Emily Chan
According to Soren, the Romans would go so far as “employing witchcraft to keep the evil—whatever is contaminating the body—from coming out.”
The team of researchers believes that the ancient Romans were mainly trying to ward off malaria. After testing many of the bones, they confirmed that the children had been infected with malaria.
The researchers still need to conduct a DNA analysis on the 10-year-old child’s bones, but they are almost positive that the child had malaria as well. Among the remains, they detected an abscessed tooth, which is a common side effect of the illness.
Outside of the Cemetery of Babies, vampire burials are not unheard of. In Venice, a 16th-century woman was buried in a similar fashion and has been referred to as the “Vampire of Venice.”
In England, a burial of a man from the third or fourth century was discovered in 2017. He was laid to rest on his stomach. His tongue had been cut out and replaced with a stone.
