In 1998, Mauro Calattini, an archaeologist at the University of Siena, discovered the grave of a child during excavations in the Grotta delle Mura in Monopoli, a town in the Puglia region in the southeast of Italy. Italy. The grave, covered with two rock slabs, contained the well-preserved and intact remains of the baby. In the cave, no funerary goods were found, nor any other burials.
Getting your hands on such remains is a very rare event: this baby lived during the Ice Age, around 17,000 years ago, when the ice sheets were at their maximum extent. At that time, places like southern Italy, which were slightly warmer than other parts of continental Europe, likely provided refuge for the people responsible for this child and his funeral.
A short and tormented life
As Live Science explains today, scientists recently tried to reconstruct the life story of this child who died prematurely. This one showed signs of poor development and inbreeding. Additionally, DNA analysis revealed that the child was a boy and likely had blue eyes, dark skin, and curly hair somewhere between dark brown and black. This is what an article published on September 20 in the journal Nature Communications affirms.
Analyzes carried out on the skeleton also showed that the child had died at the age of 16 months and that his short life had been difficult. This last statement follows extensive observations of his teeth, which presented nine accentuated lines, markers of psychological difficulties. “Detailed analysis of the infant’s teeth allowed us to infer the health and stress experienced by the child during infancy and/or its mother during pregnancy – something we…
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