Mummies: Who owns the dead?
diversity | enhance | migration | presume | reveal
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Think Scientifically
Think Scientifically
The students in Ms. Kahn’s class are doing a unit on health, and Marian has become interested in epidemiology, the study of how diseases spread in populations. She is giving a report on a disease called Leishmaniasis (leesh-ma-NY-uh-sis).
“Leishmaniasis is a horrible disease that can cause big open sores on the body. It’s caused by a parasite that gets into humans and other mammals through the bite of sandflies. The worst form of the disease can cause fever and swollen livers and spleens. Sometimes it is deadly. The disease kills over 20,000 people a year. The disease is found in a diversity of locations, but scientists think it probably started long ago in Nubia, the part of East Africa that is now Sudan. Support for that theory is enhanced by a study of mummies. The disease is also found—”
“Hold on,” interrupts Ethan. “Mummies?”
“Yeah, mummies,” says Marian. “So anyway, one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the disease is to use netting and insect repellent—”
“Back to the mummies,” Ethan insists. “How do mummies help scientists figure out where a disease came from?”
“Okay, okay,” says Marian. “Let’s talk about the mummy angle. It’s almost like the mummies are witnesses, and they provide clues that reveal where the disease was at different times.”
Marian shows her classmates a timeline based on a study she found online. She tells them they are going to think through a question using scientific reasoning.
Scientists studied mummies from three different burial sites in Egypt to learn more about Leishmaniasis donovani, the most dangerous form of the disease. They looked at Egyptian sites dating from 3500 to 2800 BCE; from 2050 to 1650 BCE;
and from 2050 to 500 BCE. Interestingly, the scientists found DNA evidence of L. donovani only in mummies from the second burial site, which was used during the Middle Kingdom time period in Egypt. Since the Middle Kingdom was a time when Egypt and Nubia had lots of contact, and people migrated back and forth, the scientists concluded that the disease was connected to Ancient Nubia, the land south of Egypt.
This raises some questions:
- Did Egyptians catch the disease from Nubians?
- NO. The disease is not contagious from person to person.
- Did the sandflies that infect people once live in Egypt?
- NO. The environment in Egypt was never a good habitat for the sandflies.
Discussion Question:
Discussion Question:
SO ... How do you presume the Egyptians became infected?
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