Response to “The mystery of the skull with ears: An ancient case of petrified ears?”

To the Editor: We have read with interest a recent communication by Recalcati et al, whom we thank for referencing our preliminary study, suggesting that the skull called teschio con le orecchie housed in the hypogeum of the Church of Santa Luciella ai Librai in Naples, Italy may have been “created” as a result of an inspiration suggested by the famous mosaic representation from Pompeii of an eared skull. This is reinforced by the authors’ statement that they “do not know if the authors who altered the skull with the ears of Santa Luciella’s were aware of this mosaic or of similar representations, but their goal was largely achieved.” This interpretation can be confidently rebutted as the modification of the skull in the hypogeum is solely the result of postmortem taphonomy and does not reflect at all any internal anthropogenic alteration potentially associated with ritual purposes, except for, quite logically, the act of putting it on the shelf after the putrefaction process was completed...