Anthropological analyses of the Modern era-mummified human remains discovered in the Santa Maria del Monte sanctuary, Varese province, Italy
Main Article Content
Keywords
mummy, taphonomy, curation, Italy
Abstract
Northeastern Italy preserves, although rarely, some naturally mummified remains from medieval and modern times. This study considers the remains from the province of Varese, with particular attention to those found in 2001 in a hypogeal burial chamber in the Santa Maria del Monte sanctuary in Varese, Lombardy. The materials, analyzed with classical methods of physical anthropology, consist of one head, one arm with the forearm, one forearm with the hand, a hand, a foot, and a lower limb with the foot. The analyses have allowed us to acquire new data regarding the use of funerary spaces during the medieval and modern ages, regarding the treatment of the body of the deceased and their alleged health status. Finally, the work helped in planning the subsequent analyses, to acquire a holistic view of all the variables of the bioarchaeological context.
References
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31. Pinhasi R, Mays S. Advances in Human Palaeopathology Metabolic Bone Disease. London: Wiley & Sons; 2007.
32. Larentis O, Tonina E, Iorio S, Gorini I, Licata M. Osteological evidence of metabolic diseases from a post medieval North Italy archaeological site. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med 2020; 33(16):2735–42.
33. Larentis O, Gorini I. Bioarcheology in the northwest Italy. Our experience. Medicina Historica 2019; 3(1):46–7.
34. Licata M, Larentis O, Tesi C, Fusco R, Ciliberti R. Tourism in the Time of Coronavirus. Fruition of the “Minor Heritage” through the Development of Bioarchaeological Sites—A Proposal. Heritage 2021; 4(2):759–74.
35. Licata M, Larentis O, Badino P, Fusco R, Tesi C. Toward the valorization of our anthropological and paleopathological heritage. The musealization of the osteoarchaeological contexts. Medicina Historica 2020; 4(1):45–6.
36. Meier, D. Mummies on display: Conservation Considerations. Chungará 2001; 33(1):83–5.
37. Samadelli M, Roselli G, Fernicola VC, Moroder L, Zink AR. Theoretical aspects of physical-chemical parameters for the correct conservation of mummies on display in museums and preserved in storage rooms. J Cul Herit 2013; 14(6): 480–4.
38. Fusco R, Larentis O, Cermesoni B, Ravagnan A, Tesi C. The “Mummy of Erba”: A study proposal for the analysis of a mummified Egyptian specimen. Medicina Historica 2018; 2(3):163–5.
39. Musshoff F, Brockmann C, Madea B, Rosendahl W, Piombino-Mascali D. Ethyl glucuronide findings in hair samples from the mummies of the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo. For Sci Int 2013; 232(1-3):213–7.
40. Pradelli J, Rossetti C, Tuccia F, Giordani G, Licata M, Birkhoff JM, Verzeletti A, Vanin S. Environmental necrophagous fauna selection in a funerary hypogeal context: The putridarium of the Franciscan monastery of Azzio (northern Italy). J Archaeol Sci Rep 2019; 24:683–92.
41. Larentis O, Tesi C, Licata M, Fusco R, Gorini I, Rossetti C, Tonina E. Body petrification in Italy. Another recipe of the 19th century revealed. Medicina Historica 2021; 4(3):e2020020.
42. Morrow J, Baldwin, DA, Higley LG, Piombino-Mascali D, Reinhard KJ. Curatorial implications of Ophyra capensis (Order Diptera, Family Muscidae) puparia recovered from the body of the Blessed Antonio Patrizi, Monticiano, Italy (Middle Ages). J Forensic Leg Med 2015; 36:81–3.
43. Licata M, Larentis O, Ventura F, Ciliberti R. Mummified remains in the field of forensics. The comparison of a 19th century case report with current cases. Medicina Historica 2019; 3(2):99–104.
44. Piombino-Mascali D, Gill-Frerking H, Beckett RG. The Taphonomy of Natural Mummies. In: Schotsmans EMJ, Márquez-Grant N, Forbes SL (Eds), Thaphonomy of Human Remains. Hoboken: Wiley & Sons; 2017.
2. Fornaciari G, Tornaboni D. La mummia di Varese. In: Banchieri DG (Ed) La mummia dei Musei di Varese. Varese: Comune di Varese; 1991.
3. Fusco R, Larentis O. Le sepolture 1 e 5 dell’ambiente annesse alla Cripta di Santa Maria del Monte. In: Albeni M (Ed) Prima del Sacro Monte. Luoghi archeologici e storie nascoste nei secoli precedenti il Viale delle Cappelle. Busto Arsizio: Nomos; 2021.
4. Licata M. Questioni emergenti in osteoarcheologia, Studio su un campione osteologico della Lombardia Nord-Occidentale. Sesto San Giovanni: Mimesis; 2016.
5. Milner GR, Boldsen JL. Humeral and femoral head diameters in recent white American skeletons. J Forensic Sci 2012; 57(1):35–40.
6. Mall G, Hubig M, Büttner A, Kuznik J, Penning R, Graw M. Sex determination and estimation of stature from the long bones of the arm. Forensic Sci Int 2001; 117(1):23–30.
7. Acsadi G, Nemeskeri J. History of Human Life Span and Mortality. Budapest: Akademiai Kiado; 1970.
8. Maresh M. Measurements from roentgenograms. In: McCammon RW (Ed.) Human Growth and Development. Springfield: CC Thomas 1970; 157–200.
9. Berrizbeitia EL. Sex determination with the head of the radius. J For Sci 1989; 34(5):1206–13.
10. Schaefer MA. Summary of epiphyseal union timings in Bosnian males. Int J Osteoarchaeol 2008; 18(5):536–45.
11. Ubelaker DH. Human Skeletal Remains: Excavation, Analysis and Interpretation. Washington: Smithsonian Institute Press; 1979.
12. Lovejoy CO. Dental wear in the Libben population: its functional pattern and role in the determination of adult skeletal age at death. Am J Phys Anthropol 1985; 68(1):47–56.
13. Meindl RS, Lovejoy CO. Ectocranial suture closure: a revised method for the determination of skeletal age at death based on the lateral-anterior sutures. Am J Phys Anthropol 1985; 68(1):57–66.
14. Panzer S, Ketterl S, Bicker R, Schoske S, Nerlich AG. How to CT scan human mummies: Theoretical considerations and examples of use. Int J Paleopat 2019; 26:122–34.
15. Squires K, Roberts CA, Márquez‐Grant N. Ethical considerations and publishing in human bioarcheology. Am J Phys Anthropol 2022; 177(4):615–19.
16. Licata M, Tosi A, Larentis O, Rossetti C, Iorio S, Pinto A. Radiology of Mummies. Semin Ultrasound CT MR 2019; 40(1):5–11.
17. Fusco R, Licata M, Larentis O, Cermesoni B, Ravagnan A, Ciliberti R, Pinto A, Tesi C. Mummies outside their closets. Paleoradiological investigation of Egyptian mummified remains. Forensic Imaging 2020; 22: 200397.
18. Schotsmans EMJ, Márquez-Grant N, Forbes SL. Taphonomy of Human Remains: Forensic Analysis of the Dead and the Depositional Environment. London: Wiley & Sons; 2017.
19. Ventura L, Romeo G, Grimaldi B, Causarano A, Caruso C, Voi G, Pensiero V. The “Queen of the Moors”. Paleopathological investigation of a natural mummy from Scicli, South-Eastern Sicily. Pathologica 2022; 114(2):152–8.
20. Petrella E, Piciucchi S, Feletti F, Barone D, Piraccini A, Minghetti C, Gruppioni G, Poletti V, Bertocco M, Traversari M. CT Scan of Thirteen Natural Mummies Dating Back to the XVI-XVIII Centuries: An Emerging Tool to Investigate Living Conditions and Diseases in History. PLoS One 2016; 11(6):e0154349.
21. Aufderheide AC. The scientific study of mummies. Cambridge: University Press; 2003.
22. Aufderheide AC. Soft tissue taphonomy: A paleopathology perspective. Int J Paleopat 2011; 1(2):75–80.
23. Suzuki K, Saso A, Hoshino K, Sakurai J, Tanigawa K, Luo, Y, Ishido Y, Mori S, Hirata K, Ishii N. Paleopathological Evidence and Detection of Mycobacterium leprae DNA from Archaeological Skeletal Remains of Nabe-kaburi (Head-Covered with Iron Pots) Burials in Japan. PLoS One 2014; 9(2):e88356.
24. Ficalbi E. Consideraziani riassuntive sulle ossa accessorie del cranio dei mammiferi e dell'uomo. Monit Zool It 1890;1(7-8):134.
25. Alnatheer AM, Alkholaiwi F. Concha Bullosa of the Inferior Turbinate. Cureus 2021;13(10): e19089.
26. Tonina E, Licata M, Pangrazzi C, Maspero U, Romano L, Larentis O. A case of Concha Bullosa and potentially related evidences. Concha bullosa discovered in the bones of a medieval skeleton from Brentonico, northeast Italy: a case report. Medicina Historica 2018; 2(2):94–8.
27. Bianchi S. Sul modo di svilupparsi dell'osso wormiano epipterico nell'uomo. In: Sperimentale. Firenze: Federico Bencini; 1889.
28. Marimó F, Gambara L. Contribuzione allo studio delle anomalie del pterion nel cranio umano. Roma: Archivio per l'Antropologia e la Etnologia; 1889.
29. Aragao JE, De Oliveira Carvalho R, Gurgel Barreto P, Sant’Anna Aragao FM, Sant’Anna Aragao C, Pimenta de Godoy JR, Prado Reis F. Epipteric Bones in the Pterion in Dry Human Crania from a Region of Northeastern Brazil: Morphological and Morphometric Study. Sperimentale 2016; 5(4):AO08-AO11.
30. Lagier R. Bone eburnation in rheumatic diseases: a guiding trace in today’s radiological diagnosis and in paleopathology. Clin Rheumatol 2006; 25:127–31.
31. Pinhasi R, Mays S. Advances in Human Palaeopathology Metabolic Bone Disease. London: Wiley & Sons; 2007.
32. Larentis O, Tonina E, Iorio S, Gorini I, Licata M. Osteological evidence of metabolic diseases from a post medieval North Italy archaeological site. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med 2020; 33(16):2735–42.
33. Larentis O, Gorini I. Bioarcheology in the northwest Italy. Our experience. Medicina Historica 2019; 3(1):46–7.
34. Licata M, Larentis O, Tesi C, Fusco R, Ciliberti R. Tourism in the Time of Coronavirus. Fruition of the “Minor Heritage” through the Development of Bioarchaeological Sites—A Proposal. Heritage 2021; 4(2):759–74.
35. Licata M, Larentis O, Badino P, Fusco R, Tesi C. Toward the valorization of our anthropological and paleopathological heritage. The musealization of the osteoarchaeological contexts. Medicina Historica 2020; 4(1):45–6.
36. Meier, D. Mummies on display: Conservation Considerations. Chungará 2001; 33(1):83–5.
37. Samadelli M, Roselli G, Fernicola VC, Moroder L, Zink AR. Theoretical aspects of physical-chemical parameters for the correct conservation of mummies on display in museums and preserved in storage rooms. J Cul Herit 2013; 14(6): 480–4.
38. Fusco R, Larentis O, Cermesoni B, Ravagnan A, Tesi C. The “Mummy of Erba”: A study proposal for the analysis of a mummified Egyptian specimen. Medicina Historica 2018; 2(3):163–5.
39. Musshoff F, Brockmann C, Madea B, Rosendahl W, Piombino-Mascali D. Ethyl glucuronide findings in hair samples from the mummies of the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo. For Sci Int 2013; 232(1-3):213–7.
40. Pradelli J, Rossetti C, Tuccia F, Giordani G, Licata M, Birkhoff JM, Verzeletti A, Vanin S. Environmental necrophagous fauna selection in a funerary hypogeal context: The putridarium of the Franciscan monastery of Azzio (northern Italy). J Archaeol Sci Rep 2019; 24:683–92.
41. Larentis O, Tesi C, Licata M, Fusco R, Gorini I, Rossetti C, Tonina E. Body petrification in Italy. Another recipe of the 19th century revealed. Medicina Historica 2021; 4(3):e2020020.
42. Morrow J, Baldwin, DA, Higley LG, Piombino-Mascali D, Reinhard KJ. Curatorial implications of Ophyra capensis (Order Diptera, Family Muscidae) puparia recovered from the body of the Blessed Antonio Patrizi, Monticiano, Italy (Middle Ages). J Forensic Leg Med 2015; 36:81–3.
43. Licata M, Larentis O, Ventura F, Ciliberti R. Mummified remains in the field of forensics. The comparison of a 19th century case report with current cases. Medicina Historica 2019; 3(2):99–104.
44. Piombino-Mascali D, Gill-Frerking H, Beckett RG. The Taphonomy of Natural Mummies. In: Schotsmans EMJ, Márquez-Grant N, Forbes SL (Eds), Thaphonomy of Human Remains. Hoboken: Wiley & Sons; 2017.
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Dec 23, 2022
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Larentis O, Pangrazzi C, Tesi C, Fusco R. Anthropological analyses of the Modern era-mummified human remains discovered in the Santa Maria del Monte sanctuary, Varese province, Italy. Med Histor [Internet]. 2022 Dec. 23 [cited 2024 Jul. 18];6(3):e2022043. Available from: https://mattioli1885journals.com/index.php/MedHistor/article/view/14043
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How to Cite
1.
Larentis O, Pangrazzi C, Tesi C, Fusco R. Anthropological analyses of the Modern era-mummified human remains discovered in the Santa Maria del Monte sanctuary, Varese province, Italy. Med Histor [Internet]. 2022 Dec. 23 [cited 2024 Jul. 18];6(3):e2022043. Available from: https://mattioli1885journals.com/index.php/MedHistor/article/view/14043