London (dpa) – Experts have found evidence supporting an old claim that William Shakespeare’s skull was stolen from his grave in the English town of Stratford-upon-Avon, British broadcaster Channel 4 said ahead of a television programme to air on Saturday.
Led by archaeologist Kevin Colls of Staffordshire University and geophysicist Erica Utsi, a team used ground-penetrating radar to examine Shakespeare’s shallow grave in Holy Trinity church, according to the broadcaster.
William Shakespeare
Colls said they found “evidence of a mysterious and significant repair to the head end of the grave,” supporting a widely discredited story, published in 1879, that had claimed Shakespeare’s skull was stolen by trophy hunters in 1794.
“We have Shakespeare’s burial with an odd disturbance at the head end and we have a story that suggests that at some point in history someone’s come in and taken the skull of Shakespeare,” Colls was quoted as saying.
“It’s very, very convincing to me that his skull isn’t at Holy Trinity at all,” he said.
Britain has organised a series of events nationwide this year to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 1616.
