In 2011, a mysterious 19th century mummy was discovered in Queens, a district of New York City. Thanks to imaging methods, the body of the young African-American finally reveals its secrets to researchers.
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When workers at a construction site in Queens, New-York, undertook their work, they were far from expecting to find a mummy under their backhoe loader. A mummy 160 years old locked in an amazing iron coffin, at the origin of a fascinating scientific investigation.
A discovery worthy of a novel
In 2011, the group of workers discovered themorbid object on a construction site. A strange-looking body with dark skin and frizzy hair, clad in a garment stained with dirt and damp. The police initially believe that this is the remains of a victim recently shot, but her analysis quickly reveals a much stranger story, and much older.
Of metal fragments discovered near the construction site belonged to a luxurious coffin crafted metal, conforming to the shape of the victim’s body. As this type of object was produced only for a brief period in the 19th century, archaeologists were thus able to deduce, with the help of the victim’s funeral clothes, that the latter would have died in the mid-1800s.
One man in particular was fascinated by this discovery. Scott Warnasch, forensic archaeologist, had a passion for these coffins after having discovered them a few years before in New Jersey. “I am obsessed with these iron coffins since 2005, he confides. I told the team ‘This is not a crime scene, it’s historical“”.
Inspection of the premises revealed that the coffin had been smashed by a construction machine, before the latter drags the remains with him into the earth. While brushing the body, Warnasch and the team revealed the remains of a african american woman dressed in a dress resembling a 19th century nightgown, a wool cap and thick high socks.
In the footsteps of Matha Peterson
Thanks to several non-invasive imaging methods, the researchers succeeded in establishing a biological profile of the mysterious victim. The young woman would have had between 25 and 30 years old at the time of his death, and would have measured 1m57. Her skin, perfectly preserved, showedmarks of smallpoxon his forehead and chest.
The original site of this astonishing discovery would have been the old site of establishment of a church, founded in 1828 by the first generation of free African-Americans, and a cemetery, built ten years later. Thanks to the archives, researchers were able to link their mummy to a certain Martha Peterson, died at 26 and carefully buried by her community.
“Although her smallpox was contagious [et potentiellement mortelle], they washed, dressed, combed her hair “, Warnasch is moved. According to him, the use of a luxurious coffin would have been motivated by the illness of the young girl, thus allowingprevent the virus from escaping of his burial. However, new analyzes seem to point to another lead, “but I don’t want to reveal too much just yet”, concludes Warnasch. A documentary on Martha Peterson is now available.
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