'Truly Unique' Roman Lead Coffin Found to Contain Child's Remains

The ancient lead coffin being prepared by conservator Emma Bowron at Leeds City Museum. The coffin, which is thought to be more than 1,600 years old, will soon go on public display.

Archaeologists studying a “truly unique and remarkable” lead coffin from Roman times have made a “fascinating” discovery, identifying a set of previously undocumented remains.

The coffin, thought to be more than 1,600 years old, was unearthed during excavations in 2022 at a site located in the metropolitan district of Leeds—a city in the county of West Yorkshire, northern England.

Experts with West Yorkshire Archaeological Services, who conducted the excavations, initially identified the remains in the coffin as belonging to a woman, aged 25 to 35 at death, who was buried wearing a bracelet, glass bead necklace and a finger ring or earring. It is believed she was of high status, perhaps an aristocrat during Rome’s occupation of Britain, which lasted from A.D. 43 to A.D. 410.

But further analysis of the bones in the coffin has now found the partial remains of an unknown child, thought to have been around 10 years old at the time of death, that had previously gone unnoticed.

The remains of the child were not identified initially because the bones found in the coffin were so old and fragmented, meaning it would have been challenging for experts to tell one person from another until further testing had been conducted.

“In this case, there were only very partial remains of the child, so nothing initially obvious to suggest it was more than one person until the experts analyzed the bones further,” Stuart Robinson, a spokesperson for Leeds City Council, told Newsweek.

“We won’t know—and probably never will—who the child was or what their relationship was to the Roman woman, but we do know that their burials took place round about the same period. So it has raised really interesting questions about late Roman burial practices in Britain,” he continued.

These types of artifacts are rare, and the lead coffin is the first of its kind found in West Yorkshire, according to Kat Baxter, the curator of archaeology at Leeds Museums and Galleries.

The coffin and its delicate lid, which have been significantly warped by centuries underground, are currently being conserved and stabilized ahead of being displayed to the public for the first time.

The coffin (minus the human remains) is set to be shown at Leeds City Museum as part of an upcoming exhibition called “Living With Death,” which opens on May 3 and explores how cultures across the world approach death, dying and bereavement.

“This is a truly unique and remarkable find which has potentially huge implications for our understanding of the history of early Leeds and those who made their home here,” Baxter said in a press release.

“The discovery of the remains of a second individual within the coffin is fascinating, particularly as they belonged to a child. It poses some interesting questions about how people more than 1,600 years ago treated their dead,” she added.

The coffin was not the only intriguing find uncovered during the 2022 excavations. Archaeologists also unearthed the remains of more than 60 men, women and children dated to the late Roman and early medieval periods.

Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about archaeology? Let us know via [email protected].

Related Articles

Start your unlimited Newsweek trial