Colonial Coffins Held Corpulent Governor, Sweet-Toothed Wife

Scientists identified on Tuesday the remains inside 17th-Century lead coffins that were unearthed in Maryland in 1992 as members of the state’s founding family: Colonial Gov. Philip Calvert and his wife, Anne Wolsley.

Scientists had suspected as much ever since opening the coffins two years ago. They proved the identifications through intricate research that paints a vivid picture, down to the food they ate and the illnesses they suffered.

He was a sedentary, corpulent fellow with flowing auburn hair, which was preserved even after 300 years. She had a fondness for sweets that decayed all but five teeth, leaving her malnourished despite her wealth.

“We know how his hair was trimmed, how his beard was shaved . . . information you simply cannot find in any historical record,” said Dr. Douglas Owsley, a forensic anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution, where scientists displayed parts of the skeletons Tuesday.

Archeologists have discovered fewer than 100 skeletons from the 17th Century. Owsley said that, thanks to the lead coffins, none was as well preserved as the Calverts and that of a baby girl buried in a third coffin next to them. Scientists suspect she was Calvert’s 6-month-old daughter from a second marriage.

The coffins were unearthed in historic St. Mary’s City, site of Maryland’s 17th-Century capital.

Scientists determined the couple’s height, muscular build and whether they were left- or right-handed. Pollen in the coffins told the season of death. Using nuclear isotopes, scientists discovered traces of European and American diets, a sign that the pair had immigrated about 20 years earlier.

The Calverts are the only people who fit all the clues, project director Henry Miller said.

Calvert was governor from 1660 to 1661, and chancellor, second in command, for 25 years.

About his wife, all historians know is that her family suffered religious persecution in England. They don’t know her birth date.

But she was obviously cherished, St. Mary’s historian Lois Carr said: Someone tied a silk ribbon in a bow around her hands, wrapped her in fine linens and sprinkled rosemary, the herb of remembrance, over her before sealing her coffin.