Where are the minerals and water that were once George Washington?

November 5, 2024 12:20 PM

This is for a writing project. From what I've found out, George Washington was buried in a lead-lined coffin. Were lead-lined coffins from the era airtight? What happens, in terms of decomposition, to a body in a lead-lined coffin from that era?

My assumption is that the water, minerals, etc. that once composed a body can't possibly stay completely sealed within a coffin, especially one that old/made in that time. But is that true?

posted by overglow to Grab Bag (3 answers total)

They’re supposed to be airtight, yes. Archaeologists excavating a lead-lined coffin may use full PPE on the assumption that the coffin has remained airtight and watertight and thus is full of decayed human sludge and the attendant microbes. I don’t know what the stats are on lead lined coffins actually remaining watertight over the centuries, but it seems likely that many didn’t.
When Washington’s coffin was moved to Mt Vernon in 1837, the exterior shell was damaged by damp, and a chunk of it is now in the National Museum of American History. About 100 years too early for it to directly apply to Washington, but this book may be of interest, it details the excavation of a chapel in MD that included 3 lead lined coffins.
posted by All hands bury the dead at 1:20 PM on November 5 [9 favorites]

I remember someone, maybe a teacher, telling about the opening of Goethe's lead coffin. He was completely intact, but then almost immediately disappeared in what she described as a puff. This may be a complete lie, I haven't looked it up.
posted by mumimor at 11:04 AM on November 6

Re: Goethe's exhumation mentioned by mumimor, here is an article about it. The "puff" story is at least sort of true.

This was during the East German period, and apparently they had the idea to preserve his remains, sort of like some of the saints you see, I suppose. When they opened the coffin there were not enough remains to mummify, though. Instead they preserved the skeleton and re-interred it encased in foam. Everything other than the skeleton was cremated.

The article doesn't give extreme details, but it seems there was definitely a skeleton remaining, plus decayed remnants of everything else. Goethe was buried about 33 years after Washington, in 1832 - close enough in time to be reasonably similar, I would guess.
posted by flug at 4:23 PM on November 7