Zyklop
05-30-2009, 06:13 AM
'Vampire' discovered in mass grave
Updated 16:07 06 March 2009
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg20126985.200/mg20126985.200-2_300.jpg (http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg20126985.200/mg20126985.200-2_300.jpg)
To stop the "vampires" supposedly chewing shrouds and spreading disease, grave-diggers put bricks in the mouths of plague victims (Image: Matteo Borrini)
A SKELETON exhumed from a grave in Venice is being claimed as the first known example of the "vampires" widely referred to in contemporary documents.
Matteo Borrini (http://www.restiumani.it/) of the University of Florence in Italy found the skeleton of a woman with a small brick in her mouth (see right) while excavating mass graves of plague victims from the Middle Ages on Lazzaretto Nuovo Island in Venice
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg20126985.200/mg20126985.200-1_500.jpg
The dig site reveals a mass grave with the "vampire" indicated and, inset, a 3D model of the skeleton with brick (Image: Matteo Borrini)"
At the time the woman died, many people believed that the plague was spread by "vampires" which, rather than drinking people's blood, spread disease by chewing on their shrouds after dying. Grave-diggers put bricks in the mouths of suspected vampires to stop them doing this, Borrini says.
The belief in vampires probably arose because blood is sometimes expelled from the mouths of the dead, causing the shroud to sink inwards and tear. Borrini, who presented his findings at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Denver, Colorado, last week, claims this might be the first such vampire to have been forensically examined. The skeleton was removed from a mass grave of victims of the Venetian plague of 1576.
However, Peer Moore-Jansen of Wichita State University in Kansas (http://webs.wichita.edu/anthropology/faculty/content_faculty.htm#pmj) says he has found similar skeletons in Poland and that while Borrini's finding is exciting, "claiming it as the first vampire is a little ridiculous".
Borrini says his study details the earliest grave to show archaeological "exorcism evidence against vampires".
'Vampire' discovered in mass grave - science-in-society - 06 March 2009 - New Scientist (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126985.200-vampire-discovered-in-mass-grave.html?full=true&print=true)
Updated 16:07 06 March 2009
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg20126985.200/mg20126985.200-2_300.jpg (http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg20126985.200/mg20126985.200-2_300.jpg)
To stop the "vampires" supposedly chewing shrouds and spreading disease, grave-diggers put bricks in the mouths of plague victims (Image: Matteo Borrini)
A SKELETON exhumed from a grave in Venice is being claimed as the first known example of the "vampires" widely referred to in contemporary documents.
Matteo Borrini (http://www.restiumani.it/) of the University of Florence in Italy found the skeleton of a woman with a small brick in her mouth (see right) while excavating mass graves of plague victims from the Middle Ages on Lazzaretto Nuovo Island in Venice
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg20126985.200/mg20126985.200-1_500.jpg
The dig site reveals a mass grave with the "vampire" indicated and, inset, a 3D model of the skeleton with brick (Image: Matteo Borrini)"
At the time the woman died, many people believed that the plague was spread by "vampires" which, rather than drinking people's blood, spread disease by chewing on their shrouds after dying. Grave-diggers put bricks in the mouths of suspected vampires to stop them doing this, Borrini says.
The belief in vampires probably arose because blood is sometimes expelled from the mouths of the dead, causing the shroud to sink inwards and tear. Borrini, who presented his findings at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Denver, Colorado, last week, claims this might be the first such vampire to have been forensically examined. The skeleton was removed from a mass grave of victims of the Venetian plague of 1576.
However, Peer Moore-Jansen of Wichita State University in Kansas (http://webs.wichita.edu/anthropology/faculty/content_faculty.htm#pmj) says he has found similar skeletons in Poland and that while Borrini's finding is exciting, "claiming it as the first vampire is a little ridiculous".
Borrini says his study details the earliest grave to show archaeological "exorcism evidence against vampires".
'Vampire' discovered in mass grave - science-in-society - 06 March 2009 - New Scientist (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126985.200-vampire-discovered-in-mass-grave.html?full=true&print=true)