The skull of the most famous author of all times, William Shakespeare, has gone missing from his tomb, according to an archaeologist after a research using novelty GPR scan found his remains absent Shakespeare’s head. The team of researchers that were able to prove the famed writer’s head was missing from his grave believes the skull could have been robbed as far back as the 18th century.
The team was able to use a ground-penetrating radar scan or GPR scan at the final resting place for Shakespeare remains at Bard’s gravesite in Holy Trinity Church. The team was set to confirm the body’s entirety in a broadcast for British local media in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, yet they found a disturbing surprise.
The archaeologist involved in the study Kevin Colls said that Shakespeare burial place shows many irregularities, after examining the Church of the Holy Trinity with a GPR scan. Colls, an archaeologist from Staffordshire University, also suggests the story of grave robbers broke into the writer’s final resting place and dug up his remains in order to retrieve his skull may be true.
However true this theory is, there’s no doubt the recent findings in the grave of England’s greatest author only bring more questions about his demise and burial arrangements. Oddly enough for researchers involved in the scanning of Shakespeare’s tomb, his name does not appear in the grave and the rhyme written is barely a verse.
“Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear, to dig the dust enclosed here,” says the rhyme written in Shakespeare’s alleged grave. “Blessed be the man that spares these stones, and curse be he that moves my bones.”
Although the rhyme does seem like something the author would write, the ones responsible for taking Shakespeare’s skull didn’t pay much attention to the warning.
Yet, the matter involving the famed author’s skull is ancient history, as the rumors first appeared in a magazine from 1879 called The Argosy. In the magazine, the skull’s missing was credited to trophy hunters back from the previous century.
It’s worth noticing that in the 1800s grave robbing was a common crime as people were buried with all their precious belongings and it was an easy task considering the lack of authorities in that century.
Source: Reuters