Treponemal disease in the Old World? Integrated palaeopathological assessment of a 9th–11th century skeleton from north-central Spain
2017
The hypothesis of an American origin of acquired (venereal) syphilis and other
infectious diseases carried by Christopher Columbus’s crew has been
considered for a long time as the most plausible one, and has been supported
recently by considerable anthropological and molecular evidence. In this line of
thought, it can be argued that Spain would have been the gateway of acquired
syphilis, which quickly expanded after the return of Columbus in the late 15th
century. However, the hypothesis that syphilis previously existed in Europe but
went unrecognized has been also considered by many authors. The present
work reports one Pre-Columbian putative case of venereal syphilis found in a
Spanish necropolis and radiocarbon dated to the 9th-11th century. The
complexities of carrying out accurate diagnoses in remains from archaeological
timeframes are addressed by the combined use of paleopathological, medical
and histological techniques. The results, which suggestively point toward a
third-stage acquired syphilis, spark discussion about the need to revisit or
complement the theories and hypothesis on the origin of syphilis in the light of a
growing body of cases from European historical populations.
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