Parasites in Past Civilizations and Their Impact upon Health
- Author: Piers D. Mitchell, University of Cambridge
- Date Published: April 2023
- availability: Available
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9781107000773
Hardback
Other available formats:
eBook
Looking for an inspection copy?
This title is not currently available on inspection
-
Parasites have been infecting humans throughout our evolution. When complex societies developed, the greater population density provided new opportunities for parasites to spread. In this interdisciplinary volume, the author brings his expertise in medicine, archaeology and history to explore the contribution of parasites in causing flourishing past civilizations to falter and decline. By using cutting edge methods, Mitchell presents the evidence for parasites that infected the peoples of key ancient civilizations across the world in order to understand their impact upon those populations. This new understanding of the archaeological and historical evidence for intestinal worms, ectoparasites, and protozoa shows how different cultures were burdened by contrasting types of diseases depending upon their geographical location, endemic insects, food preferences and cultural beliefs.
Read more- This is the first single author book for over 60 years to investigate the consequences of ancient parasites upon past societies
- Provides a solid historical understanding of how the nature of past cultures and civilizations affects human risk of disease
- Employs the clinical tool of disability adjusted life years to compare the health impacts of disease upon populations, and then quantifies and ranks the burden from parasites affecting past societie
Reviews & endorsements
'This volume … challenges us to think about these civilizations without macroparasites - what would they be like day-to-day? How would their histories be different? Thinking in this way, it becomes easy to see the tremendous social and biological impacts that macroparasites had, and continue to have, on humans of the past and present.' Sophie K. Joseph, The Quarterly Review of Biology
Customer reviews
Not yet reviewed
Be the first to review
Review was not posted due to profanity
×Product details
- Date Published: April 2023
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9781107000773
- length: 350 pages
- dimensions: 235 x 154 x 14 mm
- weight: 0.42kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Near Eastern civilizations
3. Ancient Egypt and Nubia
4. The prehistoric peoples of Europe
5. The Roman world
6. Medieval Europe
7. East Asian civilizations
8. North American indigenous peoples
9. South and Central American civilizations
10. Parasites, migrations and epidemics
11. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.
Sorry, this resource is locked
Please register or sign in to request access. If you are having problems accessing these resources please email [email protected]
Register Sign in» Proceed
You are now leaving the Cambridge University Press website. Your eBook purchase and download will be completed by our partner www.ebooks.com. Please see the permission section of the www.ebooks.com catalogue page for details of the print & copy limits on our eBooks.
Continue ×Are you sure you want to delete your account?
This cannot be undone.
Thank you for your feedback which will help us improve our service.
If you requested a response, we will make sure to get back to you shortly.
×