Tetracycline-Labeled Human Bone From A Medieval Population In Nubia’s Batn El Hajar (550-1450 A.D.)

Tetracycline-labeling of bone is a phenomenon well established in the literature and recently has been discovered in archaeological human bone of some antiquity. This is the second reported finding of tetracycline-labeled human bone from Sudanese Nubia. This study examines the biocultural implications of the tetracycline and its possible relationship to the incidence of disease and overall patterns of health in a population from Nubia’s Batn el Hajar. Analysis of the bone for the presence of both tetracycline and infectious lesions showed low levels of the former and moderate levels of the later, but no statistical relationships between the two. The present data suggest that the occasional ingestion of low concentrations of tetracycline had no positive impact on disease in this population