Mar 18, 2014 07:47 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Researchers from Durham University and the British Museum found a complete 3,200-year-old skeleton with metastatic cancer in a tomb close to the River Nile last year. The remains date back to 1200 BC and are believed to belong to a wealthy young male adult, between 25 and 35-years-old.

The bones showed evidence of metastatic carcinoma, cancer which spreads to other parts of the body from a malignant soft-tissue tumour. The discovery makes it the oldest complete example of metastatic cancer in the archaeological record.

With the help of radiography tests and a scanning electron microscope, the researchers spotted lesions on the bones and cancer metastases on the collar bones, shoulder blades, upper arms, vertebrae, ribs, pelvis and thigh bones.

Speculating the causes of the cancer, the researchers said that it could be a result of environmental carcinogens like smoke from wood fires, through genetic factors, or from infectious diseases such as schistosomiasis caused by parasites.

Researchers said that the discovery will help explore causes and evolution of cancer in ancient times. DNA analysis of skeletons and mummies with evidence of cancer can help identify mutations in specific genes that are known to cause particular types of cancer.

Although cancer is one of the leading causes of death today, its scant mentions in archaeological records compared to other pathological conditions indicate that the disease is chiefly a result of modern living and increased longevity.

However, the discovery of the bone provides evidence of cancer in the Nile Valley in ancient times.

 "Very little is known about the antiquity, epidemiology and evolution of cancer in past human populations apart from some textual references and a small number of skeletons with signs of cancer. Insights gained from archaeological human remains like these can really help us to understand the evolution and history of modern diseases.

"Our analysis showed that the shape of the small lesions on the bones can only have been caused by a soft tissue cancer even though the exact origin is impossible to determine through the bones alone," Michaela Binder, the lead author from Durham University's Archaeology Department, said in a statement

Binder found the bones at the archaeological site of Amara West in northern Sudan, 750 km (466) downstream of the country's modern capital Khartoum.

The finding is published in the academic journal PLOS ONE.

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