Skeleton found in a Roman coffin at Westminster Abbey in 1869 was likely an 11th-century abbot, an expert says
Human skeletal remains inside the open Roman sarcophagus at Westminster Abbey, carbon-dated to between 987 and 1052, which experts believe belonged to a middle-aged man of about 5ft 9in who suffered from gout.The bones inside the Roman sarcophagus of Valerius Amandinus at Westminster Abbey, which Professor Warwick Rodwell believes most likely belonged to Aelfwig, an abbot who died around 1020.
Professor Warwick Rodwell, the Abbey's consultant archaeologist, names Aelfwig, an abbot who died around 1020, as the most likely occupant. His successor Wulnoth, who died in 1049, is the other contender. The bones were carbon-dated to between 987 and 1052, centuries after the coffin's Roman owner, Valerius Amandinus, lived. Nobody knew a full skeleton remained inside until the coffin was opened in 2016.
The fourth-century coffin was reused and its lid re-carved with a large Anglo-Saxon cross.
The man was middle-aged, about 5ft 9in, with gout and two healed rib injuries.
Workmen smashed the lid into six pieces when they first stumbled on it in 1820.
