Ancient Secrets Unveiled: Were Dwarves and Disabled Individuals Revered as Sacred Figures?
“Was his survival a result of high social rank at birth, or was high rank the result of his deformity?” Molnar asked. “His unique position could have been a consequence of his uncommon physical characteristics.”
Wikimedia CommonsA stele hieroglyph depicting the court dwarf Hed, found in the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Den. 2850 BCE.
Meanwhile, last year’s Trinity College Dublin study was a prime example of how invaluable sharing these cases across the archaeology, biology, and history communities can be.
When geneticist Dan Bradley published an analysis of ancient DNA from four Irish people buried in disparate locations showing that they all carried the same gene — one that causes hemochromatosis, a rare condition that causes iron to build up in the blood — it suggested these genes had biogeographical benefits.
To protect against a poor diet, for example, ancient Irish people may have developed this otherwise rare mutation. The country currently has the highest rate of it, with Bradley arguing that understanding why these conditions appear “may help researchers today to better understand this genetic burden.”
Organizers of the conference in Berlin, paleopathologist Julia Gresky and bioarchaeologist Emmanuele Petiti of the German Archaeological Institute, couldn’t agree more and they plan on constructing a database to share data on ancient cases.
“It’s the same problem physicians have today,” said Gresky. “If you want to work on rare diseases, you need enough patients, otherwise it’s just a case study.”
After learning about dwarfism and cleft palates possibly being revered in ancient times, read about three revered historical civilizations that embraced pederasty. Then, learn about ancient ruins older than the pyramids discovered in Canada.
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