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And today, in a strange, fascinating and somewhat sad story, the grave of a child who was given a "vampire burial" in the fifth century was discovered in Lugano, Italy. The child was found with a stone in his mouth, a practice that would have prevented the vampires from coming out of their grave. There is more at stake here than the mere fear of the supernatural; It was thought that vampires not only consumed human blood, but also that they spread infectious diseases – and there is evidence to suggest that the buried child died of malaria.
according to Smithsonian the burial of the vampire was discovered at La Necropoli dei Bambini, or baby cemetery, in Lugano. The cemetery was built on an old abandoned villa of the first century; Most of the remains that are buried there date back to the fifth century, when a malaria epidemic raged in central Italy. As you may have guessed, La Necropoli dei Bambini contains only children, who would have been particularly vulnerable to the epidemic.
The child who seems to have received the burial of the vampire seems to be about 10 years old at the time of his death. It's interesting in itself; Until now, the oldest skeleton found belonged to a child who died at the age of 3, according to Science Daily. A dental abscess helps to understand the cause of death at the age of 10; it is an indication of malaria. In addition, tooth marks on the rock in the child's mouth suggest that it was intentionally placed there.
He completely frightened the researchers. "I have never seen anything like it. It's extremely strange and strange, "said Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, David Soren, according to Live Science. Soren has been managing archaeological excavations at La Necropoli dei Bambini since 1987; he added that the child had earned the nickname "Vampire Lugano" among locals.
Although they are "strange" and "strange", the so-called "vampire burials" are not a newly discovered phenomenon. Several other similar burials have been discovered in recent years. Burial methods vary from placing stones or bricks in the cadaver's mouth to sticking stakes – wood or metal – into the trunk and limbs. Several skeletons were also found decapitated, heads placed by the feet, to prevent the "undead" from restoring their own head to their necks after burial.
Implanting someone on earth is a relatively explicit form of anti-vampire burial; you can not really resurrect the dead if you are standing on the ground with huge sturdy spikes. But what about bricks and stones in people's mouths? How is this supposed to keep a vampire out of his grave?
The answer to this question lies in popular beliefs: in some countries and cultures of the 16th and 17th centuries – as for example in Italy – it was thought that vampires could literally feed on graves. Therefore, if you put something heavy and hard in your mouth before burying it, they will not be able to do it.
After the discovery in 2009 of an alleged vampire burial on the Italian island of Lazzaretto Nuovo near Venice, forensic anthropologist and archaeologist Matteo Borrini explained to Archeology Magazine exactly what might have led to believe that vampires were able to get out of the graves. According to Borrini, superstition probably stems "from a misinterpretation of thanatological (death-related) data," that is, people simply did not understand how bodies decomposed and when they tried to Explain, they were wrong. Borrini said:
"In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, little was known about what happens to the body after death. They were aware of immediate post-mortem changes, such as body cooling (algor mortis) and temporary stiffening of the muscles (rigor mortis), but these changes do not really change the appearance of the deceased. Decay and rot and putrefaction – which reduce a dead body to a skeleton – have been misunderstood because they occur in the grave. When the graves are reopened, it is usually after years, when the body has completely transformed into a skeleton. They thus associate death with a cold and stiff body or a whitened skeleton, which is confirmed by the allegorical paintings of the time.
He continued:
"Reports of vampires in graves actually describe a corpse during decomposition. The rigor mortis would have disappeared. A phenomenon called epidermolysis would be visible, in which the epidermis would detach from the underlying dermis and the nails would fall out, exposing the nails and giving the impression of new growth. At the same time, the corpse would go through the putrefaction stage during which the abdomen is swollen by the buildup of gas. Decomposition of the contents of the gastrointestinal tract and mucosa creates a dark fluid called "purging fluid" that can flow freely from the nose and mouth and can easily be confused with blood sucked by the vampire. And if a corpse was wrapped in a shroud, putrid gases and purging liquid from the mouth would moisten the rag so that it would sink into the mouth (which would open up). when the muscles relax after a rigor mortis), where the fluids break it. down."
When a body was dug in mid-decomposition (which could happen if, for example, a gravedigger had to open a common grave), people would have seen it was a body that looked very different from what it was. was when soil – the one who seemed to eat his own shroud with a mouth covered with blood. Without the knowledge of what was really happening, you can see how one could come to the conclusion that the person was a vampire. The solution to future problems with other vampires alleged on the basis of this observation, therefore, has become jostling something in the mouth before you buried them as a precaution.
It is also interesting to note, by the way, that many of the "vampire burials" we have discovered have been caused by people who are probably dead from infectious diseases. There is evidence that the child of La Necropoli dei Bambini has malaria; a series of vampire burials discovered in Poland may have died during a cholera outbreak (although it is interesting to note that other theories have since emerged: they were not intended to prevent vampires from rising but rather to protect the dead from the demons, even the remains simply belonged to persons who died by execution, and Lazzaretto Nuovo, Italy, was a known burial ground for the victims of the plague (although it also seems possible that the woman found in 2009 is an accused).
The bottom line is that humans are doing strange things in front of something that we do not understand otherwise – but just because we do not understand them. again does not mean that we have never will. And, I mean, hey, if we can adjust our thinking not to believe that vampires will kill us all by spreading the plague by believing that they are shining in the sun? Well, let's just say it's more than possible to change the melody – no matter how much we can find the original melody.
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