The better preserved the corpses, the better the chance of finding signs of ancient pathology. Ancient human remains have revealed signs of many diseases. In fact, according to Donald J. Ortner, a Smithsonian Institution paleopathologist, virtually all modern diseases that leave clues on the bones have been found in ancient skeletons. Along with tooth decay, probably the most common disease found on old skeletons is arthritis, which has been diagnosed in the bones of Neanderthal people who lived more than 35,000 years ago. Arthritis has been found in virtually every skeletal population examined.
Tooth decay is at least as old.
Bone cancer has been found in a variety of places and past times. Trachoma, an eye disease, has been seen in a prehistoric Australian aborigine. One of the most startling discoveries of ancient disease has yielded broader insight into human nature. In a Florida bog near Cape Canaveral, anthropologists have found the skeleton of a child who had spina bifida, a serious birth defect in which the spine fails to close over part of the spinal cord. The victim was a boy of 16.