Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Burden of Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease in Ancient Populations

Insights from Mummified Remains

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Handbook of Mummy Studies

Abstract

Arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are chronic inflammatory afflictions of the vascular system leading to stiffening and occlusion of the arterial vessels. The particular involvement of the coronary and carotid arteries may result in lethal ischemia of the heart or brain. Therefore, they represent the most frequent cause of death in the twenty-first century. Recent circumstantial analyses have shown that the prevalence of arteriosclerosis was also very high in human remains in various ancient populations, including ancient Egypt, Peru, and hunter-gatherer populations. Thereby, the typical features of atheromatosis, fibrosis, and vascular calcification have been identified by histology and even more frequently by radiological techniques (X-rays, Multidetector computed tomography) in mummies from all over the world. This sheds new light on the pathogenetic causes of CVDs. Genetic predisposition and chronic, local, and systemic inflammation seem to have more influence on the genesis of arteriosclerosis than the typical present-day risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and other metabolic disorders. The investigation of mummy tissue by various approaches will hopefully enlarge our understanding of the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 379.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 449.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allam AH, Mandour A, Wann SL et al (2014) Atherosclerosis in ancient and modern Egyptians: the Horus study. Glob Heart 9(2):197–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aufderheide AC (2000) Progress in soft tissue paleopathology. JAMA 284(20):2571–2573

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bianucci R, Habicht ME, Buckley SA et al (2015) Shedding new light on the 18th dynasty mummies of the Royal Architect Kha and his spouse Merit. PLoS One 10(7):e0131916. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0131916

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bianucci R, Loynes R, Sutherland ML et al (2016) Forensic analysis reveals acute decompensation of chronic heart failure in a 3500-year-old Egyptian dignitary. J Forensic Sci 61(5):1378–1381

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruetsch B (1959) The earliest record of sudden death possibly due to atherosclerotic coronary occlusion. Circulation 20:438–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charlier P, Wils P, Froment A et al (2014) Arterial calcifications from mummified materials: use of micro-CT-scan for histological differential diagnosis. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 10(3):461–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Czermak JN (1852) Beschreibung und mikroskopische Untersuchung zweier ägyptischer Mumien. Sitzungsbericht der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien 9:27

    Google Scholar 

  • David R, Kershaw A, Heagerty A (2010) Atherosclerosis and diet in ancient Egypt. Lancet 375:718–719

    Google Scholar 

  • Ebbell B (1937) The papyrus Ebers. The greatest Egyptian medical document. Kopenhagen, p 48

    Google Scholar 

  • Falk E, Nakano M, Bentzon JF et al (2013) Update on acute coronary syndromes: pathologists’ view. Eur Heart J Eur 34(10):719–728

    Google Scholar 

  • Fornaciari G (2008) Food and disease at the renaissance courts of Naples and Florence: a paleonutritional study. Appetite 51:10–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fornaciari G, Gaeta R (2013) Atherosclerosis in ancient populations. Lancet 382(9887):123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaeta R, Giuffra V, Fornaciari G (2013) Atherosclerosis in the renaissance elite: Ferdinand I King of Naples. Virchow Arch 462:593–595

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galassi FM, Varotto E (2019) Fake news in medicina: un grave deficit di conoscenza storico-medica e paleopatologica alla base del problema. Evidence 11(1):e1000192

    Google Scholar 

  • Galassi FM, Habicht ME, Rühli FJ et al (2017) A unique case of stroke and upper limb paralysis in a mid-18th century natural mummy. Circulation Res 121(4):338–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galassi FM, Habicht ME, Ravishankar M et al (2018) Paleopathology of stroke: elucidation of an old medical conundrum by means of combination of ancient written sources and biomedical mummy research. Presentation at the 45th annual north American meeting of the paleopathology association, Book of abstracts, 9–11 April 2018, p 16

    Google Scholar 

  • Habicht ME, Bianucci R, Buckley SA et al (2016) Queen Nefertari, the Royal Spouse of Pharaoh Ramses II: a multidisciplinary investigation of the mummified remains found in her tomb (QV66). PloSONE 11(11):e0166571. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166571

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herrington W, Lacey B, Sherliker P et al (2016) Epidemiology of atherosclerosis and the potential to reduce the global burden of atherothrombotic disease. Circ Res 118(4):535–536

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keller A, Graefen A, Ball M et al (2012) New insight into the Tyrolean Iceman’s origin and phenotype as inferred by whole-genome sequencing. Nat Commun 3:698

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim YS, Hong JH, Oh CS et al (2018) Post-factum autopsy to confirm cardiac structures visible on computed tomography images of Korean mummies: the radiological basis of paleo-cardiology. Anthropol Anz 75(4):339–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loynes R (2015) Prepared for eternity. A study of human embalming techniques in ancient Egypt using computed tomography scans of mummies. ArcheoPress Egyptology, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lusis AJ (2000) Atherosclerosis. Nature 407:233–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lusis AJ (2012) Genetics of atherosclerosis. Trends Genet 28:267–275

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madder RD, Puri R, Muller JE et al (2016) Confirmation of the intracoronary near-infrared spectroscopy threshold of lipid-rich plaques that underlie ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction. Arter Thromb Vasc Biol 6:1010–1015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madjid M (2019) High prevalence of cholesterol-rich atherosclertoic lesions in ancient mummies: a near-infrared spectroscopy study. Am Heart J 216:113–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy WA, zur Nedden D, Gostner P et al (2003) The iceman: discovery and imaging. Radiology 226:614–629

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nerlich A (2016) Die Mumie des Königs General. Heinrich LII. Reuß-Köstritz: Lebensgeschichte eines bayerischen Generals zu Napoleons Zeiten. München, pp 1–434

    Google Scholar 

  • Nerlich AG, Wiest I, Tübel J (1997) Coronary arteriosclerosis in a male mummy from ancient Egypt. J Paleopathol 9:83–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Nerlich AG, Zink A, Szeimies U et al (2000) Ancient Egyptian prosthesis of the big toe. Lancet 356:2176–2179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nerlich AG, Szeimies U, Hagedorn H (2003) Die Mumie von TT-196. Moderne radiologische und molekulare Untersuchungen an einer vollständigen Mumie in Ägypten. In: Graefe E (ed) Das Grab des Padihorresnet, Obervermögensverwalter der Gottesgemahlin des Amun (Thebanisches Grab Nr. 196), Monumenta Aegyptica IX. Brepols, Turnhout, pp 241–244

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts R, Marian AJ, Dandona S et al (2013) Genomics in cardiovascular disease. J Am Coll Cardiol 61:2029–2037

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruffer MA (1911) On arterial lesions found in Egyptian mummies (1580 BC – 525 AD). J Pathol Bacteriol 15:453–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rühli FJ, Galassi FM, Haeusler M (2016) Palaeopathology: current challenges and medical impact. Clin Anat 29(7):816–822

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandison AT (1962) Degenerative vascular disease in the Egyptian mummy. Med Hist 6:77–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seiler R, Habicht ME, Rühli FJ et al (2019) First-time complete visualization of a preserved meningeal artery in the mummy of Nakht-ta-Netjeret (ca. 950 BC). Neurol Sci 40(2):409–411

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shattock SG (1909) A report upon the pathological condition of the aorta of king Merenptah. Proc Roy Soc Med 2:122–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith GE (1912) Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire, Nos. 61051–61100, The Royal Mummies. L’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, Cairo

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone GW, Maehara A, Muller JE et al (2015) Plaque characterization to inform the prediction and prevention of Periprocedural myocardial infarction during percutaneous coronary intervention: the CANARY trial (Coronary assessment by near-infrared of atherosclerotic rupture-prone yellow). JACC Cardiovasc Interv 8(7):927–936

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas GS, Wann LS, Allam AH et al (2014) Why did ancient people have atherosclerosis? From autopsies to computed tomography to potential causes. Glob Heart 9(2):229–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson RC, Allam AH, Lombardi GP et al (2013) Atherosclerosis across 4000 years of human history: the Horus study of four ancient populations. Lancet 381(9873):1211–1222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wann LS, Narula J, Blankstein R et al (2020) Atherosclerosis in 16th-century Greenlandic Inuit mummies. JAMA Open Netw 2:e1918270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westendorf W (1992) Erwachen der Heilkunst. Artemis Winkler Verlag, Zürich

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman MR (1993) The paleopathology of the cardiovascular system. Texas Heart Inst J 20:252–257

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are indebted to Professor Simon T. Donell who generously proofread and edited this chapter.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Pathology, Academic Hospital Munich-Bogenhausen, Munich, Germany

    Andreas G. Nerlich

  2. Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Francesco Maria Galassi

  3. FAPAB Research Center, Avola, Italy

    Francesco Maria Galassi

  4. New Mexico Health Enhancement and Marathon Clinics Research Foundation, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Raffaella Bianucci

  5. Warwick Medical School, Biomedical Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Raffaella Bianucci

  6. Legal Medicine Section, Department of Public Health and Paediatric Sciences, University of Turin, Torino, Italy

    Raffaella Bianucci

Authors
  1. Andreas G. Nerlich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Francesco Maria Galassi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Raffaella Bianucci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andreas G. Nerlich .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Bioanthropology, Paleopathology and History of Diseases, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Institute of Forensic and Anthropological Science, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    Dong Hoon Shin

  2. New Mexico Health Enhancement and Marathon Clinics Research Foundation, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Raffaella Bianucci

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Nerlich, A.G., Galassi, F.M., Bianucci, R. (2021). The Burden of Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease in Ancient Populations. In: Shin, D.H., Bianucci, R. (eds) The Handbook of Mummy Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3354-9_44

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation