MEDICAL focused on the human remains unearthed in the cemeteries of two medieval leprosaria in northern Europe: St. Leonard in Peterborough (England) and St. Thomas d’Aizier (France). Before starting the analyses of dental calculus, a literature survey was performed to collect data about leprosy within the European archaeological context, and medical treatments offered to people who experienced leprosy during the medieval period. In addition, thanks to a collaboration with the Botanical Garden of Rome, a modern reference collection of medicinal plants was created. Tartar samples were studied by applying polarised optical microscopy at Department of Oral and Maxillo Facial Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, and chemical analyses at Department of Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium). In addition, in some individuals of St Leonard, aDNA (University of Tor Vergata, Italy) and Proteomics (University of Nottingham, England) analyses were performed. Thanks to the application of several techniques, we were able to identify medicinal remedies (e.g. Ginger, mercury) and reconstruct the diet (e.g. milk, barley, fish consumption) of some individuals hosted in medieval leprosaria.
The results were presented at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds (England), at the American Association of Biological Anthropologists in Denver (Colorado, USA), and at the European Association of Archaeologists (Virtual Meeting). The project was also presented in several invited seminars at the University of Cambridge (England), Coimbra (Portugal), Caen (France), Turin (Italy) and Rome (Italy). In addition, the fellow was interviewed by the CRAHAM Centre Michel de Bouard and The International Network for the History of Hospitals (INHH) published an article about the MEDICAL project. MEDICAL was also presented to some high school classes in Italy. As part of the presentations, a questionnaire was filled out by more than 500 students. Since leprosy is still poorly known, stigmatised, and regarded with suspicion, this survey was successful in collecting data on knowledge and perception of this disease among the young generations.
