A Possible Case of Juvenile Leprosy in Ancient China (First Millennium BCE)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Leprosy, caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and M. lepromatosis, is an ancient disease that has been reported across the world. As many studies explored leprosy in Europe, leprosy in East Asia is less frequently reported in bioarchaeology. In China, there are only two reports of leprosy so far, one in the Han Dynasty and the other in the Tang Dynasty. In contrast, the written records of leprosy could be traced back to earlier times. The Mogou site is located in Gansu, China. Compromised by two cultures (Qijia and Siwa), the site was occupied from 1750 to 1100 BCE. The specimen of interest, coded as M684, was a juvenile (12 ± 2 years old) and exhibited lesions on the nasal, palate, zygoma, and post-cranial elements, including hands and feet. It lead to the conclusion of a possible juvenile leprosy. The previous ancient DNA research proposed that leprosy was introduced into China from the Eastern Mediterranean via the Silk Road. The finding of this possible juvenile leprosy case raises the question of the origin of leprosy in China and may provide new insight into the spreading route of leprosy in the past. ***This presentation will include images of human remains.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51706