Where Are The Artifacts At The Spire

Archaeologists discover historical artifacts during Notre Dame Cathedral restoration

Published Apr eighteen, 2022 at 9:30 AM EDT

France's Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot (center left) visits the Notre Dame Cathedral archaeological research site in Paris on March 15 after the discovery of a 14th century lead sarcophagus. — France's Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot (center left) visits the Notre Dame Cathedral archaeological research site in Paris on March 15 afterwards the discovery of a 14th century lead sarcophagus.

Archeologists say they will soon open a human shaped lead sarcophagus found underneath the floor at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

The announcement came around the three-yr ceremony of a devastating fire that engulfed the more than 850-year-old national monument and shocked the world.

The day after the blaze, archeologists were called in to assist with the conservation and restoration of the cathedral as workers prepare to the task of rebuilding.

"The vaults crashed here during the burn and opened a pigsty into this 19th century heating network and underneath at that place is a series of layers which is very dumbo, interesting and fascinating," said French National Archeological Found archeologist Christophe Besnier.

Archeologists were permitted to excavate a modest area of the exposed flooring in preparation for scaffolding that needed to be constructed in club to restore the church'southward large spire, which collapsed during the bonfire.

During the preparatory digging, archeologists discovered a number of historical artifacts including painted sculptures, tombs and sections of the lost rood screen which was a sort-of argue that was synthetic in 1230 to dissever the choir from the congregation.

The rood screen was demolished during the time of Louis XIV, just 19th century excavations performed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc led to the discovery of sections of the ornate wall. Those sections are currently kept at the Louvre.

Among the tombs recently discovered was a human-shaped pb sarcophagus which archeologists believe may date to the 14th century, simply they won't know for sure until information technology is opened.

"We were able to send a small camera within which showed cloth remains, organic matter such as hair and plant remains," Besnier said.

Workers stand outside the reconstruction site at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Friday.

He says the found material indicates that the contents of the sarcophagus have been well preserved and could be from a boxwood tree, which was used to preserve the bodies of the social aristocracy.

France'due south National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Enquiry says it will effort to place and engagement the remains, believing them to be of an important private.

Burials in churches and cathedrals were generally reserved for elites or members of the clergy, with a location nearest the choir being the most desirable.

Although other sections of the lost rood screen were besides discovered, archeologists were unable to unearth them due to a constrained timeline that has been hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic too every bit concern about atomic number 82 which spewed from the fire, spreading toxic dust throughout parts of central Paris.

French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to complete reconstruction by April 15, 2024, the fifth anniversary of the bonfire and months before Paris is set to host the Summer Olympics.

"Notre Matriarch is our history, our literature, part of our psyche, the place of all our great events, our epidemics, our wars, our liberations, the epicenter of our lives," Macron told reporters the morning subsequently the blaze. "We will rebuild information technology together."