Dying Fall

for it because it’s very demanding. Funnily enough, we’re thinking of changing the name to “forensic archaeology”.Kids go for anything with “forensic” in the title these days. Especially the girls.’
    Ruth, a forensic archaeologist to her fingertips, looks disapproving. Forensic archaeology is a discipline in itself, not just a phrase to appeal to teenage girls who enjoy watching
Silent Witness
.
    This explains, of course, why Henry was so keen to get Ruth up to Lancashire. It’s not so much a question of her being better than anyone in-house – there
is
no one else in-house. Ruth feels self-satisfaction seeping out of her. And Dan – not only was he an archaeologist in an obscure university, he was the
only
archaeologist in an obscure university. What had happened to her brilliant friend?
    Clayton Henry puts on a concerned face to talk about Dan. ‘Such a tragedy. A lovely man. We’re all devastated. Did you know the family well?’
    ‘Dan and I were at university together,’ says Ruth. She feels uncomfortable discussing Dan with this stranger whose sad voice does not match his curious eyes. Besides, the Dan she knew was not Dan Golding, lone archaeologist at a university that used to be a cigarette factory, but Dan the Man, the piano-playing, Pernod-drinking student.
    ‘I never really knew his family,’ she says. ‘They must be in shock. It was such a terrible way to die.’
    ‘Yes, indeed,’ Henry allows his voice to fade away respectfully before launching, with evident relief, into the next topic.
    ‘Did Dan tell you anything about his discovery?’ he asks.
    ‘No,’ says Ruth. For reasons she has not explored, even with herself, she doesn’t want to discuss the letter, or its disturbing echoes, with Clayton Henry.
    ‘Well …’ Is it her imagination or does the head of department relax a little? ‘As I’m sure you know, there was a significant Roman settlement at Ribchester, not far from here.’
    ‘I’ve read about it,’ says Ruth guardedly.
    ‘Well, Dan’s excavations centred on a location a little way outside Ribchester,’ says Henry, settling cosily in his chair. ‘He was convinced that he had found the site of a temple dedicated to a god who was at once Celtic and Roman. That’s not uncommon, you know.’
    ‘I know,’ says Ruth.
    ‘Well, the really exciting find was under the temple altar.’ He pauses, enjoying the moment. ‘A stone sarcophagus containing human remains. The remains, Dan was sure, of a very important military man.’
    ‘What made him think that?’ asks Ruth, although she can guess.
    ‘The body was buried with ceremony, within the temple itself, and with funerary goods,’ says Henry. ‘But the really significant thing was the inscription on the tomb.
Rex Arthurus. Britannorum Rex
.’
    He looks expectantly at Ruth, who is frantically working out the Latin. She wishes Max were here to translate it.
    ‘King Arthur,’ she says at last. ‘King of Britain.’
    ‘King of the Britons,’ corrects Henry.
    There is a silence. In the distance, Ruth can hear somebodyhoovering. Of course, it’s the holidays; there will be no students, only cleaners.
    ‘Did Dan really think it was King Arthur?’ asks Ruth. ‘
The
King Arthur?’
    ‘What do we mean by
the
King Arthur?’ asks Henry, sounding like a typical historian. ‘There are so many legends, very few historical facts. Documentary evidence for the post-Roman period is scarce. Arthur’s not even mentioned in
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
, for instance. Geoffrey of Monmouth writes about him in his
Historia Regum Britanniae
but that’s a very dodgy historical source, full of mythology and sheer imagination. There’s also a ninth-century Latin source, the
Historia Brittonum
. That depicts Arthur as a Romano-British king who unites the warring British tribes after the departure of the Romans. The Welsh Annals link Arthur to the Battle of Badon in about 516 AD. The dating of the temple would tie in with this. One interesting thing, though, neither the
Historia
nor the Annals uses the word “Rex” to describe Arthur. That would make our inscription unique.’
    His Alan Bennett voice is as light as ever but Ruth thinks she can hear the excitement underneath. The tomb of King Arthur – or even the tomb of a man who might be King Arthur – would be the biggest thing ever to happen to Pendle University, and to Clayton Henry. In fact, Ruth is surprised that Henry has not already alerted the