How often did cancer kill ancient people?

Some people believe that cancer isthis is a fairly new phenomenon that has arisen due to the widespread use of chemicals, wireless technologies and other "benefits of civilization." According to the World Health Organization, in 2020 alone, about 10 million people died due to this kind of disease in the world. Perhaps people are really right, and a huge number of cases of the disease is really related to the environmental conditions and lifestyle of modern citizens. However, archaeological finds hint that cancers were common in more ancient times. I wonder how often they led to the death of people? If we consider archaeological discoveries, the answer to the question can be found.

Ancient people also suffered from cancer, but less often than modern ones.

Content

• 1 Cancers in the ancient world
  • 1.1 Disease of Homo erectus
  • 1.2 Bone diseases in ancient people
  • 1.3 Osteosarcoma in human ancestors
  • 1.4 Carcinoma in early man
• 2 Egyptian mummy with traces of a dangerous disease
• 3 Why cancer is on the rise

Cancer in the ancient world

The fact that ancient people also suffered from cancer, it became known not so long ago.

Homo erectus disease

The first hints of this appeared after the discoverythe skeleton of an ancient inhabitant of Africa, which belonged to the species Homo erectus (Homo erectus). On a body about 1.5 million years old, scientists were able to find an overgrowth of bone tissue, which is one of the signs of an existing cancer. However, such a formation could also have arisen as a result of a fracture, so scientists did not draw hasty conclusions.

Representative of the species Homo erectus

Bone diseases in ancient people

Doubts were partially dispelled in 2013, whenResearchers managed to find the rib of a Neanderthal man who lived in Eastern Europe about 130,000 years ago. With the help of microtomography, they examined the bone from different angles and noticed traces of growth of connective fibrous tissue. But even this was not enough for a complete statement about the presence of cancer in ancient people - fibrodysplasia is not classified as a malignant tumor.

Ancient people sometimes developed bone diseases

Osteosarcoma in human ancestors

However, a little later, inside the African caveSwartkrans, scientists managed to find bones 1.6–1.8 million years old. They belonged either to a man from the genus Homo sapiens, or to a massive Australopithecus Paranthropus. But this is not important, because the most important thing is that microtomography showed that this person had developed osteosarcoma. This is the name of a malignant bone tumor, which is most common among children and adolescents. Scientists do not know for sure whether the disease caused the death of an ancient person, or something else killed him. But they are sure that the disease prevented him from walking.

Healthy bone and bone with osteosarcoma

Carcinoma in ancient man

There are more and more such discoveries every year.more. In 2014, it became known that a man also suffered from cancer, whose remains were discovered by archaeologists from Russia and a number of other countries at the end of the 20th century in the Irkutsk region. According to experts, the man found died around 4500 BC. His age at the time of death was 35-40 years. Scientists were attracted by the fact that the skull, spine, ribs and many other bones of a person seemed to have been eaten away by moths. It was concluded that the ancient inhabitant of these parts suffered from carcinoma - a tumor that spread throughout the body.

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Egyptian mummy with traces of a dangerous disease

Recently, Polish scientists shared anothersimilar news. In 1826, the National Museum in Warsaw received an Egyptian mummy as a gift. According to newspaper clippings of those times, the mummified body was found in the tombs in Thebes, but there is also evidence that it was found in the pyramid of Cheops. The identity of a deceased person is as difficult to recognize as the origin. After reading the hieroglyphs on the sarcophagus, the researchers first came to the conclusion that this was the body of a priest named Khor-Jehuti. But then, with the help of modern technology, it was possible to find out that the body belongs to a woman aged 20-30 years old, who was pregnant at the time of her death.

An Egyptian mummy that has been kept in the Warsaw Museum for more than a century

Recently, scientists had the opportunity to create a 3D copy of the skullmummified woman. In the process, they noticed that there were many defects on her facial bones. According to archaeologist Marzena Ozarek-Szilke, such damage cannot occur during embalming. Most likely, she, like the ancient people listed above, died of cancer. This is also evidenced by the fact that no traces of other causes of death were found on her body.

The insides of an Egyptian mummy

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Why are more and more people getting cancer?

Based on everything that is written above, it becomesit is clear that cancers are not new. Ancient people did suffer from them, but not as often as they do today. The current increase in the incidence can be associated with a variety of factors. Firstly, as noted at the beginning of the article, modern people are in contact with chemicals and generally live on a polluted planet. Secondly, modern people live much longer than ancient people. Over a long period of time, healthy cells are more likely to turn cancerous and cause death. And ancient people died early, and could simply not live to see the development of dangerous diseases.

The lifestyles of modern and ancient people are different, which greatly affects the state of health

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With regard to the lethality of cancers inancient times, it was clearly the maximum. This is logical, because the ancient doctors could not cure such problems in any way. But today, many diseases of this kind are treatable. New methods are developed regularly - you can read about one of the recent discoveries at this link.