In what ways can human skeletal remains be used to understand health and disease from the past?

Abstract

llness and injury have been a constant problem for humans. Evidence of these problems can be found in art, literature and human remains, but it is human remains that have regularly provided the scholars of ancient diseases and health with a vast amount of information. This is because art and literature are limited by linguistic and pictorial interpretation as well as by biases created by subjective description and depiction by ancient authors and artists.1 However, the improvements in diagnostic procedures in medicine and pathology over the last 150 years have contributed to the interpretation of human remains. Accordingly, the palaeopathologist in the 21st century is able to investigate and make scientific deductions on human remains regardless of whether they are buried or cremated, bone or soft tissue. A general description of the procedures used and their main advantages and disadvantages will be given below and will focus particularly on macroscopy and microscopy, autopsy, imaging and biochemical