Tissue preservation of 16-18th Century mummies of Roccapelago (Modena, Italy): a SEM and FTIR study

Between 2009 and 2011, during restorative works at the Church of Roccapelago (province of Modena, Italy) a remote mountain village, hundreds of bodies, some of them mummified because of natural processes, were discovered in a forgotten crypt in use from the mid-16th to the 18th centuries. Mummification processes occurred unevenly, with bodies partially skeletonized and bodies only partly articulated [1]. 12 of these mummies, the most complete and representative, were studied with non-invasive methods and replaced in the crypt, set up as a museum (Fig. 1). The objects of this study are fragments of a variety of tissues taken from the mummies of the US 23 of the crypt of Roccapelago: skin pieces taken from different parts of the body, muscle, tendon, lung, bone, hair.