Fingerprints are unique and don't change over a
lifetime. Analysis of the skin's arches, loops
and whorls — a science known as
dermatoglyphics — has shown that there is a link
between fingerprints and populations.
In the case of Leonardo's fingertip, patterns
and ridges pointed to the Middle East, the researchers concluded.
"The fingerprint features patterns such as the
central whorl that are dominant in the Middle
East. About 60 percent of the Middle Eastern
population display the same dermatoglyphic
structure found in the fingerprint," Capasso said.
The discovery would support Vezzosi's claim that
Leonardo's mother was not a local peasant girl as
previously thought, but a Middle Eastern slave.
According to Vezzosi, records unearthed in Vinci
offer substantial evidence that Leonardo's
father, a craftsman called Ser Piero Da Vinci, owned a Middle-Eastern female slave named Caterina.
"It was common in 15th century Tuscany to own
slaves from the Middle East," said Vezzosi.
Indeed, in 1452, the same year of Leonardo's
birth, a law was passed in Florence that gave
slave owners greater rights over their slaves.
Shortly after the law was passed, Ser Piero
married Caterina off to one of his workers. The
woman had just given birth to a boy called Leonardo.
Pictures and details of the dermatoglyphic study
will be shown on Sunday at an exhibition at the
museum of history of biomedical science at Chieti University.
