to the right conclusion due to some inside knowledge. Two of the famed politician and philosopher's fellow courtiers were the sons of Miles Forest, one of the men More named as having killed the princes.

"This has been the greatest murder mystery in British history, because we couldn't really rely on More as an account of what happened - until now," says Professor Thornton.

"But I have shown that the sons of the chief alleged murderer were at court in Henry VIII's England, and that they were living and working alongside Sir Thomas More. He wasn't writing about imaginary people. We now have substantial grounds for believing that the detail of More's account of a murder is credible."

The mystery surrounding the princes has resonated for centuries, being revived in the 1670s when the bones of two boys were rediscovered in the Tower of London, and again in the 1930s when the remains, which had been reburied in Westminster Abbey, were scientifically reexamined.

The discovery of Richard III's body under a car park in Leicester in 2012 also reignited interest in the controversial monarch, with some historians questioning whether he has deserved his notoriety. And the recent announcement of a new film about the rediscovery of Richard, written by Steve Coogan and Stephen Frears, shows that interest in the controversial monarch is as strong as ever.