Leprosy in a Medieval Cemetery from Sudanese Nubia (Mouweiss, Shendi Area, Sudan)

Abstract

The Mouweiss site (Shendi area, about 250 km North of Khartoum) is a Nilotic city of the Meroitic period (4th century BCE to 4th century CE), which the Louvre Museum (Paris) began to excavate in 2007. This was a large settlement that included a palace, which was later destroyed. The ruined walls of the palace also housed a medieval necropolis. About thirty rather crudely fashioned pits dug directly into the rubble of the palace were excavated. Radiocarbon dating from the tombs suggests funerary occupation from the “early Christian” to the “classic Christian” period. A macroscopic examination of the skeletal remains of the individual in grave 13 revealed palaeopathological signs pointing to Rhinomaxillary syndrome. The cranium of this 40- to 50-year-old woman showed significant bone resorption, particularly in the nasal area. Associated with these lesions are several modifications of the hands and feet, namely phalangeal acro-osteolysis and destructive diaphyseal remodelling. Differential diagnostic testing, in particular for other infectious/inflammatory diseases, concluded that the type and distribution of the lesions displayed by the individual from grave 13 at Mouweiss were indicative of leprosy. These findings contribute new data to understand the distribution of this disease and new evidence for leprosy in Sudanese Nubia, where there are very few palaeopathological cases illustrating its presence.