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Scientists believe that the ancient Egyptians tried to understand and treat cancer more than 4,000 years ago. Researchers found cut marks around a large lesion on the skull, believed to be caused by a cancerous growth. They also found 30 smaller lesions on the skull, indicating that the cancer had spread.
Researchers said the skull belonged to a man who was about 30 to 35 years old when he died.
The cuts were likely made with a sharp object, suggesting the ancient Egyptians may have attempted surgery on the tumors, the researchers report.
‘When we first looked at the slices under the microscope, we couldn’t believe what we saw,’ said Tatiana Tondini, a researcher at the University of Tübingen in Germany.
But Edgard Camaros, a paleopathologist at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, said the surgical incisions could have been the result of a medical autopsy to learn more about disease after death.
“Both possibilities reveal surgical interventions that are closely associated with tumors – which is amazing,” he said. The discovery is unique evidence of how ancient Egyptian medicine attempted to treat or study cancer more than 4,000 years ago. It’s a remarkable new perspective on our understanding of the history of medicine, he said.
The team said their study, published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, showed that while cancer is often considered a man-made disease caused by environmental factors such as pollution and diet, the disease also affected ancient civilizations.
“Cancer is really considered a modern disease, primarily linked to Western habits and environmental carcinogens,” said Kamaros, the study’s lead author. “However, cancer has been with us in many ways since the beginning of time. Even dinosaurs had cancer.”
It is well known that the ancient Egyptians were highly skilled in medicine and had advanced knowledge of anatomy and surgery.
There is evidence that they were able to identify, describe and treat wounds, illnesses and fractures, and to carry out dental fillings.
But researchers say cancer remains at the frontier of medical knowledge.
They also analyzed another skull that was more than 2,000 years old and belonged to a woman who was probably over 50 years old.
This revealed a large lesion consistent with a cancerous tumor destroying the bone, the team said.
“We knew it was cancer based on the characteristics of these bone lesions, which are primarily related to the formation and destruction of bone,” Camaros said. “When we analyzed the bone structure from the inside using micro-CT scans, we found very clear characteristics of cancer.”
Both skulls come from the Duckworth Collection at the University of Cambridge, one of the largest collections of human remains in the UK.
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