Endocranial mice nesting in the body of the Blessed Antonio da Fano (dead 1435)
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Keywords
rodent, nest, mummy , paleopathology , paleoradiology
Abstract
Traces of rodents nesting (Mus musculus, Linnaeus 1758, subspecies domesticus, Schwartz & Schwartz 1943) were noted during bioanthropologic and paleopathologic study of the partially skeletonized mummy belonged to the Blessed Antonio da Fano. Rodents nesting is not frequently described in bioanthropological literature, although it represents a common finding in mummified bodies. Our present report confirms this assumption and represents the first description of this instance occurring in a Saint or a Blessed of the Catholic religion.
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