“Capta est ne malitia mutaret intelletum eius…”: Study on a natural mummy from an underground cemetery (18-19th century)

Here we present the paleopathological analysis that were recently conducted on one of the mummies present in the hypogeal cemetery of Santa Maria Maggiore in Vercelli, belonging, according to the writings above the tomb, to a young girl. Among the analysis carried out, the anthropological ones were able to confirm the young age of the subject, while the CT ones confirm the natural mummification and showed the presence of Harris lines, leading to the hypothesis that this girl was subjected to alternating periods of stress. Although it is not possible to reach an unequivocal conclusion on the stress suffered by the young woman, the data collected will allow us, first of all, to be able to continue archival research to identify her and her family, and then they will be useful for a larger study that will cover all the skeletal remains present in the cemetery.As our research advances, we anticipate unveiling deeper layers of understanding that contribute to the overarching narrative of this intriguing historical context.