The skeleton was unearthed in 1989, researchers have only recently examined it closely

Jul 14, 2014 06:35 GMT  ·  By
Scientists claim to have pinned down Down syndrome-related anatomical particularities in 1,500-year-old skeleton
   Scientists claim to have pinned down Down syndrome-related anatomical particularities in 1,500-year-old skeleton

Despite having gone largely undocumented for the better part of our history, it appears that genetic disorders have been around since the dawn of mankind. Of these medical conditions, one seems to be at least several thousand years old.

The condition in question is Down syndrome, which the scientific community sometimes refers to as trisomy 21 due to the fact that it is caused by the presence of either all or at least part of a third and unnecessary copy of chromosome 21.

Writing in a recent issue of the International Journal of Pathology, scientists announce the discovery of anatomical particularities consistent with Down syndrome in a skeleton estimated to date back to 1,500 years ago.

In their paper, the French researchers go on to detail that this skeleton belongs to a child, and that it was unearthed quite some time ago, in 1989, by a team of archaeologists carrying out excavations in northeastern France.

More precisely, the specialists say that the remains were recovered together with 93 other skeletons at the site of an ancient cemetery believed to have been built sometime in the 5th or in the 6th century, close to the monastery of Abbey of Saint-Jean-des Vignes.

As explained by Science World Report, it did not take the scientists who found this child's remains too long to figure out that something was off about them. Still, it was decades before tests confirmed their suspicions that the toddler had Down syndrome.

In order to prove that the child suffered from said genetic disorder, specialists analyzed the skull, and found it to be fairly broad, to have a rather flat base, and to be made up of rather thin bones. These particularities are all telltale signs of Down syndrome.

What's interesting is that, according to the French researchers who authored the International Journal of Pathology paper detailing this 1,500-year-old Down syndrome case, the toddler who suffered from this genetic disorder was not in any way marginalized while alive.

On the contrary, evidence indicates that the child was not in any way treated differently, and was buried like any other member of the community following death. This proves that ancient civilizations did not see genetic disorders as a reason to discriminate.

“This Down syndrome child was not treated differently at death than others in the community,” researcher and study lead author Maite Rivollat sums up the findings of this investigation into what is believed to be the oldest known case of Down syndrome.

“We interpret this as meaning that the child was maybe not stigmatized during life, the first time a Down syndrome individual has been so viewed in the context of the ancient community,” the specialist goes on to explain.