A foetal tile from an archaeological site: anthropological investigation of human remains recovered in a medieval cemetery in Northern Italy

Abstract

Background: The recovery of foetal remains is very sporadic in archaeology, especially due the scarce degree of bone mineralisation. This paper presents the singular archaeological discovery of a foetal tile preserving the bone remains, object of our anthropological examination.

Materials and methods: The foetal tile was discovered during an archaeological excavation in a medieval site (Northern Italy). The tile was analysed by CT scan and later, human remains were anthropologically examined.

Results: The archaeological investigation revealed a special ritual destined to foetuses while forensic anthropological analysis allowed estimating the gestational age near to 21–24 weeks.

Keywords:

• Foetal osteological remains
• osteoarchaeology
• foetal burial
• Middle Ages
• medieval cemetery

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Archaeological Superintendence of Lombardy for consigning the skeletons studied herein to our laboratory. Thanks also goes to Dr. Ugo Maspero and Luca Romano, radiologists at the Fondazione Borghi in Brebbia (VA), who performed the X-ray and CT analyses.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no declarations of interest