The Remains Of A Blue-Eyed Baby Boy Who Lived In Southern Italy About 17,000 Years Ago Were Unearthed, And Recent DNA Analysis Suggests He Likely Died Of Congenital Heart Disease

About 17,000 years ago, a baby from the ice age lived in what is now southern Italy. Researchers have put together the details of the child’s life, revealing that he most likely died from a congenital heart disease.

A DNA analysis found that the child was male and probably had blue eyes, curly dark hair, and dark skin. His remains showed signs of poor development and inbreeding.

The child’s grave was discovered in 1998 by an archaeologist named Mauro Calattini from the University of Siena in Italy during excavations at the Grotta delle Mura cave in Monopoli, a town located in the southeastern Puglia region.

The burial was marked by two slabs of rock and contained well-preserved skeletal remains of the baby. It was the only burial in the cave and it did not have any grave goods.

Finding the relatively intact remains of a baby who was born shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum 20,000 years ago is rare. At that time, ice sheets covered much of the region.

Compared to other parts of Europe, southern Italy was slightly warmer and was likely home to the people who buried the baby boy.

The child died when he was around one year and four months old. His teeth showed up to nine accentuated lines, which was evidence that he had experienced a difficult life, even while he was in the womb.

“The detailed analysis of the infant’s teeth allowed us to infer the health and stress experienced by the child during infancy and/or his mother during pregnancy—something we rarely have the opportunity to explore with such precision,” said the co-lead authors of the study, Owen Alexander Higgins, an archaeologist at the University of Bologna, and Alessandra Modi, an anthropologist at the University of Florence.

Some of the hardships, particularly those before birth, may have been influenced by the child’s mother. The research team examined the isotopes in the baby’s tooth enamel. Isotopes from diet and drinking water are often reflected in people’s teeth, which can offer hints as to where they live.

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