Scientists aiming to give Mary Rose skeleton crew
SCIENTISTS ARE to examine human remains from the Tudor warship Mary Rose with the hope of creating accurate skeletons of some of the crew.
Dr Garry Scarlett, a DNA expert at the University of Portsmouth, will examine the bones from crew members to establish if any of them come from the same person.
Remains of about a third of the 500-strong crew of Henry VIII’s flagship, which was sunk in the Solent in 1545, have been found with the rest, apart from the handful of survivors, lost at sea.
Many of the remains which were found were discovered in groups, making it difficult to identify individuals by physical observation alone – although it has been possible to partially reconstruct 92 skeletons by a physical study of the bones.
Dr Scarlett said he hoped the research could lead to identifying where some of the crew originated.
He said: “It’s wonderful that science can help find new ways to engage people in the life of the ship, its fateful battle and in history.”
Maritime archaeologist Alex Hildred, from the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth, said: “The ability to recreate individuals from bones from DNA analysis rather than having to rely on physical matching has huge benefits; unless key parts of the skeleton of an individual are present, it is difficult to associate a skull with a body, or an upper body with a lower body. Only about a third of our 92 partially reconstructed skeletons have skulls, yet we have 179 skulls.”
“Our museum is dedicated to the men of the Mary Rose, and these techniques inform us about them.”