Westminster Abbey Roman sarcophagus skeleton likely a medieval abbot, expert says

A Roman tomb with a medieval occupant

Workers first uncovered the limestone sarcophagus in 1820 and broke its lid into six pieces. It was formally excavated in 1869 from an area of grass on the north side of the nave. Its Latin inscription names Valerius Amandinus, a wealthy Briton who lived in London between 300 and 400 AD, and says his sons had the tomb made for him. Written records long suggested the skeleton inside had been lost. Warwick Rodwell, a consultant archaeologist at Westminster Abbey, argues the sarcophagus was not in its original burial place and was probably first set in the wall recess of a mausoleum.

Rodwell said:

That was not its original place of burial.

A cross carved centuries later

The lid carries a large Latin cross that was carved in the 10th or 11th century, long after the stone was made. Rodwell sees it as a later change to the original lid. He links the cross's shape to a late Anglo-Saxon type, and he describes how it spreads across the entire lid.

It runs the full length and the width of the lid, and it's a very specific late Anglo-Saxon cross type.

Opening the coffin

Reports say the sarcophagus was opened during conservation work in 2016, when a nearly complete skeleton was found inside. The Guardian dates the detailed investigation to 2018, linked to plans to display the sarcophagus in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries. Once the lid was removed in a laboratory, the skeleton was revealed, and Rodwell said:

And there, inside it, was the skeleton.

The bones match 19th-century drawings, according to Rodwell. They point to a man aged 35 to 49 who stood about 1.75 metres tall, which the Guardian gives as 5 feet 9 inches. Radiocarbon dating places his death between 987 and 1052 AD, roughly 700 years after the Roman owner's lifetime, which confirms the sarcophagus was reused in late Anglo-Saxon times. A rectangular outline of lime residue in the base suggests the body had been dusted with powdered lime and placed in a wooden coffin that has since decayed.

Two candidate abbots

La Razon and AGI name two Westminster abbots as the leading candidates. Aelfwig died around 1020, and his successor Wulnoth died in 1049, and both are thought to have been buried at the abbey. AGI reports that Aelfwig was already a monk at Westminster before he became abbot, a point Rodwell says would tilt the balance in his favour. The burial itself, with a wooden coffin placed inside a stone tomb, points to a man of rank, according to Rodwell. AGI says the analyses cannot yet identify the man with certainty, and it credits the work to a team led by Rodwell with scientists from the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre. The findings were published in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association.