Repository logo
 

Intestinal parasites at the Late Bronze Age settlement of Must Farm, in the fens of East Anglia, UK (9th century B.C.E.).

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Grimshaw, Elisabeth 
Fairey, Madison 
Whelton, Helen L 
Bull, Ian D 

Abstract

Little is known about the types of intestinal parasites that infected people living in prehistoric Britain. The Late Bronze Age archaeological site of Must Farm was a pile-dwelling settlement located in a wetland, consisting of stilted timber structures constructed over a slow-moving freshwater channel. At excavation, sediment samples were collected from occupation deposits around the timber structures. Fifteen coprolites were also hand-recovered from the occupation deposits; four were identified as human and seven as canine, using fecal lipid biomarkers. Digital light microscopy was used to identify preserved helminth eggs in the sediment and coprolites. Eggs of fish tapeworm (Diphyllobothrium latum and Diphyllobothrium dendriticum), Echinostoma sp., giant kidney worm (Dioctophyma renale), probable pig whipworm (Trichuris suis) and Capillaria sp. were found. This is the earliest evidence for fish tapeworm, Echinostoma worm, Capillaria worm and the giant kidney worm so far identified in Britain. It appears that the wetland environment of the settlement contributed to establishing parasite diversity and put the inhabitants at risk of infection by helminth species spread by eating raw fish, frogs or molluscs that flourish in freshwater aquatic environments, conversely the wetland may also have protected them from infection by certain geohelminths.

Description

Keywords

Dioctophyma, Diphyllobothrium, Echinostoma, Late Bronze Age, fish tapeworm, helminth, palaeoparasitology, Animals, Archaeology, England, Helminths, Humans, Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic

Journal Title

Parasitology

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0031-1820
1469-8161

Volume Title

146

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)

Rights

All rights reserved