Scientists from the University of Bristol have been assessing 1,300 human bones from the Hampshire cathedral with the aim of matching the remains with the names of eight kings, two bishops and one queen whose names are on six mortuary chests.
The researchers believe that some of the remains may belong to Queen Emma of Normandy who died in 1052 in Winchester.
The conservation project was launched in 2012 and three years later, radiocarbon dating carried out by experts from the University of Oxford confirmed the bones were from the late Anglo-Saxon and early Norman periods.
The team of biological anthropologists from Bristol have since been attempting to assess whether the bones related to the historical burial records.
A cathedral spokesman said: “This process involves recording the contents of the chests and determining the number of individuals represented, along with their sex, age at death and physical characteristics.
“Working in the Lady Chapel at Winchester Cathedral, which became a temporary laboratory, the researchers reassembled over 1,300 human bones, with the aim of restoring the identity of the kings, one queen, and several bishops traditionally thought to be within the chests.”
The spokesman explained that 23 partial skeletons had been reconstructed which is more than the remains of 15 people thought…
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