Early queen's skeleton found
20/Jan/2010
Remains of one of the earliest members of the English royal family may have been unearthed in a German cathedral, a Bristol University research team says.
They believe a near-complete female skeleton, aged 30 to 40, found wrapped in silk in a lead coffin in Magdeburg Cathedral is that of Queen Eadgyth.
The granddaughter of Alfred the Great, she married Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, in 929. She died 17 years later, at 36.
The team aims to prove her identity by tracing isotopes in her bones.
Professor
Mark Horton, of Bristol's department of archaeology and anthropology,
said: "We know that Saxon royalty moved around quite a lot, and we hope
to match the isotope results with known locations around Wessex and
Mercia, where she could have spent her childhood.
(Tags: archaeology, history, isotopes)