G Fornaciari
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 77819 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | G Fornaciari |
| NOMBRES | G |
| APELLIDO | Fornaciari |
| FIRMA | FORNACIARI G |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Pisa |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1334-1707 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 47 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 113 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 47 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1980 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2022 |
| ÍNDICE H | 6 |
Examining pathogen DNA recovery across the remains of a 14th century Italian friar (Blessed Sante) infected with Brucella melitensis
Head injuries by firearms and sharp weapons in the Battle of San Martino (1859, Italy)
The research was focused on the study of weapon‐related traumas in the skeletal remains of the soldiers who died in the Battle of San Martino (Italy, 1859). These remains are housed in the monumental ossuary of San Martino. The examination of 817 skulls revealed traces of injuries in 90 skulls, selected and submitted to anthropological studies. The aim of this work was to study the head injuries attributable to firearms and blade weapons in relat…
Renaissance mercurial therapy in the mummies of Saint Domenico Maggiore in Naples
This study was designed to evaluate the use of mercury therapy in the Italian noble classes of the Renaissance through the toxicological analysis of hair content. Mercury has stability and a long half-life in hair, representing a great resource not only for forensic toxicological analysis but also for archaeological research on mercurial exposure in past populations. The hair of fourteen mummified individuals of the Aragon and vice-royal court of…
Identification of Italian Renaissance noble women through a bioarchaeological study of skeletal remains
century Paolo Guinigi ruled Lucca for nearly 30 years (1400-1429), providing a long period of wealth and peace to the city. In those years of power Paolo Guinigi married four women from different countries. This study is aimed at identifying the three skeletons of Paolo's wives found in the Guinigi Chapel. The three skeletons were identified using a multidisciplinary approach, by integrating historical, archaeological, anthropological, and isotop…
A case of erosive polyarthropathy from Medieval northern Italy (12th–13th centuries)
Medical imaging as a taphonomic tool
Purpose Medical imaging applied to archaeological human remains represents a powerful tool for the study of specimens of exceptionally fragile nature. Here, the authors report a tomographic computerized investigation on the naturally mummified human remains from the Takarkori rock shelter (Libyan Sahara), dated to the Middle Pastoral Neolithic (ca. 6100-5600 uncal BP). The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Medical radi…
A remarkable case of gout in the Imperial Rome
This study is the result of a multidisciplinary approach and focuses on a case of considerable historical and medical interest. The work originally stemmed from findings at a funerary site in the area of Casal Bertone in Rome (Italy), regards an individual in a tomb identified simply by the number “75.” The skeletal alterations that were later discovered gave rise a debate among the members of the team. Challenges in identifying the pathology hav…
Effect of Neolithic transition on an Italian community
Paleopathology
The word paleopathology, derived from the Greek palaios , pathos , and logos , meaning literally “study of ancient diseases,” was coined in 1892/3 by the German physicist R. W. Schufeldt and has appeared in the Standard Dictionary of Funk and Wagnall since 1895. However, it was Sir Armand Ruffer who made the word popular, using it in his extensive studies on Egyptian mummies. Paleopathology can be defined as the discipline that studies the diseas…
Trepanation in Italy
This paper reviews and discusses cases of skull trepanation in ancient Italy on the basis of information provided by the literature. A total of 54 individuals from 43 different Italian archaeological sites were found to have evidence of trepanation. The analysis of evidences of trepanation in Italy has demonstrated that no differences can generally be perceived between the trepanned individual and the social context of the burial, leading to excl…
Plants and aromatics for embalming in Late Middle Ages and modern period
Neurotoxins during the Renaissance. Bioarcheology of Ferrante II of Aragon (1469–1496) and Isabella of Aragon (1470–1524)
We show that statistical modeling of analytical results is useful in providing insights into metabolism and disease in bioarcheology. Our results also imply that during the Renaissance in Europe widespread pollution of the biosphere with heavy metals such as mercury and lead affected the Italian nobility at that time. The activity of biologic clocks which control metabolism and autonomic nervous system (ANS) function can be gleaned from the analy…
Autoptic practices in 16th–18th century Florence
A possible case of Garre’s sclerosing osteomyelitis from Medieval Tuscany (11th–12th centuries)
Pulverized human skull in pharmacological preparations
Sclerosing Bone Dysplasia from 16 th Century Sardinia (Italy)
The skeletal remains of a male aged 45–55 years displaying several bone anomalies were unearthed from the Alghero (Sardinia) plague cemetery ‘lo Quarter’, a burial site dating back to the 1582–1583 AD outbreak. The skeleton, whose stature is about 165 cm, presents a bilateral hyperostosis with increased diameter of the diaphyses of all the long bones of the upper and lower limbs; the metaphyses appear to be involved, while the epiphyses are spare…
Weapon-related Cranial Lesions from Medieval and Renaissance Turin, Italy
Archaeological excavations carried out in the square around the Cathedral of S. Giovanni in Turin brought to light burials referable to the medieval and Renaissance periods. The anthropological examination of the skeletal remains allowed to identify two skeletons from the medieval period (10th-11th centuries) and four skeletons from the Renaissance age (15th century) showing weapon-related cranial injuries. These peri mortem lesions are indicator…
The Roman Giant
A very tall skeleton was found during archaeological excavations in the territory of Fidenae, an administrative centre of the Roman territorial organization, situated along the Via Salaria about 7 km north of Rome (Italy). The individual was a young male, dated back to the Imperial Age (3rd century AD), presenting a very tall but normally proportioned stature, estimated around 202 cm. The long bones showed incomplete epiphyseal union; therefore, …
Rickets in a High Social Class of Renaissance Italy
Exploration of the Medici Chapels in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence revealed the burials of nine juvenile members of the Medici family (16th-17th centuries). The estimated children's skeletal ages ranged from newborns to 5-year-olds, showing a series of bone abnormalities, in particular diffuse periosteal new bone and bowing of long bones. The comparable pathological lesions, including porosity evident on the skull, orbital roofs, costoc…
A medieval case of digitalis poisoning
Assessing heavy metal exposure in Renaissance Europe using synchrotron microbeam techniques
The death scenario of an Italian Renaissance princess can shed light on a zoological dilemma
A probable case of non-syndromic brachycephaly from 16th century Sardinia (Italy)
Eleonora of Toledo (1522–1562)
Embalming methods and plants in Renaissance Italy
New European fossil hominid material from an Acheulean site near Rome (Castel di Guido)
New fossil hominid material recovered from an Acheulean Italian archeological site is reported. It consists of two portions of femora, an occipital fragment, a fragmentary right maxilla, and a portion of parietal. Each specimen is described in detail and measurements are given. On the basis of the morphology, which includes primitive traits reminiscent of Homo erectus , and of the archeological, paleontological, and stratigraphical association, t…
Effect of Neolithic transition on an Italian community
Bone remodelling following a lower leg fracture in the 11,000-year-old hunter-gatherer from Vado all' Arancio (Italy)
The Upper Palaeolithic skeleton from Vado all'Arancio (Italy), dated to about 11,330 BP, exhibits a severe ankle fracture healed with residual deformation. Following recovery, this young hunter-gatherer continued to walk for an extended period of time, albeit in a mechanically altered manner. While right-left differences in external lower limb bone measurements are relatively low, biomechanical analysis of femur and tibia indicates unusually pron…
Rickets in a High Social Class of Renaissance Italy
Exploration of the Medici Chapels in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence revealed the burials of nine juvenile members of the Medici family (16th-17th centuries). The estimated children's skeletal ages ranged from newborns to 5-year-olds, showing a series of bone abnormalities, in particular diffuse periosteal new bone and bowing of long bones. The comparable pathological lesions, including porosity evident on the skull, orbital roofs, costoc…
Assessing heavy metal exposure in Renaissance Europe using synchrotron microbeam techniques
Food and disease at the Renaissance courts of Naples and Florence
Plants and aromatics for embalming in Late Middle Ages and modern period
Embalming methods and plants in Renaissance Italy
Weapon-related Cranial Lesions from Medieval and Renaissance Turin, Italy
Archaeological excavations carried out in the square around the Cathedral of S. Giovanni in Turin brought to light burials referable to the medieval and Renaissance periods. The anthropological examination of the skeletal remains allowed to identify two skeletons from the medieval period (10th-11th centuries) and four skeletons from the Renaissance age (15th century) showing weapon-related cranial injuries. These peri mortem lesions are indicator…
Lead exposure in italy
Certain social and industrial activities that were common among Imperial Age Romans have been suggested to have caused lead poisoning whose sociological consequences may have afflicted many members of the aristocratic social stratum. Evaluation of this suggestion has awaited quantitative data. This study reports the skeletal lead content of twenty Italian archaeological populations. Imperial Age populations demonstrated up to ten-fold more bone l…
Restes humains des niveaux gravettiens de la Grotte Paglicci (Rignano Garganico)
Borgognini Tarli S.M., Fornaciari G., Palma di Cesnola A. Restes humains des niveaux gravettiens de la Grotte Paglicci (Rignano Garganico) : contexte archéologique, étude anthropologique et notes de paléopathologie. In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, XIII° Série. Tome 7 fascicule 2, 1980. pp. 125-152
A case of healing spinal infection from classical Rome
This paper describes a spinal infection in an adult male skeleton from Ist century AD necropolis in Rome. Pathological alterations of the lower thoracic vertebrae, including bone destruction and fusion, suggest tuberculous spondylitis as the most probable diagnosis. The rarity of healing infections, as well as the non-diagnostic appearance of the lesions, have prompted this note. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
An investigation of Etruscan cremations by Computed Tomography (CT)
The cremation urn is a tiny archaeological site of its own, with finds, features, stratification and structure. The old prescription was to take the pot apart, or slice it, and micro-excavate with inevitable damage and loss. Here is a new methodology - the application of a CT scan as used in medicine. The authors evaluate the results on 35 Etruscan cremations, finding that CT not only provides an excellent guide for micro-excavation, but allows t…
An 8500‐year‐old Bladder Stone From Uzzo Cave (Trapani)
A calcium carbonate (calcite) bladder calculus was found in the pelvis of an adult female buried in a Mesolithic cave‐tomb on the coast of Sicily; it was dated by 14 C to around 6500 bc . Its chemical composition, which was not known before, was determined by means of Fourier transform–infared microspectroscopy (FT–IR–M) using the high‐pressure diamond cell, a device that makes it possible to analyse a small amount of the sample (1–2 μg). In this…
Renaissance mercurial therapy in the mummies of Saint Domenico Maggiore in Naples
This study was designed to evaluate the use of mercury therapy in the Italian noble classes of the Renaissance through the toxicological analysis of hair content. Mercury has stability and a long half-life in hair, representing a great resource not only for forensic toxicological analysis but also for archaeological research on mercurial exposure in past populations. The hair of fourteen mummified individuals of the Aragon and vice-royal court of…
A medieval case of digitalis poisoning
The death scenario of an Italian Renaissance princess can shed light on a zoological dilemma
Molecular characterization of a pre‐Columbian mummy and in situ coprolite
The history of Homo sapiens dispersal around the world and inherent interpopulation contacts and conflicts has given rise to several transitions in his relationships with the natural world, with the final result of changes in the patterns of infectious disease (McMichael [2001] Ecosystem Health 7:107–115 ). Of particular interest, in this context, is the contact between Amerindians and Europeans that started at the end of the 15th century, and th…
A remarkable case of gout in the Imperial Rome
This study is the result of a multidisciplinary approach and focuses on a case of considerable historical and medical interest. The work originally stemmed from findings at a funerary site in the area of Casal Bertone in Rome (Italy), regards an individual in a tomb identified simply by the number “75.” The skeletal alterations that were later discovered gave rise a debate among the members of the team. Challenges in identifying the pathology hav…
Porotic hyperostosis in a Late Upper Palaeolithic skeleton (Villabruna 1, Italy)
Porotic hyperostosis (PH) is a well-recognised skeletal indicator of physiological stress occurring during the early years of childhood growth. Although frequently found starting from the Neolithic, PH is poorly documented among earlier Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers. This study reports a case of PH in a Late Upper Palaeolithic skeleton (Villabruna 1) from northern Italy. Macroscopic and radiographic examinations of the skeleton show symmetric por…
Luigi Boccherini and the Barocco cello
The aim of this paper is to elaborate an ergonomic model based on the study of acquired muscle-skeletal lesions related to Boccherini's intensive activity as Barocco cellist. The body of the famous musician was submitted to external examination, macroscopic analysis and radiographic study. Palaeopathological studies of the skeleton showed a considerable number of changes such as severe rhizoarthritis of the right thumb, heavy epicondylitis of the…
Restes humains des niveaux gravettiens de la Grotte Paglicci (Rignano Garganico)
Borgognini Tarli S.M., Fornaciari G., Palma di Cesnola A. Restes humains des niveaux gravettiens de la Grotte Paglicci (Rignano Garganico) : contexte archéologique, étude anthropologique et notes de paléopathologie. In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, XIII° Série. Tome 7 fascicule 2, 1980. pp. 125-152
New European fossil hominid material from an Acheulean site near Rome (Castel di Guido)
New fossil hominid material recovered from an Acheulean Italian archeological site is reported. It consists of two portions of femora, an occipital fragment, a fragmentary right maxilla, and a portion of parietal. Each specimen is described in detail and measurements are given. On the basis of the morphology, which includes primitive traits reminiscent of Homo erectus , and of the archeological, paleontological, and stratigraphical association, t…
Palaenutritional studies on skeletal remains of ancient populations from the Mediterranean area
As indicators of dietary status, standardised levels of strontium and zinc in specimens of bones from several prehistoric and historic sites in Europe are compared. The bone level of strontium reflects the vegetable intake in the diet, the level of zinc that of foods of animal origin. The large quantities of plants in the diet of palaeolitic hunters gave way in the mesolithic to an almost exclusively vegetarian diet, but then an increase in meat …
Lead exposure in italy
Certain social and industrial activities that were common among Imperial Age Romans have been suggested to have caused lead poisoning whose sociological consequences may have afflicted many members of the aristocratic social stratum. Evaluation of this suggestion has awaited quantitative data. This study reports the skeletal lead content of twenty Italian archaeological populations. Imperial Age populations demonstrated up to ten-fold more bone l…
Sequence analysis of bacterial DNA in the colon of an Andean mummy
We have isolated DNA from 14 tissue samples from the internal organs of an Andean human mummy (10th-11th century A.D.) and have checked the persistence of the original human and bacterial templates using the following main approaches: 1) amino acid racemization test; 2) quantification of mitochondrial DNA copy number; 3) survey of bacterial DNA in the different organs; 4) sequence analysis of bacterial amplicons of different lengths. The results …
Imaging study and laparoscopy in a puerperal emergency four centuries ago
The present case was investigated using non-invasive methods in order to preserve the mummified body. Imaging techniques, routinely applied in contemporary diagnoses and in palaeopathology, were used. Digital radiography and computed tomography (CT), combined with more advanced techniques such as three-dimensional reconstruction (3-D CT) and virtual endoscopy (VE), permitted some unexpected evaluations during the study of a natural mummy belongin…
K‐ras mutation in the tumour of King Ferrante I of Aragon (1431–1494) and environmental mutagens at the Aragonese court of Naples
The autopsy of the mummy of Ferrante I of Aragon, King of Naples (1431–1494) revealed an adenocarcinoma extensively infiltrating the muscles of the small pelvis. A molecular study of neoplastic tissue observed a typical mutation of the K-ras gene codon 12: the normal sequence GGT (glycine) was altered into GAT (aspartic acid). The recorded genetic change represents the most frequent mutation of the K-ras gene in sporadic colorectal cancer and is …
K-ras mutation in the tumour of King Ferrante I of Aragon (1431-1494) and environmental mutagens at the Aragonese court of Naples
The autopsy of the mummy of Ferrante I of Aragon, King of Naples (1431–1494) revealed an adenocarcinoma extensively infiltrating the muscles of the small pelvis. A molecular study of neoplastic tissue observed a typical mutation of the K-ras gene codon 12: the normal sequence GGT (glycine) was altered into GAT (aspartic acid). The recorded genetic change represents the most frequent mutation of the K-ras gene in sporadic colorectal cancer and is …
Isolation ofTrypanosoma cruzi DNA in 4,000-year-old mummified human tissue from northern Chile
A segment of DNA unique to the kinetoplast of Trypanosoma cruzi was isolated from spontaneously mummified human remains from the coastal area of northern Chile at sites dated from 2000 BC to about AD 1400. Following rehydration of the desiccated human tissue samples of heart, esophagus, or colon, the samples were extracted and primers employed to bind to a 330 bp kinetoplast minicircle DNA sequence present in T. cruzi. This segment was then ampli…
Goiter in an eighteenth-century Sicilian mummy
Goiter is still a frequent pathological condition of the thyroid gland. Goiter consists of an enlargement of the gland caused by several physiopathologic events, the most important of which is deficient intake of iodine. A series of eighteenth-century mummies housed in the church of Santa Maria della Grazia in Comiso includes one individual showing a pathological condition, with a very large swelling in the antero-inferior region of the neck. X-r…
Isolation of Trypanosoma cruzi DNA in 4,000-year-old mummified human tissue from northern Chile
A segment of DNA unique to the kinetoplast of Trypanosoma cruzi was isolated from spontaneously mummified human remains from the coastal area of northern Chile at sites dated from 2000 bc to about ad 1400. Following rehydration of the desiccated human tissue samples of heart, esophagus, or colon, the samples were extracted and primers employed to bind to a 330 bp kinetoplast minicircle DNA sequence present in T. cruzi. This segment was then ampli…
The natural mummies of Popoli
The authors describe the preliminary investigation of the natural mummies found in the church of the Holy Trinity in Popoli (inner Abruzzo region, Central Italy) and dating back from 1734 to 1845.The project was featured as an episode in the National Geographic Channel series "The Mummy Road Show".The mummy of a male individual, 35-40 years old, underwent non-destructive examination with radiological, endoscopical, histological and X-ray diffract…
Bone remodelling following a lower leg fracture in the 11,000-year-old hunter-gatherer from Vado all' Arancio (Italy)
The Upper Palaeolithic skeleton from Vado all'Arancio (Italy), dated to about 11,330 BP, exhibits a severe ankle fracture healed with residual deformation. Following recovery, this young hunter-gatherer continued to walk for an extended period of time, albeit in a mechanically altered manner. While right-left differences in external lower limb bone measurements are relatively low, biomechanical analysis of femur and tibia indicates unusually pron…
Luigi Boccherini and the Barocco cello
The aim of this paper is to elaborate an ergonomic model based on the study of acquired muscle-skeletal lesions related to Boccherini's intensive activity as Barocco cellist. The body of the famous musician was submitted to external examination, macroscopic analysis and radiographic study. Palaeopathological studies of the skeleton showed a considerable number of changes such as severe rhizoarthritis of the right thumb, heavy epicondylitis of the…
An 8500‐year‐old Bladder Stone From Uzzo Cave (Trapani)
A calcium carbonate (calcite) bladder calculus was found in the pelvis of an adult female buried in a Mesolithic cave‐tomb on the coast of Sicily; it was dated by 14 C to around 6500 bc . Its chemical composition, which was not known before, was determined by means of Fourier transform–infared microspectroscopy (FT–IR–M) using the high‐pressure diamond cell, a device that makes it possible to analyse a small amount of the sample (1–2 μg). In this…
Coexistence of melorheostosis and Dish in a female skeleton from Magna Graecia (Sixth Century BC)
This paper reports on a case of massive hyperostotic alterations observed in the skeleton of an adult woman from the necropolis of Montescaglioso Belvedere (Basilicata, Southern Italy) attributed to the Enotrian culture and dated to the 6th century BC. Hyperostotic changes involve joints, the vertebral column, and the lower limbs. In particular, the large flowing ossification in both the thoracic (T6–T10) and lumbar (L2–L5) tracts, the sacralizat…
A case of healing spinal infection from classical Rome
This paper describes a spinal infection in an adult male skeleton from Ist century AD necropolis in Rome. Pathological alterations of the lower thoracic vertebrae, including bone destruction and fusion, suggest tuberculous spondylitis as the most probable diagnosis. The rarity of healing infections, as well as the non-diagnostic appearance of the lesions, have prompted this note. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
A New Case of Ancient Restoration on an Egyptian Mummy
A new example of restoration performed by the ancient Egyptian embalmers on a mummified body is reported. An imaging study of the mummy labelled 2343 in the Archaeological Museum of Naples has revealed the substitution of an artificial wooden ‘prosthesis’ for missing feet. The mummy probably dates to the Ptolemaic-early Roman Period, when other examples of prosthetics occur
Molecular characterization of a pre‐Columbian mummy and in situ coprolite
The history of Homo sapiens dispersal around the world and inherent interpopulation contacts and conflicts has given rise to several transitions in his relationships with the natural world, with the final result of changes in the patterns of infectious disease (McMichael [2001] Ecosystem Health 7:107–115 ). Of particular interest, in this context, is the contact between Amerindians and Europeans that started at the end of the 15th century, and th…
Food and disease at the Renaissance courts of Naples and Florence
Porotic hyperostosis in a Late Upper Palaeolithic skeleton (Villabruna 1, Italy)
Porotic hyperostosis (PH) is a well-recognised skeletal indicator of physiological stress occurring during the early years of childhood growth. Although frequently found starting from the Neolithic, PH is poorly documented among earlier Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers. This study reports a case of PH in a Late Upper Palaeolithic skeleton (Villabruna 1) from northern Italy. Macroscopic and radiographic examinations of the skeleton show symmetric por…
An investigation of Etruscan cremations by Computed Tomography (CT)
The cremation urn is a tiny archaeological site of its own, with finds, features, stratification and structure. The old prescription was to take the pot apart, or slice it, and micro-excavate with inevitable damage and loss. Here is a new methodology - the application of a CT scan as used in medicine. The authors evaluate the results on 35 Etruscan cremations, finding that CT not only provides an excellent guide for micro-excavation, but allows t…
Embalming methods and plants in Renaissance Italy
Eleonora of Toledo (1522–1562)
A probable case of non-syndromic brachycephaly from 16th century Sardinia (Italy)
Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (28 obras) · Paleopathology and ancient diseases (27 obras) · Medicine (26 obras) · History (21 obras) · Archaeology (20 obras) · Biology (17 obras) · Ancient history (13 obras) · Geography (12 obras) · Anatomy (11 obras) · Art history (10 obras)