Ancient Egyptian scribes’ work left its mark on their skeletons
Arthritis riddled scribes’ bones, reflecting the repetitive tasks of their career
The high dignitary Nefer (depicted in statues with his wife) was a scribe in ancient Abusir, Egypt. His skeleton and those of other scribes are inscribed with signs of their work.
Martin Frouz, Czech Institute of Egyptology/Charles University
Ancient Egyptian scribes’ life works are written on their bones.
Arthritis and other damage mark the scribes’ skeletons where the men sat cross-legged or kneeled hunched over papyrus scrolls, researchers describe June 27 in Scientific Reports.
Museum and university researchers from the Czech Republic examined the remains of 69 men entombed in the necropolis at Abusir, Egypt, dating from 2700 B.C. to 2180 B.C. Titles, paintings, tools and statues found in the tombs denoted 30 of the skeletons as scribes, high-ranking people who worked in various administrative positions and were engaged in writing and reading.
Being a scribe wasn’t a physically demanding job, but over time, it took its toll on select body parts, the researchers found. Scribes were more likely than their household members or other high-ranking people to have degenerative changes to their bones, especially in their upper bodies.
For instance, scribes chewed rushes to make brushes for writing. That left the men with arthritis in the temporomandibular joints (TMJ) of their jaws, the researchers found. About 16 percent to 38 percent of people today are estimated to have TMJ arthritis. A comparable 30 percent of the ancient non-scribes also had arthritis in their jaws, but in scribes, the rate was more than double at 64 percent. The work left similar wear-and-tear in particular spots from head to toe (see box).
Today’s scribes and scrollers might take heed of the ancient Egyptian scribe’s neck and jaw issues to sit a bit a straighter and look up from their phones once in a while.
Pain points
From head to toe, working as a scribe in ancient Egypt left its mark on particular parts of the body (red dots). Chewing on brushes and thrusting their heads forward over their work gave scribes arthritis in their jaws. Bone spurs, arthritis and other changes to the scribes’ upper spines probably came from bending over scrolls for long hours.
Pinching their pens left the scribes with arthritis in their right thumbs. Arthritis from creating hieroglyphs also riddled their right shoulders. And sitting cross-legged or kneeling, usually on the left leg with the right leg squatting, left arthritis on the scribes’ right knees and right ankles. Scribes’ skeletons even had notches on their kneecaps and right ankles.
Pitting, ridges or spurs where tendons and ligaments connected to bones marked their left sitz bone, the bony point at the bottom of the pelvis, indicating that they often rested on their left hips. But this damage might not have been career-specific: Kneeling and squatting was common for everyone at the time, the researchers say.
