- Joined
- Mar 27, 2016
- Messages
- 2,302
Hmm.. these parasites must have been very tiring
Article in today's Guardian re Must Farm, in the wetland fens of East Anglia
The clutch of homes that stood on stilts in the wetland fens of East Anglia were the envy of the local peasantry 3,000 years ago. But amid the remains of the grand wooden huts and the belongings of the well-to-do residents lurked evidence that all was not well at Must Farm, Britain’s premier bronze age settlement.
Firm, sausage-shaped lumps found skulking in the mud that swallowed the settlement after a catastrophic fire have been identified as pieces of faeces. Inside these deposits researchers found a grim array of tiny eggs – the calling card for parasitic worm infestations.
In the sanitising jargon of archaeology, the human coprolites were found to be brimming with eggs from fish tapeworms, giant kidney worms, whipworms and other undesirable creatures, pointing to a downside of the settlers’ fresh and convenient marsh diet.
“They must have been eating raw or undercooked fish, frogs or shellfish,” said Piers Mitchell, the director of the ancient parasites laboratory at Cambridge University, who studied the precious deposits. “Some might not have had symptoms but others would have known about it.”
Once fish tapeworms have set up home in the gut they can grow to a length of 10 metres, coiling around the twists and turns of the intestines. The most infested inhabitants in the Must Farm community probably would have been anaemic as the worms absorbed food intended for their hosts.
Kidney worms are more reasonable in size but properly fed will still reach a metre and destroy the organ in the process. Other parasites called Echinostoma worms are only 1cm long when fully grown, but heavy infestations inflame the intestines, causing abdominal pain, diarrhoea, weight loss and tiredness.
Full article here:
www.theguardian.com
Article in today's Guardian re Must Farm, in the wetland fens of East Anglia
The clutch of homes that stood on stilts in the wetland fens of East Anglia were the envy of the local peasantry 3,000 years ago. But amid the remains of the grand wooden huts and the belongings of the well-to-do residents lurked evidence that all was not well at Must Farm, Britain’s premier bronze age settlement.
Firm, sausage-shaped lumps found skulking in the mud that swallowed the settlement after a catastrophic fire have been identified as pieces of faeces. Inside these deposits researchers found a grim array of tiny eggs – the calling card for parasitic worm infestations.
In the sanitising jargon of archaeology, the human coprolites were found to be brimming with eggs from fish tapeworms, giant kidney worms, whipworms and other undesirable creatures, pointing to a downside of the settlers’ fresh and convenient marsh diet.
“They must have been eating raw or undercooked fish, frogs or shellfish,” said Piers Mitchell, the director of the ancient parasites laboratory at Cambridge University, who studied the precious deposits. “Some might not have had symptoms but others would have known about it.”
Once fish tapeworms have set up home in the gut they can grow to a length of 10 metres, coiling around the twists and turns of the intestines. The most infested inhabitants in the Must Farm community probably would have been anaemic as the worms absorbed food intended for their hosts.
Kidney worms are more reasonable in size but properly fed will still reach a metre and destroy the organ in the process. Other parasites called Echinostoma worms are only 1cm long when fully grown, but heavy infestations inflame the intestines, causing abdominal pain, diarrhoea, weight loss and tiredness.
Full article here:
Bronze age meals in the marshes – seasoned with parasitic worms
Human faeces from 900BC Must Farm reveal widespread intestinal worm infection
www.theguardian.com
Last edited:
