Elena Varotto
Flinders University of South Australia, Department of Archaeology, Lecturer (Academic Status Level B)
Lecturer at Flinders University - Archaeology Department.
Forensic Anthropogist (Consulente Tecnico - CT) for Italian courts.
Co-Director and Co-founder of the FAPAB RESEARCH CENTER
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elena_Varotto3
Forensic Anthropogist (Consulente Tecnico - CT) for Italian courts.
Co-Director and Co-founder of the FAPAB RESEARCH CENTER
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elena_Varotto3
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Papers by Elena Varotto
Authors: Stefano De Carolis, Francesco M. Galassi, Giulia Grossi, Elena Varotto
Giornata di Museologia Medica 2019
This study explores the anthropological and paleopathological aspects of the mummy of the anonymous daughter of Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra (1481-1550), the illegitimate son of King John II of Portugal (1455-1495), known as o Príncipe Perfeito (“The Perfect Prince”) for his promotions of new explorations of Africa and the East. This attribution was possible thanks to historical data and inscriptions on the coffin. The mummy, housed in the Convent of Jesus in the city of Setúbal (50 Km from Lisbon), is in a fairly good state of preservation except for the lost neurocranium. After a preliminary morphological and archival assessment, the mummy was paleoradiologically investigated by CT scan, and a full paleopathological assessment, with a particular focus on renal findings, was performed. Sex was determined with an inspection of external genitalia and CT-scan analysis of the pelvis resulting in a female. Age at death was estimated with measurements of the length of the diaphyses of long bones and with the degree of tooth development and eruption yielding ca. 2 years. A dense rounded radiopaque mass (sagittal diameter = 1.18 cm; transverse diameter = 1.02 cm) located in the left hypochondriac region, occupied intra vitam by the upper half of the left kidney, was identified. Visual and radiological inspections revealed no disturbance of bodily integrity meaning that the mass is endogenous - the likely outcome of a nephrological process. Based on the radiological features of density, compactness and lack of traces of vascularization compared with differential diagnoses including nephroblastoma and Wilms tumor, the most likely diagnosis is renal calculus, potentially caused by genetic factors.
This study aims to reconstruct the biological profile of a Neolithic individual focusing on the pathological conditions of the skeleton. It was found in the Neolithic site of Contrada Montagna (Caltagirone, Catania, Sicily) and was preliminarily C14-dated back to 4134-4057 BC (5th millennium BC), then anthropologically and palaeoradiologically assessed (X-Ray, CT Scan and 3D virtual reconstructions).
The skeleton, in fairly good preservation status, belongs to an adult male individual with a mean age of 40 years at death. Morphologically, it presents bilateral cribra orbitalia, dentoalveolar diseases, a well-healed trauma on the right parietal bone, localized periostitis on the right femur, osteoarthritis, osteophytes and three Schmorl’s nodules. Interestingly, this skeleton shows three cavitations compatible with cysts in the upper left orbit, right superior articular facet of the axis and ventral part of the sacrum (S2-23). Concerning the aetiology of this type of cysts, several theories have been proposed including trauma, genetic abnormalities, vascular anomalies or haemorragic outcomes and ossification failure. In this specific case, although no certainty exists, a vascular or haemorragic interpretation may be proposed as more consistent with the clinical picture of anemia and the lack of other associated signs for the alternative causes. Palaeo-radiologically, the presence of the outcomes of otitis media and the thickening of the inner cranial vault were detected.
This most ancient man, likely affected by anemia, suffered from a combination of a series of pathologies which arguably had a major impact on his life and resulted in incapacitanting outcomes, from chronic cranio-cervical pain and hearing loss.
Presso il Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN) è esposto un mosaico molto suggestivo proveniente dall’antica Pompei noto con il nome di “Nano e Gallo” [Inv: 10003]. La scena raffigura un servo che porge la palma della vittoria ad un gallo risultato trionfante nel ludus gallinarius. Benché il combattimento fra galli fosse alquanto comune nell’antichità, questo mosaico apre scenari assai interessanti per la ricerca archeozoologica e paleopatologica. A quale specie appartiene il gallo? Quale evidenza storica ed archeologica esiste dell’impiego di tale specie nel mondo romano e quale evoluzione della percezione da parte del pubblico generale nei confronti di questo genere di spettacoli di origine greca può essere evidenziata? Inoltre, un’analisi morfologica delle fattezze del servitore permette di identificare un fenotipo acondroplasico per questo antico paziente palesemente affetto da nanismo, il che permette di arricchire le conoscenze sulla presentazione storica di questa malattia nell’antichità, unitamente al dato paleopatologico classico. La ricerca consiste, infine, di un approccio multidisciplinare che si avvale di fonti artistiche, fonti storico-letterarie, evidenze archeologiche, bioarcheologiche ed archeozoologiche.
This article examines the vexed archaeological question of the mummy of the so-called boy from KV 35 considering potential news studies on it, trying to present the most likely identifications based on anthropological and Egyptological information. The mummy could be related to Amenhotep II, but it could also represent a secondary burial
http://puvodni.mzm.cz/Anthropologie/article.php?ID=2377
https://doi.org/10.26720/anthro.22.08.31.1
Published in:
Habicht, Michael E., Francesco M. Galassi, Elena Varotto, und Renate Siegmann. 2022a. The Forensic Facial Reconstruction of Shep-en-Isis. Herausgegeben von Michael E. Habicht. 1. Aufl. Berlin: epubli. doi:ISBN: 978-3-754938-32-4.
Habicht, Michael E., Francesco M. Galassi, Elena Varotto, und Renate Siegmann. 2022b. Die forensische Gesichtsrekonstruktion von Schepenese. Berl: epubli. doi:ISBN: 978-3754943229.
Video available:
Moraes, Cicero. 2022a. Shep-en-Isis Presentation. Brazil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsdEUnsenUE
Moraes, Cicero. 2022b. Shep-en-Isis (Schepenese) in St. Gallen, forensische Gesichtsrekonstruktion 3,4MB. Brazil: Michael E. Habicht. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdQBCinRV9I