NEWSCLIPS REGARDING LEAD-LINED COFFINS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00789R002300540002-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 6, 2000
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: October 27, 1992
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved F
From Md. Coffins, a Cryptic Tale
01/031
METRO
oeT %E? 1:r~,
Approved
HOW TO MOVE ANCIENT LEAD COFFINS
L ead-covered wood coffins were discovered within the ruins of colonial
America's first English Catholic church at St. Mary's City. Datingfrom the
1600s, they are believed to contain the remains of Maryland's founding family
They are not only fragile, but very heavy-the largest is estimated to weigh
1,500 to 2,000 pounds. An elaborate system has been designed to move them
safely.
? The grave is excavated, leaving
a raised four-inch shelf of earth
beneath each coffin. Gamma-ray
technology is used to get some idea
of what is inside.
?A small hole is drilled and air
samples are taken. A sophis-
ticated system analyzes the air to
see if it is pre-1850. An Inert gas
is then introduced to keep out
oxygen that would produce decay.
In turn, a metal frame Is placed
next to each coffin. A metal
plate is pushed under the casket by
hydraulic jacks with 30 ions of
pressure. Four inchesof earth is
kept between the casket and the
heavy steel plate for safety.
?A chain hoist lifts plate and all to
a cart, Coffins then will be moved
to a lab and opened, and their
contents studied.
El A larger hole is drilled, and a fiber-optic scope with a flexible shaft is
inserted to check for cracks and fissures. The instrument has a built-in TV
camera and is similar to that used by doctors to see Inside the human body.
2300540002-6
ST. MARY'S CITY, Md., Oct. 26-Such a
fuss they've made over some stale air.
Whether three 17th-century lead coffins un-
covered here contain pre-Industrial Revolution
air has been the subject of intense speculation
and media coverage encouraged by officials at
this 850-acre archaeological site, Maryland's
first colonial capital.
Finally today, after months of preparations
and a weekend of scientific analysis of stale cof-
fin air at NASA's Langley Research Center in
Hampton, the scientists faced a roomful of re-
porters and cameras to announce their conclu-
sion.
They don't know.
They may never know.
"It's extremely complex," said Wesley R.
Cofer III, a NASA atmospheric scientist. Tests
to determine the presence of freon, which would
date the air from, say, 1940 on, were inconclu-
sive. Other test results showing levels of carbon
dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide higher than
normal could be attributed to decomposition of
the corpse, he said. Only time and more study
may tell.
The chemical composition of old air would
help provide insight on how the Earth's atmos-
phere has been altered since the start of the
Industrial Revolution.
"There's no hurry," he said. "These samples
sat for 300 years. They can sit another 30
days."
Said Joel Levine, his boss, "You've got to
remember, less than 72 hours ago, we didn't
have the air. To expect results at this point is
really unrealistic. We said the chances of suc-
cess were one in one million to one in one
thousand."
And, said Henry Miller, director of what
officials are calling "Project Lead Coffins: The
Search for Maryland's Founders," there's
more than hot air here. The question of who
was buried in the extravagant coffins is still
pending.
Official speculation about the largest coffin's
inhabitant centers on Philip Calvert, half broth-
er to Maryland's first governor and the young-
est son of the first Lord Baltimore. Calvert was
wealthy enough to afford a lead coffin. Miller
said he is excited by the discovery of brass tacks
in the largest coffin. They may be arranged in
the shape of initials, he said.
The coffins were found in the foundation
of
.
the Great Brick Chapel, one of the oldest Ro-
For Release 2001/03/07 : CfAS'RD 1 96= R00230054m ?6, coL 3
 Approved For Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002300540002-6
THE WASHINGTON POST TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27,1992 B5
17th-Century Coffins Yield Stale .Air, Little Morei
COFFINS, From B1
man Catholic churches in the country. But ar-
chaeologists have not found any marks that
would indicate the identity of the occupants.
The coffins are scheduled to be opened the
second week of November.
To help identify the remains, Project Lead
Coffins has enlisted Clyde Snow, a forensic an-
thropologist who identified the body of Nazi
Joseph Mengele.
Today's non-announcement on the coffin's
air quality followed days of high drama as sci-
entists used sophisticated devices to take shad-
owy pictures of the coffins' insides and to ex-
tract liters of air from the largest,`the only one
they concluded might actually be airtight.
But today, they weren't even sure of .that.
Cofer said he detected in the testing results :'a
few ripples, one of which may be freon." If that
is so, this tale from the crypt would be over.
But that was all right with Levine, NASA's
chief atmospheric scientist. He said the media
coverage had focused public attention on prob-
lems of global warming and the ozone layer.
The stale air caper has even inspired a "Sat-
urday Night Live" spoof. "There's a certain
"There's no hurry. These
samples sat for 300 years.
They can sit another 30
days."
- Wesley R. Cofer
drama to this whole process," said Brian Myer,
a producer for ABC's "Nightline," which is film-
ing at the site. "Each day is a mystery."
To extract the air, the scientists used a de
vice developed by Mark Moore, of the Armed-~-
Forces Radiobiology Research Institute. A cus--,
tom-made hollow needle was screwed into the-
lead. The air was extracted and argon, an inert,
gas, was pumped into the coffin to preserve the-,
remains.
The archaeological project, underway for*-'.,.
two years now, has greatly increased attend-
ance at the site of the colonial city, which be. came a ghost town after the capital was moved in 1695 to Annapolis. While no original build-,-,
ings remain, Miller said, foundations, artifacts,.-t:
coffins, and, just perhaps, 17th-century air,:..
were "fossilized" beneath the Southern Mary..
land soil.
"We shouldn't be discouraged," Levine said -:
"Eventually, someone will find a sample of pre-
[18501 air. We have written another important-'
chapter in that search."
Approved For Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002300540002-6
 page 28
Tuesday, November 17, 1992
T!~ LP,acl 0114 s
By Kenneth C. Rossignol
ST. MARYS TODAY
ST.MARYSCITY. Astheasscnblcd
group of scientists and medical examiners
from around the United States examined the
remains of the three occupants of the now
famous Lead Coffins, one member of the
Historic St. Mary's City Commission staff
told ST. MARYSTODAY that there were no
personal belongings, no jewelry or crucifixes
or other items that the pathologists use to
enhance their knowledge of modern day
bodies that they examine.
"Maybe people are less sure today of
resurrection," said a researcher referring to
modern customs of taking a little something
with them into the grave. "People back then
led very simple lives, they didn't have a lot
and would have left their belongings behind
for others".
In any event, theoccupantsof the first
two coffins were found to have not been
buried with any keepsakes. Some particles
of ribbon and lace were fnrmd around the
wrists of the woman and some fabric was
found inside. ,
The one year old baby was buried with
a shroud and some small brass pins had been,
at the time of burial, holding the shroud in
place. In the colonial days most people were
buried without clothing, they took seriously
the ashes to ashes proverb and were going out
without the extensive clothing ensembles
that are popular in today's caskets.
The expert medical examiners, who'
included some of the same people who work
on the Armed Forces most severe and tragic
aircraft crashes and took part in the Gulf
War two
ears
a
w
y
.
go,
ere among those who
looked the bones over for clues as to the lives
the people led in the late 1600's.
The bodies would have had to had
been interred in the floor of the church
between 1666 and 1705--the time period
which the St. Mary's Chapel was used as
church before the British Crown Governor
ordered it closed for worship as part of the
religious persecution of Catholics in Mary-
land.
Paul Sledzik, a member of the Armed
Services Institute of Pathology in Washing-
ton, D. C. took a break from the autopsy of
the woman Wednesday evening to discuss
the progress of the day.
"This is not your usual type of au-
topsy, but certainly a variation," he told ST.
MARYS TODAY. le ik s d i th
s
`
02300540002-6
An Army bombcart is loaded with the lead coffin containing a person that
researchers had hoped would turn out to be Philip Calvert. Below, an anxious crowd of
spectators and television camera operators await the hoist of the coffin. Right Paul
Sledzik points to tv monitor as he discusses the autopsy of the woman in the second coffin
with Joe Anderson. Below, the skull and the bones of the woman are being cleaned, and
Mark Moore, below gives the final OK to bring up the last coffin.
ST. MARYS TODAY photos
surgic4p Wo&ibd
d a,
U ' 2001t1OW ni DP96 OQ s$afliR002t30QA P2g6as dry-rotted and ter-
sown:bones after' wear da ~ but had lost aloft, carefully turning it, and looking inside. mite ridder o~other insects were ..present
;na n d the on usiasm he had for helping to Some brain tissue me be mu mi-, ~
y >n mside It . Q ]QO a
11
is,,were; resent
,.. _ .- fiPYt " CAM CtP~l~i4 rtrvty _-., ...?~? e'f "fir: ' . P~
 Approved For Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002300540002-6
0! call back yesterday,
bid time return. William Shakespeare, Richard II
In the aftermath
of six frenzied
weeks at
Historic St.
Mary's City,
some work has
been concluded,
but for others
the work has
just begun.
Gall
THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN. Long before there
were Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards or Mid-
shipmen walking the streets of Annapolis, there
was a hardscrabble village on the shores of South-
ern Maryland. St. Mary's City, the 17th-century
colonial capital of Maryland, rose up amid strife
on the site of a former Indian village. Although
much of the colonial city still lies buried beneath
the sod, the past is beginning to come to life.
In the fall of 1990, three lead coffins were found
buried within the excavated foundation of a 17th-
century brick chapel-called the Great Brick
Chapel by archaeologists-the oldest Roman
Catholic Church of English origin in America.
Dr. Henry Miller, Director of Research at Historic
St. Mary's City in St. Mary's County, recalls the
day his team of archaeologists unearthed the
lead coffins.
"The sky turned black, and a cold wind blew up
out of nowhere," he said. "It was eerie."
The discovery was one of historical signifi-
cance. Lead coffins signified wealth and social
stature. Miller and fellow archaeologists Tim
Riordan and Silas Hurry speculated that the un-
usual biers, completely encased in lead, might
contain the well-preserved remains of 17th-cen-
tury colonists-perhaps those of the founding
Calvert family. Their excitement stemmed from
an 18th-century account of two lead coffins dis-
covered in St. MIirv's City by some adventurous
Science students--eottins that belonged to the
first royal governor of Maryland, Lionel Copley,
whose remains were buried in a brick vault at
Trinity Episcopal Church. In 1799, the students
found the cadaver of Copley's wife to be in an
exceptionally well-preserved state. The account
stated that when they opened Lady Copley's cof-
fin-some 100 years after her burial-they found
that her hair, clothing and even facial features
were totally preserved. Their revelation exacted
a high price; within five hours of being exposed to
air, she turned to dust. Now, historians and. ar-
chaeologists at St. Mary's City could scarcely
contain their excitement. Could there be such
preservation in the coffins at Chapel Fields? And
who was buried in the lead coffins?
The chapel was built in 1665 and torn down in
1704. Whoever was buried in the crypt at Chapel
Fields, had to have died within that time span.
Thus, the most likely candidate was Philip Calvert,
a pivotal figure in Maryland's colonial history who
died sometime after December 22, 1682.
Historical archaelogists at St. Mary's always
knew they had one of the most pristine archaeo-
logical sites in colonial America. Jamestown, site
of the 1607 colony, had long since half-eroded
into the James River. Plymouth and Boston, which
followed Virginia on the colonial frontier, were
buried under tons of urban concrete and asphalt.
St. Mary's City, however, was positioned on a high
bluff overlooking a tributary of the Potomac
River. In the late 1970's, land acquisition battles
for the historic park were fought and, finally,
over 800 acres of the townlands were procured
for preservation.
Archaeological research progressed as innu-
merable four by four foot excavated test pits
revealed where roads once led along the ancient
town; where fence palings were; where structures
stood; where 17th-century colonists discarded
their waste. Such research gave historians much
information about what early Marylanders ate,
how they lived, and how the site evolved over
time. As more money became available to con-
duct research, Chapel Fields became an
archaeological summer school where St.
Marv s College otMar~ l.uxl students tooli an eight-
credit summer course. Maps carefully penned
under the hot summer sun provided historians
with a look back into time.
The three lead coffins first appeared as a
dark stained anomaly beneath the topsoil. Archae-
ologists could tell that the soil had been disturbed,
but it wasn't until ground-penetrating radar was
used during the summer of 1990 that they discov-
ered the presence of somethingsubstantial. When
the summer school was finished and archaeolo-
gists were concluding their work for the fall, they
decided to determine once and for all what lay
beneath the left branch of the cross.
When the lead coffins were unearthed, news
media from Washington and Baltimore were
Bcwk Yesterckty
COLONIAL BURIALS IN ST. MARY'S CITY
By JOSEPH NORRIS
PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARKUS WHITE U.S. NAVY P11oTo LAB
42 MARY el.iMgXgg FFgrGl9lease 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002300540002-6
 Approved For Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002300540002-6
summoned to the scene. Historic St. Mary's City,
which for years had struggled to gain notoriety as
the site of the state's 17th-century capital, sud-
denly found itself thrust into the national
limelight. Ted Koppel of ABC's Nightline, a St.
Mary's County resident, donated $80,000 to the
project in exchange for exclusive rights to the
story. St. Mary's City suddenly had something
substantial to show for 25 years of laborious
research.
Miller, to his credit, spent the next two years
bringing together the most notable and advanced
team of specialists he could find. Meanwhile, the
coffins were reburied. The six-week project to
unc;uth and open the cabins \V:is scheduled to
take place in October of 1992.
In April of 1992, Miller and Riordan examined
the Copley crypt at Trinity Episcopal Church in
St. Mary's City. "The Lionel Copley crypt was a
very important part of the archaeology, because
it helped us to think of the right questions to ask
about the other three lead coffins," Silas Hurry
noted later. "We knew that such coffins existed in
17th-century England, but this was a rough and
ready frontier."
If the three lead coffins found at St. Mary's City
had been discovered 10 years ago, much of the
technology used to decipher their contents would
not have been available. In the 1990's, however,
historical archaeologists were able to utilize a
variety of sciences to their utmost advantage. In
fact, some technology was created specifically for
the project. For example, Mark Moore, head of
the tactical team at Historic St. Mary's City,
works for the Armed Forces Radio-Biology Insti-
tute. Ile suggested to Miller that they use a new
process called Gamma Ray Imaging to take pho-
tographs through the lead coffins to determine
what was inside. Along with engineers from the
Naval Warfare CenterAircraft Division and the Naval
Electronics System EngineeringActivity, Moore de-
signed a device to extract air samples for NASA and
to introduce an inertgas called Argon into the coffins
to help with preservation.
"This was an experiment of opportunity,"
NASA's Joel Levine pointed out. "Right now, one
of the key questions that we're interested in is our
global environment. What was theearth's atmo-
sphere like prior to worldwide industrialization?
At this point, we can only speculate because we only
began makingmeasurements of the composition and
chemistry of the earth's atmosphere in 1958."
The Gamma Ray Imaging promised to yield
much information. The smallest coffin appeared
to contain the reinterred remains of an adult,
fueling speculation that Leonard Calvert, the first
governor of Maryland, might be buried there. The
middle coffin showed a skull turned to its side,
but the photo taken of the largest coffin had the
whole camp buzzing. To those hopeful of com-
plete preservation, there appeared to be a human
face, revealing eyes, a nose, a mouth, chin and
neck. Fibreoptic cameras were inserted into the
coffins and the rummaging lenses revealed in-
credible preservation of the wood in the
largest coffin.
The first disappointment came when NASA
scientists tried to analyze the roughly two liters of
air they had successfully extracted from the lead
coffins. Because of decompostion that had taken
place inside the coffin from which the best sample
was obtained, scientists thought it might be months
before they could complete their analysis.
The atmosphere surrounding the actual extrac-
tion of the coffins from their resting place of 300
years was tense with excitement, but when the
coffins were at last opened, there was disappoint-
ment that the preservation was not as good as had
been hoped.
The smallest coffin was found to contain the
diminutive skeleton of a six month old female
child. "The child was a complete surprise," Silas
Hurry commented. "In the 17th-century, it was
Toi' Leer: Mark Moore,
who works for the
Radiations Source
Department of the
Armed Forces Radio-
Biology Institute, is head
of the tactical team at
Historic St. Mary's City.
Moore helped to design
a device to extract air
from the coffins. Here
he is preparing to
introduce Argon into
one of the coffins to
assist in the
preservation of the
remains.
ABOVE: Left to right, Joe
Matthews of the
Patuxent River Naval
Air Station, Mark Moore,
and Andy Amber of the
Naval Electronic
Systems Engineering
Activity at St. Inigoes,
remove a coffin to the
laboratory tent where it
will be open 'd.
Approved For Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00789,5,.9
, 04AM A,nL 43
 Approved For Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00789ROO2300540002-6
Let's talk of graves,
of worms, and epitaphs...
William Shakespeare, Richard II
Tor: The remains of an
infant female surprised
archaeologists. In the
17th century, children
under the age of six
were rarely given such
elaborate burial. "The
fact tluu they interred
the child in a lead-
sheathed coffin," said
archaeologist Silas
Hurry, "speaks volumes
about how important
she was to somebody.
Borrow: An initial
gammagraph from the
largest coffin suggested
the ghostly image of a
human face and lead to
hopeful speculation that
preservation of the
remains in this coffin
might be complete.
extremely rare to have such effort put into a
child's burial. In fact, it was not unusual to give
several children the same name in the hope that
one of them would live to adulthood. The fact
that this child was interred in a lead-sheathed
coffin says volumes about how important the
child was to somebody."
The second coffin revealed the incredibly well-
preserved remains of a middle-aged woman who
some theorize to be the first wife of Philip Calvert,
Ann Wolsey. The woman's hands, knees and feet
were tied together with ribbons, apparently of
sills, and a how \V?as still visible when the lid \\-as
lifted. The woman's hair, still intact, was brown
with some gray in it.
"What is really unusual is that all over the body
are sprigs of a herbaceous plant of some type
which has been tentatively identified as Rose-
mary," Miller said. "Perhaps it was important in
burial rites. There is some information that the
17th-century English associated Rosemary with
remembrance."
"The woman had been in poor health for some
time," he said. The femur of right leg, he explained,
was broken and had been set poorly. The point of
breakage had been infected and, he speculated, it
might eventually have been the cause of death.
"The lower end of the femur was twisted out-
ward, which would have caused the woman to
walk with a limp," Dr. Richard Froede, Chief
Medical Examiner of the Armed Forces Institute
of Pathology, added. "How did it happen? It could
have been a fall-a fall from a horse, for example,
or a fall in the home."
Of special interest were blood clots located at the
bate of the woman's braid. a (Y,rrtgl r".,,~,
might have been the cause ofherdeath. "We carefully
removed the blood and, under a microscope, we
could see red blood cells that were over 300 years
old," Froede said. "To me, this is phenomenal."
"The blood can be rehydrated,"Millerexplained.
"We can look at the woman's blood type and we
can look at the diseases she was suffering from,
since this is where the antibodies that the body
produces to fight off disease reside. For example,
historians have suggested that a major disease of
the Chesapeake region was malaria. If this woman
lived in Maryland for many years, which is likely,
she would have been infected, and we will be able to
look at the blood sample and identify malaria. There
is a lot of information here."
The largest coffin, which had held the greatest
promise for archaelogists, proved a disappointment.
"Because of the gammagrams, we had some
expectation of finding good preservation," Miller
said, "but what we found was a body in a very poor
state of preservation. Much of the bone had been
replaced by a white ash-like material that we're
still trying to identify. It has completely replaced
the bones and tissue of the upper body. The
forensic scientists say they've never seen any-
thing quite like it. It may be associated
embalming."
"So what do we know about this individual?" he
continued. "It was an adult male, approximately
five foot three in height and, based upon evidence
of arthritis and wear on some of the joints, prob-
ably an older gentleman. There were remnants
of ribbons around the neck, at the sides and
around the waist, possibly part of a garment
There is also evidence of leather. It's very unusual to
find someone buried in clothing from that time
period, and it is certainly unlike the burial of the
woman and child who were wrapped in shrouds."
One of the clues, presently being explored by
entomologists, is the absence of fly casings or larvae
in the large coffin. This suggests burial in the cold
time of the year-and that clue fits very nicely with
speculation that the man is Philip Calvert who is
known to have died in the winter months.
"There are many small clues that we're going to
need to assemble and work out," Miller said.
In the aftermath of six frenzied weeks at his-
toric St. Mary's City, some work has been
concluded, but for others the work hasjust begun.
After being treated and stablized, the human
remains were transported to the Smithsonian.
"Some samples from all of the burials were not
treated so that we could have them for future
chemical tests," Hurry explained. "We must be
extremely careful not to lose information." His-
torians and preservationists are recording
information about the construction of the wood
and lead portions of the Collins; tree-ring dating
specialists are studying the wood itself. The
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology is going to do
DNA analysis on the physical remains, and if they
Approved For Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00789ROO2300540002-6
44 MARYLAND MAGAZINE SPRING 1993
 Approved For Release 2OQA1c/QWp7A;NGIA P9 Q 7A%F309;;Q (QA-?CE ,*
The project has drawn
attention to the fact
that Historic
St. Mary's City is a
spectacular
archaeological site.
can extract DITA from the child, they may
be able to look at genetic relationships
between the child and two adults. Addition-
ally, the ramifications of Project Lead Coffins
for forensic science are wide-ranging.
Mark Moore was not disappointed.
"Those coffins could not have been
treated better if they were made out of
crystal," lie said. "We wanted to give the
forensic scientists the best chance to
find and assemble information, and I am
pleased with the results."
And what has Project Lead Coffins done
for I listoric St. Mary's City? The fallout is
already evident. Tourism to the site in 1992
was up substantially.
"The project has drawn attention to
the fact that this is a spectacular ar-
;i itlt ic;il itc.".\lillcr :lid. "'fhclcad'
coftins are only one of the rich historical
resources still to he discovered here. St.
Mary's City is a unique and irreplaceable
part of Our history."
Silas I Iurry was emphatic in his agree-
ment. "The origins of Maryland are buried
here at St. Mary's City but only by careful
historical and archaeological research
are we going to be able to bring this
history to life. We want to commemo-
rate and tell that story."
"The 17th century was, in many ways,
an alien time," he continued, "but the
17th century set many things in mo-
tion-helping to create an American
personality and way of life that is really
different from that of the English or any
other European group."
"It's been very exciting," Miller said
finally, "and very draining. The people
who volunteered their time, resources
and energy have been remarkable. From
the project's inception we have tried to
make sure that everything was done in a
proper and respectful manner. It will be
fitting to be able to remark these graves
and to say who these individuals are."?
HAVE THE
BEST?
BRIGHTWOOD HAS IT ALL. A place where people over
60, from all walks of life, enjoy an elegant, distinctive
lifestyle. Brightwood is Baltimore's finest retirement
community offering an unequalled combination of
security, value, peace of mind and true freedom of
choice. It is truly retirement living at its very best.
Which makes Brightwood the one community you
must see before making any decision.
BRIGH 1tK Q0ID
Retirement Living At Its Very Best.
Call or write for more information and a copy of our video presentation.
100 BRIGHTWOOD CLUB DRIVE ? LUTHERVILLE, MARYLAND 21093
410-321-9501
Instant
TOURISM
Information
Maryland 900-VISITOR-
has instant information on
daily events throughout
all the regions of Maryland.
Choose a category, call l-900?VISITOR-
on your touch-tone phone, and follow easy
instructions. Number available after 3/31/93.
1-900-VISITOR'
$2.00 per minute.
CALL NOW. 24 HOURS A DAY.
S." Nd. i-s rMMairxrHnt, 1-
Approved For Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002300540002-6
SPRING 1993 MARYLAND MAGAZINE 45