Mercury poisoning in two patients with tertiary syphilis from the Ca’ Granda hospital (17th‐century Milan)

Biehler‐Gomez, Lucie; Mattia, Mirko; Sala, Carlotta; Giordano, Gaia; Candia, Domenico Di; Messina, Carmelo; Sconfienza, Luca Maria; Franchini, Antonia Francesca; Porro, Alessandro; Galimberti, Paolo Maria; Slavazzi, F.; Cattaneo, Cristina

doi:10.1111/arcm.12721

Archaeometry

2021

DOI: 10.1111/arcm.12721

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Mercury poisoning in two patients with tertiary syphilis from the Ca’ Granda hospital (17th‐century Milan)

Lucie Biehler‐Gomez

Mirko Mattia

Carlotta Sala

et al.

Abstract: Syphilis was a widespread infectious disease in 17thcentury Italy, commonly treated with mercury-based ointments and fumigations. Few reports exist on the analysis of abnormally high Hg levels in bone as a result of exposure to mercury-containing anti-syphilitic medicine. In this research, two crania recovered among the 2.9 million commingled bones resting under the crypt of the former hospital of the poor of Milan were submitted to pathological, radiological and toxicological analysis. The crania showed gumma… Show more

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Cited by 6 publications

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“…The present paper is part of an ongoing project on the reconstruction of the life of the people of Milan throughout History [17][18][19] , based on the skeletons of the CAL (Collezione Antropologica LABANOF-Anthropological Collection of the LABANOF). The CAL is an osteological collection counting about 7000 individuals (about 5000 archaeological remains and 2000 contemporary remains from cemeteries), currently under study at the Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology and Odontology (LABANOF) at the University of Milan.…”

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confidence: 99%

The diachronic trend of female and male stature in Milan over 2000 years

Biehler‐Gomez

Petrosino

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Stature is a biological trait directly determined by the interaction of genetic and environmental components. As such, it is often evaluated as an indicator for the reconstruction of skeletal biological profiles, past health, and social dynamics of human populations. Based on the analysis of 549 skeletons from the CAL (Collezione Antropologica LABANOF), a study of the diachronic trend of male and female adult stature in Milan (Italy) is being proposed here, covering a time span of about 2000 years, ranging from the Roman era to present-days. The skeletons, from necropolises dedicated to the less wealthy classes of Milanese society, were assigned to one of following five historical periods: Roman Era (first–fifth centuries AD), Early Middle Ages (sixth–tenth centuries AD), Late Middle Ages (eleventh–fifteenth centuries AD), Modern Era (sixteenth–eighteenth centuries AD) and Contemporary Era (nineteenth–twentieth centuries AD), and their stature was estimated according to the regression formulae of Trotter (1970). The collected data were then subjected to statistical analyses with ANOVA using R software. Although stature values showed an ample standard deviation in all periods, statistical analyses showed that stature did not significantly vary across historical periods in Milan for both sexes. This is one of the rare studies showing no diachronic changes in the trend of stature in Europe.

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confidence: 99%

The diachronic trend of female and male stature in Milan over 2000 years

Biehler‐Gomez

Petrosino

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Beautiful, Magic, Lethal: a Social Perspective of Cinnabar Use and Mercury Exposure at the Valencina Copper Age Mega-site (Spain)

García Sanjuán,

Montero Artús,

Emslie

et al. 2023

J Archaeol Method Theory

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Today, mercury is a matter of concern for health and environmental authorities across western countries, and legislation has been passed and programs have been implemented for its total elimination from human activity. But this was not always the case: mercury and its compounds have been highly appreciated and used since remote times all over the world with very diverse purposes ranging from decorative, medicinal, metallurgical and symbolic. In particular, cinnabar (HgS, mercury sulfide), a mineral of an intense red color, has been considered in many cultures as an exotic raw material, highly valued and associated with the elites and sacred practice. In this paper, we examine one such case, set almost 5000 years ago, in Copper Age Iberia, by investigating mercury exposure through human bone. The study presented here includes a total of 170 samples from 70 different human individuals and 22 animals (plus one soil sample) from the Copper Age mega-site of Valencina, south-western Spain. It is the largest ever single-site study of exposure to mercury based on human bone in combination with cinnabar use. Abnormally high values are recorded in some individuals dating between 2900 and 2650 BC, especially in those buried in remarkable tombs belonging to the social elite of this period, but high levels of mercury are also recorded in the rest of the population. Three lines of interpretation are used to explain these results, including the manipulation of cinnabar (grinding it into powder, mixing it with other substances, using it for the decoration of objects, buildings and the human body), its direct consumption through ingestion or inhalation by a ‘special’ social group and the contribution of environmental factors. Based on the currently available evidence, which is carefully reviewed, Valencina represents the most intense and prolonged case of exposure to mercury recorded in human history, which makes it an important site to assess the long and complex history of use of this substance.

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Forensic toxicological analyses reveal the use of cannabis in Milano (Italy) in the 1600's

Giordano,

Mattia,

Boracchi

et al. 2023

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Mercury poisoning in two patients with tertiary syphilis from the Ca’ Granda hospital (17th‐century Milan)

Cited by 6 publications

References 27 publications

The diachronic trend of female and male stature in Milan over 2000 years

The diachronic trend of female and male stature in Milan over 2000 years

Beautiful, Magic, Lethal: a Social Perspective of Cinnabar Use and Mercury Exposure at the Valencina Copper Age Mega-site (Spain)

Forensic toxicological analyses reveal the use of cannabis in Milano (Italy) in the 1600's

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