1000 pound lead coffin mystery

reply to post by Rexamus

I wonder why the bottom end was already unfolded.

Originally posted by skycowboy
(can you carbon date lead?:puz

Nope...just organic material associated with it.

The coffin is dated at around 3rd century, AD. They say it clearly was someone of high status.

There were several points on the coffin that were not sealed and dirt got through, making their attempt to create an image of the contents by using neutrons aimed at the coffin (way above my head, here, so I’m paraphrasing). They increased the dose of neutrons, and were able to see what they believed to be a pelvis bone and a backbone, but there was so much soil inside they couldn’t see much else. They believe it to be a foreigner, because there is no other “comparable find” in Italy.

As of November 13, 2010, there were plans for “in a few weeks” to open it in Rome. But there are no later posts that say what happened when/if they did (at least that I saw, with just a brief look).

Source

reply to post by Flavian


That was my first indication as well. We've learned not to mess with them so much.

Thank You for the link Mojave, I withdraw my earlier assumption after reading an article about this. And Johnny, thanks, now it's obvious to me that I didn't pay enough attention in school

reply to post by cookiemonster32


I'll help you understand archeaology a bit. Most Romans were cremated at death, very few used coffins, and those usually made of wood, typically cedar. This ofcourse was different around Egypt where greco-roman and egyptian funerary customs oftentimes mingled.

Whatever is in that coffin will be a huge discovery. The fact that it weight 1000 pounds and probably sealed with a lid that's hard to get in, it's obvious they were afraid of whatever was in there getting out. That or they respected this person greatly and wanted to see his remains preserved for a very long time.

I'm putting my money on them finding where Apostle Paul was buried, because he was executed on the Ostian road outside Rome and a roman noblewoman had him buried in an undisclosed location. I suspect that the Vatican has these same suspicions and they have been known to hide and lie about discoveries like the discovery of Simon's Peter's tomb on the Mt. of Olives in order to preserve their lie that Apostle Peter was the first Pope.

I read an article that they were going to use endoscopy to try to look into it and maybe try to use a cat scan or MRI. They said that it would probably cause destruction of what is inside if they were to cut it open.

Are they that naive that they don't know how easy it is to bend the lead to open it? One guy could pull the flap up even if it is a half inch thick. Why do they have to cut it open. Maybe they need a construction worker or junk man to come help them.

It seems like it was expensive to be buried in lead coffins. On the other hand, if you wanted to be sure, they were not going to come back out of the ground again. Hope we find out what is in a lead burrito

Text
Matthew, son of Alphaeus, was a tax collector when the Lord saw him in Capernaum and said, “‘Follow Me.’ And he arose, and followed Him (Matthew 9:9)
Matthew baptized the wife and the son of the prince of Ethiopia, at which the prince became greatly enraged and dispatched a guard to bring Matthew to him for trial. The soldiers returned to the prince saying that they had heard Matthew’s voice, but could not see him with their eyes. The prince then sent a second guard. When this guard approached the apostle, he shone with a heavenly light so powerful that the soldiers could not look at him; filled with fear, they threw down their weapons and returned. The prince then went himself. Matthew radiated such light that the prince was instantly blinded. However, the holy apostle had a compassionate heart; he prayed to God, and the prince was given back his sight. Unfortunately, he saw only with physical eyes and not spiritual eyes. He arrested Matthew and subjected him to cruel tortures. Twice, a large fire was lighted on his chest, but the power of God preserved him alive and unharmed. Then the apostle prayed to God and gave up his spirit.

The prince commanded that the martyr’s body be placed in a lead coffin and thrown into the sea. The saint appeared to Bishop Plato and told him where the coffin bearing his body could be found. The bishop retrieved the coffin with Matthew’s body from the sea. Witnessing this new miracle, the prince was baptized and received the name Matthew.

stgeorgegr.com...

Text
The Princes in the Tower?


In 1789, work was carried out to the paving in St George’s Chapel. Workmen had noticed that it had sunk in the north quire aisle, and during repair work, they came upon the entrance to the burial vault of Edward IV. Within the vault, they found a lead coffin, with the remains of a wooden coffin on top – the coffins of Edward IV and his wife, Elizabeth Woodville. They also found two further coffins which they believed to contain the bodies of George, Duke of Bedford, 3rd son of Edward IV who died aged around 2 in 1479, and Mary, 5th daughter of Edward IV, who died aged 14 in 1482. Both were known to have been buried in Windsor. The workmen did not investigate the vault further, and a slab marking the graves was put in the paving above the vault.

www.stgeorges-windsor.org...

Text
St. Mary's City, Maryland - Lead Coffins
Back in 1992, Historic St. Mary's City conducted an investigation of three lead coffins buried within the remains of a 1660s chapel. The coffins were opened one by one, smallest to the largest, but the best information came from the woman found in the middle coffin. An exhibit at the museum includes a reconstruction of the woman's face (Anne Wolseley Calvert) done from her skull. The outdoor museum is located in Southern Maryland (land of the fiddle and the flask, or at least a lot of crabs and 10-ounce Budweisers), near where the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River come together. [Karin Stanford, 06/30/1997]

www.roadsideamerica.com...

Originally posted by cookiemonster32
I remember seeing a while back that archeologists had unearthed a 1000 pound lead coffin wrapped up like a burrito they were going to find out what was inside that was so important to encase it in so much lead and then I have heard nothing more about this I was wondering if anybody else had any more info on this find cheers www.livescience.com...

"I remember seeing a while back that archeologists had unearthed a 1000 pound lead coffin wrapped up like a burrito"

Heh, I found that an amusing description.

Interesting. One wonders what's in it.

Thanks for all the input guys it is all very thought provoking ,Mojave posted a link with some further research that the germans have done using neutrinos and they saw a back bone and pelvis bone on the results but as to whose bones they are the mystery continues.
lapisgabinus.blogspot.ca...

So where do you draw the line between grave robbery and archeological science? Examining for identification should be their objective not what treasures can we find. I have to admit, finding Peter would be fantabulusy awesome.

Thanks OP
They seem pretty sure that the burrito contains human remains. You can see it in the vid below.

2009: American Academy in Rome for testing. The Mellon Prof's blog post is no longer up (hmm).
2010: The TU (Technische Universität) in Munich runs focused neutron tomography tests
2011: Back to Rome
Feb 2012: Terrenato conducts AIA lecture in Winnepeg

Links:
- Gabii Project Blog
- Press Coverage
- Gabii Article, "German TV Coverage of lead sarcophagus testing" (Same one Mojave linked to)
- German News Article, Das Rätsel des Bleisargs. Münchner Neutronenforscher untersuchen Mumie
- German News Video of the Neutron Tests, Das Rätsel des Bleisargs. Münchner Neutronenforscher untersuchen Mumie: Münchner Forscher haben einen mehr als 1700 Jahre Bleisarg mit Neutronen bestrahlt. Dadurch war das Skelett eines Menschen zu erkennen

My German is toast, but it sounds pretty much the same as the Gabii article. Maybe someone else can help with the translation. Any Northern friends know about the Winnepeg lecture?

Odd that there's not more about it on the Gabii Blog; but they seem to be finding a lot of interesting things.

4dimensions.org...

reply to post by Destinyone


So true. The Asto guys on the Vatican hill in AZ love to talk.

reply to post by AtlasShrugging


I took this image from the german documentary you found:


Neutron Image of the coffins inside

If the researcher is right and we can see the pelvis in the middle, i assume the round shape is the skull. Is it just me or does this skull look odd - not very human like. I don't really believe in aliens, but this reminded me of the starchild skull - what do you think?

reply to post by reerac


say, nice work! at last, a picture.

reply to post by cookiemonster32

It must not have had anything of great interest in it because the article is 2 years old and there is nothing in the news since. Maybe is was someone who died from a disease.

S & F for the OP. Nice find. Seems interesting.

2nd line.

Originally posted by moonsighter
reply to post by cookiemonster32

 

It must not have had anything of great interest in it because the article is 2 years old and there is nothing in the news since. Maybe is was someone who died from a disease.

On the other hand, it is too often the highly interesting things that you never get any follow-up on.
In fact, and EVEN if follow-ups on odd discoverys turns out to be something totally conventional, I actually find it very rude to not give any further update to the general public on such cases.

reply to post by reerac


Fantastic image thanks it does look a bit eerie the skull looks quite intact and I think I can see some hands there too I wonder if there are any other artefacts inside guess they gonna have to open her up...