Isophoric News · Thursday, October 22, 2026
Archaeologist proposes a medieval abbot lay in the Roman sarcophagus found at Westminster Abbey
Warwick Rodwell, the consultant archaeologist at Westminster Abbey, writes in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association that the skeleton found inside a Roman sarcophagus at the abbey was most likely a medieval abbot, the Guardian and Live Science reported. The fourth-century sarcophagus, which carries a Latin inscription to Valerius Amandinus, was excavated in 1869, and the lid was later carved with a large Anglo-Saxon cross, according to the Guardian. Radiocarbon dating placed the bones between 987 and 1052, Live Science reported, and Rodwell says the burial's dignity points to a senior churchman and favors Ælfwig, who died about 1020, over Wulfnoth, who died about 1049. "There's a lot more complication than one initially sees," Rodwell told the Guardian.
