Stories from Sicily: Into the Crypt

Today's post is by the now-expert traveler, Kylie Ham.

July 26th, 2017

Today started like every other day, with a delicious chocolate croissant and cappuccino at the Poker Bar. Despite how great of a start that is to the day, nothing can compare to the amazing rest of the day that we had. The day that all of the students have been waiting for was finally here... It was finally time to head down to the crypt to see the mummies. However, before we could do that we needed to hear from a few of our teachers.

Dr. Piombino-Mascali  gives his presentation on mummies and preserved human remains.

Our first lecture was from our own Dr. Morrow. She lectured on taphonomy of human bodies and the causes of decomposition. Next, Dr. Piombino-Mascali, our field school teacher from Italy, gave an introduction to mummies and preserved human remains. It is always a treat when he lectures because of his experience and all that he has accomplished.

Dr. Morrow, ready to go down in the crypt with her equipment. 

Dr. Piombino-Mascali introduces the students to the crypt.

Dr. Morrow gives the students instruction for today's activities.

Picture of the crypt before it was restored.

After a lunch break filled with pasta and lots of bread, we were ready to make our way down into the crypt. Dr. Piombino-Mascali gave a quick history on the mummies of Sicily and what we would be looking at when we got down there. We had some free time to explore and study the remains surrounding us. It was particularly interesting when I found a tiny skull with the cranial sutures barely

Students take a look around and observe the mummies.

fused, meaning it was a young child.


Then we broke into groups of around 3-4 students to work on collecting samples for analysis later in the lab. My group had the job of using a small paint brush to scrape dust from the inside of the coffins into a centrifuge tube. After collecting our samples, Emily and myself took the exciting job of looking for insects and other specimens lying around the crypt. In the end, we had two petri dishes full of insects and other arthropods.

Students work on today's activities. 

Kylie and Emily gather insects from the crypt.

Chase rocking the Optivisor.

We then moved up to the lab to begin analyzing the materials we had collected. It started out rough when Dr. Reinhard blew the fuse after turning on the light on the microscope. In his defense, we did not have a surge protector when using our adapter. We made things work by using an alternative light source and our second microscope. Next, Dr. Morrow, our great archaeoentomologist, took the initiative to investigate one mysterious insect that we found. It appeared to be something encased in a white shell of some sort. At first we weren't even sure if it was an insect, but after closer examination we were surprised at what we found. Dr. Morrow began pulling at the white substance and discovered that it was a spider web. After freeing the insect, we came to the conclusion that it was a beetle in the Curculionidae family, a type of weevil (long snout beetle).

Kylie and Emily analyze their findings. 

Insects gathered at the crypt.

Curculionidae (Weevil) extracted from a spider's case.

After a small break in the afternoon, some students took the rigorous hike up to the castle, while

some of us stayed back to rest. When everyone returned we went down for a dinner together that consisted of zucchini roll-ups, bread, vegetables, and pears. The rest of the night was filled with relaxing and resting up for 9 AM class tomorrow. Ciao!

Dish of delicious peppers, onions, and mushrooms.

Mini stuffed zucchini wraps. 

Stories from Sicily: Buongiorno! Come stai? Tutto bene!

Today's post is brought to you by visiting researcher and MSFS alum, Mari Toppinen.

View of the city from our classroom.

July 25th, 2017

We started our 5th day of the MSFS by going out to the Poker Bar for breakfast together with Dr. Morrow. I have been quite pleased about being able to order my breakfast in Italian these past few days. However, this morning I learned a new word - "piccolo" which means small (I had cornetto piccolo :D)

Emubosa in deep thought about facial reconstruction.

Dr. Meier shows students what the individual looked like in real life.

We started today's class with talks about yesterday's facial reconstruction project. The students presented each of their own parts of the project from yesterday and discussed all of the pitfalls that they had along their way. In the end, we were all quite satisfied with the reconstruction because the face we recreated really resembled the actual person.

Students proudly display their finished facial reconstruction project.

Signora Trifirò says "Ciao!" to MSFS students.

Later in the morning we had our first Italian lesson. Therefore, there were lot of new words for me in addition to piccolo! Now everyone in the class is able to greet and share their names in Italian. I enjoyed the lesson a lot since it reminded me of the English, Swedish, and French lessons that I had at school. Our teacher, Signora Trifirò, only spoke in Italian and she indeed made us participate in the lesson via roleplaying and repetition. I am looking forward for the next lesson!

Students learn about archeovirology.

Just before lunch, I myself gave a presentation about viruses and how to study them from bone samples. I presented our work on World War II casualties and some data on what I am currently working on with contemporary cadaver material. This yielded lively discussion in the class with lots of questions regarding viruses in general and about our work, specifically.

Mari shares her research with the 2017 MSFS students.

For lunch, we had lentil soup, which probably became my new favorite dish! Others had French fries and sausages as well, but I was happy with my lentils! We also had delicious peaches for dessert.

Lentil soup with crusty bread. 

Sausages, cheese, and French fries.

The afternoon session was dedicated to Egyptology. This was one of the main themes I was most anticipating coming back for this year's MSFS. I have been interested in Egyptian mummies since I was a child. I needed to collect all of the books and watch all of the documentaries. Now I had this great opportunity to hear directly from the experts! We learned a lot about both animal and human mummies from MSFS student, Carri Lupton, as well as from the visiting researchers, Dr. Lidija McKnight (University of Manchester) and Dr. Iwona Kozieradzka-Ogunmakin (Universities of Manchester and Warsaw).

I was fascinated about the animal mummies and how many there really are. We also learned that we still practice giving votive offerings to the deceased in the form of flowers and candles. Furthermore, it was enchanting to hear that Dr. Kozieradzka-Ogunmakin has sampled some of the mummies in order to perform aDNA analysis from the petrous bone. This particular bone is one that our Archeovirology team is really interested in using as a site for sampling as well.





In the evening, we all joined in celebrating Dr. Piombino-Mascali, who was receiving his honorary citizenship of Santa Lucia del Mela.

Dr. Piombino-Mascali becomes an honorary citizen of Santa Lucia del Mela.

Tonight was also the official opening ceremony of this year's MSFS. After the speeches, from prominent members of the community along with Drs. Piombino-Mascali and Reinhard, we all headed upstairs for wine and hors' d'oeuvres. Everything was delicious! The exquisite ceremony and reception was a perfect end to a happy day!

Panel discussing the significance of the MSFS in its second year.

Celebratory reception after the evening's events.

Amici per sempre (Friends Forever)

Stories from Sicily: Coming Face to Face with the Past

Today's stories are brought to you by returning MSFS alum and new graduate student, Ruth Grady.

Monday, July 24th, 2017

A great morning can start with a walk down to the plaza to Nicotina and having a cappuccino or a cafe granita with whipped cream and brioche.  The walk down is painless but the walk up requires a moment to catch your breath. It was all worth it in the end.

Dr. Meier talks to students about the skull that they will
use for learning facial reconstruction.

Class started at 9:30 a.m. with a presentation by Dr. Meier. Today's topic was Facial Reconstruction. This was one of my favorite activities last year as an undergraduate. It is hands on and it brought out the creative side of the students. Facial reconstruction can be both artistic and scientific. An accurate reconstruction is based on the skills of the artist and how well they know the facial anatomy. Basic Principles include how the skin sits on the face, sex, age and tissue markers based on ancestry.  Our facial reconstruction is of an 83 year old man who was born in 1921. His front upper teeth are missing and he wore dentures. He was of European ancestry and lived a life of riding horses and doing other activities that wore down the body. He developed osteoporosis and at one point was in a full body cast.

Dr. Meier guides students through the process of facial reconstruction.

The original skull

Students were divided to work on different parts of the facial reconstruction.  The first part was to measure and mark where the markers are suppose to go. Next, students put markers on the skull that were measured to show the depth of the soft tissues. The next step was to apply the clay onto the maxilla and mandible using and to apply it around the markers to match the depth. Another student then put in the eyes and added clay to hold them in.

Tissue depth markers were first glued to the skull.

Skull with tissue depth markers applied.

Students worked in teams to step through the process of reconstruction.

Eyes were set into the skull and held in place with clay.

Students took care to measure and straighten features.

Clay was slowly added up to the tissue depth markers.

Students helped one another check their progress.

A face slowly began to take shape.

We stopped to have lunch that included  pasta with a tomato based sauce. Bread as always was served and the surprise for lunch was pork and caramelized onions.

Pork in caramelized onions.

Spaghetti in tomato sauce.

We continued on after lunch to add the lips and eyelids and more skin around the skull. In between the students blend their addition together making the fact more realistic by the minute. The nose was added and finally the ears. Again the clay was smoothed and the students even added wrinkle lines.  

Lips being added to the face.

Shaping the lips.

The eyelids helped to bring life to the project.

Areas around the eyes being shaped.

We stopped again to walk down to Nicotina to have granita.  Some of the students stayed behind to finish the facial reconstruction.  This was my third time going down and up the hill and because I don't know enough people to brag about this, I decided to add it to this blog post. Awe, thanks! I feel proud of myself too.

Smoothing out the features, placing the nose, and adding more clay as needed.

Ears were shaped and carefully placed on the face.

Finishing touches included adding in wrinkles and laugh lines.

The finished face.

 Dinner was a surprise of  pasta stuffed frittata, left over pork and onion, and more bread. Everyone was excited to see the watermelon but when the chocolate dessert came, everyone closed their eyes and savored the delicious treat (or some of us just gobbled it up).  It was a wonderful way to end a very hot day.

Spaghetti and hot dog stuffed frittata.

A dessert "chocolate salami" comprised of rich chocolate and soft cookies studded inside.
(No meat included!)