Cuando los trabajadores de la construcción desenterraron inesperadamente el cuerpo momificado de una joven afroamericana en el distrito de Queens de la ciudad de Nueva York en 2011, la policía pensó que el cadáver pertenecía a una víctima de un homicidio reciente. Pero un examen más detenido pronto reveló que su historia era mucho más extraña (y mucho más antigua) de lo que se sospechaba en un principio.
Los fragmentos de metal rotos esparcidos cerca del equipo de construcción fueron identificados más tarde como piezas de un ataúd de hierro ornamentado y costoso; su entorno sellado había preservado los restos de la mujer con notable detalle, razón por la cual los funcionarios inicialmente la confundieron con una fallecida reciente.
Los ataúdes de hierro solo se produjeron durante un breve período a mediados del siglo XIX, por lo que el ataúd, junto con el estilo de la ropa funeraria de la mujer, ayudó a los expertos a fechar su cuerpo a mediados del siglo XIX. Pero ¿quién era ella y cómo llegó a ser enterrada en un recipiente tan inusual? La peculiar historia de la misteriosa mujer sale a la luz en un nuevo documental, “La mujer en el ataúd de hierro”, que se transmite por PBS esta noche (3 de octubre) a las 10 pm hora local. [Fotos: Las asombrosas momias de Perú y Egipto]
Scott Warnasch, entonces arqueólogo forense de la Oficina del Médico Forense Jefe de la ciudad de Nueva York, fue llamado al lugar con un equipo para documentar y recuperar los restos parcialmente enterrados. E inmediatamente reconoció los trozos de hierro como fragmentos de ataúd, porque se había encontrado con ataúdes de hierro similares años antes durante una excavación en Nueva Jersey, le dijo a WordsSideKick.com.
“He estado obsesionado con estos ataúdes de hierro desde 2005, cuando se encontraron dos debajo del Prudential Center en Newark”, dijo Warnasch. “Le dije al equipo: ‘Esto es histórico, no es la escena de un crimen’”.
After a backhoe broke open the coffin, it dragged the body and dumped it under a load of dirt. As Warnasch and others brushed the dirt away, they noted that the body belonged to an African-American female dressed in a garment that looked like a 19th-century nightgown, along with a knit cap and thick knee socks.
Something else about the remains caught the investigators’ attention. Her skin was so well preserved that they could spot what looked like lesions from smallpox on her forehead and chest. Work on the corpse was temporarily suspended, until representatives of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that the virus was no longer active, Warnasch said. [Photos: The Reconstruction of Teen Who Lived 9,000 Years Ago]
Building a profile
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed X-ray tomography (CT) scans allowed the scientists to examine the body noninvasively and create a biological profile of the woman: They determined she was 5 feet, 2 inches tall (1.6 meters), African-American and about 25 to 30 years old, Warnasch explained.
The site where she was discovered was formerly an African-American church and cemetery; the church was founded in 1828 by the region’s first generation of free black people, but there are newspaper accounts of an African-American cemetery on that land dating to a decade earlier, according to Warnasch.
A deep dive into local census records from 1850 provided the investigators with the final missing puzzle pieces about the woman’s identity. They discovered that the remains likely belonged to Martha Peterson, a resident of New York City and the daughter of John and Jane Peterson. She died when she was 26 years old, and she was meticulously prepared for burial by caring hands — something that revealed a glimpse of the close-knit, emancipated African-American community to which she belonged, Warnasch said.
“Despite the fact that she was contagious with smallpox, they still cleaned her body, dressed it, did her hair — even though this was a potentially life-threatening disease,” he said.
Sealed in iron
Iron coffins were manufactured for less than a decade, but during the brief time when they were available, they made quite an impression. A stove maker named Almond Dunbar Fisk designed and patented them in 1848, and they were molded to be formfitting and airtight, locking out air and preventing decay. This made them ideal for transporting bodies over long distances by train, and the coffins quickly gained popularity with political elites in Washington, D.C., Warnasch said.
“In 1849, Dolley Madison — the former first lady — used one of these for her funeral, and that put Fisk on the map,” he said.
So, how did a young African-American woman from New York City end up in one of Fisk’s famous coffins? Another advantage of the airtight caskets was their ability to quarantine a body that might be riddled with a contagious disease, Warnasch explained. If someone died of an infectious disease — such as smallpox — an iron coffin would allow the remains to be safely displayed and buried, he said.
Forensic specialists initially thought that Peterson might have been buried in the iron coffin because her loved ones feared the spread of disease. However, further analysis led the investigators toward a different explanation, Warnasch said, adding, “but I don’t want to give too much away.”
Regardless of why she was placed in an iron coffin, its airtight properties certainly stood the test of time, Warnasch said.
“Parecía que llevaba muerta una semana, pero eran 160 años”, dijo.
Quizás al final, lo más fascinante de esta mujer es lo normal que era, dijo Warnasch a WordsSideKick.com. No era muy conocida, ni rica ni privilegiada, y como era simplemente “una persona normal”, los detalles de su entierro pueden decirnos mucho sobre la vida cotidiana (y las muertes) de los afroamericanos en Nueva York. en ese momento de la historia, dijo.
“The Woman in the Iron Coffin” está disponible para transmitir en el sitio web y la aplicación de PBS a partir del 4 de octubre.
