Paleonutrition and Paleopathology: Food and Disease at the Renaissance Courts of Naples and Florence

The study concerns 25 individuals from the Basilica of S. Domenico Maggiore in Naples (15th-17th centuries) and of 20 individuals from the Medici Chapels of the Basilica of S. Lorenzo in Florence (16th-17th centuries). The isotopes clearly reflect the large intake not only of meat but also of marine foods by the Italian aristocratic classes, especially from southern Italy, in the 15th-17th centuries. I present three important “clinical” cases. The left foot of Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (15491609), shows, at the peri-articular and articular surface of the interphalangeal joint of the hallux dorsum a lesion typical of chronic gout. High values of δ15N demonstrate a diet very rich in meat from terrestrial animals. This isotopic profile well correlates with the frequent attacks of gout referred by court chroniclers and with the diagnosis of chronic gout of the left big toe revealed by the paleopathological study. The skull of Don Filippino de’ Medici (1577-1582) shows nonsevere external hydrocephaly. The δ15N isotope values of don Filippino reveal a diet very rich in proteins of animal origin. The hereditary prince, was a frail and sickly child, affected by rickets. Probably for this reason, his parents and the court doctors forced him to eat more meat, considered at that time “the first source of physical strength”. Autopsy of the mummy of Ferrante I d’Aragona, king of Naples (1431-1494), revealed a moderately differentiated colon adenocarcinoma extensively infiltrating the muscles of the small pelvis. Ancient DNA amplification of the neoplastic cells by PCR in the mummy of Ferrante I evidenced a typical point mutation of the K-ras gene codon. The portraits of Ferrante reveal growing obesity from youth to maturity. Examination of the mummy of Ferrante, confirms his obesity. The paleonutritional data, with their high level of δ15N, show a massive intake of animal proteins. The alimentary “environment” of the Neapolitan court of the XV century and the sovereign’s habits, with his abundance of natural endogenous alkylating agents, well explain the K-ras mutation causing the tumor which killed the Aragonese king over five centuries ago

Monitoring and optimization of energy consumption of base transceiver stations

The growth and development of the mobile phone network has led to an increased demand for energy by the telecommunications sector, with a noticeable impact on the environment. Monitoring of energy consumption is a great tool for understanding how to better manage this consumption and find the best strategy to adopt in order to maximize reduction of unnecessary usage of electricity. This paper reports on a monitoring campaign performed on six Base Transceiver Stations (BSs) located central Italy, with different technology, typology and technical characteristics. The study focuses on monitoring energy consumption and environmental parameters (temperature, noise, and global radiation), linking energy consumption with the load of telephone traffic and with the air conditioning functions used to cool the transmission equipment. Moreover, using experimental data collected, it is shown, with a Monte Carlo simulation based on power saving features, how the BS monitored could save energy.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Heat flows and energetic behavior of a telecommunication radio base station

This paper shows a study on energetic consumption of BTSs (Base Transceiver Stations) for mobile communication, related to conditioning functions. An energetic "thermal model" of a telecommunication station is proposed and studied. The results have been validated with a BTS in central Italy, showing good agreement. Findings show a substantial high internal-external temperature difference in the containing shelter, particularly during daytime and warm months, due to sources of heat (equipment, external temperature and sun radiation) and to the difficulty in spread the warmth out. The necessity to keep the operating temperatures within a given range for the correct functioning of the electronic equipment requires the use of conditioning setups, and this significantly increases the energetic demand of the whole system. The analysis of thermal flows across the shelter can help to gather further data on its temperature behavior and to devise practical measures to lower the power demand, while keeping the operating parameters in the suggested ranges. The investigation of some operating parameters of the equipment and of the shelter, such as threshold set-points, air vent area, external wall transmittance and reflectivity, suggests annual energy savings between 10% and 30%.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figure

Privileged burial in the Pava Pieve (Siena, 8th century AD)

During the 6th archaeological excavation campaign performed at the «Pieve di Pava» (San Giovanni d’Asso, Siena, Italy) in the summer of 2009, a stone-lined burial of a high-status single individual (US 2378) was discovered, covered by a monolithic slab and placed in front of the altar. The tomb is about 160 cm long, 40 cm wide and over 70 cm deep. The skeletal remains of a young male (18-20 years), not in anatomical connection, were found on the floor of the tomb. 14C dating revealed a period between 650 and 688 AD. Stable isotope analysis (18O, 13C, 15N) attested that he was a member of the local community, with a diet quite rich in animal proteins. We are in presence of the secondary burial of an eminent personage, perhaps a saint, likely to have been transported to the church in a sack of perishable material, possibly textile, which caused their alignment along a curved line, as clearly demonstrated by the circular delimitation of the bones. The body was probably used for the re-consecration of the church, following the restoration works of the 8th century. The paleopathological study diagnosed a case of acromesomelic dysplasia, a congenital anomaly with disproportionate limbs: short, enlarged distal segments (radius-ulna and tibia), almost normal proximal segments (humerus and femur), short stature of about 150 cm, and bilateral fibular agenesis. Tibiae malformation and fibulae agenesis led to bilateral talipes valgus, with major walking problems. Extensive enthesopathies in the upper limbs indicate the use of crutches

The Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera offshore the Campi Flegrei: Stratal architecture and kinematic reconstruction during the last 15 ky

In this study we integrate high-resolution swath bathymetry, single channel reflection seismic data and gravity core data, to provide new insights into the shallow structure and latest Quaternary to Holocene evolution of the submerged sector of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) caldera (Campi Flegrei) in the Pozzuoli Bay. The new data allow for a reconstruction of the offshore geometry of the NYT caldera collapse\u2013ring fault system, along with the style and timing of deformation of the inner caldera resurgence. Our interpretation shows that the NYT eruption (~15 ka BP) was associated with a caldera collapse bounded by an inward-dipping ring fault system. The ring fault system consists in a 1\u20132 km wide fault zone that encircles an inner caldera region ~5 km in diameter and is often marked by the occurrence of pore fluids ascending through the fault zone, up to the seafloor, particularly in the western sector of the bay. A shallow magmatic intrusion along the ring fault zone was also detected offshore Bagnoli in the eastern part of the Pozzuoli Bay. Following the NYT eruption, the inner caldera region underwent significant deformation and resurgence with a maximum cumulative uplift of the offshore structure in the order of 180 m. The net uplift rate of the caldera resurgent dome was ~9\u201312 mm/year during the period 15.0\u20136.6 ka BP. The style of deformation of the resurgent structure can be described in terms of a broad doming, accompanied by subordinate brittle deformation, mostly concentrated in a small apical graben at the summit of the resurgent dome. Chronostratigraphic calibration of seismic profiles obtained by three tephra layers cored in the Pozzuoli Bay indicates 5 to 25 m of post-Roman differential subsidence and tilting towards ESE of the inner caldera resurgence, as recorded by the drowning of the infralittoral prograding wedge below the present-day storm wave base

Beached swords from Marano Lagoon (northern Adriatic) reveal ancient land-sea connections and recent coastal evolution

Depositional and erosional processes, subsidence and sea-level changes have strongly modified the coastal landscape of northern Adriatic lagoons. Such rapid transformations have induced significant consequences on human settlements and, thus, on the archaeological visibility of the area, still largely unexplored. We present here six metal swords fortuitously retrieved by fishermen over the last decades in front of the barrier islands of Marano Lagoon (north-eastern Italy). Multi-analytical analyses carried out on the artefacts (X-ray radiography and computed micro-tomography, radiocarbon dating and typo-chronology) combined with the study of the coastal paleo-environment (mainly based on historical cartography and remote sensing) allowed the items' main features to be defined, and highlighted both the historical importance of the area and the significant morphological changes that have occurred there over the last millennium. Data presented indicate that Marano Lagoon was a major hub in the northern Adriatic in the Late Middle Ages, during the crucial period of the Crusades, and in Early Modern times, connecting inland Europe with the Mediterranean Sea. Moreover, the research highlights the onset of coastal erosion that occurred in the last century after a phase of relatively geomorphic stability, possibly deriving from the intensification of human impact and climate change

AMS radiocarbon dating of mortar: The case study of the medieval UNESCO site of Modena

The carbon dioxide contributing to binder formation during the set of a lime mortar reflects the atmospheric 14C content at the time of construction of a building. For this reason, the 14C dating of mortars is used with increasing frequencies in archaeological and architectural research. Mortars, however, may also contain carbonaceous contaminants potentially affecting radiocarbon dating. The Centre for Isotopic Research on Cultural and Environmental heritage (CIRCE) of the Second University of Naples (SUN) has recently obtained some promising results in mortar radiocarbon dating thanks to the development of a procedure (i.e. CryoSoniC/Cryo2SoniC) aiming to eliminate exogenous C contamination that may occur in a mortar. The construction history of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Modena (Italy) is still controversial and represents a challenging case study for the application of absolute dating methodologies for different reasons. From the point of view of 14C dating, for example, given the high percentage of carbonate aggregates composing these samples, Modena mortars represent an experimental test particularly indicative of exogenous carbon sources suppression ensuring methodology accuracy. In this paper several AMS Radiocarbon dates were carried out on lime lumps with the aim to: (i) verify procedure accuracy by a comparison of the results obtainable from lime lumps dated after different treatments (i.e. bulk lime lumps vs. CryoSoniC purified lime lumps); (ii) compare different building phases absolute chronology for the medieval UNESCO site of Modena, with that assumed by historical sources in order to assess preliminary the 14C dating feasibility for of the site. Historical temporal constraints and mortar clustering, based on petrography, have been applied to define a temporal framework of the analyzed structure. Moreover, a detailed petrographic characterization of mortars was used both as a preliminary tool for the choice of samples and to infer about the lack of accuracy (when verified) of the applied mortar 14C dating procedure

Energy and environmental aspects of mobile communication systems

The reduction of the energy consumptions of a Telecommunication Power System represents one of the critical factors of the telecommunication technologies, both to allow a sizeable saving of economic resources and to realize "sustainable" development actions. The consumption of about one hundred base stations for mobile phones were monitored for a total of over one thousand days, in order to study the energy consumption in relation to the environmental, electric and logistics parameters of the stations themselves. It was possible to survey, then, the role of the mobile communication systems in the general national energy framework and to plot the best areas of intervention for saving energy and improving the environmental impact, showing the role played by air conditioning and transmission equipments. Finally, new transmission algorithms and the use of renewable energy based techniques have been tested.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure