LUGNANO, ITALY—An unusual burial in La Necropoli dei Bambini, a cemetery placed in an abandoned Roman villa that had been thought to have been reserved for the interment of infants and toddlers, contains the remains of a ten-year-old who may have died during a malaria outbreak in the fifth century A.D., according to a report in The Washington Post. Researchers led by David Soren of the University of Arizona say the child had been positioned on his or her side in the tomb, which was fashioned from two large roof tiles propped against a wall. The child had a stone in his or her open mouth, and teeth marks on the stone’s surface indicate it was placed there purposefully. The scientists suggest the stone may have been placed there as a way to incapacitate the child, and keep it from rising from the dead and spreading disease among the living. “I really feel deeply for this community that was dealing with this epidemic when they had no understanding of it,” said bioarchaeologist Jordan Wilson of the University of Arizona. The child’s age also indicates that unexcavated sections of the cemetery may hold the remains of older children. To read about the sixth-century burial of a man in Italy who appears to have worn a prosthetic weapon in place of a missing hand, go to “Late Antique TLC.”
