Today's entry was written by our friend from Philly,
Maggie McManus.
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| Behold the Wild Pig! |
Thursday, July 27th, 2017
Waking up to the beautiful Sicilian sun streaming into our rooms from the windows never gets old. We began the day with, you guessed it… chocolate croissants and cappuccinos from the Poker Bar! A cappuccino and croissant always ensures the we start off the day with a big smile on our face.
After breakfast we headed back to the convent for Dr. Reinhard’s lectures on mites and mummy
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| Dr. Reinhard talks about taphonomy |
taphonomy. Dr. Reinhard began by showing us pictures of different mites that can be found on or around mummies like the ones we’re studying in the crypt. Finding mites and identifying them is super important to mummies as it can tell us a lot about how an individual’s body was treated after death and its condition. Taking this into account, it was very interesting that we didn’t find mites in our samples taken from the crypt. Dr. Reinhard talked to us about mummy taphonomy and his work on Peruvian Mummies during the nineties. Mummy Studies has really changed in recent years as invasive procedures like autopsies are avoided in order to maintain the integrity and preserve the mummy.
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| Polpettone with zucchini |
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| Pasta with tomato base sauce |
After a delicious lunch of pasta, meatloaf, zucchini, and fruit, it was time to head back down into the crypts to do some mummy analysis. We were split into different groups and assigned one mummy to try and determine the age, sex, and other distinguishing features about the individual. The mummy that Tommy, Alexis, and I examined, we decided, with the help of Dr. Reinhard and Dr. Morrow, was a young man between the ages of 18-25. There was also some interesting insect activity and fungal growth that we saw on our mummy. Other groups identified individuals that may have had pathologies such as gout and DISH that we could see on the skeleton itself, which was pretty cool. Overall, the examination of mummies was a great way to apply what we have learned so far in Sicily!!
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| Students take down mummies for analysis. |
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| Students work together to carefully take down the mummies |
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| Ruth and Christina share their findings |
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| Brie, Emuobosa, and Kylie take turns sharing their observations. |
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| Maggie, Tommy, and Alexis present to the class their mummy |
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| Carri, Chase, and Emily talk about their mummy. |
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| Haley and Mari show the class their analysis. |
We finished off the day with a quick gelato break at the Poker Bar and then a delicious dinner of homemade pizza and the Italian version of pigs in a blanket!! Everyone was stuffed, but that didn’t stop us from having a late night snack at the new restaurant, Cannizzu, who had invited us for snacks before the big opening day! They served us some delicious pork that came from a whole roasted wild pig, which is a rare and expensive delicacy here! Overall, it was a great way to end the day with wonderful toasts and bonding time with the entire field school.
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| A special night at Cannizzu. |
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| Wild Pig, a delicacy. Made just for the Mummy Studies Field School. |
