(Toulouse) The two lead coffins discovered after the fire in Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral are those of a famous canon and an unknown noble rider, the scientists who analyzed them announced on Friday.
These anthropomorphic sarcophagi had been unearthed in March and May by teams from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) during excavations prior to reconstruction work on the spire of the cathedral, partly destroyed by the April 2019 fire.
They were then entrusted to the Forensic Institute of Toulouse responsible for opening them and studying the bones of the deceased and other objects present in the graves.
Located at the crossing of the transept, at a different location and depth, the two burials were in a good state of preservation.
PHOTO LIONEL BONAVENTURE, FRANCE PRESS AGENCY
The sarcophagus discovered first, in March, dates from “between the XIVe and the end of the XVIIe century” according to Christophe Besnier, head of the excavations. It contains the remains of an embalmed man whose identity has not yet been established.
According to Éric Crubéry, an anthropologist at the University of Toulouse III who participated in the analyses, this man would be “between 25 and 40 years old”, “practised horseback riding from a young age” and “had a slight cranial deformation” and probably tuberculosis, he said at a press conference in Toulouse.
It would probably be a wealthy notable, because only “4% of the nobility […] had the option of being embalmed or having a lead coffin,” he recalled.
Regarding the second sarcophagus, its location was known, and it contained an epitaph, medals and a plaque mentioning Canon Antoine de La Porte. The latter, who died at the age of 83 in 1710, was a prelate whose portrait is kept in the Louvre.
PHOTO LIONEL BONAVENTURE, FRANCE PRESS AGENCY
The plaque mentioning Canon Antoine de La Porte
Cathedral burials were practiced throughout the medieval and modern period. The places sought were near the choir, where the bishops and archbishops were buried.
The crossing of the transept was therefore a place very popular with notables and canons, recalled Christophe Besnier. “More than 300 people were buried in Notre-Dame” and this type of burial was “reserved[e] to an elite” because “lead was very expensive”.
Two hundred samples were taken from these remains and have yet to be analyzed in depth. A C14 dating will thus be carried out to date more precisely the seniority of the first deceased. The first results are expected in the first half of 2023.
The sarcophagi will remain in the hands of INRAP for another two years before being handed over to the Ministry of Culture, which will decide their fate.
The skeletons could then be reburied as was the case for other remains discovered during excavations.