Paleoparasitological Studies on Mummies of the Joseon Dynasty, Korea

Paleoparasitology is the application of conventional or molecular investigative techniques to archeological sam- ples in order to reveal parasitic infection patterns among past populations. Although pioneering studies already have report- ed key paleoparasitological findings around the world, the same sorts of studies had not, until very recently, been conduct- ed in sufficient numbers in Korea. Mummified remains of individuals dating to the Korean Joseon Dynasty actually have proved very meaningful to concerned researchers, owing particularly to their superb preservation status, which makes them ideal subjects for paleoparasitological studies. Over the past several years, our study series on Korean mummies has yield- ed very pertinent data on parasitic infection patterns prevailing among certain Joseon Dynasty populations. In this short re- view, we summarized the findings and achievements of our recent paleoparasitological examinations of Joseon mummies and discussed about the prospects for future research in this vein.