What did the analysis of Cangrande della Scala's remains reveal?

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  • Опубликовано: 25 окт 2023
  • turiking.co.uk/
    Turi is meeting Professor Franco Tagliaro, who was part of a team that exhumed and analysed Cangrande’s body in 2004.
    What did he look like?
    The body was still wrapped in many layers of linen and silk. And here you can see the residue of the brain. Here the residue of the lung.
    It’s incredibly well preserved.
    And here we can see deeper. It is important to say that the skeleton is perfect. No signs of fractures or anything.
    No injuries on the skeleton meant no further indication as to the cause of death.
    Results of the lung analyses show that Cangrande suffered from a form of emphysema. The people live in very smoky environments.
    His lungs are black then, from the smoke?
    This is a typical condition of the people living this time. The liver, we were very lucky, it’s still decently preserved.
    So, what are the sorts of things that you're looking for in the liver?
    From a toxicological point of view, we look for poisons. Of course, poisoning at that time was quite common. Our first hypothesis was arsenic, the king of the poisons in history.
    Arsenic's lack of colour, smell and taste meant it could be secretly mixed into food or drink with lethal consequences. A dose the size of a pea was enough to kill. And the symptoms of headache, diarrhoea and drowsiness wouldn't have rung alarm bells. However, only trace elements of arsenic were found in Cangrande's body.
    Is there enough arsenic to kill him?
    No, absolutely. We can rule out arsenic from the, say, hypothesis of the cause of death.
    Franco and his team had hoped to find the cause of death, but nothing backed up the rumours of poisoning.
    So how are you feeling at that point?
    Yes, at this time we were quite sad.
    But a surprise discovery in Cangrande's gut gave the scientists hope.
    A suitable alternative was to restart an investigation on a new biological sample, which was faeces. The remaining faeces are here.
    So, a new possible avenue for research then?
    Yes, exactly.
    Incredibly, for a body buried for seven centuries, faeces still remained in the gut. The team hoped that this unexpected discovery could be examined under a microscope and reveal what might have killed our victim.
    Representation: www.josarsby.com/turi-king

Комментарии • 2

  • @Richard-zm6pt
    @Richard-zm6pt 5 месяцев назад

    Well, that's terrible. The title reads "What did the analysis . . . reveal?" and the video doesn't reveal anything.

    • @marekverescak2493
      @marekverescak2493 Месяц назад

      it revealed that he wasn't poisioned by arsenic, that he had preserved organs and so on