Archaeologists Uncover a Medieval Grave With Remains of a Woman and a Fetus, Burial Offers a Rare Example of 'Coffin Birth'

In 2010, researchers found remains of a woman with her unborn fetus in Italy. This woman who was laid to rest in the town of Imola was analyzed in 2018, and provided some startling revelations, stated Live Science. Researchers found a hole in the woman's skull and also speculated that the fetus was delivered with a unique method. Findings regarding the death of the mother and birth of the dead fetus were published in the journal World Neurosurgery. 

Examinations unveiled that the remains were 1,300 years old. Experts think that the woman was in her mid-20s or 30s when she took her last breath. Researchers believe the woman was nearing the end of her pregnancy, at the time of her death. The condition of the fetus was such, that sex determination was not possible. The length of the bones indicates that the child was nearing the 38th week of gestation, according to the study.

Along with the fetus between her legs, another noteworthy thing about the woman was the hole in her skull, as per researchers. Experts claim that to get the expired fetus out of the dead pregnant woman, posthumous gases were applied by physicians. This technique is known as coffin birth. After the dead newborn came out, they were buried along with the mother.

Researchers associated with the study also focussed on the hole found in the woman's skull. The hole was small as well as circular and measured 4.6 millimeters (0.2 inches) in diameter, the study claimed. The puncture was precise which ruled out violence for researchers. Experts think the hole was the consequence of a primitive brain surgery technique called trepanation, that was used in the Middle Ages. In this procedure, a hole was drilled or scraped into the patient's skull to relieve pressure.

Experts believe that the then physicians diagnosed that the woman's blood pressure had shot up and made use of the procedure. The result though was not what they desired. "Our hypothesis is that the pregnant woman incurred preeclampsia or eclampsia [two pregnancy conditions involving high blood pressure] and she was treated with a frontal trepanation to relieve the intracranial pressure," the researchers wrote. "Despite the intervention, she did not survive, and died with the fetus in her womb."

Researchers observed signs of healing close to the wound, which implied to them that the hole was inflicted a week before the woman's death. The team also located a linear cut mark, just a few centimeters above the hole. The mark was 3 mm (0.12 inches) in length, and experts assert it was made after the woman's scalp was cleared for surgery. Researchers claim that the woman's remains are valuable as she is the first pregnant woman where signs of trepanation were observed by archaeologists. "This finding is one of the few documented cases of trepanation in the European early Middle Ages, and the only one featuring a pregnant woman in association with a postmortem fetal-extrusion phenomenon," researchers added in the study.