Lead coffin
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A lead coffin is a coffin that is either made entirely of lead or a wooden coffin is lined with lead sheets. Also sarcophagi occasionally contained an insert made of lead sheet. After the formation of an oxide layer, lead is relatively resistant to corrosion, since of all the oxides and salts of lead, only the acetate and nitrate are readily soluble in water.
Antiquity
In the Roman provinces , lead coffins have been used regionally in different frequencies. They are relatively common in Syria and Palestine . There are also many pieces that are decorated on the outside. In contrast, in Gaul, numerous specimens were used to line the inside of wooden coffins; these are mostly undecorated. The isotope analysis of lead coffins from the Rhineland has shown that they were made from lead from the nearby Eifel . However, this cannot be transferred to other regions, for example lead coffins were found near Amiens , but there are no lead deposits there.
Post-antique lead coffins
An amazingly well-preserved 17th century female corpse was found in a lead coffin in Rennes, France.
Coffins lined with lead were used for heavily contaminated victims of accidents in nuclear facilities, e.g. B. on the three victims of the power excursion of the military nuclear reactor SL-1 on January 3, 1961 , used.
literature
- Eugen von Mercklin: Antique lead sarcophagi. Archäologischer Anzeiger 1936, pp. 252–281.
- Abbé Cochet: Les sarcophages de plomb de musée de Rouen. Actes du colloque international d'archeologie Rouen 1975 Volume II. Rouen 1978, pp. 217-233.
- Albrecht Baumann u. Raymund Gottschalk: Material provenance of Late-Roman lead coffins in the Rheinland, Germany . European Journal of Mineralogy 13, 2001, pp. 197-205.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Nobles without hearts: Hundreds of years old corpse discovered on construction site. In: Spiegel Online . June 3, 2015, accessed June 10, 2018 .