NIJMEGEN, THE NETHERLANDS—According to a Dutch News report, scientists have reexamined the remains of a woman that were discovered in a lead coffin in the center of the city of Nijmegen in 2001. At the time, researchers thought that the woman had been a wealthy Roman. City archaeologist Joep Hendriks said that the “Lead Lady,” as she came to be known, may have actually been a menial laborer. First, the new study indicates that the lead coffin had been recycled. “It was a used coffin that had been folded inside out,” Hendriks said. It was too big for her, the ornamentation that is normally on the outside of a coffin was on the inside, and it had been covered with a tile, and not a lead lid, he explained. Second, the woman’s bones also show signs of arthritis, and wear on her teeth suggests that she used them as tools, perhaps to process animal skins or plants. Hendriks now thinks the woman may have been a rich Roman woman’s beloved servant, or a working woman who had made enough money to purchase a second-hand lead coffin. DNA analysis of the remains may reveal more about the woman’s identity. For more on the Netherlands in the Roman period, go to "Romans Go Dutch."
