Mummy Stash found in Italy

[scout1067]

This is really cool.  Apparently, a whole stash of naturally mummified bodies was found in this church during recent restoration work.  Many were still fully dressed.  The pictures in the slide show are cool but I would love to see better pictures of the clothing the people wore.  I suspect that simple people dressed much differently than they are prortrayed in Hollywood films, even the ones that try to be authentic.  Anyway, a pretty neat find.

[Phidippides]

That is interesting.  So I don't get it....the townspeople just dropped their deceased into the crypt through the trapdoor dressed, for what reason?  Did the smell not get to the people visiting the church? 

[skiguy]

That's what I was thinking too.  And you wonder why there were plagues and diseases.

[Notch]

They said that some where ther with their hands clasped in prayer... does that mean they were dropped through alive??

[Phidippides]

They said that some where ther with their hands clasped in prayer... does that mean they were dropped through alive??

Or postured like that with twine like that after death.

Good catch.

[Omer]

This discovery is quite amazing !

Or postured like that with twine like that after death.

Good catch.

Rigor mortis might be another reason for that posture.

Depending on temperature and other conditions, rigor mortis lasts approximately 72 hours. The phenomenon is caused by the skeletal muscles partially contracting. The muscles are unable to relax, so the joints become fixed in place.

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/biochemistry/a/aa061903a.htm

Here is a video about that discovery (in italian)

http://gazzettadimodena.gelocal.it/foto-e-video/i-segreti-delle-mummie-1.696411

[Aetheling]

Rigor mortis ? Are you referring to Saint Eligius ?