Vibrational spectroscopy to study ancient Roman funerary practices at the "Hypogeum of the Garlands" (Italy).

The "Hypogeum of the Garlands" is a sepulchral site, recently found in Grottaferrata (Lazio, Italy), dating back to the first-second century AD. Two sarcophagi were discovered inside, hosting the human remains of Aebutia Quarta, a rich Roman woman, and her son Carvilius Gemellus. While the body of Carvilius is exceptionally well-preserved, following its embalming and perfect sealing of the sarcophagus, in the case of Aebutia only the bones were preserved because of the sarcophagus's seal breaking down, although she was covered with perfectly preserved flower garlands. Embalming of the body was a rare ritual in the Imperial Roman times when corpses were more often cremated. The remains of Aebutia showed possible traces of heating. Burned bones from a third individual were discovered on the chamber's floor and preliminary anthropological survey showed that this individual was a male of 40-50 years old. Here, a combination of spectroscopic techniques, including non-destructive inelastic neutron scattering and Raman spectroscopy, and minimally destructive Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, were applied to the analysis of these bone samples to give information about ancient Roman funerary practices. The temperature and burning conditions were thus determined, showing that Aebutia Quarta was exposed to mild temperatures (200 °C) only in the upper part of the body, while the third individual was likely cremated as its bones were exposed to temperatures up to 900 °C in quasi-anaerobic conditions.

Bone Changes in an Italian Ancient Human Skeleton--Possibly Caused by Leprosy.

Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. In the last stage it can afflict the skeleton with a series of specific and non-specific bone changes. The possibility of studyingthe skeleton of an individual who lived in the pre-antibiotic era (Roman period) with skeletal changes in the rhino-maxillary region and hand and foot bones, permitted skeletal lesions to be analyzed directly. In addition, the localization and the complexity of the bony lesions could be attributed to the presence of leprosy. The importance of this approach was the possibility to verify the nature and typology of the primary and secondary bone changes in leprosy in absence of clinical therapy.