Paleopathology

Improved Essays
When the word disease comes to mind, many often think about ones that currently affect our population, however, we fail to think about the ones that were prevalent in the past. By using paleopathology, the study of disease that caused a change in living organisms in ancient time (Ortner, 2011), we are capable of advancing our knowledge when it comes to many types of diseases. Diseases that overwhelmed ancient organisms are brought to our knowledge and expand our understanding of their position in our lives. As defined by Merriam-Webster, a disease is, “an illness that affects a person, animal, or plant: a condition that prevents the body or mind from working normally.” Studying ancient diseases is not only vital to the improvement of our species, …show more content…
There was no possible way for the world to know about Egyptian mummies carrying diseases until paleopathologists provided evidence using ancient remains to support what they were claiming. It also has a significant impact in creating the reconstruction of the difficult connections among diseases and human beings during the time of Homo sapiens. Many diseases are affecting many skeletons of today. The advancement of paleopathology started in eighteenth century, but by the nineteenth century paleopathologists found the cause of Syphilis. ( ) Syphilis is a contagious infection that is typically spread through sexual contact and begins as a painless sore. It is also known as a disorder to paleopathologists. It appears to go way back in the ancient times and brought controversy. Paleopathology is absolutely deeper than it seems. This study requires information and participation from orthopedic, pathology, skeletal radiology and archaeology. They each contribute to paleopathology, especially skeletal paleopathology, in many ways, by understanding the skeletal muscles and the causes and effects of diseases including examinations of tissues. Paleopathologists determined that disorders as well as diseases do affect the bones and soft tissues. There are several ways to identify if a bone or soft tissues is affected by a disease simply by the abnormalities of it such as: shape, size, formation, and the absence of bone. ( ) Paleopathologists discovered that people can die from these skeletal diseases. Paleopathology has helped the world so much by first discovering skeletal diseases, learning how to report them, and eventually finding a

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