Dozens of children were mummified in Italy and scientists hope to find out why

(CNN) – A team of scientists tries to find out why dozens of children were mummified and buried in catacombs in a convent on the Italian island of Sicily.

The first comprehensive study of infant mummies will be led by Kirsty Squires, Associate Professor of Bioarchaeology at the University of Staffordshire, UK, and fieldwork will begin next week.

Researchers will analyze the remains of 41 children buried in a room in the Catacombs of the Capuchins, a macabre tourist attraction in Palermo, northern Sicily, although in total there are 163 children buried in the catacombs.

“We want to try to understand the lives of these individuals, their health, their development, etc.,” Squires told CNN on Thursday. “And from that, we also want to compare the biological data with the more cultural side of things.”

Squires added that the mummies were fully clothed, and that some were placed in cradles and chairs, while others were standing with sticks used to hold them in position, and the researchers will examine the significance of wearing these accessories.

The fully clothed remains of a child in the Capuchin Catacombs photographed in January 2011.
Credit: Tony Gentile / Reuters

Little is known about these children, who were buried between 1787 and 1880 and are part of the largest collection of mummified remains in Europe, consisting of at least 1,284 bodies.

“We know that they came from middle-class families: the rite of mummification was reserved for the wealthiest individuals, such as the nobility, the middle class and the clergy,” explains Squires.

“So we know they weren’t the poorest members of society, but that’s all we know, really.” Squires added, “Why weren’t they buried like the other individuals?”

The team is using X-ray imaging because it is a non-invasive method that does not raise the same ethical considerations as invasive research on human remains, according to a news release from the University of Staffordshire.

“We are using a portable x-ray machine to take radiographs so we can estimate the age of individuals based on their eruption and dental development, and bone fusion,” Squires said, adding that he would look for signs of disease.

The researchers will use the X-rays, 574 in total, or 14 per mummy, to complete a biological profile of the children and find out if mummification was only performed on those of a certain age or sex.

“They will also be used to detect the presence of developmental defects, indicators of stress and pathological lesions, with which it is intended to know the health and lifestyle of children in life,” according to the project website.

According to Squires, mummification was a common practice in the catacombs from around 1599 until the beginning of the 20th century, considered by the middle class as a “way of keeping their social persona alive after death”, and families visited the bodies of their buried relatives.

Squires and his co-investigator Dario Piombino-Mascali, from Vilnius University, Lithuania, will be accompanied by two radiologists and an artist in the catacombs and will spend a week examining death records. However, it will be months before the results are released, he said.