The disease of a plague: study proposal of a sample of individuals from the convent of San Rocco in Merate

San Rocco in Merate is a hill town in which were hospitalized the victims of Plague epidemics of 1524 and 1576, which had hit Lombardy causing around 50,000 and 10,000 dead. According to the written sources, near the oratory dedicated to Saint Rocco were buried about five hundred victims. Today a huge granite column, erected around 1854, persists in correspondence of the common grave in which the dead of the plague were buried. This evidence is an important case study that allows to analyze a bioarchaeological context pertaining to documented episodes of epidemic, permitting to investigate the mortality rate and demographical data of the examined population, which reflect the nature of the crisis. The analysis of the sample allows also to highlight eventual selective compositions of the population, therefore to investigate the selectivity of death and whether it is linked to age, sex and the pre-existent health status of the individuals.