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Finding the remains of a high priest buried at the most sacred spot in Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral, and all of medieval France, seems a predictable discovery. However, unearthing a knight with an elongated skull came as something of a shock.
The foundation stone of Notre Dame Cathedral was laid by Pope Alexander III in 1163 AD, but in 2019 a fire almost entirely destroyed it. After having spent the last two years securing its foundations, work began this year on repairing the oak spire that was unveiled on August 18, 1859. This 19th century spire reached a height of 315 feet (96 meters), which was 59 feet (18 meters) higher than the original 12th century spire, but it came crashing down in the aftermath of the 2019 blaze.
It was directly beneath the spire floor, where the transept crosses the nave, that researchers identified several tombs containing hundreds of fragmented hands, feet, faces, and plants from stone statues. It was among these shattered relics that two well-preserved lead sarcophagi were discovered, buried at what represents the holiest site in all of medieval France .
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The 2019 fire that engulfed the cathedral indirectly led to the discovery of these Notre Dame sarcophagi (Wandrille de Préville / CC BY SA 4.0 )
Unearthing the Canon and the Knight
In April this year, Professor Christophe Besnier, the leader of the scientific team, told The Guardian that this discovery was both “extraordinary and emotional.” Ancient Origins reported in April that Dominique Garcia, the head of the National Institute of Archaeological Research, speculated that one of the lead sarcophagi “probably belonged to a dignitary from the early 14th century.”
Rose Rambles... 