Archaeology Magazine - September/October 1995 - 48

from the disease, while those just outside, in Lugnano
possibility is that Angel's theory is wrong or that P. falfor instance, would have experienced occasional epiciparumwas evolving in Italy in the fifth century, as its
demics. Our palynological studies show no difference
mosquito vectors adapted to it, and formerly immune
between the climate in late Roman times and the clior partially immune communities became less so.
mate today. A short winter or extended summer along
Coluzzi notes that while the theory is speculation, it is
with the movement of infected people into the area
something historical malariologists are beginning to
consider more seriously.
might have brought an epidemic of several years' duration to outlying areas such as Lugnano.
There are additional clues to support the P. falciP. falciparum may have been introduced into Sardinia
parum hypothesis. Burnt honeysuckle (woodbine) seeds
from North Africa by the Carthaginians as early as the
were found in some of the uppermost levels of the
fifth century B.C., and its intensity in Sardinia increased
cemetery. Since the plant produces seeds in late June
or July, these offerings suggest that the suspected epiduring the Punic Wars of the third and second centuries B.C. It is not described definitively in ancient
demic reached its peak in the hot summer months,
sources until the second century A.D. Coluzzi and hisappropriate timing for malaria, which flourished in
torical malariologists, such as Julian de Zulueta, Mirko
Italy from June through October. Furthermore, honeyD. Grmek, and Leonard Jan Bruce-Chwatt, believe the
suckle is not a common offering at Roman grave sites
disease spread slowly during the Roman Empire,
and is rarely mentioned in Roman literature. Pliny the
Elder informs us that the shrub periclymenon
, thought to
reaching its full strength in late antiquity about the
time of the Lugnano epidemic, striking coastal Tusbe the honeysuckle Lonicera etrusca, had as its primary
medicinal function the curing of diseases of the spleen.
cany, southern Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia particularly
hard. A settlement near
An enlarged and hardour cemetery, located on
ened spleen, which a
the banks of the Tiber in
Roman doctor would
terrible
an area of high rainfall,
have been able to feel, is a
Something
would have been an ideprimary symptom of P.
al location for P. vivax
vivax and P. falciparum.
to those
Umbrian
happened
and P. falciparum.P. vivax,
Pliny also reports that
however, would not have
honeysuckle was used as a
that
summer
in the
caused miscarriages and
infants
diuretic, an aid for asthstillbirths. While it may
matics, and a relief for
have been present when
women suffering during
A.D.
century
mid-fifth
the epidemic hit, it was
childbirth. The toad found
not the principal culprit.
with one of the infants is
If the epidemic was inanother piece of evidence
deed triggered by malaria, it would have been P. falcipointing to malaria. So are the puppy burials. Dogs
and especially puppies were often sacrificed to alleviate
parum. Even today malaria kills one to two million children each year in sub-Saharan Africa. A one-two
or prevent fevers and illnesses attributed to the Dog
Star, Sirius, which rises and sets with the sun between
punch of P. falciparum attacking people already infected
with P. vivax occurs frequently in Africa. Our infant
July 3 and August 11, the very time when our honeysuckle was going to seed, the time of year noted for
cemetery fits that scenario perfectly.
Was the epidemic that struck Lugnano necessarily
malarial fevers, and the height of the mosquito season
malaria? Eskild Petersen, director of Infectious Diseases
when malaria was at its most virulent.
at the University of Arizona Medical Center, believes
DNA analyses and other laboratory tests are now
the deaths could also have been caused by the ingesbeing conducted on the Lugnano skeletons by molecution of milk or dairy products infected with a baclar biologists at the Smithsonian Institution and the
terium known as Listeria or another called Brucella.
National Institutes of Health. These tests are long shots
because of the age and condition of the bones, and
Toxoplasmagondii, a parasite that might be encountered
in undercooked red meat, is another possibility. All
may not yield results, so there may be no way to prove
three would have caused miscarriages. But such epiour malaria hypothesis with present technology. Yet it
demics would have caused mass deaths shortly after the
is clear that something terrible happened to those
infected food was eaten. The gradually accelerating
Umbrian infants that summer in the mid-fifth century
numbers of deaths observed in our cemetery point to
A.D. Our evidence suggests that malaria may have been
other causes.
the culprit.
If a P. falciparum epidemic struck a settlement sudDavid Soren is professorof classicalarchaeology
at the Univerdenly there would not have been time for infants to
develop the porotic hyperostosis we encountered on
sity of Arizona and a guest lecturerfor the AmericanMuseum of
their bones. Birkby and Fenton suggest that such bone
Natural History in New York. Noelle Soren is directorof
lesions may have had any number of causes. Another
for the excavationsat Lugnanoand Chianciano,Italy.
photography

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Archaeology Magazine - September/October 1995

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