The identity of a mysterious skeleton discovered at Westminster Abbey more than 150 years ago may have been uncovered.
Archaeologists found the remains inside a Roman sarcophagus in the grounds of the church in 1869, with an inscription on the tomb initially indicating that it belonged to a wealthy man called Valerius Amandinus.
He is said to have lived in London at some point in the period from 300 to 400AD but a Latin cross on the lid of the coffin dated to the tenth or 11th century suggests the remains may belong to someone who died centuries later.
Now, archaeologists say the bones likely belonged to a high-ranking medieval monk called Aelfwig or Wulnoth.
Professor Warwick Rodwell, Consultant Archaeologist at Westminster Abbey, said: 'We have two viable contenders for the occupant of the sarcophagus.'
The identity of a mysterious skeleton discovered at Westminster Abbey more than 150 years ago may have been solved
In 1869, archaeologists discovered the skeleton inside a Roman sarcophagus
The sarcophagus was first found in 1820, when workmen completing a job on the north side of the abbey accidentally smashed its lid into six pieces.
The damage was repaired when the Roman coffin was officially 'discovered' in 1869.
Professor Rodwell and his team have now carried out extensive analyses to understand the skeleton's identity.
According to their research, the skeleton belongs to a man who was around 5ft 9in and died between the ages of 35 and 49.
Professor Rodwell suggests the individual is likely to have been Aelfwig or Wulnoth.
Aelfwig was a medieval monk who died around 1020 after a career as an Abbot at Westminster Abbey, then a Benedictine monastery.
Wulnoth was Aelfwig's successor, who died in 1049 and is presumed to have been buried at the Abbey.
The professor explained: 'We do not know the date of birth of either.
'But either would fit equally well if we assume the Abbot was in his early 20s when the appointment was made and close to 50 when he died.
The sarcophagus was first found in 1820, when workmen on the north side of the abbey accidentally smashed its lid into six pieces
According to their research, the skeleton belongs to a man who died aged 35–49, and who was around 5ft 9in
Excavation of the sacristy site in progress, 2019. The pit from which the sarcophagus was removed in 1869 is labelled 'S'
'The fact Aelfwig was already a monk of Westminster might favour him.'
One of the key clues that suggests the skeleton belonged to Aelwig or Wulnoth lies in the fact the occupant was 'honoured' with a 'fine sarcophagus'.
Professor Rodwell points out that his wooden coffin was placed inside the stone burial casket in what could represent an early example of recycling.
The lid was then re-carved to feature a large Latin cross.
As well as uncovering the identity of the skeleton, the researchers also found the outline of a rectangular structure marked out in a white residue left by lime – a substance traditionally used in burials.
'Although no physical traces of that feature remained, it can only have been a timber coffin, which has completely decayed over the course of the seven centuries that the sarcophagus was buried in the sacristy courtyard,' Professor Rodwell added.
The sarcophagus is on public display in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey.
Famous people buried at Westminster Abbey
Newton, who was born in Lincolnshire in 1642, was Lucasian Professor at Trinity College Cambridge from 1669 to 1702 (Stephen Hawking held the same post from 1979 to 2009).
He is best known for his law of gravitation, which was set out in his hugely influential book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
He also made enormous contributions to mathematics, particularly with differential and integral calculus and binomial theory.
In addition to those developments, he was a major figure in the areas of optics, mechanics and astronomy, and his invention of the reflecting telescope and studies of light put at the very forefront of scientists.
An engraving on his Westminster Abbey monument reads: 'Here is buried Isaac Newton, Knight, who by a strength of mind almost divine, and mathematical principles peculiarly his own, explored the course and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, the tides of the sea, the dissimilarities in rays of light, and, what no other scholar has previously imagined, the properties of the colours thus produced.
'Diligent, sagacious and faithful, in his expositions of nature, antiquity and the holy Scriptures, he vindicated by his philosophy the majesty of God mighty and good, and expressed the simplicity of the Gospel in his manners. Mortals rejoice that there has existed such and so great an ornament of the human race! He was born on 25th December 1642, and died on 20th March 1726'.
Darwin, a naturalist born in Shrewsbury in 1809, changed the world forever when he published On the Origin of Species in 1859.
The book is considered the foundation of evolutionary biology and introduced the theory that organisms evolved over generations through the process of natural selection.
Despite being an agnostic and the propagator of a theory that went on to damage the credibility of religions worldwide, he was buried in Westminster Abbey at the request of many holy men.
During a speech a week after his funeral, the Bishop of Carlisle, Harvey Goodwin, said: 'I think that the interment of the remains of Mr Darwin in Westminster Abbey is in accordance with the judgment of the wisest of his countrymen…
'It would have been unfortunate if anything had occurred to give weight and currency to the foolish notion which some have diligently propagated, but for which Mr Darwin was not responsible, that there is a necessary conflict between a knowledge of Nature and a belief in God…'
Faraday was born in 1791 in London.
He contributed enormously to physics, chemistry, the study of electricity, magnetism and the construction of optical glass.
Albert Einstein greatly admired Faraday and kept a painting of the illustrious experimenter in his study.
Faraday's discovery of electromagnetic induction led to electricity being transformed from a curiosity into a usable technology.
He even helped coin words like 'ion', 'electrode' and 'cathode'.
While buried at Highgate Cemetery in North London, a memorial to the great man was installed at Westminster Abbey near Sir Isaac Newton.
The inscription on his memorial reads simply: 'The memorial of Michael Faraday 1791–1867. Buried elsewhere'.
Maxwell, a hugely influential mathematician and physicist, was born in Edinburgh in 1831.
Before heading to the University of Cambridge, he submitted a paper to the Royal Society of Edinburgh at the age of 15.
He devoted his life to studying optics, colour vision, Saturn's rings, electromagnetics and thermodynamics.
His work on Saturn's rings determined that the mysterious planet was orbited by individual particles rather than a fixed ring.
When the Voyager space probe passed Saturn in the 1980s, he was proved correct.
After he died in 1879, he was buried in Kirkcudbright in Scotland, but a memorial was erected at Westminster Abbey near Newton.
He is considered second only to Newton in his contributions to mathematics.