Ancient Egyptian health: the prevalence of anemia at the origins of agriculture and state level society.

Ancient Egyptians experienced a vast increase in population size following the Neolithic Revolution. Nomadic hunter-gatherer groups gradually adopted agriculture as their primary food subsistence strategy. Analyses of human societies shifting from foragers to farmers have provided evidence which suggests this transition is linked with an increase in disease and allostatic load. This paper presents an examination of cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis prevalence in Predynastic and Dynastic Egyptians using public health evidence as a means to interpret the skeletal findings. The sample included 219 individuals from the regions of Naga-ed-Dêr, Mesheikh, Giza, and potentially El-Ahaiwah. The aim of this study was to identify significant differences of cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis across time and sex. Application of a Fisher-Freeman-Halton's test indicated there were no differences in prevalence of cribra orbitalia or porotic hyperostosis between the Predynastic and Dynastic, nor were there differences between the sexes. The results of this study did not produce any evidence for an epidemiological shift to have occurred in post-agricultural Egypt. Further, the most likely explanation of the pattern of disease stems from a parasitic model of infection.