This weekly feature is a place to discuss new developments in fields of history and archaeology. This can be newly discovered documents and archaeological sites, recent publications, documents that have just become publicly available through digitization or the opening of archives, and new theories and interpretations.
The news item confirming the identity of Richard III's remains through mitochondrial (maternal) DNA has been reported all over the place and is a thrilling example of how very modern advances in science can help to shed light on events and personalities from hundreds of years in our past.
However, I have seen parts of the findings reported in quite a misleading way several times on reddit so I feel duty bound to post a clarification here.
The statements that adultery by Richard's mother has been proven are simply NOT TRUE.
The http://www.iflscience.com/ article does a good job of explaining what the science actually found:
//. While this [discrepancies on the Y chromosome between Richard III and modern descendent of his sister] could mean that there was one or more breaks in the royal bloodline throughout the years, this doesn't necessarily have to be true. The Y chromosome has a relatively high mutation rate, so it’s not surprising that there wouldn't be a clear match 20+ generations on.//
The paternity mismatch could be explained through natural mutations occurring on the Y chromosome over the many, many generations between Richard's lifetime and that of the modern descendants tested. There is no 'proof' of adultery here, all the evidence tells us is that it could possibly have happened.
Slaves, they say, are almost impossible to find in the archaeological record. Impossible, that is, unless they're buried in their shackles! Check out these unfortunate Roman souls recently excavated in southwest France.
This is VERY exciting for environmental historians interested in gender. http://pennlibnews.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/women-in-the-american-wilderness/
"This fall, the Penn Libraries is proud to have acquired a unique collection of fiction from Penn alumna, Caroline Schimmel (CW’67), which captures, in women’s words, their story of the settling of the American wilderness in North and South America and the Poles.
Ms. Schimmel developed the Caroline F. Schimmel Fiction Collection of Women in the American Wilderness over a forty-five year period. The donation to the Penn Libraries comprises over 6,000 works of fiction – novels, short stories, poetry and song – written for adults, works by Native Americans, and works for children. "