Neurosurgery on a Pregnant Woman with Post Mortem Fetal Extrusion: An Unusual Case from Medieval Italy

Pasini, Alba; Manzon, Vanessa Samantha; Gonzalez-Muro, Xabier; Gualdi‐Russo, Emanuela

doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2018.02.044

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…An early example of a woman interred while still pregnant dates to the seventh-eighth century and was found in excavations at Imola (located in the Bologna district) that included additional burials of an unspecified number (Pasini et al 2018). Within the block-lined tomb were found the well-preserved bones of an adult woman (Pasini et al 2018, p. 78).…”

Section: Burial Of Pregnant Womenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evidence of bone remodeling (see, e.g., Barbian and Sledzik 2008) suggests that she survived approximately one week before succumbing to death; the fetus was expelled after the burial (Pasini et al 2018, p. 80). The authors speculate that the trephination may have been aimed at treating a hypertensive pregnancy disorder, such as preeclampsia, symptoms of which include high fever, convulsions, high intracranial pressure, and cerebral hemorrhages (Pasini et al 2018). The tomb was included among the cemetery lining the Roman road out of Imola and within a formalized tomb, suggestive of proper burial.…”

Section: Burial Of Pregnant Womenmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Doctrinal and Physical Marginality in Christian Death: The Burial of Unbaptized Infants in Medieval Italy

Crow

Zori

2020

Religions

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The burial of unbaptized fetuses and infants, as seen through texts and archaeology, exposes friction between the institutional Church and medieval Italy’s laity. The Church’s theology of Original Sin, baptism, and salvation left the youngest children especially vulnerable to dying unbaptized and subsequently being denied a Christian burial in consecrated grounds. We here present textual and archaeological evidence from medieval Italy regarding the tensions between canon law and parental concern for the eternal salvation of their infants’ souls. We begin with an analysis of medieval texts from Italy. These reveal that, in addition to utilizing orthodox measures of appealing for divine help through the saints, laypeople of the Middle Ages turned to folk religion and midwifery practices such as “life testing” of unresponsive infants using water or other liquids. Although emergency baptism was promoted by the Church, the laity may have occasionally violated canon law by performing emergency baptism on stillborn infants. Textual documents also record medieval people struggling with where to bury their deceased infants, as per their ambiguous baptismal status within the Church community. We then present archaeological evidence from medieval sites in central and northern Italy, confirming that familial concern for the inclusion of infants in Christian cemeteries sometimes clashed with ecclesiastical burial regulations. As a result, the remains of unbaptized fetuses and infants have been discovered in consecrated ground. The textual and archaeological records of fetal and infant burial in medieval Italy serve as a material legacy of how laypeople interpreted and sometimes contravened the Church’s marginalizing theology and efforts to regulate the baptism and burial of the very young.

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Section: Burial Of Pregnant Womenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Burial Of Pregnant Womenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Doctrinal and Physical Marginality in Christian Death: The Burial of Unbaptized Infants in Medieval Italy

Crow

Zori

2020

Religions

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“…The practice of trepanation has been documented as one of the most ancient surgical intervention ever discovered, presenting almost worldwide evidences from Prehistory to more recent periods [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] . This practice is defined as the surgical removal of a portion of the neurocranium through different techniques with the aim to treat several typologies of disorders (epilepsy, fever, traumas or infections, cephalic disorders related to high intracranial pressure and others) [11][12][13][14][15] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This practice is defined as the surgical removal of a portion of the neurocranium through different techniques with the aim to treat several typologies of disorders (epilepsy, fever, traumas or infections, cephalic disorders related to high intracranial pressure and others) [11][12][13][14][15] . Evidences of trepanations are momentous in the archaeological record, since they testify the presence and the evolution of neurosurgical practices throughout the history and prehistory of mankind; moreover, their association with other unusual findings is of particular interest, implying a peculiar context related to the practice itself 5 . Recent studies have shown cases of trepanation associated to other remarkable conditions, usually related to clinical circumstances, such as childbirth 5 , as well as to therapeutic or post-traumatic treatments, both on human and animals 3,6,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] ; some cases of postmortem trepanations have also been reported, in which the procedure has been linked to pharmacological or thaumaturgical practices 23 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evidences of trepanations are momentous in the archaeological record, since they testify the presence and the evolution of neurosurgical practices throughout the history and prehistory of mankind; moreover, their association with other unusual findings is of particular interest, implying a peculiar context related to the practice itself 5 . Recent studies have shown cases of trepanation associated to other remarkable conditions, usually related to clinical circumstances, such as childbirth 5 , as well as to therapeutic or post-traumatic treatments, both on human and animals 3,6,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] ; some cases of postmortem trepanations have also been reported, in which the procedure has been linked to pharmacological or thaumaturgical practices 23 . The association of peculiar funerary practices with evidences of trepanation could also represent a significant finding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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New Evidence of Prehistoric Neurosurgery in Italy: The Case of Castello Del Tartaro

et al. 2019

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Archaeological evidences of trepanation during the European Bronze Age are numerous, and testify a wide application of neurosurgical practices during Prehistory. In some particular cases, trepanations may be associated with other peculiar evidences concerning funerary practices. The aim of this paper is to present the case of a woman from the Recent Bronze Age site of Castello del Tartaro (Verona, Italy), who was buried in a prone position and whose skeletal remains presented evidences of a probable frontal trepanation.The association between a deviant burial and a trepanation could be of interest in better understanding the history and the perception of neurosurgical practices during Prehistory.

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Technical note: Application and potentiality of quantitative ultrasonometry for the evaluation of bone mineral density status

Pasini

Rinaldo

Bramanti

et al. 2023

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

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The evaluation of bone mineral density (BMD) is an important task in paleopathology. Techniques commonly applied in bone quantity assessment, such as DXA or radiogrammetry (XR), suffer from several limitations when applied to skeletal remains. In recently published research, we developed a new methodology and new reference curves for the evaluation of BMD on human skeletal remains, applying for the first time Quantitative Ultrasonometry (QUS), a user‐friendly, portable, and reliable clinical technique. This study aims to apply this new methodology to an archeological sample and to compare the results with those obtained through XR. We apply QUS and XR to a sample of 104 adults from Medieval Italian cemeteries. Fragility fractures were recorded. Descriptive statistics and comparisons between sexes, age‐at‐death cohorts, and individuals with and without fragility fractures were performed. Moreover, univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to define the parameters most predictive of fracture risk in past populations. The comparison between sexes showed no significant results concerning BMD parameters, whereas a decrease in BMD with increasing age is confirmed. The comparison between fracture and non‐fracture individuals and the logit model demonstrated that QUS parameters, especially UBPI, are more reliable predictors of fracture risk in comparison to XR. Our results confirmed that QUS is a valuable technique that can be efficiently applied to archeological remains, also considering its portability. We also propose a modification of the previously published QUS standard curves, to easily assess osteopenia and osteoporosis in archeological material.

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Neurosurgery on a Pregnant Woman with Post Mortem Fetal Extrusion: An Unusual Case from Medieval Italy

Cited by 15 publications

References 21 publications

Doctrinal and Physical Marginality in Christian Death: The Burial of Unbaptized Infants in Medieval Italy

Doctrinal and Physical Marginality in Christian Death: The Burial of Unbaptized Infants in Medieval Italy

New Evidence of Prehistoric Neurosurgery in Italy: The Case of Castello Del Tartaro

Technical note: Application and potentiality of quantitative ultrasonometry for the evaluation of bone mineral density status

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