Wednesday 11 March 2009

The Vampire Bites Back?

Leon has pointed to some news in archaeology that is supposed to relate to a belief in vampires.

The original work was presented by Emilio Nuzzolese and Matteo Borrini at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in February as a poster in the field of odontology entitled The Vampire Bites Back in Odontology and Anthropology: Case Report of Skeletal Remains on Nuovo Lazzaretto Island, Venice.

The find is the skeleton of a female buried in a mass grave in Venice in 1576 with a brick forced into her mouth, and the theory seems to be that this must have been done to avoid her from e.g. eating her shroud enabling her to harm the living. If that should indeed be the case, it is a belief that is related to various sorts of revenants including vampires, but of course, vampires as they came to be known in the 18th century were not known in Venice in the late 16th century.

I find it hard to be really sure what to think of it from just the news stories available on the internet, so hopefully more exact information will be available.

2 comments:

klavaza said...

Thanks for citing me! I am proud for it since I love your blog.

Anonymous said...

This curious case can probably best be summed up as: The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, But Your Brick is in My Teeth!

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