Nerlich A G, Rohrbach H, Zink A
Institut für Pathologie, Krankenhaus München-Bogenhausen, Englschalkingerstrasse 77, 81925 München, Germany.
Pathologe. 2002 Sep;23(5):379-85. doi: 10.1007/s00292-002-0558-9. Epub 2002 Aug 21.
The scientific investigation of mummies and skeletons provides considerable data for the reconstruction of the living conditions and diseases of past populations. We describe the data on four completely analyzed tomb complexes from the huge necropolis of Thebes-West in Upper Egypt dating to different time periods. A total of 211 individuals from the so-called "Middle Kingdom" (MK, c. 2050-1750 BC) were compared to 273 individuals from the "New Kingdom" (NK) to "Late Period" (LP, in total 1550-500 BC). The age at death and the sex ratio were comparable between both groups. There was a high rate of early death with a maximum between the 2nd and 3rd decade of life but infant/adolescent burials were comparably rare. This early death is assumed to be due to an elevated prevalence of various infectious diseases. Likewise, a high rate of tuberculosis infections was seen in those individuals regardless of which time period they came from. Metabolic disorders with osseous manifestations, such as scurvy, osteomalacia and chronic anemia (cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis) were found with a high frequency in the MK populations but significantly less in the NK-LP populations. On the other hand signs of trauma were comparably high, and lesions due to degenerative joint and vertebral diseases were significantly higher in LP than in MK or NK individuals suggesting a higher mechanical load in the later populations. Cases of malignant (secondary) bone tumors and various soft tissue/organ diseases indicate that "civilization" disorders were present when the living conditions assured survival into advanced age. In summary, we provide circumstantial evidence that the systematic and concise analysis of mummy and skeletal remains can allow a reconstruction of major aspects of life and disease in historic populations, although a complete reconstruction is not possible.
对木乃伊和骨骼的科学研究为重建过去人群的生活条件和疾病状况提供了大量数据。我们描述了来自埃及上埃及西部底比斯巨大墓地中四个已被全面分析的墓葬群的数据，这些墓葬群可追溯到不同时期。将来自所谓“中王国”（约公元前2050 - 1750年）的211名个体与来自“新王国”（NK）至“晚期”（LP，总共公元前1550 - 500年）的273名个体进行了比较。两组的死亡年龄和性别比例相当。早死率很高，在生命的第二个和第三个十年达到峰值，但婴儿/青少年墓葬相对较少。这种早死被认为是由于各种传染病的患病率升高所致。同样，无论来自哪个时期，这些个体中肺结核感染率都很高。在中王国人群中，发现有骨表现的代谢紊乱，如坏血病、骨软化症和慢性贫血（眶筛状板、多孔性骨质增生）的频率很高，但在新王国 - 晚期人群中明显较少。另一方面，创伤迹象相当高，晚期人群中因退行性关节和脊椎疾病导致的病变明显高于中王国或新王国个体，这表明后期人群的机械负荷更高。恶性（继发性）骨肿瘤和各种软组织/器官疾病的病例表明，当生活条件能确保人们活到高龄时，“文明病”就出现了。总之，我们提供了间接证据，表明对木乃伊和骨骼遗骸进行系统而精确的分析能够重建历史人群生活和疾病的主要方面，尽管不可能进行完整的重建。
