Human tuberculosis predates domestication in ancient Syria

Oussama Baker, Oona Y.C. Lee, Houdini H.T. Wu, Gurdyal S. Besra, David E. Minnikin, Gareth Llewellyn, Christopher M. Williams, Frank Maixner, Niall O'Sullivan, Albert Zink, Bérénice Chamel, Rima Khawam, Eric Coqueugniot, Daniel Helmer, Françoise Le Mort, Pascale Perrin, Lionel Gourichon, Bruno Dutailly, György Pálfi, Hélène CoqueugniotOlivier Dutour*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

59 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The question of pre-neolithic tuberculosis is still open in paleopathological perspective. One of the major interests is to explore what type of infection could have existed around the early stage of animal domestication. Paleopathological lesions evoking skeletal TB were observed on five human skeletons coming from two PPNB sites in Syria, which belongs to the geographical cradle of agriculture. These sites represent respectively pre-domestication phase (Dja'de el Mughara, Northern Syria, 8800-8300 BCE cal.) and early domestication phase (Tell Aswad, Southern Syria, 8200-7600 BCE cal.). MicroCT scan analyses were performed on two specimens (one per site) and revealed microscopic changes in favor of TB infection. Detection of lipid biomarkers is positive for two specimens (one per site). Initial molecular analysis further indicates the presence of TB in one individual from Dja'de. Interestingly, no morphological evidence of TB was observed on animal remains of wild and newly domesticated species, discovered in these sites. These observations strongly suggest the presence of human tuberculosis before domestication and at its early stages.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)S4-S12
JournalTuberculosis
Volume95
Issue numberS1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2015
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Agriculture cradle
  • Ancient DNA
  • Domestication
  • Early neolithic
  • Lipid biomarkers
  • PPNB
  • Paleopathology of TB

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