Signs of Anemia Detected in Ancient Egyptian Mummies

MURNAU, GERMANY—Computed tomography scans of the mummified remains of 21 ancient Egyptian children between the ages of one and 14 revealed that seven of them showed signs of anemia, according to a Live Science report. All of the mummies in the study date from the third millennium B.C. to the fourth century A.D. and are currently held in European museums. Study team members Stephanie Panzer of the BG Hospital in Murnau, Karl O. Schneider of LMU Munich, and their colleagues explained that anemia can produce fatigue, weakness, irregular heartbeat, and death. Signs of the condition that would be detectable in the mummies would include thickened skull bones and abnormal growth in the arm and leg bones caused by the expansion of bone marrow. Lesions on the bones can also occur. Anemia can be caused by malnutrition and iron deficiency, inherited disorders such as thalassemia, and bacterial, viral, and parasitic infections. The remains of one of the children showed an enlarged tongue, an elongated skull, and an abnormal growth of the cheekbones associated with thalassemia. This child likely died of the disease, the researchers concluded. Read the original scholarly article about this research in International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. To read about CT scanning of the mummified fetuses of Tutankhamun's daughters, go to "Rediscovering Egypt's Golden Dynasty: The Pharaoh's Daughters."