Tags
bone cancer, cancer, human evolution, medicine, oncology, osteosarcoma, paleoanthropology, Physical Anthropology, south africa, swartkrans, tumor
In two papers published in the South African Journal of Science, researchers say they’ve found the oldest definitive evidence of malignancy in a hominid.
A cancerous foot bone belonging to a 1.7 million year old hominid. (Image: Edward J. Odes et al., 2016)
The first is an osteosarcoma, a type of agressive malignant bone tumor, found on a 1.7 million year old hominid, SK 7923, from the cave site Swartkrans in South Africa. Osteosarcomas affect young individuals. They have little to do with environmental influences. Since it is a metatarsal, its hard to known exactly what species it came from, what we do know is that it did come from a hominid.
Tumors found on the vertebra of an Australopithecus sediba specimen are shown in pink. (Image: P. S. Randolph-Quinney et al., 2016)
In a related paper published in the same journal, a collaborating team of scientists describe the oldest tumor ever found in the human fossil record—a benign tumor found in the vertebrae of an Australopithecus sediba child.
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Prior to this discovery, the oldest known hominin tumor was found in the rib of a Neanderthal dating back to around 120,000 years ago.
Dr. Kambiz Kamrani; I do have keen interest in anthropology, palaeontology, geology and besides archaeology in general and in specific prehistory. But, here from the caption below the picture of a cancerous foot bone said to be belonging to a 1.7 million year old hominid. My curiosity is, is it the fossil of the foot as such or it is the form of the bone alone?