Study reveals evidence of pathogens in Pharaohs', Akkadians' teeth

CAIRO – 10 August 2022: A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, the British School of Athens, and Temple University found evidence of pathogens in the teeth of Bronze Age individuals.

The researchers proved this in their study published in the Current Biology Journal. The genetic study was based on teeth found inside a cave called Hagios Charalambos on the island of Crete.

A previous research showed that the Ancient Egyptian Kingdom and the Akkadian Empire, both Bronze Age civilizations, experienced a sudden population decline several thousand years ago. It has been suggested that climate change or other unknown factors led to the deterioration. This also led to damage to infrastructure, reduced trade, and major cultural changes. Additionally, the researchers found evidence that diseases may have been behind the population decline.

The work involved studying the teeth of the remains of people dating between approximately 2290 and 1909 BC that were brought to them from an excavation site on the island of Crete. They found evidence of bacteria typical to the type that can lead to tooth decay. But more importantly, they also found evidence of the bacteria Yersinia pestis and Salmonella enterica.These are the bacteria responsible for the typhoid fever. 

The results indicate that these diseases and epidemics could be responsible for the population decline in the two Bronze Age civilizations. The researchers noted that the Yersinia pestis strain they discovered was not the same one that devastated much of Europe centuries later, nor was the Salmonella intestinal strain they found. Thus, it is not known how transmissible, or lethal, it was.

However, the evidence for such pathogens means that historians must consider the possibility that epidemics and diseases caused the downfall of these two civilizations.