Mysterious Lead Coffin Discovered

An extraordinary half-ton lead coffin

"We're very excited about this find," Terrenato said. "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 this age—the second, third or fourth century A.D. We know of virtually no others in this region."

Mysterious Lead Coffin Found Near Rome

"It's a sheet of lead folded onto itself an inch thick," he said. "A 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."

An archaeological mystery in a half-ton lead coffin

The next few weeks could see the findings released. They intend to slightly heat the coffin to get a thermal response that indicates what's inside. Failing that, they have the option of dragging it's half-ton ass to an MRI scanner at a hospital.

The contents are likely those of an important Roman character. On the other hand, I can imagine a great X-Files episode if the contents are more unexpected.

I doubt that they could MRI through 1-inch of lead. And it's thousand-pound weight might crush the MRI patient table. They should just cut through the lead, to form a lid to lift off. No cutting torch required - lead is soft metal.

I believe this is the same coffin already discussed here.

Hopefully, there will be some additional information to evaluate in that thread at the very least.

Awesome... The problem is, if they find something REALLY cool and unexpected inside they will just give us some BS story saying that it's just some bones or something...

I'd like to be there when they open it!

Yeah I just hope that someone who was there leaks out some info about what it really was. Even if it is human it must be somebody very important. I wonder how well everything will be preserved. should be pretty good, its airtight, isn`t it? maybe thats the point of using lead. maybe whoever made this didnt have any other practical way to make something airtight. Maybe its something that SHOULDN`T be opened... or released... damn I hate the anticipation!


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

so maybe it isnt a coffin. maybe there is teasure inside. they dont know whats in there right? treasure might be worth using lead for instead of wood. just my 2

Well, according to an article from the other thread:

"All we can say so far about the contents is that the lead wrapping contains a human skeleton — or at least a portion thereof — as there is visible bone at the open, foot-end of the sarcophagus," McMaster University archeologist Jeffrey Becker, managing director of the U.S.-led dig at Gabii, told Canwest News Service.

Read more: www.vancouversun.com...

Looks like the coffin is already partially open.

Originally posted by TLomon
I believe this is the same coffin already discussed here.

Hopefully, there will be some additional information to evaluate in that thread at the very least.

Fair call. I looked at the date of the links and had a swift look at recent threads in this section before posting.

Mods can lock the thread

They mention that the location the cofin was located at is near the actual birthplace of rome itself, Romulus and Remus? (right?) were the two brothers that began Rome...

Wasn't that located near Sparta or Troy? (Can't remember off hand...)

Would be interesting if they just so happen to have discovered one of those noteable people...

reply to post by DarkspARCS


Apparently it's from the 3rd or 4th century AD so it wouldn't be Romulus or Remus, just a wealthy dude from the arse end of the Western Empire at about the time of Christianisation. Very wealthy person to warrant such a coffin, could be a very important find with loads of information.

Pity if there's one really pissed-off radioactive vampire in there, or something.

"So, THAT'S where Cthulu's been these past 20 millennia...AAAA!"

Interesting find,i really hope we get to hear & see whats inside,i'm not up to scratch with lead coffins,was it a normal thing or just for really important higher up type people ?
if it's someone very important we might never know.

Originally posted by rhynouk
Interesting find,i really hope we get to hear & see whats inside,i'm not up to scratch with lead coffins,was it a normal thing or just for really important higher up type people ?
if it's someone very important we might never know.

Hiya rhynouk. They weren't so much 'normal' as infrequent. Certainly limited to people of wealth with disposable currency. The one in this thread is slightly unusual amongst Roman lead coffins by weight of lead and shape. Here's an example of other lead coffins...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9f5162c38574.jpg[/atsimg]

This is one that was opened in 2007 and of a far lesser quality...

reply to post by Kandinsky


That is a great find and I am guessing it has a noble person or member of royalty inside of it. I also wonder if they were buried with any treasures and used the lead coffin as a determent to thieves.

reply to post by Kandinsky


thx for the pics,i stumbled on this thread & didn't know lead coffin were ever used,i always thought people were buried in wooden ones.
i've done a little research on ancient egypt but never the romans..i might give it a go.
thx again


[edit on 3-5-2010 by rhynouk]