Medicine & Surgery
Balathal: earliest evidence of leprosy
c. 2000 BCEChalcolithic communityBalathal skeleton (Rajasthan)Rajasthan
2,000 BCE
A skeleton showing bone changes of leprosy - the oldest archaeological evidence of the disease.
- Dated
- 2,000 BCE
- As scholars put it
- c. 2000 BCE
- Originator
- Chalcolithic community
- Source text
- Balathal skeleton (Rajasthan)
- Region
- Rajasthan
- Discipline
- Medicine & Surgery
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- High
- Verification
- Reference-cited
Meanwhile in the West
Bears on the global antiquity and spread of leprosy.
Fair to say
A single individual; diagnosis is from skeletal lesions.
Path to modern innovation
A key data point in the palaeopathology of leprosy.
Transmission
Predates the textual descriptions in Indian medicine.
References
- 1Robbins et al., PLoS ONE (2009)
Further reading
Related
Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-179 on GitHub.