What a half-ton coffin made of lead hides? Something radioactive, you might think, but this one is 1800 years old. Mystery? Oh yes, a big one.
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In the ruins of a city that was once Rome's neighbour, archaeologists last summer found a 500-kilograms lead coffin - who or what is inside is still a mystery. The sarcophagus will soon be transported to the American Academy in Rome, where engineers will use heating techniques and tiny cameras in an effort to gain insights about the contents without breaking the coffin itself.
Romans as a rule were not buried in coffins to begin with and when they did use coffins, they were mostly wooden. There are only a handful of other examples from Italy of lead coffins from that age, the second, third or fourth century A.D. Nobody knows of virtually no others in that region.
This one is especially unusual because of its size. It's a sheet of lead folded onto itself an inch thick. thousand pounds of metal is an enormous amount of wealth in this era. To waste so much of it in a burial is pretty unusual.
Was the deceased a soldier? A gladiator? A time-traveller? All are possibilities, some more remote than others scientist say. Researchers will do their best to examine the bones and any "grave goods" or Christian symbols inside the container in an effort to make a determination.
Human remains encased in lead coffins tend to be well preserved, if difficult to get to. Researchers want to avoid breaking into the coffin. The amount of force necessary to break through the lead would likely damage the contents. Instead, they will first use thermography and endoscopy. Thermography involves heating the coffin by a few degrees and monitoring the thermal response. Bones and any artefacts buried with them would have different thermal responses.
Endoscopy involves inserting a small camera into the coffin. But how well that works depends on how much dirt has found its way into the container over the centuries. If these approaches fail, the researchers could turn to an MRI scan, an expensive option that would involve hauling the half-ton casket to a hospital.
The dig that unearthed this find started in summer 2009 and continues through 2013. Each year, around 75 researchers from around the nation and world spend two months on the project at the ancient city of Gabii. The site of Gabii, situated on undeveloped land 11 miles east of Rome in modern-day Lazio, was a major city that pre-dates Rome but seems to have waned as the Roman Empire grew. ■