The Mystery Of Blinking Mummy Of Rosalia Lombardo
A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - Known as the 'Girl in the Glass Coffin' or 'Sleeping Beauty', Rosalía Lombardo is widely considered one of the best-preserved mummies in the world.
The girl died in 1920 at the age of two of pneumonia in 1920. Rosalia's father was so sorely grieved upon her death that he approached Dr. Alfredo Salafia, a noted embalmer and taxidermist, to preserve her.
Some scientists said that the blinking is caused by the natural humidity in the crypt where she's kept.
Dr. Salafia performed the procedure that would preserve Rosalia. For about a century, the exact formula remained a mystery, lost to the grave with Salafia. In 2009, a biological anthropologist named Dario Piombino-Mascali tracked down the eternal formula through Salafia's living decedents.
According this miraculous formula, the chemicals included formalin, zinc salt, alcohol, salicylic acid and glycerin. The combination of alcohol and the climate conditions within the catacombs would have dried Rosalia's body. Glycerin would have allowed the body to mummify and salicylic acid prevented the growth of mold.
Rosalia Lombardo - Sleeping Beauty of the Capuchin Catacombs. Public Domain
The magic ingredient was zinc which gave the body rigidity, essentially turning it into the wax. She was one of the last corpses to be admitted to the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo, Sicily where about 8,000 mummies are being kept. She soon became one of the most well-known.
Her preservation is such that it appears as if she were only sleeping. Today, thousands of visitors visit the Sicilian Catacombs to take a look and admire this little girl that never had the chance to enjoy life.
According to the Peruvian journal El Comercio, scientists interested in learning more about the embalming techniques employed in Rosalía's body put a camera inside her sarcophagus, capable of taking pictures every 60 seconds.
What happened next came as a surprise.
See also:
Catacombs Of Kom El Shoqafa – Largest Roman Burial Site In Egypt
Paris Catacombs: Huge Underground Labyrinth Full Of Secrets
The images taken by the camera seemed to show the little mummy's blue intact eyes were opening and closing several times every day.
This weird phenomenon has been the subject of various speculations for some years.
Is it really possible for a deceased being to blink with the eyes? How can this behavior be explained?
Some scientists said that the blinking is caused by the natural humidity in the crypt where she's kept. Just recently Italian researchers have once again debunked the claims that Rosalía Lombardo opens and closes her eyes every day.
"It's an optical illusion produced by the light that filters through the side windows, which during the day is subject to change," Dario Piombino-Mascali, curator of the Capuchin Catacombs said.
"They are not completely closed, and indeed they have never been," Piombino-Mascali said.
There are also some skeptics who say that that the real body of Rosalia was replaced with a realistic wax replica. However, the child's coffin was X-rayed and it has been discovered that not only a skeletal structure but that her organs were still intact. Her brain was perfectly visible only having shrunk 50% due to the mummification process.
Written by – A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer
Copyright © AncientPages.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or part without the express written permission of AncientPages.com
Expand for referencesMore From Ancient Pages
-
Ancient Maya People Used Volcanic Ash To Build Pyramids When Huge Eruption Occurred
Archaeology | Sep 22, 2021
-
Ancient Maya Built Sophisticated Water Filters To Obtain Drinking Water
Archaeology | Oct 23, 2020
-
1,000-Year-Old Palace Kitchen With A Cannonball Inside An Oven Found At Harput Castle In Elazig, Turkey
Archaeology | Aug 28, 2023
-
2000 Ancient Gold Spirals Used By Sun-Worshiping Priest-Kings During The Bronze Age Discovered In Denmark
Archaeology | Jul 9, 2015
-
2,000 Year-Old Books Written By Bian Que The Divine Healer Unearthed
Artifacts | May 13, 2014
-
3,000-Year-Old Piece Of Pottery Unearthed On Okinawa Island, Japan
Archaeology | Feb 21, 2017
-
A Hoard Of Silver Coins Found Accidentally Under An Uprooted Tree Near Pieštany, Slovakia
Artifacts | Oct 28, 2020
-
Wanyūdō The Soultaker – Fearsome Yōkai In Japanese Mythology
Featured Stories | Nov 22, 2017
-
20 Mummies Discovered In Greco-Roman Tombs In Aswan, Egypt
Archaeology | Jan 21, 2022
-
Oxygen Spike Coincided With Ancient Global Extinction
Archaeology | Sep 3, 2021
-
Ancient City Of Tyana And A 1600-Year-Old Rare Octagonal Church Unearthed In Central Anatolia Turkey
Archaeology | Aug 11, 2020
-
Unexplained Encounters With Invisible Barriers – Mysterious Rays And Energy Fields
Featured Stories | Jul 17, 2018
-
On This Day In History: He Wanted The Bible To Be Available To All – Burned At The Stake On Oct 6, 1536
News | Oct 6, 2016
-
On This Day In History: Earthquake In Pompeii, Italy Occurred – On Feb 5, 62 AD
News | Feb 5, 2017
-
Face Of Man From The Lost Medieval Village Of Dzwonowo Reconstructed Using 3D Printing Technology
Archaeology | Jul 20, 2020
-
Viking Age silver coins unearthed in Jutland
Artifacts | Aug 27, 2015
-
Roman Herculaneum: Men And Women Had Different Diets – New Study
Archaeology | Aug 26, 2021
-
Spectacular Anglo-Saxon Burial Uncovered – Here’s What It Tells Us About Women In Seventh-Century England
Featured Stories | Dec 17, 2022
-
Unexpected Discovery Of Rare Ancient Roman Carved Wooden Figure In Buckinghamshire
Archaeology | Jun 11, 2022
-
Unique Historical Discovery – Wreck Of Vasa’s Sister Ship Äpplet Found Off Swedish Coast!
Archaeology | Oct 25, 2022