Sunday, February 23, 2020: The Woman in the Iron Coffin: Dr. Rhonda Quinn

Biogeochemical evidence for residence, diet and health of the Woman in the Iron Coffin
(Queens, New York City)

Sunday, February 23, 2020 at 3pm
Dr. Rhonda Quinn

In 2011, the mummified body of a Black adult female was discovered in a mid-19 th C. Fisk iron
coffin buried in Queens, New York City. Archival research points to the identity of the woman
as Martha Peterson, a domestic worker who lived in the home of William Raymond, the business
partner and neighbor of Almond Fisk, the coffin inventor and manufacturer. Here I present
various “chemical fingerprints” of tooth enamel and hair to provide information about the
Woman in the Iron Coffin’s (WIC) residence, diet and health to complement the biological
profile and test the archival-based interpretation of identity. WIC’s geographic location during
middle childhood was local to the New York region. She had a mixed plant and protein diet,
which moderately changed from childhood to adulthood. Lead concentrations are high and
potentially indicative of acute lead-caused health problems during a 3-11 month period in her
middle childhood. The biogeochemical results bolster archival-based interpretations of WIC’s
identity as a member of the Peterson’s, a local free Black family and provides a glimpse into the
life of a Black woman in 19 th c. Queens, New York.

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