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

对童年的研究在历史上一直被忽视。同样，对木乃伊遗骸的研究往往集中在成年人身上。然而，儿童有很多关于社会价值观、身份以及社会中的角色和责任的信息要告诉我们。巴勒莫（北方西西里）的嘉布遣会地下墓穴是一个独特的遗址，其历史可以追溯到16世纪末至世纪初。他们包含了欧洲最大的木乃伊遗骸收藏，至少有1，284具木乃伊尸体;为过去居住在巴勒莫的人们提供了无与伦比的快照。以前的研究主要集中在地下墓穴中的成年人，而儿童在很大程度上被忽视了。拟议中的研究项目将纠正平衡，并将是第一个专门研究儿童提供的木乃伊仪式在现代晚期巴勒莫。地下墓穴中至少有163具儿童尸体，其中41名儿童被安置在指定的儿童房间。这一时期的死亡记录是可用的，但从这些文件中可以提取的信息仅限于死者的姓名和死亡日期（Biblioteca Cappuccini巴勒莫，n.d.）。这个项目的目的是深入了解现代晚期巴勒莫木乃伊化儿童的健康、发展和社会身份。该项目将涉及使用便携式数字直接X射线机对所有41名儿童（安置在地下墓穴的儿童室中）进行检查，因为木乃伊遗骸无法从该地点移走。该项目将（a）。生成所述木乃伊化儿童的生物学特征，以确定该丧葬仪式是否是基于他们的年龄和/或性别而为特定儿童保留的，（B.）检测是否存在发育缺陷、压力指标和病理损伤，目的是深入了解儿童的健康和生活方式，（c）将（a）和（B）的结果与死者在地下墓穴中的位置、他们的丧葬服装和相关文物以及木乃伊类型（例如天然或人工）以及任何幸存的历史文献进行比较。这将揭示一个独特的洞察力，儿童提供木乃伊在现代后期巴勒莫。我们的生物文化方法将突出这些孩子是谁，为什么他们被授予木乃伊，他们的身份，以及活着的人如何看待和对待这些孩子的生死。拟议的项目将使人们更全面地了解这一时期的青少年，从而更全面地了解现代后期的巴勒莫社会。此外，采用完全非侵入性的方法将突出表明，可以在不需要破坏性技术的情况下提取大量信息，以进一步了解过去儿童的生死。我们的目标是向其他学者证明，可以使用非破坏性方法从木乃伊遗骸中获得详细的生物信息，这将确保文化，社会和意识形态信仰和价值观得到尊重和尊重。因此，这项研究将有助于木乃伊研究和生物考古学的全球学术进步，通过展示项目的协作性质，非侵入性方法的应用，专业技术的使用和我们的道德方法方面的良好实践。

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.