Overview
- A new scholarly reanalysis by Warwick Rodwell published in October 2026 dates the bones from the Westminster Abbey sarcophagus to between 987 and 1052 AD based on radiocarbon results.
- Osteological study shows the near‑complete skeleton is male, about 1.75 m tall, and died aged roughly 35–49, which Rodwell says fits a high‑status monastic figure.
- Rodwell argues the burial likely belongs to a senior monk, most plausibly Abbot Aelfwig or his successor Wulnoth, and gives a modest preference to Aelfwig because he was already a Westminster monk.
- The stone coffin itself is Roman, bearing an inscription for Valerius Amandinus from the 4th century, but was reused in the late Anglo‑Saxon period when a cross was carved into the lid and a wooden coffin was placed inside.
- Key questions remain unresolved: the sarcophagus’s original Roman burial context, the lack of direct documentary proof tying the bones to a named abbot, and the need for further tests such as isotopes or DNA to confirm identity.