Faith and Forensic: A Case Study

A multidisciplinary forensic approach is applied to the study of ancient human skeletal remains of an historical figure venerated as a Saint by the Catholic Church, Fortunato of Serracapriola (South of Italy). Despite the forensic multidisciplinary approach is recommended for the study of ancient human skeletal remains, to the best of our knowledge, it is rare that this approach can be used on historical figure venerated as a Saint by Catholic Church. A radiological investigation was carried out for preliminary information: sex, stature, age and/or pathological signs. Subsequently radiocarbon analysis for dating of skeletal remains was performed. Finally the biological profile (STRs and mtDNA) and statistical analysis of genetic data were done to confirm the sex and to establish the provenience. Although we were not able to matching our data, it was very important to collect as much as possible information from the sample, it was the only way to confirm the correspondence of the scientific data with Saint's life. This case highlights the complexity of study of remains that were skeletonized. Therefore a multidisciplinary investigation as well as paying careful attention in the collection and correct interpretation of findings is important. We found a strong scientific concordance between our findings and the époque of the saint's existence, sex, and ethnicity. Archaeological remains can provide concrete cases, making it possible to develop, refine or validate medico-legal techniques.