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The teratoma tumor, including teeth, which was discovered within the Amarna crypt. Source: A. Deblauwe / Amarna Project

3,000-Year-Old Ovarian Tumor with Teeth Unearthed from Egyptian Tomb

A new study has highlighted the oldest documented instance of a teratoma discovered within the 3,000-year-old burial chamber of a young woman found in an ancient Egyptian cemetery. Teratomas are a...
A 1,800-year-old Roman coin portraying the goddess Luna was recovered from the Israeli Mediterranean. Source: Dafna Gazit / Israel Antiquities Authority

Rare Roman Coin Portraying Moon Goddess Luna Retrieved from Israeli Waters

A rare and beautiful bronze coin from the reign of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, who ruled as emperor between 138 and 161 AD, has been discovered off the coast of Haifa in Israel. The 1,850-year-old...
The mummified 2,000-year-old Egyptian woman at The National Museum in Warsaw, who has been examined as part of a medical project to better understand cancer origins. Source: Pawel Supernak / Science in Poland

Ancient Egyptian Mummy Shows Evidence of Nose Cancer

Archaeologists in Poland have been studying the mummy of a 2,000-year-old Egyptian woman who died young and evidence suggests she died from nose cancer. Scientists suspect this mummy could provide...
Common treatments for cancer included bloodletting. Source: Public domain

The Many Ways Cancer Was Treated in the Ancient World

How did people of ancient times treat the difficult and complex condition known today as cancer? In recent years, a rising number of scholars have taken a look at the prevalence of cancer diagnoses...
Erotic Mochica artifact, a ceramic ceremonial vessel representing the sexual union between a man and a woman.  Source: Museo Larco / Google Art Project

Erotic Peruvian Artifacts Being Used to Prevent Cancer in Men

Health authorities in Peru are teaching men how to inspect their genitals to catch early cancers. To achieve this goal they are using ancient Mochica artifacts depicting sexual scenes. Would you...
Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon's Love of Cologne May Be What Killed Him, Says UK Biochemist

There has long been speculation about the true cause of Napoleon Bonaparte’s death on the island of St. Helena on May 5, 1821. As we mark the 200th anniversary of this event, a biochemist from De...
Medieval Cancer Rates Were Shockingly High, New Study Shows

Medieval Cancer Rates Were Shockingly High, New Study Shows

A team of University of Cambridge researchers have just released the results of their study of cancer incidence in medieval and pre-Industrial Revolution-era Britain. The scientists examined the...
Scientists have discovered one of the earliest cases of multiple myeloma, a malignant cancerous tumor, found to date in East Asia within skeletal remains that date back to Bronze Age China. The image shows osteolytic lesions visible on photographs and X-rays of vertebrae. Source: Jenna Dittmar / Science Direct

Breakthrough Discovery of Earliest Cancer Case from Bronze Age China

An examination of the skeletal remains of a man from Bronze Age China has produced some astonishing results. Work conducted by the international research team resulted in experts finding one of the...
Elderberry remedy as a syrup with fresh elderberries in the background.         Source: Madeleine Steinbach / Adobe stock

Science Proves Ancient Elderberry Remedy Beats the Flu

A new study of the properties of the elderberry plant, published this year, suggests its compounds could be a powerful medicine in preventing and reducing flu symptoms. Elderberry, also known as...
‘Alexander of Macedon trusts the doctor Philip’ (1870s) by Henryk Siemiradzki. Alexander is drinking a draught prepared by his trusted physician Philip after suffering from a severe fever. Humoral theory was used to cure illnesses, from fever to cancer, in ancient Greece.

Bile, Cauterization, and Exercise: Cancer Treatment Was a Very Different Story in Ancient Greece

Cancer has existed since before the dawn of civilization. By the time of the ancient Greeks, cancer as a disease was already diagnosed by physicians, along with recommendations for its treatment. But...
A rendering of the ancient skull created from CT scans.

An Iron Age Guardian of the Dead? Unusual Position of Cancer-Marked Skull Has Scientists Wondering

2,500 years ago a woman in Sicily lost her battle with cancer. The scars of the disease left marks on her skull and may help researchers solve the mystery why she was buried in such a way that she...
Skull exhibiting evidence of cancer. Source Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

Cancer Deaths Were Far Less Prevalent in Ancient Egypt

Researchers in the deserts of Egypt have made a remarkable discovery while studying the bones of ancient Egyptians. In total, they were able to identify six cases of cancer at a burial site at an...
The mummy ‘Hen’ has been sent for a hospital CT scan for the second time.

CT Scan Conducted on 2,000-Year-Old Mummy Reveals the Cancer that Killed Him

A team of astonished doctors at Crouse Hospital in New York, had the rare opportunity to examine and scan a 2000-year-old mummy. How does it feel to examine a perfectly preserved ancient Egyptian...
The tumor with teeth was found in a cemetery in Lisbon, Portugal.

Archaeologists Found a Medieval Body With a Tumor That Was Growing Teeth – But That’s Not the Whole Story

Digging up a graveyard in Lisbon, Portugal, archaeologists found the remains of a woman who had died sometime between the 15th and 18th century. They can’t be sure what killed her, but it may have...
A view of the fossilized, 1.7-million-year-old hominin toe bone upon which the cancerous tumor was diagnosed.

Researchers Diagnose Earliest Known Cancer on 1.7-Million-Year-Old Hominin Fossil

Scientists have identified a particularly lethal form of cancer on the fossilized toe bone of an early human relative who lived about 1.7 million years ago in South Africa. The tumor is the oldest...
7,000-year-old skeleton of woman may have been a victim of leukemia, making it the oldest case found.

7,000-year-old skeleton could have suffered the oldest case of leukemia

German researchers have discovered signs of what may be the earliest known case of leukemia on a 7,000 year old skeleton. The victim of the disease was a female individual who appears to have been in...
Earliest known breast cancer identified in ancient Egyptian skeleton

Earliest known breast cancer identified in ancient Egyptian skeleton

A 4,200-year-old skeleton that shows signs of deterioration from cancer is the earliest known case of breast cancer, according to the Spanish anthropologists who uncovered her remains in a necropolis...
The tell-tale marks on this Early Bronze Age man’s bones reveal cancer is not necessarily a modern phenomenon only

Researchers find oldest known case of cancer in 4,500-year-old remains of Siberian man

The earliest known case of cancer has been identified in the skeleton of a Siberian Bronze Age man. The 4,500-year-old bones have significant marks and holes, alerting researchers to the devastating...
Ancient Siberian princess use cannabis to cope with breast cance

Did ancient Siberian princess use cannabis to cope with breast cancer?

The Siberian Ice Maiden, also known as the Princess of Ukok and the Altai Princess of Ochi-Bala, is a 2,500-year-old mummy of a woman found in 1993 in a kurgan (mound) of the Pazyryk culture in the...
Canaanite Wine Cellar discovered at Tel Kabri

Trove of Ancient Wine Found in Bronze Age Canaanite Palace Could Fight Cancer

Last year, archaeologists discovered a huge hoard of storage vessels in a 6,000 square metre Bronze Age palace at Tel Kabri, located in what is now Israel. Known to be the largest wine cellar to ever...
3,200-year-old skeleton in Sudan

Oldest example of cancer found in 3,200-year-old skeleton

Archaeologists have discovered that the ancient remains of a man found last year in a tomb in Sudan on the banks of the River Nile had a spreading form of cancer, the oldest example so far of the...
Cork Tree

Pancreatic Cancer Treated With Ancient Chinese Medicine

Modern science has been paying increasing attention to the value and efficacy of ancient Chinese Medicine. A study earlier this year, for example, found that a Chinese herbal remedy involving the...
Neanderthals vs Homo Sapiens

Neanderthal viruses dating back 500,000 years discovered in modern human DNA

A new study published in the journal Current Biology has discovered a link between viruses present in Neanderthals and Denisovans half a million years ago, and modern diseases such as AIDS and cancer...