This photo made available by forensic archaeologist and anthropologist Matteo Borrini of Florence University, Italy, shows the 16th-century remains of a woman with a brick stuck between her jaws, as depicted in the computer generated image at left.

The skeleton was unearthed in 2006 in an archaeological dig near Venice. Experts say the brick between her jaws is evidence that she was believed to be a vampire. The unusual burial is thought to be the result of an ancient vampire-slaying ritual and links the legend of these mythical bloodsucking creatures to medieval ignorance of how diseases spread and what happens to bodies after death, experts said.

The well-preserved skeleton was found in 2006 on the Lazzaretto Nuovo island, north of the lagoon city, amid other corpses buried in a mass grave during a plague epidemic that hit Venice in 1576.

Female 'Vampire' Unearthed in Venice