The health, development and social identity of children afforded mummification in the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Sicily

过去对童年的研究历来被忽视。同样，对木乃伊遗骸的研究往往集中在成年人身上。然而，关于社会价值观、身份以及社会中的角色和责任，孩子们有很多要告诉我们的。巴勒莫(西西里岛北部)的卡布钦地下墓穴是一个独特的遗址，可以追溯到16世纪末到20世纪初。它们拥有欧洲最大的木乃伊遗骸收藏，至少有1284具木乃伊身体；为过去居住在巴勒莫的人们提供了无与伦比的快照。之前的研究主要集中在墓穴中的成年人，而儿童在很大程度上被忽视了。拟议的研究项目将纠正这一平衡，并将首次专门研究在现代巴勒莫晚期举行木乃伊仪式的儿童。墓穴中至少存放着163具儿童遗体，其中41名儿童被安置在指定的儿童室中。虽然可以从这些文件中提取的信息仅限于死者的姓名和死亡日期(北达科他州巴勒莫卡布奇尼图书馆)，但可以获得这一时期的死亡记录。该项目的目的是深入了解现代巴勒莫晚期木乃伊儿童的健康、发育和社会身份。该项目将涉及使用便携式数字直接X光机对所有41名儿童(安置在地下墓穴的儿童室)进行检查，因为木乃伊的遗骸不能从现场移走。这个项目将(a.)制作一份木乃伊儿童的生物档案，以确定是否根据儿童的年龄和/或性别为特定儿童保留了这一葬礼仪式，(B)检测儿童是否存在发育缺陷、压力指标和病理损害，以了解儿童的健康和生活方式；(C)将(A)和(B)项的结果与死者在墓穴中的安置、他们的葬礼服装和相关文物、木乃伊类型(例如，自然或人工)以及任何幸存的历史文件进行比较。这将揭示一种独特的洞察，了解在现代巴勒莫晚期被提供木乃伊的儿童。我们的生物文化方法将突出这些儿童是谁，为什么他们被授予木乃伊，他们的身份，以及活着的人在生死中如何看待和对待这些儿童。拟议的项目将更全面地了解这一时期的青少年，进而更全面地了解巴勒莫近代后期的社会。此外，采用一种纯粹的非侵入性方法将突出表明，可以提取丰富的信息，而不需要破坏性技术，以加深我们对过去儿童生死的了解。我们的目标是向其他学者证明，使用非破坏性方法从木乃伊遗骸中获取详细的生物信息是可能的，这将确保文化、社会和意识形态的信仰和价值观得到尊重和尊重。因此，这项研究将通过展示在项目的合作性质、非侵入性方法的应用、专业技术的使用以及我们的伦理方法方面的良好做法，促进木乃伊研究和生物考古学在世界范围内的学术进步。

The study of childhood in the past has historically been neglected. Similarly, studies of mummified remains have tended to focus on adults. Yet the children have much to tell us about societal values, identity, and roles and responsibilities within society. The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo (northern Sicily) is a unique site dating from the late 16th to early 20th century. They contain the largest collection of mummified remains in Europe, with at least 1,284 mummified bodies; providing an unparalleled snapshot into the people that inhabited Palermo in the past. Previous research has primarily focused on adults in the catacombs, while the children have largely been overlooked. The proposed research project will redress the balance, and will be the first to exclusively examine children afforded the mummification rite in late modern Palermo. There are at least 163 children's bodies housed in the catacombs, including 41 children located in a designated room for children. Death records from the period are available, though the information that can be extracted from these documents is limited to the names of the deceased and date of death (Biblioteca Cappuccini Palermo, n.d.).The aim of this project is to gain an insight into the health, development, and social identity of children afforded mummification in late modern Palermo. This project will involve the examination of all forty-one children (housed in the children's room of the catacombs) using a portable digital direct x-ray machine as the mummified remains cannot be removed from the site. This project will (a.) generate a biological profile of the mummified children to establish whether this mortuary rite was reserved for specific children based on their age and/or sex, (b.) to detect the presence of developmental defects, stress indicators and pathological lesions, which aims to gain an insight into the health and lifestyle of children in life, (c.) compare the results of (a) and (b) with the deceased's placement within the catacombs, their funerary attire and associated artefacts, and mummification type (e.g. natural or artificial), alongside any surviving historical documentation. This will reveal a unique insight into the children that were afforded mummification in late modern Palermo. Our biocultural approach will highlight who these children were, why they were granted mummification, their identities, and how the living perceived and treated these children in life and death. The proposed project will produce a more complete understanding of juveniles from this period which will, in turn, generate a more comprehensive insight into Palermo society during the late modern period. Furthermore, the adoption of a purely non-invasive methodology will highlight the wealth of information that can be extracted, without the need of destructive techniques, to further our understanding of the lives and deaths of children in the past. We aim to demonstrate to fellow scholars that it is possible to obtain detailed biological information from mummified remains using non-destructive methods, which will ensure cultural, societal and ideological beliefs and values are honoured and respected. This research will thus contribute to worldwide academic advancement of mummy studies and bioarchaeology by demonstrating good practice in terms of the collaborative nature of the project, the application of non-invasive methodologies, the use of specialist technologies, and our ethical approach.