Diseases in the Prehistoric Period
Our knowledge of the types of diseases suffered by the prehistoric inhabitants of Southeast Asia is, of necessity, based on the examination of a very limited range of human remains unearthed in a few sites in present-day Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, and Sulawesi.
The remains represent only the most durable of the body’s hard tissues, primarily the skull, mandible, and teeth. Despite such limitations, however, they nevertheless reveal a good deal of information regarding the diseases suffered by the ancient inhabitants of the region.Skeletal remains, for example, recovered from sites at Ban Chiang, Non Nok Tha, and Ban Na Di in northeastern Thailand suggest that the prehistoric inhabitants of these villages suffered many of the same diseases found in these areas today. As might be expected from the nature of the source materials, these included a range of diseases primarily affecting the skeleton, such as osteoarthritis (or degenerative joint diseases), and bone infections, possibly including osteomyelitis and tuberculosis of the spine.
There is also evidence for a range of dental pathology, including caries, periodontal disease, abscesses (periapical and alveolar), and excessive tooth wear, sometimes with pulpal involvement (Pietrusewsky 1974,1982, 1982-3; Houghton and Warrachai 1984). Evidence for caries, periodontal disease, and abscesses has also been found in human remains from sites at Talaud Island in North Sulawesi, and Gua Cha in the Central Malay Peninsula (Bulbeck 1982).
In addition, examination of skeletal remains provides evidence of diseases affecting other organs of the body. These include tumors, or tumorlike defects (in a child’s cranium from Ban Chiang), and blood disorders. Evidence for the latter comes from a number of skeletons found in northeastern Thailand, which, it has been argued, may indicate thalassemia or elevated hemoglobin B levels (Pietrusewsky 1982, 1982-3).
These conditions, both of which are widespread in the region today, may be associated with resistance to malaria, which is common in the area. Indeed the evidence from the pathology observed in skeletal remains has thus been used to argue for the antiquity of malaria (Pietrusewsky 1982). More recently, however, iron deficiency anemia has been put forward as an alternative explanation (Houghton and Warrachai 1984). This explanation is consistent with the effects of parasitic infestations of the body, which are also prevalent today in this region of Southeast Asia.