Dental and other diseases revealed in ancient Egyptian mummy study

After examining research of more than 3,000 mummies, anatomists and paleopathologists at the University of Zurich concluded that 18 percent of all mummies in case reports showed a nightmare array of dental diseases. Worn teeth, periodontal diseases, abscesses and cavities tormented the ancient Egyptians, as the first systematic review of all studies performed on Egyptian mummies in the past 30 years reveals.

CT imaging revealed an impressive collection of diseases, including bone disorders, infections and traumas being the most common disorders. Death came between ages 20 and 40 for half of the mummies.

The most prominent cases of fractures in pharaohs included the left middle finger in Ramses II, the third ruler of Egypt’s 19th Dynasty, better known as Ramesses the Great, and the skull lesions of Seqenenre Taa II, the 14th pharaoh of the Theban dynasty who probably died in a battle.

Excerpted from an article by Rossella Lorenzi for Discovery News

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Tags: middle finger in Ramses II, mummy, Ramesses II, ramses, University of Zurich

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 4:20 pm and is filed under Egyptology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.