Scientists have identified the mysterious woman whose 150-year-old corpse was discovered in a metal coffin in New York City by construction workers in 2011.

Archaeologists believe the woman is Martha Peterson, a free black woman who worked as a domestic assistant for a white abolitionist, reports The New York Post.

Peterson's body was discovered when construction workers were excavating the grounds of an old church and hit what they thought was a pipe. It was an air-tight iron coffin and when a backhoe rose from the ground, its claws were clutching a corpse. The woman wore a white gown, a nightcap and knee-high socks.

Peterson’s body was so well-preserved, forensic archaeologist Scott Warnasch thought she had only been dead for a week.

“It was recorded as a crime scene,” Warnasch recalled. “A buried body on an abandoned lot sounds pretty straightforward.”

Upon further examination, Warnasch discovered pieces of the coffin that led him on a journey to tell Peterson’s story.

“I came across metal fragments that are pretty distinctive,” said Warnasch. “Right away, I knew what they were.”

Samples recovered from her body provided other details about her life. According to chemicals pulled from her teeth, Peterson had been in the Northeast for at least a few years.

Data from her hair told researchers she ate a balanced diet, while her facial structure placed her between 25- and 35-years-old. Peterson’s body was covered with lesions caused by smallpox. Warnasch believes the disease traveled to her brain and killed her. Initially, he was worried the virus could still be active, but it was determined to be dormant.

“The body was so well preserved that I would not have been shocked if the smallpox virus had survived,” he said.

Warnasch pulled census records from the 1850s and used them to narrow the search down.

“It was the first to list everyone in the population by name, age, sex and race. Only 33 individuals fit her criteria,” he said.

“She would have been 26 in 1850, probably died around 1851 and lived in the household of William Raymond, a partner in the iron-coffin maker Fisk & Raymond.”

The scientist determined she had been buried in an coffin deemed worthless by her employer because of an upside down patent mark. This curve led Warnasch to believe she worked as a domestic helper.

Since Peterson’s skull had been damaged by the backhoe, Warnasch asked forensic-imaging specialist Joe Mullins to help him figure out what she might have looked like.

“The skull tells where the eyes are. The width of the nose comes from the shape of the nasal aperture; lip thickness is based on teeth enamel,” Mullins said. “I used the skull to tell me the height and angle of her ears.”

He gave her a milk chocolate complexion and there she was, staring back at him.

Secret identity of 150-year-old body found in NYC revealed https://t.co/emkYrYM1La
pic.twitter.com/NNfumS6AtK

— New York Post (@nypost) September 29, 2018

“I saw this woman come to life on the screen,” he said. “Putting a face to history is remarkable.”

A local AME church gave Peterson a formal burial the year her body was uncovered, and one of its congregants summed it up perfectly.

“She looks like family,” they said.

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The Woman In The Iron Coffin

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