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A A new documentary, the first of which is scheduled for Wednesday on PBS, explores how scientists collaborated to determine the identity of a black woman buried at a New York City dig site.
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The researchers believe that his name was Martha Peterson, revealed the New York Post, before the broadcast of "The Iron Coffin Woman".
"She would have been 26 years old in 1850, would probably have died around 1851 and lived in the household of William Raymond, partner of the manufacturer of iron coffins Fisk & Raymond ", said Scott Warnasch, the forensic archaeologist who first examined Peterson's remains for New York City officials.
Construction workers discovered the Peterson Iron Coffin in 2011 during the excavation of a site in Elmhurst, Queens. His body was almost perfectly preserved because it was sealed in an airtight Fisk iron coffin.
In fact, Warnasch initially suspected that he was working with a recent homicide. But he soon realized that she was born and had been buried decades before the American Civil War. The excavation site was formerly the site of a church founded in 1830 by free African Americans.
Understanding his identity involved the work of a geochemist who extracted chemicals from Peterson's teeth and hair. These tests revealed that she lived in the Northeast and had a balanced diet. An examination of its bone structure revealed an approximate age between 25 and 35 years. She probably died of smallpox, discovered the team.
The census data allowed the team to find their name, place of work and other details. It turned out that Peterson was a servant in a man who was not only the maker of coffins but also an abolitionist.
Members of the nearby African Methodist Episcopal Church offered Peterson a proper burial.
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How scientists discovered the identity of the black woman buried more than 150 years ago
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