Archeology of fetal remains reveals medieval abortion methods

According to archaeologists, the 29-week-old fetal body died from the mother using scary abortion methods.

>>>Video: A close-up of life inside the fetus

Italian archaeologists have recently discovered a 29-week-old fetal remains from the nineteenth century. The fetal remains were found by experts in central Italy after the 6.3-magnitude earthquake occurred in L'Aquila on April 6, 2009.

The earthquake killed more than 300 people and destroyed many nearby buildings. The floor of a church in the area was collapsed, revealing a room in the burial chamber of many mummies, including the newly discovered fetal remains.

Through preliminary research, experts found that the fetal remains were lost around 1840. By using X-rays, experts discovered that a fetal skeleton was not interconnected. This means that if the fetus is still alive, some bone parts are not in its exact location.

The part of the fetal skull is divided in some places, the spine is not seamless, while the arm is separated from the rest of the body.

X-ray images of 29-week-old fetal body.

Researcher Ruggero D'Anastasio and colleagues at the University of Chieti (Italy) said that it is possible that this fetus was lost because the mother performed the procedure "embryotomy" - one of the methods of abortion in the Middle Neck.

"Embryotomy" is a method that has been carried out quite popularly in the past. This is a method of using twigs to remove the fetus regardless of whether the fetus is alive or dead from the womb, despite some complications that could endanger the life of the mother.

Although conducting pelvic and jaw bone morphology studies, experts have not yet determined the sex characteristics of the fetus.

Many remains were discovered in the Italian region of L'Aquila.

Experts will also assemble the rest of the body and rearrange the order properly as a way of expressing the consciousness and affection for the corpse of the fetus in the Italian local community at that time.

The study was published in the International Journal of Osteoarcheology.

The title has been changed.