Epidemiological analysis of tomb complexes from the necropolis of Thebes-West

Abstract

In the necropolis of Thebes-West, Upper Egypt, individuals from various time periods are buried, comprising the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom and the Late Period. Previously the bodies had been examined paleopathologically and data of more than 800 individuals had been entered into a data base. We analyzed the data in respect to age distribution, sex, social status and several symptoms that are indicators for distinct disease entities. We identified statistically significant associations of social status with the prevalence of caries. Degenerative diseases and traumas are significantly more frequent in later time periods, whereas severe infectious diseases occur nearby only in the Middle Kingdom. The odds ratio of signs of anaemia for children versus adults was about 3.1 (95% confidence interval 2.2- 4.3), independently of social status and epoch. No differences among time periods, social status and age distribution were found for the occurrence of scurvy and osteopenia. Despite the obstacles of missing data, selection bias through selective burial practices and information bias by contamination of later burials, our results give an insight on disease distribution in ancient Egypt by population based data.