Very little is known about more than 160 children entombed in Sicily’s world-famous Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, and why their slight and often mummified bodies were placed there in the first place.

Now, a group of British scientists will attempt to shed light on a 200-year-old mystery using X-rays. They hope to understand the secrets hidden in the small relics found in the catacombs of the Capuchin monastic order in Palermo, northern Sicily.

Using X-ray technology, researchers hope to gain more insight into the children’s lifestyles and ages, according to Kirsty Squires, principal investigator and associate professor of bioarcheology at England’s Staffordshire University, which is leading the international study.

The project, the first to focus entirely on the children who died between 1787 and 1880, will be looking for evidence of developmental defects, trauma and diseases, she wrote in an email Wednesday.

“We are looking for cause of death, health conditions at the time of death, and development,” she added. “No one has looked at the mummies to better understand these attributes before.”

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