elongated skull

In the aftermath of the partial destruction of Notre-Dame cathedral in the fire of 2019, an intriguing discovery was made in the form of two lead-lined sarcophagi 65 feet below the cathedral’s floor. The decision was made to open the sarcophagi, and, perhaps not surprisingly, both contained skeletal remains. One of these was soon identified from the epitaph on the coffin as Canon Antoine de La Porte, a member of the clergy from the 17th century, but the other was difficult to assign, and remained described as a ‘unknown nobleman’. After further investigations by University of Toulouse III/CNRS and Professor Eric Crubézy in a multidisciplinary approach, this person has now been identified. All the evidence points to it being the