All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

disease

Study has found that human herpes was spread by kissing throughout history. Source: boyloso / Adobe Stock

Human Herpes Linked to Emergence of Kissing in the Bronze Age

It is generally accepted among historians that kissing had no one point of origin, but the habit began as a human trend in different regions. The earliest known written record of romantic saliva...
Vaccination poster image. The story of inoculation is far older than you might think. Source: bakhtiarzein / Adobe Stock

Just a Poke: The Origins of Inoculation

With the recent pandemic and the still-spreading Covid-19 virus, inoculation has become a hot topic throughout several areas of the world. Regardless of what side you’re on, the history of...
Selection of helminthes, or parasitic worms, under a microscope. Source: jarun011 / Adobe Stock

Britons Have Battled Parasites Since the Bronze Age, Shows New Research

An interdisciplinary team of archaeologists and biologists from Oxford University recently completed a study of parasite infections in ancient Britain. Their exhaustive survey covered a period of...
Researchers from Norway, France, Austria and England were able to use information from SK152 to reconstruct what she might have looked like. Source: Stian Suppersberger Hamre/FaceLab

Ancient Norse Teeth Plaque Helps Explain Pandemics

A team of Norwegian scientists have been tracking the evolution of diseases in medieval bodies. Not only have they added to the understanding of how diseases become pandemics, but they’ve revealed...
Queen Mary applies the Royal Touch to cure scrofula. Source: M S Lapthorn / Public Domain.

The Royal Touch: Could Medieval Monarchs Heal You With Their Hands?

For centuries, a commonality across the various monarchies of the world was a direct association between the ruler and a higher power. Kings and queens were seen either as God’s Chosen One or, in...
A chimpanzee named Woodstock with leprosy in Ivory Coast. Source: Tai Chimpanzee Project

Squirrels, Armadillos and Now Apes Have Leprosy

Two colonies of apes have been discovered suffering from leprosy. The so-called “Leper Apes,” some with gruesome skin lesions and rotting body parts, were found in Guinea-Bissau's Cantanhez National...
This is what the human papillomavirus looks like in the body. The latest research has indicated that modern humans got HPV from interbreeding with Neanderthals in Eurasia. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection globally.                Source: Naeblys / Adobe Stock

Neanderthals Passed Human Papillomavirus to Homo Sapiens in Eurasia

It is well-known that modern humans interbred with Neanderthals during the time they co-existed in Europe and Asia. A 2018 study revealed an interesting and intriguing detail about that interbreeding...
The great scientist Isaac Newton dabbled in alchemy during the Great Plague of London. He “thought” toad vomit pills might be the cure and his notes on this have survived. Source: Maria Sbytova / Adobe Stock

Isaac Newton, Alchemy and His Toad Vomit Plague Cure

Sir Isaac Newton was one of the most influential scientists in world history. He is best-known for his three laws of motion, and his law of universal gravitation. Additionally, he made contributions...
Navajo Yebichai (Yei Bi Chei) dancers. Edward S. Curtis. USA, 1900. The Welcome Collection, London

Can a Ghost Make You Ill? The Ghost Sickness Belief of the Native American Indians

Ghost sickness is the belief that ghosts are able to cause a living person to fall ill. This particular term is used by the Native Americans, especially amongst the Navajo people. Nevertheless, this...
The skull of the man who died infected with an early strain of the bacterium that thousands of years later caused the devastating plague in medieval Europe. Black Death origins have now been pushed much further back in history because of this incredible scientific study.					Source: Dominik Göldner / BGAEU

Black Death Origins Linked To 5,000-year-old Latvian Man

The remains of an ancient hunter-gatherer unearthed long ago at the Rinnukalns archaeological site in Latvia, has tested positive for Yersina pestis, which is better known as the bacteria behind the...
Bolivian Tsimane Amazonians Have the Best Hearts in the World

Bolivian Tsimane Amazonians Have the Best Hearts in the World

An indigenous people living largely undisturbed in the Bolivian Amazonian rainforest for centuries may hold the key to understanding (and possibly even reversing) the aging process. Previous research...
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...
Grasshopper Diet Caused Lethal Constipation 1,000 Years Ago

Grasshopper Diet Caused Lethal Constipation 1,000 Years Ago

A naturally mummified man was found to have had a grasshopper diet for several months before he died. His body was found in 1937 when a young man called Guy Skiles was exploring in a rock-shelter...
The Battle of Rocroi, by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau.

Social Consequences of the Thirty Years' War: Was it Worth it?

The Thirty Years’ War was a major European war that occurred during the 17th century. While the conflict took place mainly in the area of modern day Germany, it involved many of the great European...
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...
Neolithic Maliq Man Had Oldest Known Case of Osteopetrosis

Neolithic Maliq Man Had Oldest Known Case of Osteopetrosis

Research on a 6,000-year-old skeleton has revealed the undeniable presence of the rare genetic disorder known as stone bone disease or osteopetrosis. This discovery will help us to understand the...
Circular graves discovered in the southern part of the Umedahaka Japanese burial ground in Osaka’s Kita Ward.

Strange Historic Japanese Burial Ground Found In Downtown Osaka

In Japan , a graveyard has been unearthed in the heart of Osaka City . The Japanese burial ground is believed to have been an important historic graveyard that dates back several hundred years. The...
The Danish mummified bishop, Peder Pedersen Winstrup, whose body has provided the latest evidence for the ancient origins of tuberculosis.             Source: Lund University / YouTube screenshot

Mummified Bishop Reveals the Ancient Origins Of Tuberculosis

The ancient origins of tuberculosis have finally been identified after a team of scientists followed a trail of molecular breadcrumbs through the lung of a Danish mummified bishop . Peder Pedersen...
Painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, titled The Cripples, shows victims of the "Holy Fire" disease.        Source: Pieter Brueghel the Elder / Public domain

Rare Ergotism or “Holy Fire” Disease Mysteriously Strikes Indian Woman

We have all heard of Bubonic plague , smallpox and typhoid , but between 990 and 1130 AD it is estimated that over 50,000 people died from the so-called “Holy Fire” disease in southern France alone,...
Researchers have discovered extinct strains of smallpox, an infectious disease also known as Variola, in the teeth of Viking skeletons proving the disease was around at least 1,400 years ago. Source: nobeastsofierce / Adobe Stock

Viking Explorers Found To Be Carriers Of The World's Deadliest Virus

Chinese-Flu, Kung-Flu and now Trump-Flu, according to Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, but now, in the middle of all these politicized pseudonyms names for...
Plague Doctor Mask, Steno Museum

Secrets Behind the Creepy Plague Doctor Mask and Costume

The plague doctor mask is one of the most recognizable symbols of the Black Death. Though the image is iconic the relationship may be a little anachronistic. While plague doctors have been plying...
Before Epidemiologists Began Modeling Disease, It Was the Job of Astrologers

Before Epidemiologists Began Modeling Disease, It Was the Job of Astrologers

The internet is awash with comparisons between life during COVID-19 and life during the Bubonic plague . The two have many similarities, from the spread of misinformation and the tracking of...
Long Before Face Masks, Islamic Healers Tried to Ward Off Disease With Talismans

Long Before Face Masks, Islamic Healers Tried to Ward Off Disease With Talismans

Just as many now don face masks and do breathing exercises to protect against COVID-19 – despite debates around the science behind such practices – so too did the Islamic world turn to protective...
Archaeology shows the damaging impact of pandemic outbreaks and how the ancient Africans dealt with them. From social distancing to more extreme measures of burning settlements, what lessons can be applied today?    Source: Fxquadro / Adobe stock

Archaeology Shows How Ancient African Societies Managed Pandemics

Every so often, a pandemic emerges that dramatically alters human society. The Black Death (1347 - 1351) was one; the Spanish flu of 1918 was another. Now there’s COVID-19 . Archaeologists have long...

Pages