4 - The Prehistoric Peoples of Europe

Summary

The earliest evidence of parasite infection in the prehistoric peoples of Europe show roundworm and whipworm infection in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic France, Sweden, and Britain. In the Neolithic period and Bronze Age those farming crops and herding animals on dry land were mainly infected by roundworm and whipworm. The protozoan Entamoeba histolytica, which causes dysentery, was also found at a number of Neolithic sites. In contrast, those living in lakeside villages built on stilts were commonly infected by fish tapeworm, Echinostoma fluke, and giant kidney worm, which are all contracted by eating raw freshwater foods. This shows how the lifestyle led by ancient peoples affected the types of parasite to which they were at risk. Environments that preserved clothes well, such as the Iron Age salt mines in Austria, resulted in the recovery of large numbers of body lice, which suggests that ectoparasites were also common.