The space of man's death. A modern age secondary burial case in northern Italy.

Much of the recent archaeological and anthropological research on Italian modern age secondary burials has focused primarily on source analysis and the funerary context descriptions. To enable a clearer understanding of these atypical burials we need more archaeological data. To comprehend the mortuary practices it is necessary to investigate the surviving funeral monuments, burials and human remains. In fact, through the correct analysis of cultural material and human remains, it is possible to highlight the taphonomic changes of the corpse experiences during the entire ritual process. This will allow us to reconstruct the modality of body treatment in the funeral ritual. Now, we know partially the diffusion of the secondary burial ritual in southern Italy, but in northern Italy, it is lesser known. In this paper, we report the results of the archaeological and anthropological investigations conducted inside the Crypt of the Franciscan Monastery of Azzio (Varese, northern Italy). In the hypogeal funerary chamber, the corpses were temporarily deposed in seat-niches. This type of burial recalls the sitting colatois (masonry seat with a hole in the center), known in Naples as "cantarelle" and largely present in southern Italy. Throughout archaeological, anthropological and historical investigations, we tried to reconstruct the ritual adopted by the Friars and to better understand the ties with other northern and southern Italian testimonies. After our investigations, we received several notices of other similar funerary monuments in northern Italy that would be worth investigating.

A case of erosive polyarthropathy from Medieval northern Italy (12th-13th centuries).

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and differentially diagnose erosive skeletal lesions located on multiple joints of an individual archaeologically recovered in 2017. MATERIALS: Skeletal remains of a well-preserved skeleton dating to the 12th-13th centuries from the medieval church of San Biagio in Cittiglio (Varese, northern Italy). METHODS: Macroscopic and radiographic imaging. RESULTS: Erosive marginal symmetrical lesions are present on the metatarsophalangeal, metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints of an adult male, aged 55-75 years. Osteolytic changes, in the form of pocket erosions, surface resorptions and pseudocyst formations, are also macroscopically observed on some carpal and tarsal bones and on several large peripheral joints. CONCLUSIONS: A careful differential diagnosis of the lesions and their macroscopic and radiological appearance is suggestive of a case of rheumatoid arthritis-like polyarthropathy. SIGNIFICANCE: This case contributes to the debate regarding the antiquity of erosive polyarthropathies, providing additional evidence for the existence of these diseases in the Old World prior to the European discovery of the Americas. LIMITATIONS: Small sample size limits discussion of the scope of the disease in antiquity. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: This case highlights the need for further macroscopic, radiographic, and biomolecular studies of pre-modern European skeletal samples to investigate the hypothesized pre-existence of these pathological conditions in Europe prior to 1492.