Atlantis Online
March 28, 2024, 06:48:43 am
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: Satellite images 'show Atlantis'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3766863.stm
 
  Home Help Arcade Gallery Links Staff List Calendar Login Register  

Skeleton of Burnt 'Witch Girl' Found in Italy

Pages: [1]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Skeleton of Burnt 'Witch Girl' Found in Italy  (Read 156 times)
0 Members and 27 Guests are viewing this topic.
Heather Delaria
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 4672



« on: November 22, 2015, 12:20:27 am »

Skeleton of Burnt 'Witch Girl' Found in Italy
Nov 18, 2015 01:53 PM ET // by Rossella Lorenzi




How Twisted Was King Richard III's Spine? New Models Reveal   
Oetzi the Iceman Had Heart Disease Gene   
'Witch Marks' Carved Into 17th-Century Estate   
 

Italian archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a Medieval teenage girl who was burnt and thrown carelessly in a pit, her grave covered with heavy stone slabs.

Her burial shows she was seen as a danger even when dead, according to the archaeologists.

The skeleton was discovered at the complex of San Calocero in Albenga on the Ligurian Riviera, by a team led by scientific director Philippe Pergola, professor of topography of the Orbis Christianus Antiquus at the Pontifical Institute of Archaeology at the Vatican.

Medieval 'Witch Girl' Likely Just Suffered From Scurvy
Play Video
Ancient Lost Army Found?   
Has the lost army of Persian king Cambyses II been found?
DCI

At the same location, in September 2014, the team unearthed the remains of another “witch girl,” a 13-year-old female who was buried face-down.

Like other deviant burials, in which the dead were buried with a brick in the mouth, nailed or staked to the ground, or even decapitated and dismembered, both the face-down burial and the stone-covered tomb aimed at preventing the dead girls from rising from the grave.

Further analysis determined the “witch girl” who was buried face-down just suffered from scurvy, a disorder caused by an insufficient intake of vitamin C.

Photos: Great Archaeological Discoveries Ahead

It is unlikely the two witch girls are related. While the first girl died between the first half of 1400 and the beginning of 1500, the newly found skeleton is likely older, the archaeologists say.

“We are waiting for the radiocarbon dating results. At the moment we can date the burial between the 9th and the 15th century,” said archaeologist Stefano Roascio, the excavation director.

Standing just 4.75 feet tall, the girl was 15-17 years old when she died. She was burnt in an unknown location and then brought to the San Calocero site where she was hastily buried.

Photos: Ancient Quake Revealed By Remains

“We can’t say whether she was alive or not when she was burnt. Fire attacked her body when soft tissues were still present, so it could have occurred before death or soon after,” anthropologist Elena Dellù told Discovery News.

The girl was hurriedly interred, with only heavy stones thrown over her grave.

“She was taken by her elbows and just thrown in the pit. Her head leaned on the vertical wall of the pit, so that it was bent. Indeed, her chin almost touched the breastbone,” Dellù said.

Photos: Pompeii Victims' Bodies Revealed in Scans

Preliminary analysis revealed porotic hyperostosis on the skull and orbits. These are areas of spongy or porous bone tissue and are the result of severe iron deficiency anemia.

Enamel hypoplasia, a condition in which enamel becomes weak, was also present and pointed to childhood stresses such as malnutrition.

Her pallor, her possible hematomas and fainting might have scared the community.

The condition appear similar to that of the first “witch girl” who was diagnosed with scurvy on the basis of porotic hyperostosis found in crucial points. The spongy areas were present on the external surface of the occipital bone, on the orbital roofs, near the dental sockets and on the palate, and on the greater wings of the sphenoid.

Ancient Greeks Were Afraid of Zombies

“Unfortunately the skeleton of the second girl is damaged right in those bones where scurvy can be diagnosed. However, we cannot rule it out completely given theporotic hyperostosis on the skull,” Dellù said.

The excavation, which is currently funded by private foundations (Fondazione Nino Lamboglia of Rome and Fondazione bancaria De Mari of Savona) will continue in 2016.

“At the end of the digging campaign we will focus on specific analysis. If the radiocarbon dating shows the two girls are from the same period, we will try to compare their DNA,” Dellù said.


http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/skeleton-of-burnt-witch-girl-found-in-italy-151118.htm
Report Spam   Logged

"An it harm none, do what ye will."
-the Wiccan Rede

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter



Pages: [1]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum
Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy