Anthropological and palaeopathological analysis of the human remains from three "Tombs of the Nobles" of the necropolis of Thebes-west, upper Egypt.

During several recent excavation campaigns at the necropolis of Sheikh-Abd-el-Gurna, Thebes-West, Upper Egypt, we investigated the human remains of three "Tombs of the Nobles" totalling at least 273 individuals. The investigation covered the human material (skeletons and mummy residues) from the tombs TT-84, TT-85 and TT-95. These tombs had been built in the New Kingdom (approx. 1500-1000 B.C.) and used until the Late period (up to 330 BC). All samples were analyzed macroscopically, isolated findings were further investigated by endoscopic and radiological techniques. The at least 273 individuals covered an age range from newborns to senile individuals with a main age of death between 20 and 40 years of age. The rate of infants and subadults was at 20.2% of all individuals and there was a slight male predominance comprising 54.5% of the adults. In this population a fairly high rate of pathological lesions was seen. Thus, dental conditions generally were poor with a high degree of dental abrasion, an also high rate of carious dental lesions (affecting between 13.8% and 27.7% of the yaws) and consequently a significant number of dental abscesses (mean 15.9%). Residues of trauma were observed in a considerable number of individuals ranging between 12.3% and 22.6% depending on the burial place (mean 15.8%). Inflammatory bone reactions (except the dental abscesses) were present to variable extent, in some locations ranging up to 6.8% of the cases (mean 5.1%). In addition, we noted several cases showing cribra orbitalia (mean 29.2%) and porotic hyperostosis (15.4% of cases), mild to severe osteopenia (7.5%) and in several cases subperiosteal new bone formation suggestive of chronic vitamin D-deficiency ("scurvy") (9.5%). The data support the notion of a significant impairment of living conditions in a high number of individuals. The rates of osteoarthrotic joint alterations were considerably variable depending on the burial places (between 1.9% and 18.5%) providing insight into the physical activities of subpopulations in different locations of the burial places. Similarly, the rate of spondylosis showed also variable extent ranging between 12% and 66.1% of vertebral bodies. In general, our analysis provides evidences that the living conditions in the ancient Egyptian population of one of the main necropoles of Thebes analyzed in this study were quite poor. This is somewhat in contrast to the usually assumed high standard of living of the socially higher population of the capital of ancient Egypt.

Malignant tumors in an ancient Egyptian population.

Since it is still an open debate whether malignant tumors are mainly influenced by environmental factors, the frequency of such malignant tumors in historic populations with different living conditions is of particular interest. In the present study, we investigated the occurrence of malignant tumors affecting bone tissue in a population of mumrnies and skeletons, which had been excavated from the large necropolis of Thebes-West, Upper Egypt. Our study material comprised a series of at least 415 individuals (thereof 325 adults) dating from approx. 1500-500 B.C. All individuals had been mummified, but were severely damaged and partially broken by grave robbers, so that often only parts of the mummies/skeletons were available for investigation. The available specimens were subjected to careful macroscopic examination, while isolated findings were radiologically analyzed. Using this approach, we identified at least 4 cases showing malignant tumors affecting the skeleton. In two cases, multiple mixed osteolytic-osteoblastic lesions suggested multiple metastases from carcinomas. Two further individuals presented with multiple osteolyses (vertebra, pelvis, skull) most suggestive of multiple myeloma. The observation of at least 4 cases of malignant tumors with osseous manifestation in a series of 325 adult individuals provides clear evidence that malignant tumors were not a rare event in the ancient Egyptian study population, particularly when the limitations of a study of tumors manifested only in osseous remnants are taken into consideration. A calculation of the age- and sex-adjusted tumor frequency in our material in comparison with a recent model for such a material by Waldron (1996) indicates that the rate of malignant tumors with bone affection in our series is higher than in an English population from 1901-1905, although lower than in a comparable present day population. This clearly indicates that important factors affecting malignant tumors were effective even in historic populations.