- An archaeological excavation in the ancient Museum of Human Anatomy in Pisa, Italy.
- In Pisa, Italy, in the depths of its ancient university, lies an unexpected treasure: the Museum of Human Anatomy, with its incredible mummies, funerary items from pre-Columbian Peru, skeletons, and wax models. A team of archaeologists, Ancient World Society, is now unveiling the secrets of the mummies for the first time.—Beatrice Barberis
- Sometimes in museums the most precious wonders are not the ones already exposed, but those that pile up in time and go forgotten. A team of Italian archaeologists rediscovers very rare pre-Columbian mummies and South American finds, hidden since the nineteenth century in the anatomy museum in Pisa, Italy.—Valentina Gravili
- In the dark attic of the School of Anatomy at the University of Pisa, Italy, lie forgotten some dark wooden chests, deep and rectangular. Although they are covered by a brittle glass surface, the content stored in them remains inaccessible to the eye from over one hundred fifty years. Their quiet presence arouses interest in Gianfranco Natale, associate professor of Anatomy, who contacts, to analyse them, a team of archaeologists: the Ancient World Society. Once uncovered, the chests reveal human bodies lying in a foetal position as in a womb, wrapped in an elaborate funeral cloth, of Peruvian origin. To the eyes of archaeologists unfolds the unexpected story of a pre-Inca civilisation, preserved down to the smallest details of everyday life. Simple objects, like corn, ceramics, scarves and slingshots, immerse the researchers in a study that goes beyond the analysis of the remains, driving them to confront with the ephemeral human existence. These life imprints, these inert and withered bodies, unfolding in the film image, are the actual protagonists of the documentary. Living protagonists are the members of the Ancient World Society, who, through their research and extensive tests, seem to establish a dialogue with the archaeological finds and gradually reveal fragments of a history yet little explored. Meanwhile, professor Natale and the archaeologists wonder about another relevant question: how these chests have reached Pisa from Peru. The labels found along with the remains lead to a man, who lived in the nineteenth century, doctor Carlo Regnoli. According to some documents, the Tuscan doctor would have sent from Latin America two vessels filled with artefacts, relics and ruins, but of these two only one was able to reach Italy. Regnoli forwarded the chests to the University of Pisa, presumably in order to analyse their content, but in fact he was never able to actually study them, as he passed away a few months later. Before his death, he donated them to the Museum of Human Anatomy of the University, where, however, no one seemed to find interest in examining them, at least until now. The museum, located since 1832 in the lower floors of the building, after the flood in 1966, which damaged the city, was moved upstairs. This is the place that embraces and accompanies the events of the documentary, becoming the intimate setting where the Ancient World Society, with the support of international experts, performs a large part of the investigation. Through the shelves and glass cases wander the researchers, motivated by deep and constant dedication, absorbed by their tasks, surrounded by bodies that testify the fleeting passage of men. The remains cannot answer the question that haunts mankind from immemorial time, to reveal what death is, but they can certainly tell about life, showing us something more about the human being and human history etched in physical matter, in the flesh, in the Earth.
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