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What skeletons tell us. The story of human paleopathology

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Abstract

Human skeletal paleopathology provides important insight regarding the antiquity of some diseases and their distribution in past human groups. The history of human skeletal paleopathology extends back more than 150 years. Rudolf Virchow published reports on the subject, and research on paleopathology has provided critical data on important topics such as the origin of syphilis. With the development of powerful new research tools, human paleopathology will continue to be a source of data on the development of disease and its effect on human biological and cultural development.

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Acknowledgements

Enrique Gerszten, a pathologist in the Department of Pathology, Medical College of Virginia, and well known for his work on the paleopathology of mummies, provided helpful suggestions on the content of this paper. I appreciate both his friendship and the continuing contribution he makes to the study of ancient disease. I also appreciate the assistance of Ms. Marcia Bakry in preparing the illustrations and Ms. Janet Beck for her editorial advice. Both work in the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.

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I declare that I have no conflict of interest.

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Correspondence to Donald J. Ortner.

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Ortner, D.J. What skeletons tell us. The story of human paleopathology. Virchows Arch 459, 247–254 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-011-1122-x

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