1000 pound lead coffin mystery, page 1

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...

reply to post by cookiemonster32

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I remember hearing about this too. That is good question, thanks for bringing it back up.

reply to post by cookiemonster32

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Not heard any more about this, unfortunately.

I know that that in Europe in the Medieval Period (obviously much later on than when they think the coffin dates from), lead coffins were indicative of plague victims (think Black Death, etc). Possibly this was an early version?

Either that or some very rich demonstrating their wealth even in death.

reply to post by andy06shake

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HAHAHA maybe thats what they did hence the reason no ones heard from them again...

reply to post by SUICIDEHK45

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you are more than welcome hopefully some one somewhere will know what happened to it, but to me it looks like someone really wanted whoever/whatever is in there to stay buried I would not be surprised if they open it up and find some OOPART inside defying expanation or it could just be a bag o bones

reply to post by cookiemonster32

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Here is some more info, and many photos....

« Ten Days in Sicily for AAR Fellows, with the American School of Classical Studies at Athens
AAR Resident Mary Gibson FAAR’03 Explores History of Rome’s Prisons after Italian Unification »
Gabii Project, AAR in the News for Lead “Burrito” Casket Study Effort

The mysterious Roman imperial “lead burrito” coffin. Photo: Gabii Project

You may have seen the headlines: “Mysterious lead coffin found near Rome”. “Ancient lead sarcophagus contains Roman VIP”. “Lead ‘burrito’ sarcophagus near Rome may hold a gladiator or a Christian dignitary”. And perhaps most to the point, “What the hell is buried in this half-ton coffin?”

The news story in question has to do with an unusual Imperial Roman lead sarcophagus, excavated 11 miles east of Rome in summer 2009 by the Gabii Project. The Gabii Project for the past three years has been studying and (starting last year) excavating near Palestrina the ancient Latin city of Gabii, a city-state that was once very much a rival to Rome. The University of Michigan sponsors the Gabii Project, which is directed by Michigan’s Nicola Terrenato, with excavations receiving the patrocinio of the American Academy in Rome.

sofaarome.wordpress.com...

I also shot an email to Nicola Terrenato, Univ. Michigan to see if we can get an update. Nicola Terrenato terrenat@umich.edu

Let's see if we can get an answer from him....

Des

reply to post by andy06shake

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or maybe it was whisked away to the deepest vatican vault that they could find...

reply to post by Destinyone

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WOW fantastic thanks so much for the info it is incredible hopefully you get a reply with some updated news regarding the buritto whoever it was must have been a major player back then to warrant the expensive coffin.

Originally posted by cookiemonster32
reply to post by Destinyone

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WOW fantastic thanks so much for the info it is incredible hopefully you get a reply with some updated news regarding the buritto whoever it was must have been a major player back then to warrant the expensive coffin.

If he is like other Professors I've dealt with, he loves to discuss his research. If he responds, I'll post it here, in your thread. I would really like to hear something new too.

Des

reply to post by cookiemonster32

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Looks like the lead investigator Nicola Terrenato has been doing some lecturing on the subject :"The Gabii Project excavation in Central Italy: The mystery of the ‘lead burrito’lapisgabinus.blogspot.ca...
But a quick search has not shown what the contents of the coffin were.

reply to post by cookiemonster32

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Wonder if it had a tri-foil symbol on it?



Also, it would be interesting to know how large the skeletal remains were?

reply to post by ofhumandescent

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that would be quite interesting if that was stamped into the lead and judging from the size of the coffin it was a pretty large person or maybe an average person with lots of grave goods.

reply to post by Flavian

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yes you are probably right it's some senator or something making a lasting testament to his/her wealth I suppose we will only know when they take a look inside, Destinyone had some extra stuff on the dig site and emailed the lead archeologist so we might find out soon what was in the coffin

Blog

via this site:

Gabii Project

This is all i could find, we could email the dude?

reply to post by waveydavey

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I emailed him early this morning at his office at the University. Hopefully, we'll get a reply, and some new info.

Des

Originally posted by cookiemonster32
reply to post by Flavian

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yes you are probably right it's some senator or something making a lasting testament to his/her wealth I suppose we will only know when they take a look inside, Destinyone had some extra stuff on the dig site and emailed the lead archeologist so we might find out soon what was in the coffin

As you know, the ancient wealthy Romans made their wine in lead caskets. For all we know, this may be the largest magnum of really really old Roman wine....

For winemakers in the Roman Empire, nothing but lead would do. When boiling crushed grapes, Roman vintners insisted on using lead pots or lead-lined copper kettles. "For, in the boiling," wrote Roman winemaker Columella, "brazen vessels throw off copper rust which has a disagreeable flavor." Lead’s sweet overtones, by contrast, were thought to add complementary flavors to wine and to food as well. (reference) The metal enhanced one-fifth of the 450 recipes in the Roman Apician Cookbook, a collection of first through fifth century recipes attributed to gastrophiles associated with Apicius, the famous Roman gourmet. From the Middle Ages on, people put lead acetate or "sugar of lead" into wine and other foods to make them sweeter. Lead touched many areas of Roman life. It made up pipes and dishes, cosmetics and coins, and paints. Eventually, as a host of mysterious maladies became more common, some Romans began to suspect a connection between the metal and these illnesses. But the culture’s habits never changed, and some historians believe that many among the Roman aristocracy suffered from lead poisoning.

corrosion-doctors.org...

Des

reply to post by Destinyone

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No wonder the Romans were crazy. Especially the elite? They could afford the luxury(?) of lead as a "spice".

So what does burying one in a lead coffin have to do with food additives back then? Not very much apparently. If you think about it, the rich probably would have used lead for jewelry or adornments on furniture like the Egyptians used gold. King Tut was buried with 7 tons of Au.

And they of course understand little of leads ability to protect from cosmic radiation. So what is this? Something designed to keep something in? Maybe every time they crack the seal on these they let some ancient evil out.

What was Pandora's box made of anyway?

The movie "The Keep" comes to mind.

reply to post by cookiemonster32

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maybe the arc of the covenant is in inside????

reply to post by Destinyone

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Sorry, but don't you mean 'her'? Isn't the name Nicola a females name? Sorry just wanted to point it out just incase as some people get funny about easy to make mistakes like that, Especially women who don't like being called Mr!

Apologies if it is in fact a he, just wanted t point it out incase.

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