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The crypt of Piraino during a recent inspection of the mummies. Access to this crypt was covered by new flooring in the years 1933–1934 and was officially reopened by 1994.
Source publication
This paper presents the first radiological investigation of a collection of Sicilian mummies held in a crypt beneath the Mother Church of Piraino, Italy. The chamber contains 26 preserved bodies of religious dignitaries, either conserved vertically in special wall niches or horizontally on wooden shelves. The majority of bodies are clothed, and tra...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... mummies described in this paper come from the Si- cilian town of Piraino, in the province of Messina, Italy (426 m above sea level), where an all-male sample of pre- served bodies of clergymen is displayed in the Sepulcher of the Priests, a three-chambered vault located in the historic Mother Church (Figure 1). The burial place was founded by the archpriest, Giovanni Maria Antonio Scalenza, in 1771, with the support of the local clergy. ...
Context 2
... we observed only one deformity, which is a case of hallux valgus ( Figure 10); anatomical variants in- cluded a sternum with a foramen and a supernumerary cervi- cal rib on the left side of a mummy ( Figure 11). With regard to the dental status, cases of dental infection, enamel defects, and bone resorption, as well as cases of intravital tooth loss, were recorded. ...
Context 3
... we observed only one deformity, which is a case of hallux valgus ( Figure 10); anatomical variants in- cluded a sternum with a foramen and a supernumerary cervi- cal rib on the left side of a mummy ( Figure 11). With regard to the dental status, cases of dental infection, enamel defects, and bone resorption, as well as cases of intravital tooth loss, were recorded. ...
Similar publications
Vicar Nikolaus Rungius’s (ca. 1560–1629) mummified remains have been the subject of research that has provided a wide variety of information on his life. This article examines the ways Rungius’s health and lifestyle highlight his status as a vicar, and this status is visible in his burial and funerary clothing. He was a relatively large man for his...
Citations
... This approach was considered a valid alternative to autopsy by the authors, but definitely failed to detect any extraskeletal disease. Another contribution dealt with 23 mummified bodies dating back between 1773 and 1858, found in Piraino 18 . The study was focused on skeletal pathology and mortuary behaviour, using only portable radiography and visual inspection. ...
A natural, well-preserved mummy belonging to a 45-55 year old female was found in the Church of Santa Maria della Consolazione in Scicli, south-eastern Sicily. The body was submitted to external examination, digital radiology, and computed tomography scanning. Paleopathological investigation allowed us to detect pulmonary pathology related to tuberculosis, atherosclerosis, and phleboliths. The presence of the latter, along with good dental condition with focal caries and obesity indicates a subject belonging to a high social class in good nutritional status. Along with other examples, this case allows to infer that tuberculosis was a common disease in that area, if not in the whole island, prior to the antibiotic era. Mummies need to be properly surveyed and protected, but also adequately studied by multidisciplinary teams of experts. The presence in such a team of at least one skilled anatomic/surgical pathologist, as long as well trained in the study of ancient human remains, represents an undeniable condition.
... There are further Italian crypt burials that have been investigated scientifically, both on the island of Sicily and on the mainland. Likewise, crypt mummies have been detected in Piraino, a small city close to Messina (Sicily) where 26 naturally mummified bodies, including a skeletonized individual, have been identified (Piombino-Mascali et al. 2017a). Another collection of mummified remains is found in the church of Savoca, a small town near the Sicilian north-eastern coast. ...
... alformations in the cranium and spine corresponding to Klippel-Feil syndrome. Among the skeletal abnormalities, the researchers observed a rudimentary cervical rib in the left transverse process of the seventh cervical vertebra. Lewis (2013) observed a possible cervical rib in the skeletal remains of a young individual (16 years of age) in England.Piombino-Mascali et al. (2017) observed a large cervical rib in a mummy held in a crypt beneath the Mother Church of Piraino, Italy. This cervical rib started from the seventh cervical vertebra with synostosis to the transverse process and reached the sternum.Rubini et al. (2019) described an adult female skeleton, aged 30-40 years, from an Italian site dating to the ...
Cervical ribs constitute the most important variants among ribs, particularly because of their proximity to the brachial plexus nerve network and subclavian artery. Thus, cervical ribs may exert excessive pressure upon these structures, producing a variety of symptoms that may be considered as a neuro-vascular complex. Cervical ribs are not uncommon in the catalogue of anatomic abnormalities in modern medicine, but few cases have been reported from historic skeletal material. We conducted a review with the existent articles published in palaeopathological literature, the historical background with the most important milestones regarding the studies on cervical ribs, the embryological processes in their development, and their prevalence and principal clinical features. Finally, we described a case of a cervical rib that was observed in the skeletal remains of a young individual from the late medieval cemetery of Corfinio (12th-13th century CE, Italy).
... It was however over the last ten years that I started to gather data in a more systematic way, mostly upon church burials and building reports (Mollica 2014). On the one hand, this came at the time when physical anthropologists began to study the taxonomies of the burials (Fornaciari et al. 2010), the medical characteristics (Piombino-Mascali et al. 2017) and the diseases (Kumm et al. 2010;Piombino-Mascali et al. 2013) of the bodies. On the other hand, international media such as the National Geographic and BBC featured documentaries on the burial place. ...
Giovanni Scolarici was a Greek Catholic priest from the village of Piraino, Sicily. He was killed during a Saracen raid in 1544. He soon became the object of a local cult and his body a site of religious veneration. In 1771, his remains were moved to a new burial place in the same church, so that the proximity to his bones could have a positive effect on other bodies. However, those other bodies belonged to priests who had been mummified and placed in a crypt of that church. Today, the remains of those priests cannot be moved; any decision relating to them is subject to strict controls. This article looks at the way in which, the interests determining these controls have shifted from the beatification process to scientific and economic needs over the centuries. The discussion explores contemporary attitudes on death and dying and investigates the use of dead bodies in the context of socio-political and cultural changes. «Illuminazioni» (ISSN: 2037-609X), n. 54, ottobre-dicembre 2020 210 The setting and the crypt of the mummies Piraino is a village in the metropolitan area of the city of Messina. It is located on the northeastern Sicilian coast facing the Aeolian Islands. It has a surface of about 17 square km and a population of about 4,000 inhabitants. It includes several hamlets, many of them more populated than the old town of Piraino, which stands on a hill at some 400 metres above sea level and where the City Hall is still located. A rectangular XVI century watchtower called Torre delle Ciaule stands on the coast. A circular mediaeval tower, called Torre Saracena, stands on the hill dominating the old town, built to spot Saracens during their raids (Mazzamuto 1986). The decaying Palace of the Denti Dukes, who ruled the town for some centuries, also stands there. Old town partially preserved mediaeval structure contains several religious buildings. However, most churches are no longer in use because the village is slowly being abandoned, following a trend affecting the northeastern side of Sicily since the early 1960's. A large portion of the population has left the old town of Piraino for the coastal hamlets because of economic opportunities and better transport and communication facilities. Still, burial sites have been discovered in all its churches. Two of them (the main Church of Saint Mary and the Sanctuary of Ecce Homo) have long been a source of attraction for their mummified bodies. Sicily in general offers many collections of mummies. Scholars impute this high incidence to the large number of religious buildings used to contain them «Illuminazioni» (ISSN: 2037-609X), n. 54, ottobre-dicembre 2020 211 (Aufderheide 2003, pp. 192-202). In Piraino, mummification began with a draining process; corpses were placed on a draining structure and then entrusted to the Franciscan Minor Friars of the local convent. The bodies were sat in a bottomless chair to facilitate the drying process. When the corpse had become a skeleton and the skin welded to it, it was cleaned and then dressed. The body was finally placed on a special burial shelf and a clay tile was put under its head to indicate great humility (Tresoldi 2000, pp. 181-188). Today, there are twenty-six mummies preserved in the so-called Crypt of Mummies of the Church of Saint Mary. This number is higher than what emerged from the analysis I conducted based on the manuscripts relating to them. However, in the past, local authors have counted thirty-two mummies. If that was the case, we should assume that some corpses (and above all their skulls) have been moved to a common ossuary over the last few decades.
... The age range of the mummies determined by available radiographic data was 30-50 years (n=22) and 50 or older (n=14). Mummification was determined to be spontaneous-enhanced as seen in most other mummies in Sicily [21,22]. ...
Examination of human remains in archaeological contexts presents significant challenges. They are frequently located within sites of religious and cultural significance and this, coupled with their often-fragile nature, necessitates their examination in situ. These sites may also be in remote locations which present major logistical challenges. The strategies developed to overcome these challenges have implications for the management of post-mortem imaging examinations following mass casualty events in remote areas. This paper presents the paleoimaging and bioarchaeological analysis of 36 mummies within the burial chambers of the mother church of Saint Nicholas of Bari in Gangi, Sicily. Research questions included assessments of the state of external and internal preservation, age at death, mummification method, presence of pathologies and trauma, and the nature of the wax masks. Circumstances dictated that examination of the mummies should take place within the burial chamber and within a short time-frame. Methodology employed macroscopic examination and a multimodal imaging approach including photography, endoscopy, XRF, and two portable digital radiography stations. The methodological design adopted improved efficiency and efficacy. The use of two digital radiography stations for separate AP and lateral survey radiographs greatly improved throughput and minimized lifting and handling of the remains. All examinations (602 radiographs) were completed within under 15 hours. The methodology is an efficient model for studies in similar bioarchaeological and forensic situations and for the examination of the victims of mass casualty events in remote locations.
... There are further Italian crypt burials that have been investigated scientifically, both on the island of Sicily and on the mainland. Likewise, crypt mummies have been detected in Piraino, a small city close to Messina (Sicily) where 26 naturally mummified bodies, including a skeletonized individual, have been identified (Piombino-Mascali et al. 2017a). Another collection of mummified remains is found in the church of Savoca, a small town near the Sicilian north-eastern coast. ...
There exist numerous crypts and catacombs in churches and cemeteries that harbor mummified human remains. Due to burial customs these are most frequently detected in European countries, mostly as the result of spontaneous (natural) mummification. Beyond those mummies, occasionally artificial mummification has led to permanently preserved bodies. These were performed as either dry or wet type of embalming. All mummified human bodies may represent important information about life, living conditions, diseases, and causes of death
in historic populations; they represent a “bio-archive.” Although many mummies
seem to be present in numerous locations, only a small number of them have been
as yet investigated scientifically. This scientific analysis has been performed by
various techniques: anthropological examination, CT scans and/or X-rays, histology
and isotope analysis, molecular studies for human and microbial DNA,
paleobotany, and many more. In this chapter, the available observations from
numerous locations in different countries have been compiled. In most instances,
only data from series of mummified bodies have been collected; single mummies
have only occasionally been considered. The series come from Italian and
German churches, several findings from Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary
and Lithuania, and isolated cases from almost every country.
... While the rational of Kaplan et al. (1994) can also be applied to cranial osteomata, Eshed et al. (2002) suggested that, based on their histological features, these lesions be reclassified as hamartoma, a malformation that resembles a neoplasm but results from faulty development. In palaeopathological case reports of osteomata, these lesions are referred to as tumours and the debate regarding their status as a neoplasm is either not mentioned or not discussed (Blau 2006;Zias 2006;Smith 2010;Premužić et al. 2013;Dąbrowski et al. 2015;Licata et al. 2016;Piombino-Mascali et al. 2017;Odes et al. 2018;Castro et al. 2019;Giuffra et al. 2019;Galassi et al. 2020). Bartelink and Wright (2011) seem to be the only researchers who did note this debate in their report of a mandibular tumour from Guatemala, dated to the 6-9 th century CE. ...
The osteoma, among other forms of benign neoplastic disease, has received little palaeopathological or palaeoepidemiological interest largely because of its asymptomatic nature. This is problematic because these tumours are regarded as common occurrences in bioarchaeological contexts, despite there being scant data to support these claims. This investigation presents a palaeoepidemiological enquiry into osteomata. Five hundred ninety individuals from six skeletal assemblages from Poland, dating from the 9th to 17th century, were macroscopically surveyed for osteomata. This was followed by a palaeoepidemiological analysis, looking at sex‐ and age‐specific prevalence. Ninety‐three osteomata were observed in 67 individuals. The sex‐specific prevalence was 13.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.7–18.1) for males and 11.6% (95% CI 7.9–16.2) for females. The age‐specific prevalence for middle adults was 2.1% (95% CI: 0.6–5.2) and 5.3% (95% CI: 2.5–9.8) for mature adults. The results indicated the prevalence of benign tumours was similar between males and females and seemed to increase with age. This case study adds to a sparse area of palaeo‐oncological research and calls for further future investigation.
... Its actual cause is unknown; however, DISH is more prevalent in obese, diabetic and/or gouty individuals (Mays, 2009;Kiss, Szilagyi, Paksy, & Poor, 2002;Giuffra, Minozzi, Vitiello, & Fornaciari, 2017). The disease is commonly associated with ancient individuals of high status or clergymen, which followed a "monastic way of life" (Bondioli, Nava, Rossi, & Sperduti, 2016;Jankauskas, 2003;Kacki et al., 2018;Müldner & Richards, 2007;Piombino-Mascali, Zink, & Panzer, 2017;Rogers & Waldron, 2001;Verlaan, Oner, & Maat, 2007). ...
Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is a non‐inflammatory joint disease mainly characterised by the ossification of the right anterior longitudinal ligament and the presence of enthesopathies. Studies have shown that the disease typically affects males of advanced age. This is a case report of a female individual, aged between 40‐60 years, dating to 1472‐1635 AD and found in Eastern Germany. A differential diagnosis was completed following macroscopic examination and radiographic imaging of the affected bones. The results show several pathological features that resemble skeletal characteristics of DISH, besides other diseases. Therefore, we discuss DISH and provide a differential diagnosis of additional pathologies. Our case is particularly important because ancient female DISH cases are underrepresented and the burial location indicates a possible noble or monastic context, both linked with a lifestyle known to be related to DISH.
... In Piraino, another medieval town, we studied another 23 mummies revealing again cases of DISH and other pathological conditions, including a subject showing a form of cancer ( Piombino-Mascali et al., 2017). ...
This article represents a summary of the author’s past 12 years of research on several mummy sets. As mummy studies expand as a sub-specialty of biological anthropology, it is important to highlight the significant contribution that the study of preserved remains can provide to both archaeology and history.
This article presents a multidisciplinary approach adopted in the Sicily mummy project, highlighting unique challenges and major ethical concerns inherent to the scientific study, conservation, and presentation of these mummies. Recognizing mummies as a distinct category of human remains, this paper argues for the development and application of specialized guidelines that address the intricate balance between scientific inquiry and respect for the cultural, religious, and mortuary practices that characterize the cultural context, in this case of Sicily. Through a transparent and collaborative dialogue among all stakeholders—including curators, clergy, scientists, and government officials—the project ensures the preservation of the mummies' dignity within their sacred spaces. The critical role of biological anthropologists is emphasized, alongside the contributions of clinical radiologists, pathologists, and qualified restorers, in constructing a comprehensive understanding of the mummies' biocultural significance. The paper advocates for a bioarchaeological strategy that advances scientific knowledge while safeguarding the mummies and respecting living communities. Additionally, we call for ethical rigor in scholarly publications and suggest future actions to protect this invaluable heritage. This approach not only preserves the dignity and integrity of the mummified remains but also enriches our understanding of past human societies.
