Actually, the reference for the "brain tumour" is a very short piece in The Lancet:
Czarnetzki, Alfred, Erwin Schwaderer & Carsten M. Pusch (2003). Correspondence: Fossil record of meningioma. THE LANCET. vol. 362., p. 408.
I waited a day to post this, since I found a pdf of it in Anne Gilbert's palanthsci forum files, and I thought she would mention it. However.....
Cheers,
Dar
My reply from Professor Stringer confirms what you've said, Dar, and it also confirms that there were two separate teams conducting CAT scans on the cranium. Professor Stringer's reply is given below.
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Mikey, Apparently the Czarnetzki study was published in the latest issue of The Lancet - someone else forwarded me this copy, so I guess it is available online...Best Chris
Sir--Pathological examination of old samples can contribute important information as to the cause and history of certain diseases.1,2 However, since most palaeopathological research is based on a few skeletal remains, identification of soft-tissue cancers is rare. Here, we describe the fossil of Homo steinheimensis in which several features of the inner cranial table are consistent with a diagnosis of meningioma.
Meningiomas are, in general, slowly growing benign tumours derived from the arachnoidal cap cells of the leptomeninges. They are believed to be the most common primary tumour of the CNS. The skull we investigated was excavated at Steinheim/Murr (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) and consists of a well preserved plagiocephalic cranium, with most of the facial skeleton intact (figure). Results of stratigraphical dating suggest the specimen is about 365 000 years old.3,4 We inspected the cranium by macroscopy, endoscopy, three-dimensional CT, and radiography
Reconstruction of the intravital situation in lateral view of a median section. Sphenoparietal sinus (1), two widened branches of the middle meningeal artery (2). At the bottom of the figure is a CT section through the meningioma region, indicating the thinning of parietal bone. The dashed line indicates the curvature of a normal skull.
On the righthand side, the inner skull table had an indentation in the parietal bone 12·5 mm posterior to the coronal, and 2·3 mm lateral to the sagittal suture. Its anteroposterior width was 36·7 mm and its mediolateral extent 26·7 mm. It involved the parietal bone up to the layer of the outer table at a maximum depth of 6·2 mm (figure). The surface within this depressed area was smooth and regular. We did not notice such impressions in a large comparative sample (n>7000) of ancient and modern skulls. Furthermore, an enlarged sulcus of the anterior ramus of the middle meningeal artery is superimposed on a widened sulcus of the sphenoparietal sinus. In a comprehensive clinical study done in 2002,5 all the above features were noted in about 70% of cases, emphasising their pathognomonic character for parasagittal meningiomas. The tumour's likely cross section dimension anteroposterior was about 51 mm, mediolateral 43 mm, and it had a depth of about 25 mm. The volume was 29 mL. Such tumour size is largely equivalent to the average meningioma diagnosed today (about 30 mL).5 In view of the demanding Pleistocene living conditions, this tumour size in conjunction with the small Steinheim cerebrum of only 1100-1200 mL (modern brain: 1300-1800 mL), might have caused continual headache, severe hemiparesis, and finally death.
Meningiomas have an annual age-adjusted incidence of two to nine per 100 000. For comparison, the Middle Pleistocene population size of hunters and gatherers has been estimated at 25-30 community members with an effective ancient population size of only 10 000 individuals. Such low values emphasise the rarity of fossil meningiomas. We thank R Czarnetzki, who helped with data management and processing of the figures, and the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History, for providing access to the Steinheim skull. Alfred Czarnetzki, Erwin Schwaderer, *Carsten M Pusch Department of Palaeoanthropology/Osteology (AC) and *Division of Molecular Genetics (CMP), Institute of Anthropology and Human Genetics, University of Tübingen, D-72074 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University Hospital Tübingen, Germany (ES) (e-mail:carsten.pusch@uni-tuebingen.de)
1 David AR. Disease in Egyptian mummies: the contribution of new technologies. Lancet 1997; 349: 1760-63. [Text]
2 Bosch X. Look to the bones for clues to human disease. Lancet 2000; 355: 1248.
3 Wolpoff M. Paleoanthropology. 2nd edn. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1999.
4 Ziegler R. Urmenschenfunde in Baden-Württemberg. Stuttg Beitrg Naturk 1999; C44: 24-39. [PubMed]
5 Weber J, Spring A, Czarnetzki A. Parasagittales Meningeom bei einem 32.500 Jahre alten Schädel aus dem Südwesten von Deutschland: Neue Erkenntnisse über den Umgang mit Krankheit in der Altsteinzeit. Deut Med Wochenschr 2002; 127: 2757-60. [PubMed]
