Case of mysterious medieval skeleton buried in Roman-era sarcophagus at Westminster Abbey finally solved

In the late 1800s, the clergy of Westminster Abbey stumbled upon a mysterious sarcophagus. The lid was decorated with an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon cross, but the base bore a 4th-century Roman funerary inscription. For almost 150 years, the tomb has baffled experts, but the abbey’s consulting archaeologist may have finally discovered who was buried there, according to a new study.

Westminster’s chief mason dug up the stone sarcophagus in 1869, but when experts investigated they discovered the grave had been looted earlier this century. Experts also noted that the carved decoration on the side of the sarcophagus was stylistically Romanwith a Latin inscription which can be translated as “In memory of Valerius Amandinus. Valerius Superventor and Marcellus did this for their father.” But a huge medieval cross had been carved into the lid of the sarcophagus, suggesting the tomb had been reused to bury an important religious figure hundreds of years later.