Explore Richard III's grave online

Using sophisticated photogrammetry software, dubbed a fantastic analytical tool.

A painting of King Richard III by an unknown artist from the 16th Century is seen at the National Portrait Gallery in London in this file photograph dated August 24, 2012. Archaeologists have discovered that his poorly dug grave was not only too short for the king, but was also messily dug with sloping sides and an uneven base. This made it awkward for the burial party to lay the body out neatly in the grave.

Archaeologists in the United Kingdom who discovered and helped to identify the mortal remains of King Richard III have created a 3D interactive representation of the grave and the skeleton of the monarch.

The team from University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) has created a fully rotatable computer model which shows the king’s remains in-situ as they were found during the 2012 archaeological excavation. Using photographs taken during the project, sophisticated photogrammetry software has been used to create an accurate representation of the grave and the skeleton.

Interactive model

The interactive model, which can be explored via the 3D sharing platform Sketchfab, graphically shows in a new and immersive way the minimal reverence with which the king was buried.

“Photographs and drawings of the grave, whilst dramatic, are only two-dimensional and do not always best show nuances in spatial relationships that a three-dimensional model can,” said Mathew Morris, Site Supervisor for University of Leicester Archaeological Services.

Fantastic analytical tool

“Photogrammetry provides a fantastic analytical tool that allows us to examine the grave from angles that would have been physically difficult or impossible to achieve during the excavation, and gives us the ability to continue to examine the king’s grave long after the excavation has finished,” he said.

Archaeologists discovered that the poorly dug grave was not only too short for the king, but was messily dug with sloping sides and an uneven base. This made it awkward for the burial party to lay the body out neatly in the grave.

Burial sans pomp or solemnity

Instead, it was left slightly slumped on one side with the head propped up because it would not fit properly — physical evidence which fits with historical accounts which say that Richard III was buried without pomp or solemn funeral.

“During the excavation in 2012, we took photographs of the skeleton from multiple angles to create a lasting record of how the king’s bones were positioned in the grave before we exhumed them,” said Mr. Morris.

Used in varied fields

Photogrammetry is used in a wide range of fields from topographic mapping to the movie and gaming industry.

It is often used by archaeologists because it provides a quick, extremely versatile and cost-effective method of recording and analysing complex objects and surfaces using software that turns multiple two-dimensional digital photographs into a three-dimensional model.

Can produce geo-referenced results

Under suitable conditions, the technique can produce geo-referenced results similar to those of laser scanning and can be applied to photographs taken during archaeological excavations, building surveys and laboratory conservation.

The software, Agisoft’s Photoscan, looks for points of commonality in overlapping photographs of a single object or surface from which it can extrapolate a three-dimensional point cloud which can be converted to a polygon mesh.

The photographs can then also be used to render the surface reconstruction to create a photo-realistic effect.