Characterisation of the entomo-fauna from the mummies of Castelsardo (Sardinia, Italy) and considerations about the minimum number of individuals (MNI) in funerary archaeoentomology

Abstract

During renovations within the crypt of the Sant’Antonio Abate Cathedral in Castelsardo (Sardinia, Italy), an ossuary and several mummies were discovered. Entomological remains were collected in two different surveys: one performed by archaeologists in 2011 and a second one conducted by an entomologist in 2018. In 2018, Giordani and colleagues published a paper presenting the results of the entomo-fauna analysis of samples collected during the first survey. The present paper presents the results of the second survey. Thousands of specimens have been newly collected and analyzed, including insects belonging to Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Siphonaptera and Diptera, as well as arthropods belonging to Arachnida and Malacostraca. The results here presented confirm the Giordani’s conclusion but also provide new information about the presence of potential vectors of diseases in the Castelsardo population in the end of the 18th—beginning nineteenth century.