https://phys.org/news/2020-06-archaeological-reveals-epidemics-history-human.html
What the archaeological record reveals about epidemics throughout history – and the human response to them
These round lesions are pathognomonic signs of syphilis. Credit: Charlotte Roberts, CC BY-ND
The previous pandemics to which people often compare COVID-19—the influenza pandemic of 1918, the Black Death bubonic plague (1342-1353), the Justinian plague (541-542) – don't seem that long ago to archaeologists. We're used to thinking about people who lived many centuries or even millennia ago. Evidence found directly on skeletons shows that infectious diseases have been with us since our beginnings as a species.
Bioarchaeologists like us analyze skeletons to reveal more about how infectious diseases originated and spread in ancient times.
How did aspects of early people's social behavior allow diseases to flourish? How did people try to care for the sick? How did individuals and entire societies modify behaviors to protect themselves and others?
Knowing these things might help scientists understand why COVID-19 has wreaked such global devastation and what needs to be put in place before the next pandemic.
Clues about illnesses long ago
How can bioarchaeologists possibly know these things, especially for early cultures that left no written record? Even in literate societies, poorer and marginalized segments were rarely written about.
In most archaeological settings, all that remains of our ancestors is the skeleton.
more at link......................
What the archaeological record reveals about epidemics throughout history – and the human response to them
These round lesions are pathognomonic signs of syphilis. Credit: Charlotte Roberts, CC BY-ND
The previous pandemics to which people often compare COVID-19—the influenza pandemic of 1918, the Black Death bubonic plague (1342-1353), the Justinian plague (541-542) – don't seem that long ago to archaeologists. We're used to thinking about people who lived many centuries or even millennia ago. Evidence found directly on skeletons shows that infectious diseases have been with us since our beginnings as a species.
Bioarchaeologists like us analyze skeletons to reveal more about how infectious diseases originated and spread in ancient times.
How did aspects of early people's social behavior allow diseases to flourish? How did people try to care for the sick? How did individuals and entire societies modify behaviors to protect themselves and others?
Knowing these things might help scientists understand why COVID-19 has wreaked such global devastation and what needs to be put in place before the next pandemic.
Clues about illnesses long ago
How can bioarchaeologists possibly know these things, especially for early cultures that left no written record? Even in literate societies, poorer and marginalized segments were rarely written about.
In most archaeological settings, all that remains of our ancestors is the skeleton.
more at link......................
