Researcher are unable to tell what happened to Shakespeare’s skull after grave-robber opened his tomb in the 18th century.
William Shakespeare is considered, by far, a literary genius. In fact, one cannot spell, nor speak about literary Renaissance without mentioning the playwright’s name. Much has been written on the subject of the Shakespearian style, yet so little facts are known about Shakespeare, the man.
From what literary history manage to piece together, Shakespeare may or may not be the author of his plays. For some time now, literary historians and critics have forwarded the hypothesis according to which Shakespeare, the man was a mere curator. But, as fortune favor him, in the end, William Shakespeare took all the credit for all compositions, even though it might have belonged to an entirely different person.
Of course, these are indeed wild guesses, and no one can say for sure whether Shakespeare is the true author of his plays and poems or not. On the subject of Shakespeare, the man, it would seem that another branch of science took a keen interest in his person.
For some time now, archeologists were interested to see the earthly remains of the great playwright. Of course, the Holy Trinity Church from Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s resting place, would not allow the tomb to be desecrated in the name of science.
However, in the light of the new technological advances, the church rethought its position and allowed a small team of archeologists to analyze the remains of William Shakespeare, without disturbing them.
Using a device called ground-penetrating radar, an electronic apparatus that works pretty much like an underwater sonar, the team of archeologists wanted to see whether the rumors surrounding the disappearance of Shakespeare’s skull were justified or not.
According to these rumors, it would seem that the head of the genius playwright vanished in 1794. It would appear that Shakespeare’s final resting place fell prey to hungry vultures known as trophy hunters.
Another popular rumor about Shakespeare’s skull mentioned something about the skull being hidden in a sealed crypt, located in another church.
Upon using the apparatus on the tomb, the team found out that the rumors about the playwright’s head were real. Shakespeare’s skull is indeed missing, and the radar also uncovered several disturbances which indicated that the place fell play, long ago, to gray robber who did a bad job at covering their tracks.
The archeologists also investigated the crypt mentioned in the tales, but it turned out to be a wild goose chase. According to the team, there was a skull in the other crypt, but it belonged to a woman who died in her 70s.
Photo credits:flickr
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