This is Leicestershire --A tiny camera will be inserted into a mystery lead coffin found at the Greyfriars dig site to try to establish who or what is inside.
The unexpected tomb was revealed by University of Leicester archaeologists at the New Street car park, close to the grave of Richard III.
The team has three candidates for the identity of the body in the lead coffin, which was inside a 600-year-old stone casket in the presbytery of the friary.
Site manager Mathew Morris and lead archaeologist Richard Buckley said it could contain the remains of either a medieval knight or one of two former leaders of the Grey Friars.
The team has shipped the lead container back to the university for tests.
Usual probes such as Cat scans and X-rays will not be possible because of the protective lead casing.
Instead, the academics will insert a tiny camera into the casket to see what it contains before they decide how to open it.
Richard said: "We plan first to use an endoscope to look inside, through a hole caused by corrosion at the foot end, to see whether or not there is any organic preservation.
"This will then help us to decide how to proceed with the opening and whether it needs to be done under controlled conditions in the lab."
The two-metre-long casket is the first intact coffin to be discovered in Leicester.
Archaeologists suspect the grave could belong to one of three prestigious figures known to buried at the friary.
Peter Swynsfeld, who died in 1272, and William of Nottingham, who died in 1330, were leaders of the Franciscan friars.
Records also suggest the friary contains the grave of "a knight called Mutton, sometime mayor of Leicester".
This could be a 14th century knight, Sir William de Moton of Peckleton, who died between 1356 and 1362.
However, the team has said so many people are buried in the grounds of the friary they might not find out who the mystery grave belongs to.
Mathew said: "The stone coffin was always the big thing we wanted to investigate during this dig. For me, it was as exciting as finding Richard III.
"We still don't know who is inside.
"None of us in the team has seen a lead coffin within a stone coffin before.
"We will now need to work out how to open it safely, as we don't want to damage the contents when we are opening the lid." Reported by This is 18 hours ago.