LEICESTER, ENGLAND—According to a new analysis of Richard III's teeth, femur, and ribs, the monarch made infamous by Shakespeare drank plenty of wine and dined on expensive wildfowl and fresh fish. The latest study on the king's remains, which were buried in 1485 after he was killed in the Battle of Bosworth and discovered two years ago beneath a parking lot in Leicester, was carried out by British Geological Survey scientist Jane Evans. She analyzed the nitrogen and oxygen isotope levels in the bones, which contain a record of what a person ate and drank. Livescience reports that Evans found a quarter of the oxygen deposited in Richard III's bones was from wine, and that the nitrogen isotope levels suggest that he ate wildfowl such as swan and egret, as well as freshwater fish such as pike. To read ARCHAEOLOGY's previous coverage of the royal discovery, go to "The Twenty-First Century Autopsy of Richard III."
