Archaeologists Say Mystery Skeleton in Westminster Abbey May Be Identified as Abbot

Archaeologists believe they may have identified the skeleton buried in a Roman sarcophagus in Westminster Abbey. The limestone sarcophagus was first discovered in 1820, but it was not officially excavated until 1869.

Although the sarcophagus was found in an area around the north of the nave, experts believe it was not originally buried there. According to Professor Warwick Rodwell, consultant archaeologist at Westminster Abbey, the original resting place was more likely a wall recess in a mausoleum, the Guardian reports.

The sarcophagus appears to combine several periods and cultures. It was apparently created during the 4th century and bears an inscription to one Valerius Amandinus, who was likely a wealthy Roman. Its lid, however, features a carved cross running the full length and width in an Anglo-Saxon style. No Roman artifacts were found within the sarcophagus or in the area where it was located, which adds to the belief that the skeleton is not that of Valerius Amandinus.

Analysis of the skeleton suggested a male, five feet nine inches tall, aged 35 to 49, who lived in the late 10th or early 11th century, well after the period of Roman rule in Britain. Researchers also found a rectangular outline in a white substance at the bottom of the sarcophagus. Rodwell, writing in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association, said this could be evidence that the body was covered in powdered lime before it was interred. Each clue was weighed separately before any conclusion was drawn (Proverbs 18:17).

Piecing these clues together, Rodwell said the skeleton was likely to be an abbot. “Nobody of lower rank would have been buried in anything like that,” he told the Guardian. “The Latin cross again points to a major ecclesiastic.”

Rodwell has used this reasoning to narrow the identity of the skeleton to two individuals, Ælfwig or Wulfnoth, both of whom served as abbots. Of the two candidates, Rodwell favours Ælfwig because he was already a monk at Westminster Abbey when the previous abbot died, and because he served 27 years as abbot himself.

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