Paleopathology

Paleopathology (spelt palaeopathology in the UK) is the study of ancient diseases. It is useful in understanding the past history of diseases, and uses this understanding to predict its course in the future.

A paleopathologist is one who studies old and diseased things, specifically, diseases of man and animal as inferred from recent or fossilized skeletal remains. Human Osteopathology is classified into two general groups: traumas or infections. While trauma such as broken and malformed bones are easy to spot, evidence of infectious diseases such as tuberculosisand syphiliscan also be found in the bones.

History of Paleopathology

From the Renaissanceto the mid nineteenth century, there was increasing reference to ancient disease, initially within prehistoricanimals although later the importance of studying the antiquity of human disease began to be emphasised. The true genesis of the field of human palaeopathology is generally considered to occur between the mid nineteenth century and World War Iwhen a number of pioneering physicians and anthropologists clarified the medical nature of ancient skeletal pathologies. This work was consolidated between the world wars with methods such as radiology, histologyand serologybeing applied more frequently, improving diagnosis and accuracy with the introduction of statistical analysis. It was at this point that palaeopathology can truly be considered to have become a scientific discipline (Aufderheide and Rodríguez-Martín, 1998: 2-7).

After World War II palaeopathology began to be viewed in a different way: as an important tool for the understanding of past populations, and it was at this stage that the discipline began to be related to epidemiologyand demography. The study of DNAalso began to add new information to what was already known about ancient disease (Aufderheide and Rodríguez-Martín, 1998: 7-10).

Animal Paleopathology

In archaeology, the study of the diseases of animals has not been as wide and extensive as those of humans. Baker and Brothwell?s seminal work, ?Animal Diseases in Archaeology?, was published in 1980 and is still considered a classic text, being frequently referred to within the discipline. However, it should be noted that this position of importance has largely come about, not because of its comprehensive coverage, but because there has been no real alternative. Most palaeopathological literature is to be found in periodicals or compiled publications of conference papers (for example: Davies et al., 2005). No synthesis of the research in the field as a whole has been attempted for the last twenty-five years.

Bibliography

Aufderheide, A.C and Rodríguez-Martín, C. 1998. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Paleopathology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Baker, J, and Brothwell, D. 1980. Animal Diseases in Archaeology. London: Academic Press.

Davies, J., Fabis, M., Mainland, I., Richards, M. and Thomas, R. 2005. Diet and Health in Past Animal Populations: Current Research and Future Directions. Oxford, Oxbow Books.

External Links

Animal Palaeopathology Working Group (ICAZ)

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleopathology Wikipedia article Paleopathology.