Posted on 12/20/2011 1:17:42 PM PST by decimon
More evidence emerges to support that the progenitor of syphilis came from the New World
Skeletons don't lie. But sometimes they may mislead, as in the case of bones that reputedly showed evidence of syphilis in Europe and other parts of the Old World before Christopher Columbus made his historic voyage in 1492.
None of this skeletal evidence, including 54 published reports, holds up when subjected to standardized analyses for both diagnosis and dating, according to an appraisal in the current Yearbook of Physical Anthropology. In fact, the skeletal data bolsters the case that syphilis did not exist in Europe before Columbus set sail.
"This is the first time that all 54 of these cases have been evaluated systematically," says George Armelagos, an anthropologist at Emory University and co-author of the appraisal. "The evidence keeps accumulating that a progenitor of syphilis came from the New World with Columbus' crew and rapidly evolved into the venereal disease that remains with us today."
The appraisal was led by two of Armelagos' former graduate students at Emory: Molly Zuckerman, who is now an assistant professor at Mississippi State University, and Kristin Harper, currently a post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University. Additional authors include Emory anthropologist John Kingston and Megan Harper from the University of Missouri.
"Syphilis has been around for 500 years," Zuckerman says. "People started debating where it came from shortly afterwards, and they haven't stopped since. It was one of the first global diseases, and understanding where it came from and how it spread may help us combat diseases today."
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
Lay of the land ping.
Randy skeletons?
Don't F**k with the New World.
Can we start protesting the native Americans?
B-b-b-b-but I thought it was Columbus, et al who contaminated the pristine, innocent Children of the New World! My cosmos is upended.../sarc
Yeah, except we got smallpox in the trade...
I have my scar, but they stopped vaccinating against it long ago. And I don’t believe, NOT FOR A MINUTE, that it has been totally eradicated, I would bet just about anything that there are small isolated pockets and vectors that we don’t know about.
Some dam BS door-mouse that lives in Pukistan...
:: skeletal data bolsters the case that syphilis did not exist in Europe before Columbus set sail. ::
How does this prove that syph came from the “New World”? Bad logic.
Isn’t this one of those “multiple latin words” type of arguments?
And since Columbus wasn't the first to set foot on the land, why wasn't the disease brought back by others? Chance? WSas it only the Columbus crew that had a sexual encounter with a disease bearer?
“Randy skeletons?”
Yes, and when they start getting it on, it sounds like monkeys playing a marimba, very badly.
;^)
There are half a dozen or so other diseases in the Caribbean that are almost identical, just not sexually transmitted. Yaws, pinta, others...
Usually when a person is the subject of dating, that is when syphilis occurs. Just use protection when dating.
the human skull is kind of creepy.
Maybe with each other, a precursor to Aids.
I was an anthropology major in college, I do remember an article about evidence of syphilis in pre-Columbian bones in Guyana or there abouts, I believe dating back many centuries before contact. It has been a long time since I was young they may of found different evidence since then.
Another take on Montezuma’s revenge. Europeans killed the natives with European diseases and the natives returned the favor with syphilis.
That means we are even, we can keep their land and name our football mascots after them. I call that a good day’s work.
bump
Most communicable diseases have jumped from animal to man. Flu, pox, measles, colds all have jumped from cows, camels, horses, chickens and pig to humans. They have then jumped back and forth mutating with each jump. In Europe/Africa/Asia the human immune system adjusted to fight these diseases. In the Americas where the Neolithic revolution was plant rather then animal based this adjustment never occurred. Instead the American immune system adjusted to fight off what was the big threat in the Americas, parasites. Animal based communicable diseases killed off New Worlders in larger numbers then the parasites killed off Old Worlders because you normally don't catch parasites by casual contact.
STDs were something that were around world wide. No matter whe Both areas had their own versions but STDs traveled both ways. Syphilis is the biggest one that traveled to Europe which is why you hear about it the most.
My understanding was there was a fairly large “die off” in north america before columbus ever arrived. Archeologists are always coming up with “proof” that amerind culture was very advanced long before white man arrived and collapsed for unknown reasons.
I believe it was too much war that did them in.
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