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The study of remains and literature from ancient Egypt and Greece and earlier periods -- carried out at Manchester’s KNH Centre for Biomedical(1) Egyptology(2) and published in Nature -- includes the first histological diagnosis(3) of cancer(4) in an Egyptian(5) mummy(6).

Finding only one case of the disease in the investigation of hundreds of(7) Egyptian mummies, with few references to(8) cancer in literary evidence, proves that cancer was extremely rare in antiquity(9). The disease rate(10) has risen massively(11) since the Industrial Revolution(12), in particular(13) childhood cancer(14) -- proving that the rise is not simply due to people living longer.

Professor Rosalie David, at the Faculty of Life Sciences(15), said: “In industrialised(16) societies, cancer is second only to(17) cardiovascular disease(18) as a cause of death(19). But in ancient times, it was extremely rare. There is nothing in the natural environment(20) that can cause cancer. So it has to be a man-made(21) disease, down to(22) pollution and changes to our diet and lifestyle.”

She added: “The important thing about our study is that it gives a historical perspective(23) to this disease. We can make very clear statements on the cancer rates in societies because we have a full overview(24). We have looked at millennia(25), not one hundred years, and have masses of(26) data.”

The data includes the first ever histological diagnosis of cancer in an Egyptian mummy by Professor Michael Zimmerman, a visiting Professor(27) at the KNH Centre, who is based at the Villanova University in the US.

He diagnosed rectal cancer(28) in an unnamed(29) mummy, an ‘ordinary’ person who had lived in the Dakhleh Oasis(30) during the Ptolemaic period(31) (200-400 CE(32)).