title: Procedures and Frequencies of Embalming and Heart Extractions in Modern Period in Brittany. Contribution to the Evolution of Ritual Funerary in Europe.
abstract: The evolution of funeral practices from the Middle Ages through the Modern era in Europe is generally seen as a process of secularization. The study, through imaging and autopsy, of two mummies, five lead urns containing hearts, and more than six hundred skeletons of nobles and clergymen from a Renaissance convent in Brittany has led us to reject this view. In addition to exceptional embalming, we observed instances in which hearts alone had been extracted, a phenomenon that had never before been described, and brains alone as well, and instances in which each spouse's heart had been placed on the other's coffin. In some identified cases we were able to establish links between the religious attitudes of given individuals and either ancient Medieval practices or more modern ones generated by the Council of Trent. All of these practices, which were a function of social status, were rooted in religion. They offer no evidence of secularization whatsoever.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP), Cesson-Sévigné, France.|University of Toulouse, French National Center for Scientific Research, UMR 5288, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Rozenn
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9417-9053
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Colleter
authors.affiliation: University of Toulouse, French National Center for Scientific Research, UMR 5288, Toulouse, France.|Unit of Forensic and Anthropological Imaging, Centre Universitaire Romand de Médecine Légale (CURML), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dedouit
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP), Cesson-Sévigné, France.|University of Toulouse, French National Center for Scientific Research, UMR 5288, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Duchesne
authors.affiliation: University of Toulouse, French National Center for Scientific Research, UMR 5288, Toulouse, France.|Radiology department, CHU Toulouse-Rangueil, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Fatima-Zohra
authors.initials: FZ
authors.lastname: Mokrane
authors.affiliation: French Regional Archaeological Service, Rennes, Bretagne, France and French National Center for Scientific Research, UMR 6566, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gendrot
authors.affiliation: University of Toulouse, French National Center for Scientific Research, UMR 5288, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gérard
authors.affiliation: University of Toulouse, French National Center for Scientific Research, UMR 5288, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Henri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dabernat
authors.affiliation: University of Toulouse, French National Center for Scientific Research, UMR 5288, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Éric
authors.initials: É
authors.lastname: Crubézy
authors.affiliation: University of Toulouse, French National Center for Scientific Research, UMR 5288, Toulouse, France.|Medico-Legal department, CHU Toulouse-Rangueil, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Telmon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002562:Ceremonial Behavior; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004615:Embalming / Q000379:methods*; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009106:Mummies; D055815:Young Adult