Introduction

Human palaeopathology can be defined as the study of disease in ancient populations by the examination of human remains (Aufderheide and Rodriquez-Martin 1998). It has changed from a description of isolated cases of interesting findings during archaeological excavations to a fascinating branch of science offering insights into the past with clues to understanding the present. In most of the cases, it is now no longer a solitary task of a single researcher but an effort of a multidisciplinary team. In many cases, work on mummified remains from one location is continued over several years, building a complex interpretation of the cause and circumstances of death of particular individuals and their place in the society.

This is a review of publications on the issues of palaeopathology published in the last decade, but mostly after the beginning of the new millennium. It may seem a short period of time, but the number of publications is quite substantial so the decision to limit the scope of this review to those years was made because the earlier publications were exceptionally well presented in two books by Aufderheide and Martinez (1998) and Aufderheide (2003).

This review is presented from the point of view of a pathologist. Palaeopathology is a fascinating subject for any pathologist.