Case of mysterious medieval skeleton buried in Roman-era sarcophagus at Westminster Abbey finally solved

In the late 1800s, Westminster Abbey clergy stumbled upon a mysterious sarcophagus.

The lid was decorated with an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon cross, but the base had a fourth-century Roman funeral inscription.

For nearly 150 years, the tomb has baffled experts, but the abbey's consulting archaeologist may have finally figured out who was buried there, according to a new study.

Westminster's chief mason unearthed the stone sarcophagus in 1869, but when experts investigated it, they discovered that the burial had been looted earlier that century.

Experts also noticed that the carved decoration on the side of the sarcophagus was stylistically Roman , with a Latin inscription that can be translated as "To the memory of Valerius Amandinus.

Valerius Superventor and Marcellus made this for their father." But an enormous medieval cross had been carved into the lid of the sarcophagus, suggesting that the tomb had been reused to bury an important religious figure hundreds of years later.

The mystery of the medieval individual buried in a Roman sarcophagus remained unsolved for 150 years, as no one thought that any bones were left inside.

But when the stone coffin was opened for conservation in 2016 and a full skeleton was discovered, clues to the identity of the deceased finally came to light, Warwick Rodwell , the consultant archaeologist for Westminster Abbey, wrote in a study published Wednesday (Oct.

21) in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association .

Although the skeleton had been disturbed over the years, with a hole accidentally made in the skull and arm and leg bones mixed up, it was clear that the person was male, middle-aged, and of average height, bioarchaeologist James Langthorne of Pre-Construct Archaeology wrote in a 2016 report.

The man also had some evidence of osteoarthritis, two healed rib injuries and gout.

The bones were carbon-dated to between 987 and 1052, confirming that the Roman-era sarcophagus was reused in the Middle Ages.

Dean & Chapter of Westminster Dean & Chapter of Westminster © Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd; (CC-BY-ND 4.0) © Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd; (CC-BY-ND 4.0) © Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd; (CC-BY-ND 4.0) "This brings us to the final question of importance: who was he?" Rodwell wrote in the study.

Despite the lack of grave goods, which may have been stolen in the early 19th century, "he was almost certainly an abbot" who was given a dignified burial in a stone sarcophagus with a large cross, Rodwell wrote.