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ITALY: Three skeletons, dating from between A.D. 500 and 700 from Campochiaro, are providing a glimpse of medieval wartime medicine. Two of them, Lombard or Avar soldiers who resisted a Byzantine invasion, appear to have been successfully treated for serious head wounds. The third had a nonfatal but unhealed cranial wound, as well as leprosy—suggesting sick and healthy Avar men alike were called on for defense. Researchers hope to extract DNA from the pathogen for comparison with modern forms.
