New analysis of an ancient Roman sarcophagus unearthed on the grounds of Westminster Abbey by workmen more than two centuries ago may have finally identified the mysterious skeleton found within.
Led by Professor Warwick Rodwell, Consultant Archaeologist at Westminster Abbey, the new analysis suggests that the unidentified remains may belong to an 11th-century monk who served as an Abbot and was known to have been buried there.
Mysterious Skeleton Rediscovered After Most Believed It Was Lost
In 1820, workmen in Britain’s famed Westminster Abbey accidentally unearthed the sarcophagus, smashing the lid into six pieces in the process. But it wasn’t until 1869 that the sarcophagus was “rediscovered ” and the nearly 50-year-old damage was repaired.
That 1869 excavation also identified an inscription on the sarcophagus to Valerius Amandinus, a wealthy Briton who lived 1,500 years earlier. Estimates place his lifetime between 300 and 400 AD.
Adding to the mysterious sarcophagus’ origin was a Latin phrase sculpted on its lid dating from the 10th or 11th century. The research team behind the new analysis said this discovery suggested that the sarcophagus “may belong to someone who had died many centuries later.”
According to the study’s authors, the skeleton inside the sarcophagus had long been believed lost after the 19th-century analysis. However, the stone coffin was sent to a conservation studio, where those who opened it were greeted with an unexpected surprise.
“When (Langthorne from Pre-Construct Archaeology) PCA researchers lifted the lid, they found to their surprise an almost-complete skeleton inside,” the researchers explained.
New Analysis Identifies a Taller, Older Man
A 2025 excavation, preparing the site for next year’s opening of King Charles III Sacristy at the Abbey, included the new analysis of the mysterious skeleton by James Young, a human bone specialist.
After taking several measurements, Young determined that the deceased individual was male, roughly 5’9” tall. The bone expert also placed the dead man’s age between 35 and 49 years.
The researchers said these new estimates differ from those made in the 1800s. At that time, a skeletal analysis determined that the deceased was a “robust young man” no more than 30 years of age and a measurably shorter 5’7” in height.
To date the remains, researchers sent a bone sample from the mysterious skeleton to the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Center. There, carbon dating of the bone sample suggested a date of 987 to 1052 AD.
Professor Rodwell said this date “confirms that the reuse of the sarcophagus, and the associated remodeling of its cover” occurred sometime during England’s late Saxon period.”
Abbot Aelfwig: The Likeliest Occupant?
Although the mysterious skeleton’s identity was not immediately clear, the professor said he believed that it was not Valerius after all. Instead, he believes the remains belonged to an Abbey monk named Aelfwig. According to the researchers, Aelfwig died around 1020, which fits the carbon dating, after a career as an Abbot at Westminster Abbey and at a Benedictine monastery.
The research team said another contender for the mysterious skeleton was Aelfwig’s successor, Wulnoth. Like Aelfwig, he was believed to have been buried at the Abbey, and his 1049 death also fits the timeline.
“We have two viable contenders for the occupant of the sarcophagus,” Professor Rodwell said, adding that researchers and historians “do not know the date of birth of either.”
While either man would fit the mysterious skeleton’s timeline, Rodwell said that since Aelfwig was already a monk of Westminster, a tiebreaker “might favour him.”
The sarcophagus is currently on public display in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey. The study was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the British Archaeological Association.
Christopher Plain has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Reporter at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his novels at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.