There are delicate rope-pattern lines on the edge and an inner panel on the lid. The group tried to make out details beneath that layer, seeking out the slightest sign of an inscription. But we'll settle for less. Inside, they expect that a skeleton could be surrounded by white powder, the remnants of a plaster and chalk mix that was used for disinfectant purposes, explained Bill White, a Museum of London osteo-archaeologist. The next stage is to lift and transport the entire sarcophagus to a laboratory.
Nearby graves are rectangular holes, from which skeletons have been taken away for study.
As they date from AD 150 to 250, the coffin may bear a similar date. Ordinary people were buried in timber coffins or shrouds. The most recent find of a Roman stone sarcophagus in Britain was about 30 years ago in Bow. Michael Bear, chief executive of the Spitalfields Development Group, on whose 12-acre site the sarcophagus was found, said that such discoveries added a certain romance to his world. Other excavations have unearthed plague pits and a medieval priory.