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Technological change has affected human health dating back to at least the Neolithic agricultural revolution. Growing evidence indicates widespread environmental pollution began with metallurgical practices and continues today. Environmental exposures to trace elements released from these practices have the potential to alter human body composition, such as bone mineral chemistry, especially for elements that are not homeostatically regulated. These signals can be used for inferences about human health, particularly when metallotoxins are detected in abundance. Therefore, trace element geochemistry of archaeological bone may provide a means to evaluate human health through time. However, diagenetic factors can hinder attempts to extract this information. Thus, we employed advanced analytical and interpretive methods to carefully distinct groups of European burials over about 1000 years to address questions of potentially toxic trace element exposures. Here, to address our hypothesis that Roman urbanization created one of the earliest urban toxic environment caused by multiple exposures, we present a comprehensive suite of bone trace element compositions of femora from burials spanning three distinct archaeological time periods (Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman period). All bone specimens were obtained from the anterior-mid shaft of carefully selected femora and processed using the same analytical techniques designed to mitigate soil contamination. Our data indicate that widespread environmental pollution accelerated in Londinium during the Roman Empire period, leading to conditions where population health would be vulnerable to environmental changes. Specifically, bone lead, silver, vanadium, arsenic, and cadmium concentrations were typically elevated and would likely be associated with multiple toxicities. In addition, bone iron levels were extremely high in some Londinium burials. Our interpretation is that the Romans inhabiting Londinium were not just poisoned by lead exposure as several previous studies show but by several metallotoxins., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Understanding the population of Central Italy during the 1 st millennium BCE is a crucial topic in the biological history of the Mediterranean basin. This period saw the emergence of the Etruscan and Roman cultures which had a significant impact on the bio-cultural history of the region. In this study, we analyse a prehistoric population from Caracupa (Iron Age, Latium, Central Italy). The results suggest an overall good level of health for the population. Despite this, some musculoskeletal changes related to biomechanical stressors were observed, probably as the result of strenuous physical activity. The results of a Simple Matching analysis of intragroup distance distributions suggest potential model of kinship structures and lineages. This may be due to the relative geographic isolation of the Caracupa population. Furthermore, in order to investigate the wider population of Central Italy during the 1 st millennium BCE, we have constructed a population pattern using genetic and phenotypic skeletal and dental traits. The comparison between Central Italy and more isolated populations indicated a divergence between the Western and Eastern sides of Central Italy. However, we do not exclude a probable common genetic substratum for all Central Italian populations during the 1 st millennium BCE.

The study of Roman childhood has been the focus of research primarily using documentary and archaeological evidence, while relatively few non-adult skeletal assemblages have been analyzed. This paper presents the study of 93 non-adult individuals from four cemeteries in the Roman (1st-3rd c. CE) civitas capital of Aventicum (Avenches), Switzerland. The results of the analysis offer a new bioarchaeological perspective on mortality and disease patterns during childhood in Roman Switzerland, adding to the discussion regarding living conditions in the urban centers at the periphery of the Roman Empire. This study also highlights the importance of studying perinates in archaeological populations, since the current research inform us about the experiences of mothers and their offspring in Aventicum. The mortality and disease patterns of the perinates, representing 71% of the total non-adult sample (66/93), suggest that pregnancy and the time around birth were extremely challenging at Aventicum. It is argued that environmental constraints, e.g. the risk of infectious diseases such as malaria and natural phenomena such as recurring floods resulting in resources scarcity, could have considerably affected the mother-fetus pair in this urban settlement., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The archaeological excavations carried out in 1999 in the Collatina necropolis of the Roman Imperial Age (1st-3rd centuries AD) (Rome, Italy) discovered the skeletal remains of two adult males with evidence of paranasal lesions. Both individuals showed postmortem damage in the frontal bone, through which it was possible to macroscopically detect an oblong new bone formation. In both specimens, radiological examination of the defects' morphology showed new pediculated-based bone formations. Radiology also confirmed the presence of benign osseous masses arising from the right frontal sinus and interpreted as osteomata. Their dimensions did not exceed 10 mm, so that mechanical complications and compression of the adjacent structures could be ruled out. The osteomata of paranasal sinuses are rarely reported in paleopathology, since they can be discovered only incidental to bone breakage or radiography. Hence, the evaluation of their occurrence in past populations represents an important challenge. The two cases presented here show direct and rare evidence of frontal sinus osteomata dating back to the Roman Imperial Age., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The texts written by the people of past societies can provide key information that enhances our understanding of disease in the past. Written sources and art can describe cultural contexts that not only help us interpret lesions in excavated human remains, but also provide evidence for past disease events themselves. However, in recent decades many biohistorical articles have been published that claim to diagnose diseases present in past celebrities or well known individuals, often using less than scholarly methodology. This article aims to help researchers use historical written sources and artwork responsibly, thus improving our understanding of health and disease in the past. It explores a broad range of historical sources, from medical texts and histories to legal documents and tax records, and it highlights how the key to interpreting any past text is to understand who wrote it, when it was written, and why it was written. Case studies of plague epidemics, crucifixion, and the spinal deformity of King Richard III are then used to highlight how we might better integrate archaeological and historical evidence. When done well, integrating evidence from both archaeological and historical sources increases the probability of a complete and well-balanced understanding of disease in past societies., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The aim of this research was to determine the species of intestinal parasite present in a Roman Imperial period population in Asia Minor, and to use this information to improve our understanding of health in the eastern Mediterranean region in Roman times. We analyzed five samples from the latrines of the Roman bath complex at Sagalassos, Turkey. Fecal biomarker analysis using 5β-stanols has indicated the feces were of human origin. The eggs of roundworm (Ascaris) were identified in all five samples using microscopy, and the cysts of the protozoan Giardia duodenalis (which causes dysentery) were identified multiple times in one sample using ELISA. The positive G. duodenalis result at Sagalassos is particularly important as it represents the earliest reliable evidence for this parasite in the Old World (i.e. outside the Americas). As both these species of parasite are spread through the contamination of food and water by fecal material, their presence implies that Roman sanitation technologies such as latrines and public baths did not break the cycle of reinfection in this population. We then discuss the evidence for roundworm in the writings of the Roman physician Galen, who came from Pergamon, another town in western Asia Minor., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In 1866, J. Langdon Down published a paper on "an ethnic classification of idiots" and noted their facial resemblance with individuals of the Mongolian people. In 1959, J. Lejeune, M. Gautier, and R. Turpin demonstrated that the children with Down syndrome had an extra copy of chromosome 21. There is now a debate within the medical literature on the age of trisomy 21 as a disease affecting mankind. Since it was not described before 1866, some authors questioned whether this disease is an old or new condition in humans. Three methods of investigation are useful for demonstrating that trisomy 21 has been present in humans for a long time: the figuration of this condition in historical paintings, figurines, and pottery; its presence in old skeletal remains; and the origin of human chromosome 21 during primate phylogeny. Figurines strongly suggestive of trisomy 21 have been found in the Greco-Roman world, in many Central and South American pre-Columbian cultures, and in Khmer temples. In Europe, during the Renaissance, Italian and Flemish artists represented trisomy 21 in paintings of religious inspiration. Studies on the origin and pathology of chromosome 21 have shown that the ancestral human chromosome 21 arose 30-50 million years ago and that trisomy 21 has existed since time immemorial., (Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier SAS.)

Objective: We attempt to present and analyze suicidal behaviour in the ancient Greek and Roman world., Methods: Drawing information from ancient Greek and Latin sources (History, Philosophy, Medicine, Literature, Visual Arts) we aim to point out psychological and social aspects of suicidal behaviour in antiquity., Results: The shocking exposition of suicides reveals the zeitgeist of each era and illustrates the prevailing concepts. Social and legal reactions appear ambivalent, as they can oscillate from acceptance and interpretation of the act to punishment. In the history of these attitudes, we can observe continuities and breaches, reserving a special place in cases of mental disease. The delayed emergence of a generally accepted term for the voluntary exit from life (the term suicidium established during the 17th century), is connected to reactions triggered by the act of suicide than to the frequency and the extent of the phenomenon., Conclusions: The social environment of the person, who voluntary ends his life usually dictates the behaviour and historical evidence confirms the phenomenon., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The mythology of the Greeks and Romans is full of monsters of fiction: giants, cyclops, centaurs, hydras, Gorgons… The accounts of travelers, reproduced in the Natural History of Pline l'Ancien reported the existence, in distant countries, of men with a dog's head (baboons), of men with a single tall foot (sciapode), beings whose face is embedded in the chest (or acephala blemmyes), to which must be added a wide variety of men with no mouth, no nose, or equipped with giant ears or feet turned backwards, as well as hermaphrodites. Teratology reports on monstrous births, which have constituted the factual basis from which the imagination conceived adults whose morphology corresponds to the monsters of legend. Newborns sirenomelia were behind the legend of sciapode and sirens. Cyclopia have inspired the legend of the cyclops. Anencephaly probably explains the description of headless or blemmyes. The genesis of the legend of baboons may have multiple origins: firstly the existence of people suffering from congenital hypertrichosis, on the other hand, the influence of Egyptian mythology where the god Anubis has a dog's head. The acardiac fetus may explain some monstrous forms, features the work of Hieronymus Bosch. The significance of the monsters of legend, their genesis, their persistence through the ages is complex. By approaching teratology, we added a new field of exploration of real monsters of antiquity and Middle Ages., (Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier SAS.)

Although much has been written about the history of water supply systems, there is a lack of corresponding information on wastewater management. This is surprising since the lack of sanitation affects human development to the same or even greater extent as the lack of clean water. While there may be an added stigma to discussing waste treatment, sanitation is widely perceived as meriting a significant claim on financial and political resources as well on the evolution of mankind. A literature review is presented on the evolution of wastewater management through the ages and its concurrent impact on human health and environment. Hopefully this information will improve the awareness of the past with a view to impacting future policies and technical developments. The review highlights the connection of environmental contamination with the ability to measure it, as well as the ways pollution control has been changed by advances in scientific knowledge. Attention is also drawn to the effects of political and societal events on wastewater management. A sanitation timeline has been constructed pointing out significant developments in the treatment of wastewater and improvements in analytical environmental chemistry. This review has been written in the belief that historical research showing the collective experience and "philosophy of sanitation" can provide inspiration to face future challenges., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The formative period of Latin and Hebrew astrology occurred virtually simultaneously in both cultures. In the second quarter of the twelfth century the terminology of the subject was established and the textbooks which became authoritative were written. The responsibility for this lay almost entirely with two scholars: John of Seville for the Latins, and Abraham ibn Ezra for the Jews. It is unlikely to have been by coincidence that the same developments in astrology occurred in these two cultures. John of Seville and Abraham ibn Ezra were both brought up within the Islamic culture of Spain, and their astrology was Arabic astrology. Moreover, some scholars have thought that John's origins were Jewish, while Ibn Ezra is known to have collaborated with Latin scholars (whose names are not recorded). It cannot be a coincidence that they forged the science of astrology for their respect co-religionists at almost the same time. Yet, very little research has been done on the possible relations between the two scholars. The purpose of this paper is to begin to explore this relationship, and to illustrate it in particular by their shared doctrine concern the location of pain.

Greek and Roman physicians developed distinct and detailed ideas, which can be regarded as early versions of our modern concept of dementia. Several classical sources--some of them medical--offer intriguing descriptions of many cognitive and behavioral symptoms in dementia, which are currently used for diagnostic purposes. Limitations of this ancient concept are due to terminological and epidemiological factors, but also to the physicians' social role. Only a small part of this early literature is cited in contemporary work on the origin of the dementia concept, which can be clearly traced back to the Age of Enlightenment and whose earlier history still needs to be elucidated.

Styling one's hair seems to be an innate desire of humans to emphasize their beauty and power. As reviewed here, hairstyles were influenced by preceding cultures, by religion, by those depicted for gods and emperors on sculptures and coins. In addition, they were determined by aspects of lifestyle such as sports, wealth, and the desire to display inner feelings. The historical changes in fashions can be exemplarily followed by a visitor to an art collection of Graeco-Roman antiquity. The study of hairstyles permits an insight into very basic aspects of the self-conception of individuals and of the respective societies.