Down under

Two weeks ago a Queens construction crew broke more than ground. The story appeared as a short blurb in the NYT and was less than inaccurate:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/for-female-found-by-police-being-unresponsive-is-least-of-it/?scp=5&sq=body%20found%20in%20Queens&st=cse

The land was formerly a cemetery and the crew accidentally broke an iron coffin.  The coffin dated from around 1850 and iron was used instead of wood to prevent the transmission of communicable diseases.  Although the corpse was well preserved, no one mistook her for the recently alive and she was taken to the OCME for an "academic" evaluation. Tests did not find any evidence of infectious organisms. After 160 years the proteins of life had all disintegrated.