Comment by albert_e
3 days ago
> “The peculiarity of the finding is that it was a hermetically sealed sarcophagus. It was not disturbed previously, so it was intact,” said Gabriella Fényes, the excavation’s lead archaeologist.
If this is the case -- dont scientists have interest in analyzing the air contents inside this sealed box before it is fully opened -- maybe by inserting a narrow tube? Might that not teach us something that may help us preserve future archaeological finds better? Maybe we are irreversibly destroying some of the evidence inside it by casually opening them? (I am sure they are not intentionally careless or destroying it -- but just wondering if future scince might make the current scientific process look clunky and ill-advised)
It's made of limestone, which is quite porous. Should be plenty of air exchange over the last 1700 years.
(And they may have done so before opening. It probably wouldn't be mentioned in an article like this.)
Then it wasn't hermetically sealed, as the author claims.
Where does it say that they didn't?
If nothing else, a time capsule of bacteria present...
there is an urn inside, that seems unbroken, there may be a sample in there.