J B R JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH 357 J. Biol. Res. 2005 n. I - Vol. LXXX - Rubbettino - Soveria Mannelli KEY WORDS: Navelli, central Italy, paleopathology, mummies. Abstract The church of San Sebastiano in Navelli contains hundreds of mummified bodies dating back to XVI-XIX century and accidentally discovered in 1980. The recovery, started in 2001, yielded the remains of 206 individuals in different conditions of preservation. The series includes 157 adults (102 males, 42 females, 13 indefinite), with an average age of 51 years, and 49 children. No macroscopic evidence of internal organs was observed in mummified subjects, whereas skin, skeletal muscles and other superficial tissues (eyes, ears, hair) appeared well preserved, suggesting a preminent role of desiccation in mummification process. Limited examples of mummified animals were also recovered, confirming the environment capability in tissue preservation. The initial paleopathologic analysis allowed to identify various pathologic conditions, including degenerative joint disease, periodontal disease, healed bone fractures, occasional tumors and traces of post-mortem examination. A huge amount of information will be available as soon as the recovery will be completed. (The study was partially supported by the “Consorzio Beni Culturali Provincia L’Aquila”) Introduction The church of San Sebastiano in Navelli (inner Abruzzo region, Central Italy) contains hundreds of mummified and skeletonized bodies, presumably ranging from XVI to XIX century (Ventura et al., 2001).They were accidentally discovered in the crypts beneath the church in 1980. Since then, only a preliminary report has been made (Capasso et al., 1991), because of the lack of funds and interest by the local organizations. We present the preliminary information collected between summer 2001 and spring 2004. Anthropology The recovery was started in 2001 and, up to date, yielded the remains of 206 individuals, in different conditions of preservation (Ventura et al., 2001;Ventura et al., 2002).The burial appeared widely disturbed and the majority of the bodies did not present complete anatomic connection.The series includes 157 adults (102 males, 42 females, 13 indefinite) and 49 children.The adults had an average age of 51 years (53 years for the males, 49 for the females). Figures 1 and 2 show the complete age and sex distribution of the individuals. Anthropology and Paleopathology of the Natural Mummies of Navelli (Central Italy). Preliminary Results Luca Ventura 1 , Gaetano Miranda 2 ,Terenzio Ventura 1 , Gino Fornaciari 3 1 Department of Pathology, City Hospital, L’Aquila, Italy; 2 Department of Environmental Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Italy; 3 Department of Oncology, Section of History of Medicine and Paleopathology, University of Pisa, Italy Fig. 1 - Sex distribution of the recovered individuals. State of preservation No macroscopic evidence of internal organs was observed during the external inspection of mummified subjects, whereas skin, skeletal muscles and other superficial tissues (eyes, ears, hair) appeared well preserved.This situation suggests that desiccation had a preminent role in the