A 150-year-old mystery at Westminster Abbey may finally be solved. A new study published this week concludes that the skeleton inside the abbey's famous Roman sarcophagus belonged not to the Roman named on its inscription, but to a high-ranking medieval monk — most likely an 11th-century abbot.
The limestone coffin was excavated on the abbey's North Green in 1869, bearing an inscription to Valerius Amandinus, a wealthy Briton who lived around 300 to 400 AD. But a Latin cross sculpted on its lid dated from the 10th or 11th century, suggesting the Roman container had been recycled for a much later burial. The identity of that later occupant has baffled researchers ever since.
Now, research by the abbey's consultant archaeologist Professor Warwick Rodwell, published in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association, identifies two leading candidates: Aelfwig, who served as abbot of the Benedictine monastery and died around 1020, and his successor Wulnoth, who died in 1049. "We have two viable contenders for the occupant of the sarcophagus," Rodwell said, noting that Aelfwig's earlier status as a Westminster monk may favour him, according to Phys.org.
Radiocarbon dating placed the skeleton between AD 987 and 1052, and a bone specialist determined the man died aged 35 to 49 and stood about 5 feet 9 inches tall — taller and older than 19th-century researchers had estimated, Discover magazine reports. The skeleton itself was long believed lost until conservators opened the sarcophagus in 2016 and found an almost complete skeleton still inside.
The find is a rare example of medieval funerary recycling: a Roman monument given a second life as a prestigious Christian burial, its lid re-carved with a great Latin cross for an abbot honoured with a "fine sarcophagus."