Pathological variations in mummified feet between two near-distance/long-time populations in Ancient Egypt

Journal of Foot and Ankle Research

Assumpció Malgosa⁴  Aamer Malik³  Beatrice Huber¹  Albert Isidro² 

[1] Äegyptolisches Institut, Eberhart-Karls University, Tübingen, Germany;Serv. C.O.T. Hosp., Sagrat Cor/Unidad Docente U.B., Viladomat 288, Barcelona, 08029, Spain;Hospital Universitari Sagrat Cor, Barcelona, Spain;Department Biologia Animal, Biologia Vegetal i Ecologia, Unitat d’Antropologia Biològica Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra - Cerdanyola del Valles, Spain

关键词: Mummies;    Egypt;    Shoes;    Ancient pathologies;   

Others  :  1232038
DOI  :  10.1186/s13047-015-0115-4

 received in 2015-04-16, accepted in 2015-10-14,  发布年份 2015

【 摘 要 】

Background

In ancient populations, a significant quantity of foot pathology was related either to the type of footwear they used or the underlying terrain they walked on. Our study was carried out to analyze these parameters with the foot pathologies the mummies presented.

Methods

Between 2006 and 2012, more than 650 individuals were recovered from the Sharuna and Qarara necropolis (Middle Egypt) dating from the VIth Dynasty of the first Ptolemaic Period to the second Coptic Period. From among them, a total of 73 mummified feet (41 from Sharuna and 32 from Qarara) were studied. We took into account the differences existing between both sites in location (15 km apart) and in time (2500 years apart).

Results

Almost all feet from Sharuna were wrapped and impregnated with a preservative substance (anthropological mummification), while the mummification process in Qarara was quite natural. Pathologies were found in 36 of the 73 ft (20 from Sharuna and 16 from Qarara). The differences in foot pathologies between the two sites were analysed.

Conclusions

The foot pathologies we found in both necropolises have led us to hypothesise that the majority of the diachronic differences could be related more to progressive changes in the type of the terrain brought out through droughts, than the changes in footwear habits.

【 授权许可】

   
2015 Isidro et al.

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