The ossuary of the Teutonic monastery of San Leonardo di Siponto in Manfredonia (Puglia, Southern Italy): anthropological and palaeopathological data for the reconstruction of the monastic community

This study presents the results of the archaeological and anthropological study of the human remains recovered from the ossuary of the Teutonic Abbey of San Leonardo di Siponto in Manfredonia (Puglia, Southern Italy). The abbey, located along the pilgrim road that led to the sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel in Monte Sant'Angelo and to the port of Siponto to embark for the Holy Land, was an important religious and medical centre during the Middle Ages. From 1260 onwards, it was held by the Teutonic Knights of St Mary's hospital in Jerusalem. As part of an ongoing recovery and display project in the area, an archaeological excavation was undertaken in different parts of the complex, especially around the church, renowned for its Romanesque portal and the frescoes depicting the emblems of the religious chivalric order. In addition to the external cemetery intended for common burials (including two cases caused by the Black Death), within the church, a rectangular structure was discovered in the left-hand aisle. It consisted of an underground chamber of bell-shaped section, to accommodate the disarticulated skeletal remains of 12 individuals. These remains were randomly arranged, a situation that may also have been a result of episodes of water rising and infiltrating through the rock. The bones belong to adult males, potentially clerics from the Abbey, and were originally accompanied by clothing and devotional items. The bodies were affected by several pathologies, offering new insight into the lifestyle anc health of the monastic community, for which our knowledge has until now mainly been restricted to historical, religious and architectural information, derived from the available documentary sources.