Archaeologists have found the oldest complete example in the world of a human with metastatic cancer in a 3,000 year-old skeleton. The findings are reported in the academic journal PLOS ONE today (17 March).

 

The skeleton of the young adult male was found by a Durham University PhD student in a tomb in modern Sudan in 2013 and dates back to 1200BC.

 

Analysis has revealed evidence of metastatic carcinoma, cancer which has spread to other parts of the body from where it started, from a malignant¹ soft-tissue tumour² spread across large areas of the body, making it the oldest convincing complete example of metastatic cancer in the archaeological record.

 

The researchers from Durham University and the British Museum say the discovery will help to explore underlying³ causes of cancer in ancient populations and provide insights into the evolution of cancer in the past. Ancient DNA⁴ analysis of skeletons and mummies with evidence of cancer can be used to detect mutations in specific genes⁵ that are known to be associated with particular types of cancer.

 

Even though cancer is one of the world's leading causes of death today, it remains⁶ almost absent from the archaeological record compared to other pathological conditions, giving rise to the conclusion that the disease is mainly a product of modern living and increased longevity⁷. These findings suggest that cancer is not only a modern disease but was already present in the Nile Valley in ancient times.

 

Lead author, Michaela Binder⁸, a PhD student in the Department of Archaeology⁹ at Durham University, excavated¹⁰ and examined the skeleton. She said: "Very little is known about the antiquity¹¹（高龄，古物）, epidemiology and evolution of cancer in past human populations apart from some textual references and a small number of skeletons with signs of cancer.

 

"Insights gained from archaeological human remains like these can really help us to understand the evolution and history of modern diseases.

 

"Our analysis showed that the shape of the small lesions on the bones can only have been caused by a soft tissue cancer even though the exact origin is impossible to determine through the bones alone."

 

The skeleton is of an adult male estimated to be between 25-35 years old when he died and was found at the archaeological site of Amara West in northern Sudan, situated¹² on the Nile, 750km downstream of the country's modern capital Khartoum. It was buried extended on his back, within a badly deteriorated¹³ painted wooden coffin¹⁴, and provided with a glazed¹⁵ faience amulet¹⁶（护身符） as a grave good.

 

Previously¹⁷, there has only been one convincing, and two tentative, examples of metastatic cancer predating the 1st millennium¹⁸ BC reported in human remains. However, because the remains derived¹⁹ from early 20th century excavations²⁰, only the skulls²¹ were retained, thus making a full re-analysis of each skeleton, to generate differential (possible) diagnoses, impossible.

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